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Floods, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes: History’s Most Consequential Natural Catastrophes

Khalid Elhassan December 22, 2024 15 min

Catastrophe - The Thera Eruption — The Thera Eruption. Sci Tech Daily

9. The Cause of History’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

A flood in Maiduguri, Nigeria, in 2024. K-Pics

Sudden violent natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are usually what most grip the imaginations. Such dynamic events unleash immediate and massive amounts mayhem in a short amount of time. However, history’s deadliest disasters – and by a long shot at that – are a bit more prosaic. Historically, when Mother Nature has put her mind to inflicting the most suffering upon mankind, she has done so not with volcanoes or earthquakes, but with floods. Indeed, as seen below, history’s deadliest flood was almost five times as deadly as the deadliest earthquake, that of Shaanxi in 1556, and over fifty six times as deadly as the deadliest volcanic eruption, that of Tambora in 1815.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.