Aberfan disasterThe Aberfan disaster (Welsh: Trychineb Aberfan) was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966.3 min / Deep Bhopal disasterOn 3 December 1984, over 500,000 people in the vicinity of the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate, in what is considered the world's worst industrial disaster.3 min / Deep Chernobyl disasterOn 26 April 1986, reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukraine, exploded.3 min / Deep Deepwater Horizon oil spillThe Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an environmental disaster beginning 20 April 2010 off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico, on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.3 min / Deep Hindenburg disasterThe Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States.3 min / Deep Kursk submarine disasterThe Russian nuclear submarine K-141 Kursk sank in an accident on 12 August 2000 in the Barents Sea, with the death of all 118 personnel on board.3 min / Deep Kyshtym disasterThe Kyshtym disaster (Russian: Кыштымская авария), sometimes referred to as the Mayak disaster or Ozyorsk disaster in newer sources, was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on 29 September 1957 at Mayak, a plutonium reprocessing production plant for nuclear weapons located in the closed city of Chelyabinsk-40 (now Ozyorsk) in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia in the Soviet Union.3 min / Deep Lake Nyos disasterOn 21 August 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock.3 min / Deep Seveso disasterThe Seveso disaster was an industrial accident that occurred around 12:37 PM on 10 July 1976, in a small chemical manufacturing plant approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Milan in the Lombardy region of Italy.3 min / Deep Tangiwai disasterThe Tangiwai disaster was a railway accident that occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953, when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand.3 min / Deep Tenerife airport disasterOn 27 March 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on a runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife, killing 583 people and injuring 61 others in the deadliest accident in aviation history.3 min / Deep Texas City disasterThe Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the port of Texas City, Texas, United States, located in Galveston Bay.3 min / Deep 1815 eruption of Mount TamboraIn April 1815, Mount Tambora, a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia (then part of the Dutch East Indies), erupted in what is now considered the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history.3 min / Deep 1883 eruption of KrakatoaBetween 19 May and 21 October 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatoa (located in the Sunda Strait, then part of the Dutch East Indies—modern-day Indonesia) began erupting, lasting more than five months.3 min / Deep 1906 San Francisco earthquakeA magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the coast of Northern California at 05:12 am Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906.3 min / Deep 1960 Valdivia earthquakeThe 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami (Spanish: Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (Gran terremoto de Chile) occurred on 22 May 1960.3 min / Deep 1975 Banqiao Dam failureIn August 1975, the Banqiao Dam and 61 others throughout Henan, China, collapsed following the landfall of Typhoon Nina.3 min / Deep 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosionThe Damascus Titan missile explosion (also called the Damascus accident) was a 1980 U.S. nuclear weapons incident involving a U.S.3 min / Deep 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiOn 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 JST (05:46:24 UTC), a Mw 9.0–9.1 undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region of Japan.3 min / Deep 2020 Beirut explosionOn 4 August 2020, a major explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, caused by the ignition of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.3 min / Deep Mount Erebus disasterThe Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board.3 min / Deep Aral SeaThe Aral Sea was an endorheic salt lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by 2007.3 min / Deep Armero tragedyThe Armero tragedy (Spanish: Tragedia de Armero ) occurred following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia, on November 13, 1985.3 min / Deep Goiânia accidentThe Goiânia accident (Brazilian Portuguese: )), also known locally as the caesium-137 accident/caesium-137 Goiânia, was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, after an unsecured radiotherapy source, inside a lead-and-steel medical device, was found by scavenger thieves at an abandoned hospital site in the city.3 min / Deep Great Smog of LondonThe Great Smog was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952.3 min / Deep Halifax ExplosionOn the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo collided in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.3 min / Deep Hyatt Regency walkway collapseOn July 17, 1981, two overhead walkways in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, collapsed, killing 114 people and injuring 216.3 min / Deep Japan Air Lines Flight 123Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan.3 min / Deep MV Wilhelm GustloffMV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German military transport ship, which was taking part in Operation Hannibal, when it was sunk by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea on 30 January 1945.3 min / Deep Nedelin catastropheThe Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster, known in Russia as the Catastrophe at Baikonur Cosmodrome (Russian: Катастрофа на Байконуре, romanized: Katastrofa na Baikonure), was a launch-pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR, during preparations for the first test flight of a prototype R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile.3 min / Deep Oppau explosionThe Oppau explosion occurred on September 21, 1921, when approximately 4,500 tonnes of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate fertilizer stored in a tower silo exploded at a BASF plant in Oppau, now part of Ludwigshafen, Germany, killing at least 560 people and injuring about 2,000 more.3 min / Deep Peshtigo fireThe Peshtigo Fire was a wildfire on October 8, 1871, in northeastern Wisconsin, United States, including much of the southern half of the Door Peninsula and adjacent parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.3 min / Deep Rana Plaza collapseThe Rana Plaza collapse (also referred to as the Savar building collapse) occurred on 24 April 2013 in Savar Upazila, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, when the nine-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed due to a structural failure.3 min / Deep Disasters: TitanicRMS Titanic was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.3 min / Deep Sampoong Department Store collapseOn June 29, 1995, the Sampoong Department Store (Korean: 삼풍백화점; Hanja: 三豐百貨店) in Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea, collapsed due to a structural failure.3 min / Deep Disasters: SL-1Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, also known as SL-1, initially the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR), was a United States Army experimental nuclear reactor at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in Idaho about forty miles (65 km) west of Idaho Falls, now the Idaho National Laboratory.3 min / Deep SS EastlandSS Eastland was an American Great Lakes passenger ship.3 min / Deep Vajont DamThe Vajont Dam or Vaiont Dam is a disused hydro-electric dam in the valley of the Vajont river under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, 100 kilometres (60 mi) north of Venice, Italy.3 min / Deep Halifax ExplosionA munitions ship blast devastated Halifax in 1917.8 min / Easy Great Smog of LondonAir pollution trapped over London caused thousands of deaths in 1952.8 min / Easy Vajont DamA landslide into a reservoir sent a wave over a dam with catastrophic results.9 min / Medium 1975 Banqiao Dam failureTyphoon rains and dam failures caused a vast flood disaster in China.10 min / Medium Sampoong Department Store collapseA Seoul department store collapsed after design changes and ignored warnings.9 min / Medium Hyatt Regency walkway collapseA design change led to a deadly structural failure in Kansas City.8 min / Medium Rana Plaza collapseA garment factory collapse in Bangladesh exposed global supply-chain risks.9 min / Medium TitanicThe famous liner disaster became a lasting study in technology, class, and safety.10 min / Easy MV Wilhelm GustloffA wartime sinking caused one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history.9 min / Medium SS EastlandA passenger ship rolled over at a Chicago dock, killing hundreds.8 min / Easy Peshtigo fireThe deadliest wildfire in recorded U.S. history happened the same day as Chicago's fire.8 min / Easy Great Fire of LondonA 1666 fire transformed London and its building regulations.8 min / Easy 1960 Valdivia earthquakeThe strongest recorded earthquake generated Pacific-wide tsunamis.8 min / Easy 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamiA megathrust earthquake created a devastating tsunami across the Indian Ocean.10 min / Medium 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunamiA huge earthquake and tsunami caused disaster across Japan's northeast coast.10 min / Medium 1980 eruption of Mount St. HelensA lateral blast transformed a mountain and volcanic hazard science.8 min / Easy Armero tragedyA volcanic mudflow buried a Colombian town after warnings went unheeded.8 min / Medium Sinking of the VasaA Swedish warship sank on its maiden voyage and became an archaeological treasure.8 min / Easy Windscale fireA reactor fire in 1957 became the United Kingdom's most serious nuclear accident.9 min / Medium Goiania accidentAn abandoned radiotherapy source spread radioactive contamination through a Brazilian city in 1987.10 min / Medium SL-1A small military reactor in Idaho was destroyed by a fatal criticality accident in 1961.9 min / Medium Nedelin catastropheA Soviet missile exploded on its launch pad in 1960 while technicians and senior officials remained nearby.9 min / Medium 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosionA dropped socket punctured a missile fuel tank and led to an explosion inside an Arkansas silo.9 min / Medium PEPCON disasterA fire at a rocket-fuel plant triggered massive explosions across the Las Vegas Valley in 1988.8 min / Easy Oppau explosionThousands of tonnes of fertilizer detonated at a German chemical plant in 1921.8 min / Easy 2020 Beirut explosionImproperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at Beirut's port, devastating large parts of the city.10 min / Medium Japan Air Lines Flight 123A failed repair caused explosive decompression and the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.11 min / Medium Air New Zealand Flight 901A sightseeing flight struck Mount Erebus after navigation changes and a whiteout concealed the terrain.10 min / Medium Aral SeaRiver diversion transformed one of the world's largest lakes into an environmental and public-health disaster.10 min / Medium