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- March 2008
Minamata disease (水俣病 Minamata-byō?), sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease (チッソ水俣病 Chisso-Minamata-byō?), is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses in the womb.
Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methyl mercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which when eaten by the local populace resulted in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig and human deaths continued over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.
As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognised (1,784 of whom had died) and over 10,000 had received financial compensation from Chisso. Lawsuits and claims for compensation continue to this day. A second outbreak of Minamata disease occurred in Niigata Prefecture in 1965. Both the original Minamata disease and Niigata Minamata disease are considered two of the Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan.
- February 2008
The Hamlet chicken processing plant fire was an industrial disaster that took place at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, USA on September 3, 1991, after a failure in a faulty modification to a hydraulic line. Twenty-five people were killed and 54 injured in the fire as they were trapped behind locked fire doors. Due to a lack of inspectors, the plant had never received a safety inspection in 11 years of operation, and it is thought that a single inspection would have easily prevented the incident.
A full federal investigation was launched, which resulted in the owner receiving a 20-year prison sentence, and the company received the highest fines ever handed out in the history of North Carolina. The investigation also highlighted failings in the authoritative enforcement of existing safety regulations, and resulted in a number of worker safety laws being passed. Accusations of racism were leveled at both the fire service and the city of Hamlet in the aftermath of the fire. The latter dispute, concerning a memorial service organized by the city, resulted in two separate, near-identical monuments being erected. The plant was never reopened.
The fire was North Carolina's worst industrial disaster, and the third worst American industrial disaster, exceeded only by the 1947 Texas City disaster and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
- January 2008
The 1999 Sydney hailstorm was the costliest natural disaster in Australian history, causing extensive damage along the east coast of New South Wales. The storm developed south of Sydney on the afternoon of April 14, 1999 and struck the city's eastern suburbs, including the central business district, later that evening. The storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in its path. Insured damages caused by the storm were over A$1.7 billion, with the total damage bill (including uninsured damages) estimated to be around A$2.3 billion, equivalent to US$1.5 billion. It was the costliest in Australian history in terms of insured damages, overtaking the 1989 Newcastle earthquake that had resulted in A$1.1 billion in insured damages. Lightning also claimed one life during the storm, and caused approximately 50 injuries.
The storm was classified as a supercell following further analysis of its erratic nature and extreme attributes. During the event, the Bureau of Meteorology was consistently surprised at the frequent changes in direction, as well as the severity of the hail and the duration of the storm. The event was also unique as the time of year and general conditions in the region were not seen as conducive for an extreme thunderstorm to form.
- December 2007
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 together formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames spread quickly out of control with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large conflagration, which burned for several months. It was finally extinguished by moist weather in the late fall. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km²), or roughly 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires.
Before the late 1960s, fires were generally believed to be detrimental for parks and forests, and management policies were aimed at suppressing fires as quickly as possible. The beneficial ecological role of fire became better understood in the decades before 1988, and a policy of allowing natural fires to burn under controlled conditions had been highly successful in reducing the area lost annually to wildfires. However, by 1988, Yellowstone was overdue for a large fire, and, in the exceptionally dry summer, the many smaller "controlled" fires combined. The fires burned in a mosaic pattern, leaping from one area to another, while some areas were completely untouched. Large firestorms swept through some regions, burning everything in their paths. Tens of millions of trees and countless plants were killed by the wildfires, and some regions were left looking blackened and dead. However, more than half of the affected areas were burned by ground fires, which did less damage to hardier tree species. Not long after the fires ended, plant and tree species quickly reestablished themselves, and natural plant regeneration has been highly successful.
Thousands of firefighters fought the fires, assisted by dozens of helicopters and airplanes which were used for water and fire retardant drops. At the peak of the effort, over 9,000 firefighters were assigned to the park. With fires raging throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and other areas in the western United States, the staffing levels of the National Park Service and other land management agencies were inadequate to the situation. Over 4,000 U.S. Military personnel were soon assisting in fire suppression efforts. The fire fighting effort cost $120 million. No firefighters died while fighting the fires in Yellowstone, though there were two fire-related deaths outside the park.
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 were unprecedented in the history of the National Park Service, and many questioned existing fire management policies. Media accounts of mismanagement were often sensational and inaccurate, sometimes wrongly reporting that most of the park was being destroyed. While there were temporary declines in air quality during the fires, no adverse long-term health effects have been recorded in the ecosystem. Contrary to initial reports, few large mammals were killed by the fires, though there has been a reduction in the number of moose which has yet to rebound. Losses to structures were minimized by concentrating fire fighting efforts near major visitor areas, keeping property damage down to $3 million.
- November 2007
The 2006 Hengchun earthquake occurred on December 26, 2006 at 12:25 UTC (20:25 local time), with an epicenter off the southwest coast of Taiwan, approximately 22.8 km west southwest of Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan, with an exact hypocenter 21.9 km deep in the Luzon Strait (), which connects the South China Sea with the Philippine Sea.
There are conflicting reports of the magnitude of the quake, with the Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau marking it at 6.7 ML, the United States Geological Survey estimating it at 7.1 Mw, the Hong Kong Observatory, and the Japan Meteorological Agency put the magnitude at 7.2 Mw. Taiwan's Central News Agency is reporting that it is the strongest earthquake to hit Hengchun in one hundred years. The earthquake not only caused casualties and building damages, but also damaged several undersea cables, disrupting telecommunication services in various parts of Asia. Coincidentally, the earthquake occurred on the second anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that devastated the coastal communities across Southeast and South Asia and 3rd anniversary of the 2003 earthquake that devastated the southern Iranian city of Bam.
News agencies aired reports in southern Taiwan of collapsed houses, building fires, hotel guests being trapped in elevators, and telephone outages due to severed lines. Two people were reported killed and 42 injured. The earthquake was felt all over Taiwan, including the capital city of Taipei, which is 450 km north of Hengchun. Power was knocked out to a reported 3,000 homes, but service was restored within a few hours. As of the following morning, cleanup was already underway. Fifteen historical buildings, including a Grade 2 historical site, have been damaged in the historic center of Hengchun.
- October 2007
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Typhoon Pongsona (international designation: 0226, JTWC designation: 31W) was the last typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season, and was the costliest United States disaster in 2002. The name "Pongsona" was contributed by North Korea for the Pacific tropical cyclone list and is the Korean name for the garden balsam. Pongsona developed out of an area of disturbed weather on December 2, and steadily intensified to reach typhoon status on December 5. On December 8 it passed through Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands while near its peak winds of 175 km/h (110 mph 10-min). It ultimately turned to the northeast, weakened, and became extratropical on December 11.
Typhoon Pongsona produced strong wind gusts peaking at 278 km/h (173 mph 1-min), which left the entire island of Guam without power and destroyed about 1,300 houses. With strong building standards and experience from repeated typhoon strikes, there were no fatalities directly related to Pongsona, although there was one indirect death from flying glass. Damage on the island totaled over $700 million (2002 USD, $800 million 2007 USD), making Pongsona among the five costliest typhoons on the island. The typhoon also caused heavy damage on Rota and elsewhere in the Northern Marianas Islands, and as a result of its impact the name was retired.
- September 2007
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The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as the Hurricane San Calixto II, is the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. Over 22,000 people died when the storm passed through the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean between October 10 and October 16. Specifics on the hurricane's track and strength are unknown since the official Atlantic hurricane database wasn't established until 1851.
The hurricane struck Barbados with winds possibly exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h), before moving past Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Sint Eustatius; thousands of deaths were reported on each island. Coming in the midst of the American Revolution, the storm caused heavy losses to British and French fleets contesting for control of the area. The hurricane later passed near Puerto Rico and over the eastern portion of the Dominican Republic, which at the time was known as Santo Domingo. There, it caused heavy damage near the coastlines; it ultimately turned to the northeast before being last observed on October 20 southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.
The death toll from the Great Hurricane alone exceeds that for any other entire decade of Atlantic hurricanes, and is substantially higher than that of the second-deadliest Atlantic storm, Hurricane Mitch. The hurricane was part of the disastrous 1780 Atlantic hurricane season, with three other deadly storms occurring in the month of October.
- August 2007
The Okeechobee Hurricane, or Hurricane San Felipe Segundo, was a deadly hurricane that struck the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida in September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first recorded hurricane to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the Atlantic basin; as of 2006, it remains the only recorded hurricane to strike Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength, and one of the ten most intense ever recorded to make landfall in the United States.
The hurricane caused devastation throughout its path. As many as 1,200 people were killed in Guadeloupe. Puerto Rico was struck directly by the storm at peak strength, killing at least 300 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. In south Florida at least 2,500 were killed when storm surge from Lake Okeechobee breached the dike surrounding the lake, flooding an area covering hundreds of square miles. In total, the hurricane killed at least 4,078 people and caused around $100 million ($800 million in 2005 US dollars) in damages over the course of its path.
- July 2007
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 flooded Dayton, Ohio and the surrounding area with water from the Great Miami River, causing the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history. In response, Ohio passed the Vonderheide Act to allow the Ohio state government to form the Miami Conservancy District, one of the first major flood control districts in Ohio and the United States. This also inflicted a domino series of events, resulting in a further disruption. The flood was created by a series of three winter storms that hit the region in March 1913. Within three days, 8-11 inches of rain fell throughout the Great Miami River watershed on frozen ground, resulting in more than 90% runoff that caused the river and its tributaries to overflow. The existing series of levees failed, and downtown Dayton experienced flooding up to 20 feet deep. This flood is still the flood of record for the Great Miami River watershed, and the amount of water that passed through the river channel during this storm equals the flow over Niagara Falls each month. The Miami River watershed covers nearly 4,000 square miles and 115 miles of channel that feeds into the Ohio River. Other cities across Ohio experienced flooding from these storms, but not as extensive as the cities of Dayton, Piqua, Troy, and Hamilton along the Great Miami River.
Dayton was founded along the Great Miami River at the convergence of its three tributaries, Stillwater River, Mad River, and Wolf Creek. The four rivers converge within one mile along the river channel near the city’s central business district. When Israel Ludlow laid out Dayton in 1795, the local Native Americans warned him about the recurring flooding. Prior to the 1913 flood, the Dayton area experienced major floods nearly every decade, with major floods in 1805, 1828, 1847, 1866, and 1898. Most of downtown Dayton lies in the Great Miami River’s natural flood plain.
- June 2007
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow," the "Freshwater Fury," or the "White Hurricane," was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes basin in the United States Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario from November 7, 1913, to November 10, 1913.
The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to ever hit the lakes1, the Great Lakes Storm killed over 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others. The financial loss in vessels alone was nearly US$5 million, or about $100 million in present-day adjusted dollars. The large loss of cargo, including coal, iron ore, and grain, meant short-term rising prices for consumer products throughout North America.
The storm originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts, fuelled by the lakes' relatively warm waters—a seasonal process called a "November gale". It produced 90 mph (145 km/h) winds, waves over 35 feet (11 m) high, and whiteout snow squalls.
Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70 mph (110 km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region. Along the shoreline, blizzards shut down traffic and communication, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. A 22-inch (56 cm) snowfall in Cleveland, Ohio, put stores out of business for two days. There were four-foot (122 cm) drifts around Lake Huron. Power was out for several days across Michigan and Ontario, cutting off telephone and telegraph communications. A Chicago, Illinois, park project, eight years in the making, was destroyed in as many hours.
- May 2007
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow," the "Freshwater Fury," or the "White Hurricane," was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes basin in the United States Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario from November 7, 1913, to November 10, 1913.
The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to ever hit the lakes1, the Great Lakes Storm killed over 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others. The financial loss in vessels alone was nearly US$5 million, or about $100 million in present-day adjusted dollars. The large loss of cargo, including coal, iron ore, and grain, meant short-term rising prices for consumer products throughout North America.
The storm originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts, fuelled by the lakes' relatively warm waters—a seasonal process called a "November gale". It produced 90 mph (145 km/h) winds, waves over 35 feet (11 m) high, and whiteout snow squalls.
Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70 mph (110 km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region. Along the shoreline, blizzards shut down traffic and communication, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. A 22-inch (56 cm) snowfall in Cleveland, Ohio, put stores out of business for two days. There were four-foot (122 cm) drifts around Lake Huron. Power was out for several days across Michigan and Ontario, cutting off telephone and telegraph communications. A Chicago, Illinois, park project, eight years in the making, was destroyed in as many hours.
- April 2007
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow," the "Freshwater Fury," or the "White Hurricane," was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes basin in the United States Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario from November 7, 1913, to November 10, 1913.
The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to ever hit the lakes1, the Great Lakes Storm killed over 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others. The financial loss in vessels alone was nearly US$5 million, or about $100 million in present-day adjusted dollars. The large loss of cargo, including coal, iron ore, and grain, meant short-term rising prices for consumer products throughout North America.
The storm originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts, fuelled by the lakes' relatively warm waters—a seasonal process called a "November gale". It produced 90 mph (145 km/h) winds, waves over 35 feet (11 m) high, and whiteout snow squalls.
Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70 mph (110 km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region. Along the shoreline, blizzards shut down traffic and communication, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. A 22-inch (56 cm) snowfall in Cleveland, Ohio, put stores out of business for two days. There were four-foot (122 cm) drifts around Lake Huron. Power was out for several days across Michigan and Ontario, cutting off telephone and telegraph communications. A Chicago, Illinois, park project, eight years in the making, was destroyed in as many hours.
- March 2007
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow," the "Freshwater Fury," or the "White Hurricane," was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes basin in the United States Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario from November 7, 1913, to November 10, 1913.
The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to ever hit the lakes1, the Great Lakes Storm killed over 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others. The financial loss in vessels alone was nearly US$5 million, or about $100 million in present-day adjusted dollars. The large loss of cargo, including coal, iron ore, and grain, meant short-term rising prices for consumer products throughout North America.
The storm originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts, fuelled by the lakes' relatively warm waters—a seasonal process called a "November gale". It produced 90 mph (145 km/h) winds, waves over 35 feet (11 m) high, and whiteout snow squalls.
Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60 mph (100 km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70 mph (110 km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region. Along the shoreline, blizzards shut down traffic and communication, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. A 22-inch (56 cm) snowfall in Cleveland, Ohio, put stores out of business for two days. There were four-foot (122 cm) drifts around Lake Huron. Power was out for several days across Michigan and Ontario, cutting off telephone and telegraph communications. A Chicago, Illinois, park project, eight years in the making, was destroyed in as many hours.
- February 2007
The Tangshan earthquake of July 28, 1976 is one of the largest earthquakes to hit the modern world, in terms of the loss of life. The epicentre of the earthquake was near Tangshan in Hebei, China, an industrial city with approximately one million inhabitants. The earthquake left 242,419 people dead, according to official figures, though some sources offer much higher estimates. A further 164,581 people were recorded as being severely injured.
The earthquake hit in the early morning, at 03:42:53.8 local time (1976-Jul-27 19:42:53.8 UTC), and lasted for around 15 seconds. Many sources list it as 8.2 on the Richter scale, but Chinese Government's official sources state 7.8. It was followed by a major 7.1 magnitude aftershock some 15 hours later, increasing the death toll. It was the first earthquake in recent memory to score a direct hit on a major city. The large loss of life caused by the earthquake can be attributed to the time it struck and how suddenly it struck. The earthquake lacked foreshocks that usually come with earthquakes of this magnitude. It also struck at just before 4 AM leaving many people unprepared as they lay asleep. Tangshan was thought to be in a region with a relatively low risk of earthquakes. Very few buildings had been built to withstand an earthquake, and the city lies on unstable alluvial soil.
The earthquake devastated the city over an area roughly 4 miles by 5 miles. Many of the people who survived the initial earthquake were trapped under collapsed buildings and killed by a 7.1 magnitude aftershock 15 hours after the initial tremor; several aftershocks measuring 5.0 to 5.5 on the Richter scale followed later. 78% of the industrial buildings, 93% of the residential buildings, 80% of the water pumping stations, and 14% of the sewage pipes in Tangshan were destroyed or severely damaged. The seismic waves spread far, with damage in cities such as Qinhuangdao and Tianjin, and a few buildings as far away as Beijing, 140 km from the epicenter, were damaged. Even people in cities as far away as Xi'an felt the tremors of the earthquake.
- January 2007
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake took place on November 1, 1755, at 9:40 in the morning. It was one of the most destructive and deadly earthquakes in history, killing between 60,000 and 100,000 people. The quake was followed by a tsunami and fire, resulting in the near-total destruction of Lisbon. The earthquake accentuated political tensions in Portugal and profoundly disrupted the country's eighteenth-century colonial ambitions.
The event was widely discussed by European Enlightenment philosophers, and inspired major developments in theodicy and in the philosophy of the sublime. As the first earthquake studied scientifically for its effects over a large area, it signaled the birth of modern seismology. Geologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake approached magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent.
Of a Lisbon population of 275,000, up to 90,000 were killed. Another 10,000 were killed in Morocco. Eighty-five percent of Lisbon's buildings were destroyed, including famous palaces and libraries, as well as most examples of Portugal's distinctive 16th-century Manueline architecture. Several buildings that had suffered little earthquake damage were destroyed by the subsequent fire. The brand new Opera House, opened only six months before (under the ill-fated name Phoenix Opera), was burned to the ground. The Royal Ribeira Palace, which stood just beside the Tagus river in the modern square of Terreiro do Paço, was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami. Inside, the 70,000-volume royal library as well as hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Titian, Rubens, and Correggio, were lost. The precious royal archives disappeared together with detailed historical records of explorations by Vasco da Gama and other early navigators. The earthquake also damaged major churches in Lisbon, namely the Lisbon Cathedral, the Basilicas of São Paulo, Santa Catarina, São Vicente de Fora, and the Misericordia Church. The Royal Hospital of All Saints (the biggest public hospital at the time) in the Rossio square was consumed by fire and hundreds of patients burned to death. The tomb of national hero Nuno Álvares Pereira was also lost.
- December 2006
The Chernobyl disaster was an accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986 at 01:23 a.m., consisting of an explosion at the plant and subsequent radioactive contamination of the surrounding geographic area. The power plant is located at , near Pripyat, Ukraine, at the time part of the Soviet Union. It is regarded as the worst accident ever in the history of nuclear power. A plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, Ireland and eastern North America. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. About 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus, according to official post-Soviet data.
The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive. The now-independent countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with continuing and substantial decontamination and health care costs of the Chernobyl accident. It is difficult to tally accurately the number of deaths caused by the events at Chernobyl, as the Soviet-era cover-up made it difficult to track down victims. Lists were incomplete, and Soviet authorities later forbade doctors to cite "radiation" on death certificates. Most of the expected long-term fatalities, especially those from cancer, have not yet actually occurred, and will be difficult or even impossible to attribute specifically to the accident. Nearly 20 years after the disaster, according to the Chernobyl Forum, no evidence of increases in the solid cancers and, possibly more significantly, none of the widely expected increases in leukemia have been found in the population.
- November 2006
The Bath School disaster was a series of bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, USA, on May 18, 1927, which killed 45 people and injured 58. Most of the victims were children in second to sixth grades attending the Bath Consolidated School. The bombings constituted the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history, claiming more than three times as many victims as the Columbine High School massacre.
The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack.
On the morning of May 18, Kehoe first killed his wife and then set his farm buildings on fire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many of the people inside. Kehoe used a detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the school superintendent and killing and injuring several others. During the rescue efforts, searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of the school's south wing.
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- October 2006
The Tunguska event was an explosion that occurred at , near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River in what is now Evenk Autonomous Okrug, at 7:17 AM on June 30, 1908. The event is sometimes referred to as the great Siberian explosion.
The explosion was probably caused by the airburst of a meteorite or comet 6 to 10 kilometers (4–6 mi) above the Earth's surface. The energy of the blast was later estimated to be between 10 and 15 megatons of TNT, which would be equivalent to Castle Bravo, the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated by the US. It felled an estimated 60 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers (830 sq mi).
At around 7:15 a.m., Tungus natives and Russian settlers in the hills northwest of Lake Baikal observed a column of bluish light, nearly as bright as the Sun, moving across the sky. About 10 minutes later, there was a flash and a loud "knocking" sound similar to artillery fire that went in short bursts spaced increasingly wider apart. Eyewitnesses closer to the explosion reported the sound source moving during each barrage, east to north. The sounds were accompanied by a shock wave that knocked people off their feet and broke windows hundreds of miles away. The majority of eyewitnesses reported only the sounds and the tremors, and not the sighting of the explosion; to different eyewitnesses the sequence of events and their overall duration is also different.
The explosion registered on seismic stations across Eurasia, and produced fluctuations in atmospheric pressure strong enough to be detected by the recently invented barographs in Britain. Over the next few weeks, night skies were aglow such that one could read in their light. In the United States, several observatories noted a decrease in atmospheric transparency that lasted for several months.
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