When History Repeats Trivia Quiz

Answer: SS Ramdas

The "Titanic" set sail from Southampton on April 10, 1912, stopping at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading west to New York. It sank on April 15, 1912, at about 2:20 am. The ship struck an iceberg on the starboard side and water spilled over the watertight bulkheads, causing the disaster. White Star Line owned and operated it.

"SS Ramdas" set sail from Bombay (now Mumbai), India, bound for Rewas (near Alibaug) in Maharashtra. The ship sank on July 17, 1947, at approximately 8:05 am IST. A monsoon storm and large waves struck the side of the ship, and panic-driven crowding on one side caused the ship to capsize and sink. Ramdas was a ferry that carried passengers along the coast, traveling from Bombay to Rewas. When the ship sank, there were 690 fatalities.

Answer: Black Saturday

The Black Tuesday bush fires occurred on February 7, 1967, in Tasmania, Australia. Extended drought, record-hot days, dry summer conditions, and gale-force winds ignited the fire. The affected land area was 264,270 hectares (652,360 acres). The incident resulted in 62 fatalities and 900 injuries and left 7,000 homeless. On February 7, 1967, temperatures soared past 39 °C (102° F) alongside gale-force winds exceeding 110 kilometers per hour (74 miles per hour).

The Black Saturday bush fires occurred on February 7, 2009, in Victoria, Australia. Extended drought, elevated temperatures, dry summer conditions, and gale-force winds, coupled with power line failures, arson, lightning, and machinery, caused the fire to ignite. The affected land area was 450,000 hectares, equivalent to approximately 1,111,974 acres. The incident resulted in 173 fatalities and the destruction of 2,000 houses. On February 7, 2009, temperatures soared past 46° C (115° F) alongside gale-force winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour).

Answer: Piper Alpha

Alexander L. Kielland was a Norwegian semi-submersible drilling rig that, on March 27, 1980, capsized in the Ekofisk oil field in the North Sea. The drilling rig capsized due to an inadequate weld and an anchor cable failure. The oil rig was owned by A. Gowart-Olsen A/S and operated by Stavanger Drilling II. On the evening of the accident, the weather included rain, dense fog, wind gusting to 74 kilometers per hour (46 miles per hour), and waves up to 12 meters (39 feet) high.

Piper Alpha was an oil platform in the North Sea about 190 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, that exploded and collapsed between 6 and 7 July 1988. A gas leak from a poorly secured condensate pump valve, along with poor communication, caused the disaster. Occidental Petroleum owned and operated the oil rig. The first explosion occurred at 10:00 pm and resulted in 167 fatalities.

Answer: Krakatoa

Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa that erupted on July 15, 1815. It was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. The eruption was caused by a buildup of immense gas and magma pressure within a deep underground magma chamber over hundreds of years.

The Mount Tambora eruption reached temperatures between 700 and 850 °C (1,290 and 1,560 °F). The eruption was an ultra-Plinian eruption; ash reached an estimated altitude of 40 to 43 kilometers (131,000 to 141,000 feet), and it caused 10,000 to 11,000 fatalities at the time, plus 49,000 to 90,000 people affected by volcanic effects.



Krakatoa is a volcanic island located in the Sunda Strait that started erupting on May 20, 1883, and ended on October 21, 1883. The eruption was caused by a tectonic subduction where the Indo-Australian Plate slid beneath the Sunda Plate.

The Krakatoa eruption reached temperatures of up to 600 °C (1,112 °F). The eruption was a Plinian eruption; ash reached an estimated altitude of 6 kilometers (20,000 feet), and an estimated 36,417 fatalities occurred.

Answer: The Black Death

The Plague of Justinian was a plague that occurred in Europe from AD 541 to AD 750, starting in the Egyptian port city of Pelusium. Distinct waves of the plague swept across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East before mysteriously vanishing. The plague spread through the bacterium "Yersinia pestis", the same microorganism that later spread via infected fleas living on black rats and caused the Black Death. Due to the lack of a census system between AD 541 and AD 750, the estimated death toll is 25 to 100 million people.

The Black Death was a plague that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. The plague spread across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Flea bites from rodents, particularly black rats, caused the plague. The plague wiped out 50% of the population, or 25,000,000 to 50,000,000.

Answer: The Oklahoma City Bombing

The Wall Street bombing was an act of terrorism on Wall Street in Manhattan, New York City. The bombing occurred on September 16, 1920, at approximately 12:01 pm EDT. The bomb was a horse-drawn wagon filled with 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of dynamite and 230 kilograms (500 pounds) of heavy cast-iron sash weights. The bombing was never solved and caused 30 fatalities, and an additional eight later died of wounds.

The Oklahoma City bombing was an act of terrorism using a truck placed outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The bombing occurred on April 19, 1995, at approximately 9:02 am CDT. The bomb was built using more than two tons of agricultural ammonium nitrate fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals, all housed in a Ryder moving truck, then lit. The bombing caused 168 fatalities, and an additional one later died of falling debris.

Answer: Harvey

Hurricane Katrina was an extremely powerful, catastrophic tropical cyclone that affected the Southeastern United States, particularly in and around New Orleans. The hurricane formed on August 23, 2005, and dissipated on August 31, 2005. Hurricane Katrina formed from a combination of a tropical wave, warm Gulf of Mexico waters, and a low-pressure system over the Bahamas. The hurricane caused $125 billion in damages and 1,392 fatalities.

Hurricane Harvey was a powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana. The hurricane formed on August 17, 2017, and dissipated on September 2, 2017. Hurricane Harvey formed off the coast of Africa and was mainly due to changes in high-altitude weather patterns, which caused it to move slowly and bring intense rainfall. The hurricane caused $125 billion in damages and 107 fatalities.

Answer: Rana Plaza

The Sampoong Department Store was a 9-level store with five above-ground floors and four basement levels in Seoul's Seocho District, South Korea. The collapse occurred on June 29, 1995, at 5:52 pm KST. Illegal structural modifications, severe overloading from an unauthorized fifth floor and rooftop air conditioning units, and poor construction practices caused the collapse. The collapse caused approximately $216 million in property damage; there were 937 injuries and 502 fatalities.

The Rana Plaza was a nine-story commercial building located in Savar Upazila, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The collapse occurred on April 24, 2013, at 08:45 am BST. Rana Plaza housed garment factories, commercial shops, and a financial institution. Extra unauthorized floors were added, and vibration and strain from machinery and large generators, along with large structural cracks, were ignored, causing the disaster. The collapse caused 2,500 injuries and 1,134 fatalities.

Answer: Soyuz 11

Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was a spacecraft planned as the first crewed mission of the United States Apollo program to land men on the Moon. The spacecraft was destroyed on January 27, 1967, at 11:31 pm UTC. A flash fire swept through the command module during a pre-launch ground test, causing the disaster. All three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee, perished in the disaster.

Soyuz 11 was a Russian spacecraft, the only crewed mission to board the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The spacecraft disaster occurred on June 29-30, 1971, at approximately 10:47 pm GMT. A premature opening of a breathing ventilation cabin pressure-equalization valve rapidly depressurized the descent module during re-entry preparations, causing the disaster. All three astronauts, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, perished in the disaster.

Answer: Fukushima Daiichi

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Reactor number 4 exploded at 1:23 am MSD on April 26, 1986. Structural design flaws, critical operator errors during a poorly planned safety test, and poor communication caused the disaster.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was in Ōkuma and Futaba, Fukushima, Japan. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began at 2:46 pm JST on March 11, 2011. A massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a 15-meter tsunami that caused the disaster, disabling the plant's emergency cooling systems and leading to nuclear meltdowns.