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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 210 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Disasters
Andrew. This 1992 storm slammed into southern Florida, causing about 25 billion dollars in damage. In August 2002, officials with the National Hurricane Center--using damage reports--upgraded this storm to a Category 5 when it made landfall.
Exact totals on Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in August, 2005, are still in the preliminary stages, but may change the answer to this question in the very near future.
0. Praise goes to the U.S. Coast Guard International Ice Patrol, established in February 1914.
| In 1923, a massive earthquake struck Tokyo, killing 99,000 people. The quake, however, was not directly responsible for most of the deaths. What was? | Natural Disasters
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Firestorms immediately after the quake.. The earthquake set off several fires as it brought down power cables and shattered gas mains. Hundreds of other fires started when family cooking stoves fell to the ground, igniting the wood and paper from which most of the houses were built. Almost half the city was destroyed but almost all of the damage was caused by fire.
| What was the name of the city which was completely destroyed by Mont Pelee in Martinique when it erupted on May 8, 1902? | Natural Disasters
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St. Pierre. Only three people survived this disaster: a prisoner, named August Cyparis, who was in the basement of a stone jail in the {city;} a {priest;} and a man driving a pony carriage on the outskirts of town. The entire population of 28,000 perished except for these three men.
| Where did the worst quake disaster in terms of death and destruction ever recorded take place? | Natural Disasters
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Shenshi Province, China. An earthquake devastated China's densely populated Shenshi Province in 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people in the worst quake disaster ever recorded. Many victims were buried alive when their cave homes collapsed, and others perished from the famine and disease that followed.
200. Tsunamis can build in shallow water into crests that can be more than 200 feet high, with speeds of up to 490 mph. As they approach the land, they suck back the sea, beaching ships in harbors. The giant waves then crash into shores, causing enormous destruction.
Ishigaki-shima in the Ryukyu island chain. In April, 1971, the wave roared past Ishigaki-shima, the largest island in the Ryukyu island chain in the western Pacific Ocean. It was not known to cause any damage and dissipated its power in the open sea. Astonishingly, the largest wave known was NOT a {tsunami;} it was caused by a landslide that sent some 100 million tons of rock crashing into remove Lituya Bay in Alaska in 1958. The slide produced a single immense crest which swamped the hills on the opposite side of the bay to a height of nearly 1,700 feet and then raced harmlessly out to sea.
1883. Surprisingly, the explosion of the volcano itself killed no {one;} tsunamis which followed the violent explosion (which was heard as far as 3,000 miles away) killed 36,000 people.
| What was the name of the volcano which erupted in 1783 in Iceland, killing 1 in 5 of the island's inhabitants and opening up a fissure 18 miles long? | Natural Disasters
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Laki. Lava from this volcanic eruption covered an area of 221 square miles and caused disease and famine which killed more than 10,500 people and three-quarters of Iceland's livestock.
| Who witnessed and wrote about the eruption of Vesuvius and the resulting destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum? | Natural Disasters
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Pliny the Younger. The earliest recorded scientific account of a volcanic eruption was given in A.D. 79 by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius from a spot 20 miles away from the destruction.
Bubonic Plague (Black Death). The Mid-14th century Bubonic plague (Black Death) killed 75,000,000 people, by far the worst natural disaster based on commonly accepted data.
Clement L. Wragge. A 19th Century Australian weatherman named Clement L. Wragge started naming hurricanes with biblical names such as Sacar, Talmon and Uphaz. Later, a whistling U.S. radio operator started the 20th century system of naming hurricanes and typhoons. He was overheard whistling a line from a popular song, 'Louise,' just as reports of a storm were being broadcast during World War II. The storm was instantly named Louise and the custom caught on.
| The deadliest forest fires in U.S. history occurred near Peshtigo, Wisconsin in 1871. All 800 of the town's buildings were destroyed and 1,200 people burned to death. Many fled to the river, only to choke on gas or literally explode in the heat. Surviving artifacts of the blaze could fit in a lunch box. Why was little notice made of this disaster? | More Natural Disasters In World History
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It occurred the same day as the 'Great Chicago Fire'.. October 8, 1871.
| On Nov. 28, 1942, the story has it that members of the Boston College football team had scheduled a victory party at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. That night, an employee accidentally ignited a decorative palm tree, causing a fire. The resulting confusion in the smoke, combined with the front door being chained to discourage party crashers, led to the deaths of 474 people. Miraculously, none of the Boston College team was injured. Why? | Man Made Disasters 3
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They lost the game and cancelled the party. Boston College was trounced by underdog Holy Cross 55-12 and were too embarassed to show up. That decision saved their lives. Other saving graces in this disaster was the uncommon use of plasma to shock victims and use of the then unknown drug, penicillin, to burn victims.
| On September 19, 1902, patrons of a crowded Baptist church were awaiting a lecture by George Washington Carver when a panic ensued, causing a mad rush to the exits. 115 people were trampled to death. What caused the panic? | Man Made Disasters 3
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A fistfight. According to reports, a fistfight broke out outside the church. A call went out, wherein some misunderstood the word 'fight' with the word 'fire'. The panic ensued from there.
| In what community was it discovered a school and playground was constructed over 21,000 tons of industrial waste from the late 1950's through 1980? | Man Made Disasters 3
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Love Canal. From 1947 to 1953, Hooker Chemical and Plastics buried the waste in an unfinished canal in upstate New York named after the man who tried to build it, William T. Love. Through the period, heavy rains washed much of the waste from the canal through the school grounds into nearby homes. Over 30 percent of pregnant women miscarried. 20 percent of the children that survived pregnancy had birth defects and many died in infancy. In 1980, President Carter declared Love Canal a disaster area and residents were evacuated. It was declared 'clean' in 1990.
Static electricity. The official report lists the cause as 'St. Elmo's Fire', but most experts agree the explosion was caused by an electrical discharge between the fabric and the aluminum frame. The fabric was grounded to the frame, except for one panel. The accelerant was the doping on the fabric. Furthermore, hydrogen was used because the United States, which cornered the market on the more stable helium, was charging extravagent prices to Nazi Germany (A tip of the hat to 'M' for the extra info).
| Structural mismanagement and lack of knowledge about natural occurrences in the Puget Sound caused the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge to swing and sway abnormally during construction and its short life that ended with its collapse on November 7, 1940. What was the nickname given to this spectacle? | Man Made Disasters In World History II
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Galloping Gertie. Newsreel footage of the undulating bridge and it's collapse is amoung the most fantastic footage ever viewed.
| What disease caused the worst epidemic in the United States? | World Disasters
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Spanish influenza. 500,000 were killed by the Spanish influenza.
| What natural disaster occurred in San Francisco on April 18, 1906? | World Disasters
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earthquake. 500 were dead or missing.
| What natural disaster occurred in Portugal on November 1, 1755? | World Disasters
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earthquake. It was felt as far away as southern France and North Africa.
rebels destroyed it. It was destroyed by rebels killing 300,000.
| What would most likely occur in a state with snow-covered mountains? | World Disasters
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avalanche. It is common sense that an avalanche would most likely happen.
it was bombed. This caused the United States to join in World War 2.
typhoons. Yep, they are called typhoons (weird??).
| Of a mudslide or an avalanche, which would most likely occur in California? | World Disasters
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mudslide. They don't have much snow in California.
| What happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki which caused the end of World War 2? | World Disasters
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U.S. used atomic bombs. Atomic bombs were dropped and the Axis powers gave up with the last to give up, Japan.
American Airlines DC-10. This one is the hardest one. This was one of the worst plane disasters in the history of the U.S.
| The 1964 earthquake that struck Alaska occurred during which religious day of observance? | Famous Disasters
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Good Friday. One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in North America, registering 9.2 on the Richter scale, the Good Friday earthquake struck Alaska on March 27, 1964. The quake claimed 131 lives.
| What lighter-than-air gas was used to lift the doomed German airship Hindenburg? | Famous Disasters
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Hydrogen. Germany used hydrogen to lift the massive airship because the United States would not sell them any helium. Though hydrogen is lighter than helium, it is also highly flammable, a factor in the Hindenburg's demise at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937.
| Prior to the September 11, 2001 suicide attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, what city was the site of the worst air disaster in US history? | Famous Disasters
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Chicago. On May 25, 1979, one of the wing-mounted engines of an American Airlines DC-10 fell off the aircraft as it took off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The plane crashed shortly afterward, killing 273 passengers and crew and two people on the ground.
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