Climate & Environment in the 20th century

549 sourced entries, 1900 CE to 1999 CE, oldest first. Also see Climate & Environment across every century or everything else in the 20th century.

• 1900September 8 – The 1900 Galveston hurricane, killing around 8,000 people. It is the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history.source
• 1901February 26 – The Middelburg peace conference fails in South Africa, as Boers continue to demand autonomy.source
• 1901March 31 – A 7.2 Black Sea earthquake occurs off the northeast coast of Bulgaria, with a maximum intensity of X (Extreme). A destructive tsunami affects the province of Dobrich.source
• 1902April 19 – The 7.5 Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000.source
• 1902May 7 – La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent erupts, devastating the northern portion of the island and killing 2,000 peoplesource
• 1902May 8 – Mount Pelée in Martinique erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000.source
• 1902August 22 – A 7.7 earthquake shakes the border between China and Kyrgyzstan killing 10,000 people.source
• 1902August 30 – Mount Pelée again erupts in Martinique, destroying the town of Le Morne-Rouge and causing 1,000 deaths.source
• 1902October 24 – One of the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century occurs at Santa María in Guatemala; over 6,000 people die.source
• 1903April 29 – The 7.0 Manzikert earthquake affects eastern Turkey, leaving 3,500 dead.source
• 1903June 14 – The town of Heppner, Oregon is nearly destroyed by a cloud burst that results in a flash flood that kills about 238 people.source
• 1904April 4 – 1904 Kresna earthquakes: two earthquakes strike near Kresna, Bulgaria, killing at least 200 people.source
• 1904June 29 – The 1904 Moscow tornado occurs.source
• 1905April 4 – In India, the 1905 Kangra earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, kills 20,000 and destroys most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.source
• 1905April 28 – A tornado strikes Laredo, Texas and kills 100.source
• 1905May 10 – The 1905 Snyder tornado destroys the town of Snyder, Oklahoma, killing 97.source
• 1905July 1 – Hundreds of people die in the flooding of Guanajuato in Mexico.source
• 1905July 24 – The 1905 Bolnai earthquake (8.4 magnitude) strikes Mongolia, the second-largest on record here.source
• 1905September 8 – The 7.2 Calabria earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 557 and 2,500 people.source
• 1906January 31 – The Ecuador–Colombia earthquake (8.8 on the Moment magnitude scale), and associated tsunami, cause at least 500 deaths.source
• 1906April 18 – The San Francisco Earthquake (estimated magnitude 7.8) on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, California, killing at least 3,000, with 225,000–300,000 left homeless, and $350 million in damages.source
• 1906August 16 – 1906 Aleutian Islands earthquake: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.35 occurs off the Rat Islands in Alaska.source
• 1906August 16 – 1906 Valparaíso earthquake: A magnitude 8.2 earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile leaves nearly 4,000 dead and approximately 20,000 injured.source
• 1906September 18 – A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 in Hong Kong.source
• 1906December 22 – The 7.9 1906 Manasi earthquake in Xinjiang, China, kills nearly 300 people.source
• 1907January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 M w earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.source
• 1907c. March 28 – The volcano Ksudach erupts, in the Kamchatka Peninsula.source
• 1908December 28 – The 7.1 Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.source
• 1908This is the coldest recorded year since 1880, according to NASA reports.source
• 1909April 23 – In Portugal, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Lisbon, killing at least 60 people.source
• 1909October 8 – An earthquake in the Zagreb area leads Andrija Mohorovičić to identify the Mohorovičić discontinuity.source
• 1910January 21 – The Great Flood of Paris begins when the Seine overflows its banks.source
• 1910March 1 – The Wellington, Washington avalanche sweeps away two Great Northern Railway (U.S.) passenger trains in the Cascade Mountains, killing 96, making it the worst snowslide accident in United States history.source
• 1910August 20 – The Great Fire of 1910 ("Big Blowup"), a wildfire that burns 4,700 square miles in the Inland Northwest of the United States, due to dry weather.source
• 1910October 7 – Baudette fire of 1910, a wildfire that burns ca. 350,000 square miles in Minnesota and Ontario, including several towns.source
• 1911January 3 – 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 8.0 moment magnitude strikes near Almaty in Russian Turkestan, killing 450 or more people.source
• 1911February 18 – A serious earthquake causes a landslide that creates Lake Sarez in modern-day Tajikistan.source
• 1911June 7 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco Madero arrives in Mexico City, just after the 1911 Michoacán earthquake.source
• 1912June 6 – The Novarupta volcano is formed in Alaska by a VEI 6 eruption, the world's largest (in terms of matter emitted) in the 20th century.source
• 1912June 30 – Regina Cyclone: Canada's deadliest tornado strikes Regina, Saskatchewan, killing 28 people.source
• 1912August 29 – A typhoon strikes China, killing at least 50,000 people.source
• 1913March 25 – The Great Dayton Flood, after four days of rain in the Miami Valley, kills over 360 and destroys 20,000 homes (chiefly in Dayton, Ohio).source
• 1913July 10 – Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the all-time highest temperature recorded on Earth (although its validity has been challenged, and in 2020 a temperature of 54.4 °C °F was recorded at the same location, which would make it the world's highest verified air temperature, subject to confirmation).source
• 1914January 11 – The Sakurajima volcano in Japan begins to erupt, becoming effusive after a large earthquake on January 13. The lava flow causes the island which it forms to be linked to the Ōsumi Peninsula.source
• 1914February 17 – Karl Staaff steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden in the aftermath of the Courtyard Crisis. He is replaced by Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, father of Dag Hammarskjöld.source
• 1914October 4 – The 1914 Burdur earthquake occurs in Turkey.source
• 1915January 13 – 1915 Avezzano earthquake hits Italy, around 30,000 people are killed.source
• 1915March 2 – Armenian genocide: Earliest recorded deportations.source
• 1915May 22 – Lassen Peak, one of the Cascade Volcanoes in California, erupts, sending an ash plume 30,000 feet in the air, and devastating the nearby area with pyroclastic flows and lahars. It is the only volcano to erupt in the contiguous United States this century, until the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.source
• 1915August 5–23 – Hurricane Two of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season over Galveston and New Orleans leaves 275 dead.source
• 1916August 9 – Lassen Volcanic National Park is established in California.source
• 1916December 12 – "White Friday": In the Dolomites, 100 avalanches bury at least 2,000 Austrian and Italian soldiers.source
• 1917March 7 – "Livery Stable Blues", recorded with "Dixie Jazz Band One Step" on February 26, by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in the United States, becomes the first jazz recording commercially released. On August 17 the band records "Tiger Rag".source
• 1917May 26 – A tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois, causing devastation and killing 101 people.source
• 1918February 13 – A magnitude (M w ) 7.2 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Shantou leaving 1,000 dead and causing a moderate tsunami.source
• 1918May 20 – The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the third year in a row, on the same date, by a tornado.source
• 1918October 11 – The magnitude (M w ) 7.1 San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributes to the damage and loss of life.source
• 1918December 6 – A magnitude (M w ) 7.2 earthquake shakes British Columbia.source
• 1918December 28 – Sinn Féin enjoys a landslide victory of the Irish seats at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. In accordance with their manifesto, Sinn Féin members will not take their seats in the Palace of Westminster but will form the First Dáil in Dublin. Countess Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison (London), becomes the first woman elected to (but does not take her seat in) the British House of Commons.source
• 1919January 15 – Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 people and injuring 150.source
• 1919May 4 – The May Fourth Movement erupts in China as a result of the decision at the Paris Peace Conference to transfer former German concessions in Jiaozhou Bay to Japan rather than return sovereign authority to China.source
• 1919May 19 – Volcano Kelud erupts in Java, killing about 5,000.source
• 1919September 10–15 – The Florida Keys hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Texas.source
• 1920February 20 – 1920 Gori earthquake: An earthquake hits Gori in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, killing 114.source
• 1920April 4 – 1920 Palestine riots: Violence erupts between Arab and Jewish residents in Jerusalem; 9 are killed, 216 injured.source
• 1920May 29 – Floods at Louth, Lincolnshire in England kill 23.source
• 1920December 16 – An 8.2 Richter scale Haiyuan earthquake causes a landslide in Gansu Province, China, killing 273,000.source
• 1921May 14–15 – The major May 1921 geomagnetic storm occurs.source
• 1921Spring – Russian famine of 1921–22 begins; roughly 5,000,000 die.source
• 1922August 2 – The 1922 Swatow typhoon hits Shantou, China, killing more than 5,000 people.source
• 1922The Barbary lion becomes extinct in the wild, with the last killed in Morocco, in the area of the Zelan and Beni Mguild Forests.source
• 1922The Amur tiger becomes extinct in South Korea.source
• 1923May 9 – Southeastern Michigan receives a record 15 cm in of snow, after temperatures plummeted from 17 °F °C to 1 °F °C between 1 and 6 pm on the previous day.source
• 1923June 18 – Mount Etna erupts in Italy, making 60,000 homeless.source
• 1923August 30 – Hurricane season begins, with a tropical storm northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands.source
• 1923September 1 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing more than 100,000 people.source
• 1923September 17 – 1923 Berkeley fire: A major fire in Berkeley, California, erupts, consuming some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California.source
• 1923October 14 – The fourth tropical storm of the year forms just north of Panama.source
• 1923October 15 – The fifth tropical storm of the year forms north of the Leeward Islands.source
• 1923October 16 – A sixth tropical storm develops in the Gulf of Mexico; a rare occurrence, it consists of four active tropical storms simultaneously.source
• 1924June 13 – In Hungary, a devastating tornado, "Wildkansas", strikes, in 3 hours leaving a 500–1500m wide and 70 km long path of destruction from landfall at Bia to its end near Vác, completely destroying the village of Páty. 9 people are killed, 50 injured and many left homeless by one of the strongest tornadoes ever not only in Hungary but in Europe, estimated as F4.source
• 1924November – The last known sighting of a California grizzly bear is recorded, by Colonel John R. White at Sequoia National Park.source
• 1925February 28 – The 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.source
• 1925March 16 – At 22:42 local time a 7.0 earthquake shakes the Chinese province of Yunnan killing 5,000 people.source
• 1925March 18 – The Tri-State Tornado, the deadliest in U.S. history, rampages through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695 people and injuring 2,027. It hits the towns of Murphysboro, Illinois; West Frankfort, Illinois; Gorham, Illinois; Ellington, Missouri; and Griffin, Indiana.source
• 1925June 29 – The 6.8 Santa Barbara earthquake affects the central coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), destroying much of downtown Santa Barbara, California and leaving 13 people dead.source
• 1926September 18 – Great Miami Hurricane: A strong hurricane devastates Miami, leaving over 100 dead and causing several hundred million dollars in damage (equal to nearly $100 billion in the modern day).source
• 1926October 20 – A hurricane kills 650 in Cuba.source
• 1927February 14 – A magnitude 6.1 earthquake, with a maximum MSK intensity of VII–VIII (Very strong – Damaging), kills 50 in Yugoslavia.source
• 1927March 7 – 1927 Kita Tango earthquake: A 7.0 earthquake kills at least 2,925 in the Toyooka and Mineyama areas of western Honshu, in Japan.source
• 1927April 22–May 5 – The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 strikes 700,000 people, in the greatest natural disaster in American history through this time.source
• 1927May 22 – The 7.6 Gulang earthquake affects Gansu in northwest China with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), leaving over 40,000 dead.source
• 1927June – The volcanic island of Anak Krakatau begins to form in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia.source
• 1927July 11 – The 1927 Jericho earthquake strikes Palestine, killing around 300 people; it is the largest ever recorded in this part of the Middle East. The effects are especially severe in Nablus, but damage and fatalities are also reported in many areas of Palestine and Transjordan, such as Amman, Salt, Jordan, and Lydda.source
• 1927August 24–25 – The 1927 Nova Scotia hurricane hits the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, causing massive damage and at least 56 deaths.source
• 1927September 29 – The East St. Louis Tornado kills 79 people and injures 550, the 2nd costliest and at least 24th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.source
• 1927November 3–4 – Great Vermont Flood of 1927: Floods devastating Vermont cause the "worst natural disaster in the state's history".source
• 1927December 29 – Eruption of the Perboewatan and Danan undersea volcanoes near Krakatoa, create the foundation for Anak Krakatau Island.source
• 1928January 26 – The volcanic island Anak Krakatau appears.source
• 1928April 14 – An earthquake occurs in Chirpan, Bulgaria, followed four days later by another in Plovdiv. Between them, they destroy more than 21,000 buildings, and kill almost 130 people.source
• 1928April 22 – An Ms 6.0 earthquake affects southern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 20 dead, and destroying 3,000 homes in Corinth; a non-destructive tsunami is also observed.source
• 1928April 28 – 28 inches of snow fall in southern-central Pennsylvania, United States.source
• 1928September 12 – The Okeechobee hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing 1,200 people.source
• 1928September 16 – The Okeechobee hurricane kills at least 2,500 people in Florida.source
• 1929May 1 – The 7.2 Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran-Turkmenistan border region, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.source
• 1929November 18 – The 1929 Grand Banks earthquake occurs.source
• 1930March 6 – The first frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye go on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts.source
• 1930May 6 – The 7.1 Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent); up to 3,000 people are killed.source
• 1930August – The volcanic island of Anak Krakatau begins to form permanently in the Sunda Strait.source
• 1930September 3 – The huge 1930 San Zenón hurricane in the Caribbean demolishes most of the city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.source
• 1930November 25 – An earthquake in the Izu Peninsula of Japan kills 223 people and destroys 650 buildings.source
• 1930December 19 – Mount Merapi volcano in central Java, Indonesia, erupts, destroying numerous villages and killing 1,300 people.source
• 1931March 31 – An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000 people.source
• 1931June–November – 1931 China flood: the Yangtze and Huai Rivers flood in a populous region, leaving an estimated 422,000 dead (150,000 drowned) with many more dying of consequential starvation and disease in the aftermath.source
• 1931July 20 – A violent tornado strikes the city of Lublin, Poland.source
• 1931September 10 – The worst hurricane in British Honduras history kills an estimated 1,500.source
• 1931October 27 – The United Kingdom general election results in the victory of the National Government, and the defeat of Labour Party, in the country's greatest ever electoral landslide.source
• 1931November 8 – The Panama Canal is closed for a couple of weeks, due to damage caused by earthquakes.source
• 1932April 25 – The bodies of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and Jabir ibn Abd Allah, two of the companions of Islamic prophet Muhammad, are moved from their graves in Salmaan Paak following a dream of King Faisal I of Iraq that they are affected by water.source
• 1932July 12 – Hedley Verity establishes a new first-class cricket record by taking all ten wickets for only ten runs against Nottinghamshire on a pitch affected by a storm.source
• 1932August 10 – A 5.1 kg chondrite-type meteorite breaks into fragments and strikes earth near the town of Archie, Missouri, United States.source
• 1932September 22 – Soviet famine of 1932–33 begins; millions starve to death as a result of forced collectivization and as part of the government's effort to break rural resistance to its policies. The Soviet regime denies the famine and allows the deaths.source
• 1932November 8 – 1932 United States presidential election: Democratic governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory, having promised a New Deal and repeal of Prohibition.source
• 1932November 9 – A hurricane and huge waves kill about 2,500 in Santa Cruz del Sur in the worst natural disaster in Cuban history.source
• 1932December 25 – The 7.6 Changma earthquake shakes the Gansu Province in China with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Two-hundred and seventy-five people are killed.source
• 1932The heath hen becomes extinct in North America.source
• 1933February 6–7 – Officers on the USS Ramapo record a 34-meter high sea wave in the Pacific Ocean.source
• 1933March 3 – 1933 Sanriku earthquake: A powerful earthquake and tsunami hit Honshū, Japan, killing approximately 3,000 people.source
• 1933March 10 – The 6.4 Long Beach earthquake shakes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 115 people.source
• 1933March 29 – Welsh journalist Gareth Jones makes the first report in the West of the Holodomor famine genocide in Ukraine.source
• 1933June – The Holodomor famine-genocide in Ukraine reaches its peak, with 30,000 deaths from human-made starvation each day. The average life expectancy for a Ukrainian male born this year is 7.3 years.source
• 1933August 25 – The Diexi earthquake shakes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.source
• 1933September 26 – 1933 Tampico hurricane: A hurricane destroys the town of Tampico, Mexico.source
• 1933November 11 – Dust Bowl: In South Dakota, a very strong dust storm ("the great black blizzard") strips topsoil from desiccated farmlands (one of a series of disastrous dust storms this year).source
• 1934January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people.source
• 1934September 21 – The Muroto typhoon in Honshū, Japan kills 3,036 people, and destroys the temple, schools, and other buildings in Osaka.source
• 1934October 2 – A typhoon in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, kills 1,660, injures 5,400, and destroys the rice harvest.source
• 1935April 14 – Dust Bowl: "Black Sunday", the great dust storm in the United States hits eastern New Mexico and Colorado, and western Oklahoma the hardest (it will be made famous by Woody Guthrie, in his "dust bowl ballads").source
• 1935May 31 – 1935 Quetta earthquake: A 7.1 magnitude earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan, killing 40,000.source
• 1935September 2 – 1935 Labor Day hurricane: The strongest hurricane ever to strike the United States landfalls in the Upper Florida Keys as a Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds, killing 423.source
• 1935October 10 – A tornado destroys the 160 m ft wooden radio tower in Langenberg, Germany. As a result of this catastrophe, wooden radio towers are phased out.source
• 1936April 5 – A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, United States, killing 216 people and injuring over 700 (the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history).source
• 1936June 19 – Per Albin Hansson resigns as Prime Minister of Sweden, over the issue of defence policy. He is replaced by the leader of the Farmer's League (Bondeförbundet) Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, who also becomes Minister of Agriculture.source
• 1936November 3 – 1936 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term, in a landslide victory over Kansas Governor Alf Landon; farmers support Roosevelt.source
• 1936West China Famine: An estimated five million people die.source
• 1937January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into February, leaving 1 million people homeless and 385 people dead.source
• 1937September 2 – The Great Hong Kong Typhoon kills an estimated 11,000 persons.source
• 1938June 5 & 7 – The 1938 Yellow River flood is created by the Nationalist government in central China, breaching embankments during the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War, in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of Japanese forces. The flood kills at least 400,000, covers and destroys thousands of square kilometers of farmland, and shifts the mouth of the Yellow River hundreds of kilometers to the south.source
• 1938September 21 – The 1938 New England hurricane in the United States strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and 600 altogether.source
• 1938December 23 – A coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, is caught off the coast of South Africa, near the Chalumna River.source
• 1938December 27 – A massive avalanche of snow hits a construction worker dormitory site in Kurobe, Japan, killing 87 people.source
• 1939January 24 – 1939 Chillán earthquake: An earthquake in Chile kills an estimated 30,000 people and razes about 50,000 sqmi km2 of land.source
• 1939December 27 – The 7.8 Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme), causing $20 million in damage, and leaving 32,700–32,968 dead.source
• 1940June 30 – The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is placed under the Department of the Interior.source
• 1940November 10 – 1940 Vrancea earthquake: An earthquake in Romania kills 1,000.source
• 1941September 12 – WWII: The first snowfall is reported on the Russian front.source
• 1941September 23 – The 1941 Texas hurricane makes landfall near Bay City, Texas, causing extensive damage and flooding in Galveston and Houston.source
• 1941October 2 – WWII: Operation Typhoon begins, as Germany launches an all-out offensive against Moscow.source
• 1941December 8 – WWII: The German advance on Moscow (Operation Typhoon) is suspended for the winter.source
• 1941December 13 – Sweden's low temperature record of −53 °C is set in a village within the Vilhelmina Municipality.source
• 1942Operation Typhoon, the German attempt to take Moscow, ends in failure.source
• 1942July 31 – The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (Oxfam) is founded in England.source
• 1942September 9 – WWII: A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary devices at Mount Emily, near Brookings, Oregon, in the first of two "Lookout Air Raids", the first bombing of the continental United States.source
• 1942October 16 – A cyclone and consequential floods in the Bay of Bengal kill 40,000 people, with particularly heavy damage around Contai.source
• 1942December 22 – An avalanche in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, kills 26, including Vulcan Crucible Steel heir-apparent Samuel A. Stafford Sr., when two 100 ton boulders fall on a bus filled with wartime steelworkers on their way home.source
• 1943February 20 – The Parícutin volcano begins to appear in a cornfield in Mexico.source
• 1943June 30 – The United States Civilian Conservation Corps is abolished.source
• 1943September 9 – WWII: Operation Avalanche: 170,000 British and American troops land near Salerno.source
• 1943November 27 – The 1943 Tosya–Ladik earthquake in Turkey kills thousands.source
• 1944January 15 – 1944 San Juan earthquake: An earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina, killing an estimated 10,000 people, in the worst natural disaster in Argentina's history.source
• 1944March 18 – The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26, and causes thousands to flee their homes.source
• 1944Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort and is succeeded on July 22 by Kuniaki Koiso.source
• 1944September 14 – The Great Atlantic hurricane makes landfall killing 390 people from North Carolina to New England.source
• 1944September – The Dutch famine ("Hongerwinter") begins, in the occupied northern part of the Netherlands.source
• 1944December 7 – 1944 Tōnankai earthquake: An earthquake along the coast of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan causes a tsunami which kills 1223 people.source
• 1945June 11 – The Franck Committee recommends against a surprise nuclear bombing of Japan.source
• 1945July 16 – The Trinity nuclear test in New Mexico, the first of an atomic bomb, using about six kilograms of plutonium, succeeds in unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 22 kilotons of TNT.source
• 1945September 15–16 – 1945 Homestead hurricane: The ninth tropical storm of the season makes landfall in Florida, the first intense storm to do so in the state since 1935. It affects Key Largo and Dade County, killing 4 people in Florida and 22 others in the Bahamas and in the Turks and Caicos Islands.source
• 1945September 18 – Typhoon Makurazaki kills 3,746 people in Japan.source
• 1945November 28 – The 1945 Balochistan earthquake causes a tsunami and kills 4,000.source
• 1946April 1 – The 8.6 Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in many deaths, mostly in Hilo. Between 165 and 173 are killed.source
• 1946May 23–24 – A two-day violent tornado outbreak occurs across the Central United States, with at least 15 significant tornadoes killing four people and injuring 42 others.source
• 1946June 23 – 1946 French India municipal election: The National Democratic Front wins a landslide victory.source
• 1946June 23 – The 7.5 Vancouver Island earthquake affects the island, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Two people are killed.source
• 1946August 4 – The 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake (magnitude 8.0) hits the northern Dominican Republic, killing 100 and leaving 20,000 homeless.source
• 1946September 4 – Street violence between Muslims and Hindus erupts in Bombay.source
• 1946November 10 – At least 1,400 people are killed when the 6.8–7.0 Ancash earthquake affects the Quiches District of Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme).source
• 1946December 21 – 1946 Nankai earthquake: At least 1,362 people are killed in an earthquake and associated tsunami in Japan.source
• 1947February 3 – The lowest air temperature in North America (−63 degrees Celsius) was recorded in Snag, in the Yukon Territory.source
• 1947February 12 – The fragments of a meteorite create a number of impact craters up to 36 metres wide in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.source
• 1947March 14 – The Thames flood and other widespread flooding occurs, as the exceptionally harsh British winter of 1946–1947 ends in a thaw.source
• 1947April 9 – Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 184 and injuring 970.source
• 1947September 15–16 – Typhoon Kathleen strikes the Bōsō Peninsula and the entire Kantō region in Japan. Heavy rains cause the Arakawa and Tone Rivers to overflow and embankment collapse. The resulting floods and debris flow kill between 1,077 and 1,920 people, injuring 1,547 and leaving 853 missing.source
• 1947September 17–21 – The 1947 Fort Lauderdale hurricane in southeastern Florida, and also in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana causes widespread damage, and kills 50 people.source
• 1948June 28 – The 6.8 Fukui earthquake strikes Fukui, Japan; 3,769 are killed, 22,203 injured.source
• 1948August 14 – Beaver drop, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers from Northwestern Idaho to the Chamberlain Basin in Central Idaho. The program involves parachuting beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.source
• 1948October 6 – 1948 Ashgabat earthquake: A 7.3 earthquake near Ashgabat, Soviet Turkmenistan kills 10,000–110,000.source
• 1948December 2 – The United States House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenas and retrieves the "Pumpkin Papers" from the farm of Whittaker Chambers.source
• 1949July 24 (St John's Day) – Eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma begins.source
• 1949August 5 – In Ecuador, the 6.8 Ambato earthquake kills more than 5,000, and destroys a number of villages.source
• 1949August 21 – The 1949 Queen Charlotte Islands earthquake is Canada's largest earthquake since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake.source
• 1949October 13 – Severe flooding hits Guatemala.source
• 1949December 15 – A typhoon strikes a fishing fleet off Korea, killing several thousand.source
• 1950February – The Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery of the United Nations is formally inaugurated with its first meeting at Lake Success in February 1950.source
• 1950June 1–23 – Mauna Loa in Hawaii starts erupting.source
• 1950August 15 – The 8.6 Assam–Tibet earthquake shakes the region, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing about 4,800 people.source
• 1951January 20 – Winter of Terror: Avalanches in the Alps kill 240 and bury 45,000 for a time, in Switzerland, Austria and Italy.source
• 1951January 21 – Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea erupts catastrophically, killing nearly 3,000 people and causing great devastation in Oro Province.source
• 1951November 20 – The Po River floods in northern Italy.source
• 1951December 17 – We Charge Genocide, a petition describing genocide against African Americans, is delivered to the United Nations.source
• 1952February 25 – The Parícutin active volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico, ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava, and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro.source
• 1952March 15–16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall in one day up to that time.source
• 1952March 21 – Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.source
• 1952June 10 – 1952 San Juan earthquake. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake kills five people on Argentina's San Juan Province.source
• 1952July 21 – The 7.3 Kern County earthquake strikes California's southern Central Valley with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.source
• 1952August 16 – Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.source
• 1952August 18 – A 7.5 earthquake shakes the Tibet region leaving a balance of 54 fatalities.source
• 1952August 22 – The most damaging aftershock of the 1952 Kern County earthquake sequence strikes with a moment magnitude of 5.8, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This event damages several hundred buildings in Bakersfield, California, with total additional losses of $10 million, with two associated deaths and some injuries.source
• 1952September 18 – The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.source
• 1952November 5 – The 9.0 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake hits the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). A tsunami took the lives of more than 2,300 people.source
• 1953January 31–February 1 – The North Sea flood of 1953 kills 1,836 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especially Zeeland), 307 in the United Kingdom, and several hundred at sea, including 133 on the ferry in the Irish Sea.source
• 1953February 1 – The surge of the North Sea flood continues from the previous day.source
• 1953March 18 – The Yenice–Gönen earthquake affects western Turkey, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (violent), causing at least 1,070 deaths, and $3.57 million in damage.source
• 1953June 9 – On the third day of the Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, a tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado the day before hits in Worcester, Massachusetts, killing 94.source
• 1953August 12 – The 1953 Ionian earthquake of magnitude 7.2 totally devastates Cephalonia and most of the other Ionian Islands, in Greece's worst natural disaster in centuries.source
• 1954January 12 – Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200.source
• 1954March 1 – U.S. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test (Castle Bravo) has been conducted, on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The explosion produces a yield of 15 megatons TNT instead of the predicted 5 MT; the Japanese fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryū Maru is caught up inside the fallout zone, some 80 miles from the explosion with several of her crew members suffering from radiation sickness as a consequence.source
• 1954April 11 – This day is denoted as the most boring day in the 20th century by True Knowledge, an answer engine developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe. No significant newsworthy events, births, or deaths are known to have happened on this day.source
• 1954September 9 – The 6.7 Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The shock destroys Orléansville, leaving 1,243–1,409 dead, and 5,000 injured.source
• 1954October 11 – Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000.source
• 1954October 15 – Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolinasource
• 1954October 25 – Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300.source
• 1955August 19 – Hurricane Diane hits the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people and causing over $1 billion in damage.source
• 1955September 3 – Little Richard records "Tutti Frutti" in New Orleans; it is released in October.source
• 1955September 19 – Hurricane Hilda kills about 200 people in Mexico.source
• 1955September 21–30 – Hurricane Janet, one of the strongest North Atlantic tropical cyclones on record, sweeps the Lesser Antilles and Mexico, causing more than 1,020 deaths.source
• 1956April 19 – The 5.0 1956 Atarfe-Albolote earthquake strikes southern Spain killing 12 and injuring dozens more.source
• 1956May 23 – French minister Pierre Mendès France resigns, due to his government's policy on Algeria.source
• 1956July 9 – The 7.7 Amorgos earthquake shakes the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shaking and the subsequent tsunami leave 53 people dead.source
• 1956November 23 – The Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.source
• 1957April 24–25 – The 1957 Fethiye earthquakes occur on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.source
• 1957June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, U.S., killing 400 people.source
• 1957October 10 – Windscale fire: Fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor on the north-west coast of England releases radioactive material into the surrounding environment, including iodine-131.source
• 1957November 13 – Flooding in the Po Valley of Italy leads to flooding also in Venice.source
• 1957December 4 – 1957 Bayankhongor Earthquake in Mongolia kills 30+ peoplesource
• 1957December 18 – A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.source
• 1958July 9 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches 525 m on the rim of Lituya Bay.source
• 1958September 27 – Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.source
• 1958September 27 – Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 people in Honshū, Japan.source
• 1959March 1 – The , , and are stricken from the United States Naval Vessel Register.source
• 1959August 8 – A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.source
• 1959The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.source
• 1959September 26 – Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, Japan, as a 160 mph kph Category 5 storm, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.source
• 1959December 11 – Charles Robberts Swart is appointed the 11th Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.source
• 1959The Caspian tiger becomes extinct in Iran.source
• 1960February 29 – The 5.7 Agadir Earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.source
• 1960May 22 – The 9.5 Valdivia earthquake affects Chile with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). This megathrust earthquake ruptures from Arauco to Chiloé Archipelago, causing the most powerful earthquake on record and a destructive basin-wide tsunami.source
• 1960June 9 – 1960 Pacific typhoon season: Typhoon Mary kills 1,600 people in China.source
• 1960August 29 – Hurricane Donna kills 50 people in Florida and New England, United States.source
• 1960October 12 – Cold War: Shoe-banging incident – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, his way of protesting the discussion of the Soviet Union's policies toward Eastern Europe.source
• 1960c. October 31 – Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Ten makes landfall in East Pakistan, followed by a storm surge, just three weeks after a previous storm devastated the country.source
• 1961May 22 – 1961 New South Wales earthquake.source
• 1961June 1 – Ethiopia experiences its most devastating earthquake of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 6.7. The town of Majete is destroyed, 45% of the houses in Karakore collapse, 17 km mi of the main road north of Karakore are damaged by landslides and fissures, and 5,000 inhabitants in the area are left homeless.source
• 1961October 10 – A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha causes the whole population to be evacuated to Britain, where they will remain until 1963.source
• 1961October 31 – Hurricane Hattie devastates Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan.source
• 1961November 17 – Michael Rockefeller, son of Governor of New York and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea.source
• 1962February 17 – Heavy storms and high tides result in the North Sea flood of 1962 on Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die and thousands lose their homes.source
• 1962September 1 – Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, killing at least 130 and injuring more than 600.source
• 1962September 26 – The North Yemen Civil War erupts.source
• 1962September 27 – A flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, kills more than 440 people.source
• 1962October 8 – Spiegel affair: German magazine Der Spiegel publishes an article revealing NATO criticism of the Bundeswehr (West German defence forces)' poor preparedness; a political scandal erupts.source
• 1962October 20 – The Sino-Indian War, a border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (India and the People's Republic of China), erupts into fighting.source
• 1962December 30 – An unexpected storm buries Maine under five feet of snow, forcing the Bangor Daily News to miss a publication date for the only time in history. The same day, also, the Netherlands are covered with several feet of snow.source
• 1963February 21 – The 5.6 Marj earthquake affects northern Libya with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 290–375 deaths and 375–500 injuries.source
• 1963March 17 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali, killing approximately 1,500.source
• 1963July 26 – An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia) leaves 1,800 dead.source
• 1963October 4 – Hurricane Flora, one of the worst Atlantic storms in history, hits Hispaniola and Cuba, killing nearly 7,000 people.source
• 1963October 9 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.source
• 1963November 9 – Two disasters in Japan:source
• 1963November 14 – A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey.source
• 1963December 21 – Cyprus Emergency: Inter-communal fighting erupts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.source
• 1964March 27 (Good Friday) – The Great Alaskan earthquake, the second-most powerful known (and the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history) at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.source
• 1964December 18 – The Christmas flood of 1964 begins in the United States, affecting the Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California. It will continue until January 7, resulting in 19 deaths, serious damage to buildings, roads and bridges, and the loss of 4,000 head of livestock.source
• 1964December 22 – A cyclone in the Palk Strait destroys the Indian town of Dhanushkodi, killing 1800 people.source
• 1965March 28 – At least 400 are killed or missing after an earthquake triggered a series of dam failures in La Ligua, Chile.source
• 1965September 28 – Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts, killing hundreds.source
• 1965October 7 – Seven Japanese fishing boats are sunk off Guam by Super Typhoon Carmen; 209 are killed.source
• 1966March 3 – A F5 tornado strikes Mississippi and Alabama, causing catastrophic damage over its 200 miles, and kills 57 peoplesource
• 1966March 22 – in the Chinese city of Xingtai a magnitude 6.8 earthquake leaves more than 8,000 dead and 38,000 injured.source
• 1966April 26 – The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.source
• 1966June 8 – 1966 Topeka tornado: Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita scale, the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, and the campus of Washburn University suffers catastrophic damage.source
• 1966August 19 – The 6.8 Varto earthquake affects the town of Varto in eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing at least 2,394–3,000 and injuring at least 1,420.source
• 1966September 29 – Hurricane Inez strikes Hispaniola, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands homeless in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.source
• 1966October 5 – An experimental breeder reactor at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan suffers a partial meltdown when its cooling system fails.source
• 1966November 4 – 1966 flood of the Arno river in Italy hits Florence, flooding it to a maximum depth of 6.7 m ft, leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. In addition, a severe tidal flood hits Venice.source
• 1967January 26 – The largest-ever blizzard to hit the US city of Chicago begins.source
• 1967June 24 – Flooding kills six cavers in Mossdale Caverns in the United Kingdom, the single deadliest incident in British caving.source
• 1967July 10 – Heavy massive rains and a landslide at Kobe and Kure, Hiroshima, Japan, kill at least 371.source
• 1967July 29 – An earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela leaves 240 dead.source
• 1967November 26 – Major floods hit Lisbon, Portugal, killing 462.source
• 1967December 4 – At 6:50 PM, a volcano erupts on Deception Island in Antarctica.source
• 1967December 17 – Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia, disappears when swimming at Cheviot Beach, 60 km from Melbourne. He was briefly replaced as prime minister by John McEwen, until the Liberal Party elected Minister for Education and Science John Gorton as leader.source
• 1968January 15 – The 1968 Belice earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000.source
• 1968April 10 – The ferry strikes a reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, in Cyclone Giselle, which has created the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.source
• 1968July 29 – Arenal Volcano erupts in Costa Rica for the first time in centuries.source
• 1968October 31 – Great Drought of 1968: Amidst a collapse of hydropower President of Chile Eduardo Frei Montalva decrees the establishment of daylight saving time.source
• 1968November 17 – The "Heidi Game": NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders–New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.source
• 1969February 28 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco.source
• 1969July 26 – A 6.4 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Yangjiang destroying thousands of homes and killing 3,000 people.source
• 1969August 17 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast of the United States, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 USD).source
• 1970January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 10,000 and 14,621 are killed and 30,000 injured.source
• 1970February 10 – An avalanche at Val-d'Isère, France, kills 41 tourists.source
• 1970April 11 – An avalanche at a tuberculosis sanatorium in the French Alps kills 74, mostly young boys.source
• 1970April 21 – The Principality of Hutt River "secedes" from Australia (it remained unrecognised by Australia and other nations, and is dissolved in 2020).source
• 1970May 11 – Lubbock tornado: A strong, multi-vortex F5 tornado impacts areas of Lubbock, Texas, after dark, resulting in 26 fatalities and over 1,500 injuries.source
• 1970May 31 – The 7.9 Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 are killed and 50,000 injured.source
• 1970October 30 – In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.source
• 1970November 3 – The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall in modern-day Bangladesh around high tide, causing $86.4 million in damage (1970 USD, $576 million 2020 USD) and becomes the world's deadliest storm killing over 500,000 people.source
• 1970November 13 – 1970 Bhola cyclone: A 120-mph (193 km/h) tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people (considered the 20th century's worst cyclone disaster). It gives rise to the temporary island of New Moore / South Talpatti.source
• 1970December 12 – A landslide in western Colombia leaves 200 dead.source
• 1971February 6 – The 4.6 Mb Tuscania earthquake shakes the Italian province of Viterbo with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 24 deaths, 150 injuries and extreme damage.source
• 1971February 9 – The 6.5–6.7 Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.source
• 1971March 4 – The southern part of Quebec, and especially Montreal, receives " (42 cm) of snow in what becomes known as the Century's Snowstorm (la tempête du siècle).source
• 1971April 5 – Mount Etna erupts in Sicily.source
• 1971May 12 – An earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur.source
• 1971May 22 – An earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingöl, Turkey; more than 1,000 are killed and 10,000 are made homeless.source
• 1971May 28 – Portugal resigns from UNESCO.source
• 1971August 25 – Bangladesh and eastern Bengal are flooded; thousands flee the area.source
• 1971September 29 – A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian state of Orissa, kills 10,000.source
• 1972February 26 – Luna 20 comes back to Earth with 55 g oz of lunar soil.source
• 1972March 26 – An avalanche on Mount Fuji in Japan kills 19 climbers.source
• 1972April 10 – The 6.7 Qir earthquake shakes southern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 5,374 people in the province of Fars.source
• 1972June 9 – The Black Hills flood kills 238 in South Dakota.source
• 1972June 14–23 – Hurricane Agnes kills 117 on the U.S. East Coast.source
• 1972June 18 – Hong Kong's worst flooding and landslides in recorded history with 653.2 mm of rainfall in the previous three days. 67 people die due to building collapses in Mid-levels districts landslide and building collapses, with a further 83 due to flooding-related fatalities. It is the second worst fatality due to building collapses, and the worst flooding in Hong Kong's recorded history.source
• 1972July 10 – At least 24 people have been killed by elephants crazed by heat and drought in separate incidents in the Chandka Forest of India, according to news agency reports.source
• 1972November 7 – 1972 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern in a landslide. The election has the lowest voter turnout since 1948, with only 55 percent of the electorate voting.source
• 1972December 23 – The 6.2 Nicaragua earthquake kills 5,000–11,000 people in the capital Managua. President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is later accused of not distributing millions of dollars worth of foreign aid.source
• 1972December 31 – For the first and last time, a 2nd leap second is added (23:59:60) to a year, making 1972 366 days and two seconds long, the longest year ever within the context of UTC.source
• 1973April 1 – India launches the wildlife conservation program Project Tiger.source
• 1973October 15 – Typhoon Ruth crosses Luzon, Philippines, killing 27 people and causing $5 million in damage.source
• 1973December 28 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.source
• 1974April 3–4 – An enormous tornado outbreak strikes the central parts of the United States, killing around 319 and injuring about 5,484.source
• 1974May 11 – A violent 7.1 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Zhaotong causing between 1,600 and 20,000 deaths.source
• 1974December 24–25 – Darwin, Australia is almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy.source
• 1975February 4 – The Haicheng earthquake in Haicheng, Liaoning, China, kills 2,041 and injures 27,538, but much of the city has been evacuated in a claimed example of earthquake prediction.source
• 1975July 30 – Typhoon Nina forms over the Philippine Sea.source
• 1975August 8 – The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after Typhoon Nina; over 200,000 people perish.source
• 1975September 6 – An earthquake of magnitude kills at least 2,085 in Diyarbakır and Lice, Turkey.source
• 1975November 11 – Angola becomes independent from Portugal and civil war erupts.source
• 1976February 4 – The 7.5 Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured.source
• 1976April 19 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1000 yd m by the tornado and survived uninjured.source
• 1976May 6 – An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.source
• 1976June 13 – Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa, spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan.source
• 1976July 3 – The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.source
• 1976July 28 – The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851.source
• 1976July 31 – The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses and killing 143 people.source
• 1976August 17 – The 8.0 Moro Gulf earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.source
• 1976August 25 – Landslide disaster in Sau Mau Ping, Hong Kong.source
• 1976October 19 – The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.source
• 1976November 12 – Disappearance of Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew from Inverness in Scotland; this becomes Britain's longest-running missing persons case.source
• 1976November 24 – 1976 Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake: Between 4,000 and 5,000 are killed in a 7.3 earthquake at Van and Muradiye in eastern Turkey.source
• 1976December 23 – A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.source
• 1977January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).source
• 1977February 3 – In northern Japan a blizzard piles snow on rooftops, causing many to collapse killing at least 31 people.source
• 1977March 4 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in the Vrancea Mountains of Romania kills over 1,500 people.source
• 1977April 24 – In northern Bangladesh, a cyclone kills 13 people and injures about 100 others.source
• 1977July 1 – The East African Community is dissolved.source
• 1977July 10 – A temperature of 48.0 C F, a record for continental Europe, is recorded in Greece.source
• 1977December 19 – The 5.9 Bob–Tangol earthquake rocks Iran, killing at least 584 people and injuring 1,000.source
• 1978January 25–27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.source
• 1978February 5–7 – The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 hits the New England region and the New York metropolitan area, killing about 100, and causing over US$520 million in damage.source
• 1978June 20 – The 6.2 Thessaloniki earthquake shakes Northern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Fifty people were killed.source
• 1978September 16 – The 7.4 Tabas earthquake killed at least 15,000 people in the city of Tabas in Iran. The quake was measured with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).source
• 1979March 8 – Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.source
• 1979April 10 – A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people (the most notable of 26 tornadoes that day).source
• 1979April 13 – The La Soufrière volcano erupts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.source
• 1979April 15 – 1979 Montenegro earthquake: A 6.9 shock affects Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia) and parts of Albania, causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking 136 lives; the old town of Budva is devastated.source
• 1979July 18 – Over 500 people die after a tsunami occurs on Lembata Island, triggered by a landslide on the Iliwerung volcano.source
• 1979September 12 – Hurricane Frederic makes landfall at 10:00 p.m. on Alabama's Gulf Coast.source
• 1979October 12 – Near Guam, Typhoon Tip reaches a record intensity of 870 millibars, the lowest pressure recorded at sea level. This makes Tip the most powerful tropical cyclone in known world history.source
• 1979October 16 – A tsunami in Nice, France, kills 23 people.source
• 1979October 19 – 13 U.S. Marines die in a fire at Camp Fuji, Japan, as a result of Typhoon Tip.source
• 1979November 25 – The last cargo of phosphate was shipped from Banaba Island in Kiribati in the South Pacific Ocean, bringing an end to the island's chief industry.source
• 1979December 12 – The 8.2 Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami.source
• 1980May 18 – The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington (state) kills 57 and causes US$3 billion in damage.source
• 1980June 3 – 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak: A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing five people and injuring over 250.source
• 1980August 4 – Hurricane Allen (category 5) pounds Haiti, where it kills more than 200 people.source
• 1980October 10 – The 7.1 El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,633–5,000 and injuring 8,369–9,000.source
• 1980October 27 – Six Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners in Maze prison in Northern Ireland refuse food and demand status as political prisoners; the hunger strike lasts until December.source
• 1980November 23 – The 6.9 Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Officially, there were 2,483 people killed and 8,934 injured, though the deaths may have been as high as 4,900.source
• 1981January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day.source
• 1981January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the Great Karoo.source
• 1981February 24 – A powerful magnitude earthquake hits Athens, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in Corinth and the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylokastro.source
• 1981May 26 – The Italian Forlani government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due.source
• 1981July 30 – 1981 Polish hunger demonstrations: As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, take to the streets in Łódź to protest about food ration shortages in Communist Poland.source
• 1981November 23 – 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak, the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history.source
• 1982March 30 – Space Shuttle Columbia ends an eight-day mission, STS-3, by landing at White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It is the only time a Space Shuttle has landed at White Sands. The orbiter was forced to land here due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California.source
• 1982May 16 – The New York Islanders sweep the Vancouver Canucks in four games to win the 1982 Stanley Cup Final in ice hockey.source
• 1982June 24 – British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane after flying through the otherwise undetected volcanic ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.source
• 1982July 23 – The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986.source
• 1982December 13 – The 6.2 North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800.source
• 1983January 18 – U.S. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt makes controversial remarks blaming poor living conditions on Native American reservations on "the failures of socialism." Watt will eventually resign in September after a series of other controversial remarks.source
• 1983May 26 – The 7.8 Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.source
• 1983June 9 – Britain's Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected by a landslide majority.source
• 1983July 21 – The lowest temperature on Earth is recorded in Vostok Station, Antarctica with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).source
• 1983August 18 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.source
• 1983August 26 – Heavy rain triggers flooding at Bilbao, Spain, and surrounding areas, killing 44 people and causing millions in damages.source
• 1983September 23 – Violence erupts in New Caledonia between native Kanaks and French expatriates. The French government withdraws the promise of independence.source
• 1983The meteorological 1982–83 El Niño event causes severe weather worldwide.source
• 1984April 24 – An X-class solar flare erupts on the Sun.source
• 1984June 8 – An F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing nine people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.source
• 1984October 25 – The European Economic Community makes £1.8 million available to help combat the famine in Ethiopia.source
• 1984November 11 – The Louisiana World Exposition, also known as The 1984 World's Fair, and also the New Orleans World's Fair, and, to the locals, simply as "The Fair" or "Expo 84", closes.source
• 1984November 25 – Band Aid (assembled by Bob Geldof) records the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in London to raise money to combat the famine in Ethiopia. It is released on December 3.source
• 19841983–85 famine in Ethiopia intensifies with renewed drought by mid-year, killing a million people by the end of this year.source
• 1985January 1 – Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a new agreement on fishing rights.source
• 1985March 3 – The 8.0 Algarrobo earthquake hits Santiago and Valparaíso, Chile, leaving 177 dead, 2,575 injured, 142,489 houses destroyed, and approximately a million people homeless.source
• 1985May 31 – Forty-four tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, including a rare and powerful F5. In total, the event kills 90 people.source
• 1985June 20 – 1985 Nepal bombings: A series of bomb blasts occurs in Kathmandu and other cities of Nepal.source
• 1985July 13 – Live Aid benefit concerts in London and Philadelphia raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.source
• 1985September 19 – An 8.0 earthquake strikes Mexico City, killing between 5,000 and 45,000 people and injuring 30,000 more.source
• 1985November 13 – Armero tragedy: The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people, including 21,000 killed by lahars, in the town of Armero, Colombia.source
• 1985The 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia continues; USA for Africa (We Are the World) and Live Aid raise funds for famine relief.source
• 1986June – Construction of the Oosterscheldekering, the world's largest openable storm surge flood barrier, is completed in the Netherlands.source
• 1986August 16 – Typhoon Wayne formed over the South China Sea, going on to become one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones at 21 days, and kill 490.source
• 1986August 21 – The Lake Nyos disaster, a limnic eruption, occurs in Cameroon, killing nearly 2,000 people.source
• 1986September 13 – The 6.0 Kalamata earthquake shook southern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The shock left at least 20 dead, 300 injured, and caused $5 million in damage.source
• 1986October 10 – The 5.7 San Salvador earthquake shook San Salvador, El Salvador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to 1,500 people were killed.source
• 1986December 7 – A magnitude 5.7 earthquake destroys most of the Bulgarian town of Strajica, killing 2 people.source
• 1987March 6 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs in Napo Province in northeast Ecuador, killing roughly 1,000 people.source
• 1987March 28 – The 1987 Aegean crisis, which occurred near the Greek island of Thasos, was a confrontation between Greece and Turkey that was ultimately resolved peacefully. Turkey agreed to withdraw its vessels under the condition of Greece not pursue oil drills beyond its territorial waters.source
• 1987July 31 – An F4-rated tornado devastates eastern Edmonton, Alberta; hardest hit are an industrial park and a trailer park. 27 people are killed and hundreds injured, with hundreds more left homeless and jobless.source
• 1987October 15–16 – The Great storm of 1987 strikes southern Great Britain and northwestern France. It is one of the strongest storms to affect the region in the past 200 years.source
• 1987November 17 – A tsunami hits the Gulf of Alaska.source
• 1987November 25 – Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 265 km/h mph winds and a devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 812 deaths.source
• 1988February 29 – A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in World War II deportations.source
• 1988August 21 – The 6.9 Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 709–1,450 people killed and thousands injured.source
• 1988September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.source
• 1988November 6 – The 1988 Lancang–Gengma earthquakes kills at least 938 people when it strikes the China–Myanmar border region in Yunnan.source
• 1988December 2 – A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.source
• 1988December 7 – In Soviet Armenia, the 6.8 Spitak earthquake kills nearly 25,000, injures 31,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.source
• 1989March 13 – A geomagnetic storm causes the collapse of the Hydro-Québec power grid. 6,000,000 people are left without power for nine hours. Some areas in the northeastern U.S. and in Sweden also lose power, and aurorae are seen as far as Texas.source
• 1989April 26 – The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado, the deadliest tornado ever recorded, kills an estimated 1,300 people in the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh.source
• 1989May 1 – Andrés Rodríguez, who seized power and declared himself President of Paraguay during a military coup in February, wins a landslide victory at a general election marked by charges of fraud.source
• 1989May 2 – The coalition government of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Ruud Lubbers collapses in a dispute about a pollution cleanup plan.source
• 1989May 15 – The last golden toad is seen in Costa Rica; the species is subsequently classified as extinct.source
• 1989June 15 – At the 1989 Irish general election, Fianna Fáil, led by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, fails to win a majority.source
• 1989September 10–11 – Norway's ruling Labour Party loses eight seats in the parliamentary elections, its worst showing since 1945.source
• 1989September 17–22 – Hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, causing at least 71 deaths and $8,000,000,000 in damages.source
• 1989October 17 – The 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Sixty-three people are killed and the 1989 World Series in baseball is postponed for ten days as a result of the earthquake.source
• 1989November 4 – Typhoon Gay devastates Thailand's Chumphon Province.source
• 1989December 28 – The Newcastle earthquake affected New South Wales, Australia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 13 people dead and 160 injured.source
• 1990March 9 – Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord.source
• 1990April 26 – A 7.0 earthquake shakes the Chinese province of Qinghai leaving 126 dead.source
• 1990May 27 – In the Burmese general election, Burma's first multiparty election in 30 years, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi wins in a landslide, but the State Law and Order Restoration Council nullifies the election results.source
• 1990June 14 – 1990 Panay earthquake: An earthquake measuring struck Panay in the Philippines, killing 8 and injuring 41.source
• 1990June 21 – The 7.4 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.source
• 1990July 13 – The Lenin Peak disaster occurs when an earthquake triggers an avalanche in the Pamir Mountains with the loss of 43 lives.source
• 1990July 16 – 1990 Luzon earthquake: An earthquake measuring kills more than 2,400 in the Philippines.source
• 1990August 28 – The Plainfield Tornado (F5 on the Fujita scale) strikes the towns of Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 29 people (the strongest tornado to date to strike the Chicago metropolitan area).source
• 1990November 16 – 20th Century Fox releases Home Alone and Walt Disney Pictures releases the 29th animated film, The Rescuers Down Under.source
• 1991February 1 – A 6.4 Hindu Kush earthquake causes severe damage in northeast Afghanistan, leaving 848 dead and 200 injured.source
• 1991March 31 – Albania holds its first multi-party elections since 1923. The socialist ruling Party of Labour of Albania won a landslide victory with 169 of the 250 seats in the parliament.source
• 1991April 22 – A 7.7 Limon earthquake strikes Costa Rica and Panama with a maximum Mercalli intensity, causing between 47 and 87 deaths and up to 759 injuries.source
• 1991April 26 – A series of 55 tornadoes break out in the central U.S., killing 21. The most notable tornado strikes Andover, Kansas.source
• 1991April 29 – A 7.0 earthquake in Racha, Georgia, kills 270 people and leaves 100,000 others homeless.source
• 1991April 29 – A tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 138,000 people.source
• 1991June 3 – Mount Unzen in Japan erupts, killing 46 people as a result of pyroclastic flow.source
• 1991June 15 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century; the final death toll exceeds 800. The eruption causes a global cooling of around 0.4 °C.source
• 1991August 17–20 – Hurricane Bob hits North Carolina and New England, killing 17 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage.source
• 1991October 20 – A 6.8 M w earthquake strikes Uttarkashi, India, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.source
• 1991October 28–November 4 – The 1991 Perfect Storm strikes the northeastern U.S. coast and Atlantic Canada, causing over US$200 million of damage and resulting in 12 direct fatalities.source
• 1991October 31–November 3 – The Halloween blizzard hits the U.S. Upper Midwest, killing 22 people and causing US$100 million in damage.source
• 1991November 5 – Tropical Storm Thelma causes flash floods in the Philippine city of Ormoc, killing more than 4,900 people.source
• 1992March 13 – The 6.7 Erzincan earthquake affects eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 498–652 and injuring around 2,000.source
• 1992March 22 – In French regional elections, the conservative Rally for the Republic and the centre-right Union for French Democracy win in a landslide, capturing 20 of 22 metropolitan regional presidencies.source
• 1992April 13 – The 5.3 Roermond earthquake affects the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong).source
• 1992June 8 – The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.source
• 1992July 6–29 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses a UN inspection team access to the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture. UNSCOM claims that it has reliable information that the site contains archives related to illegal weapons activities. UN inspectors stage a 17-day "sit-in" outside of the building, but leave when their safety is threatened by Iraqi soldiers.source
• 1992August 24–28 – Hurricane Andrew hits south Florida and Louisiana and dissipates over the Tennessee valley when it merges with a storm system; 23 are killed.source
• 1992September 2 – The 7.7 Nicaragua earthquake affects the west coast of Nicaragua. With a – disparity of half a unit, this tsunami earthquake triggers a tsunami that causes most of the damage and casualties, with at least 116 killed. Average runup heights are 3 - 8.source
• 1992October 12 – The 5.8 Cairo earthquake affects the city with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 545 dead and 6,512 injured.source
• 1992November 13 – A report by the World Meteorological Organization reports an unprecedented level of ozone depletion in both the Arctic and Antarctic.source
• 1992December 12 – The 7.8 Flores earthquake affects the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) leaving at least 2,500 dead. A destructive tsunami with wave heights of 25 m follows.source
• 1993January 8–17 – The Braer Storm of January 1993, the most intense extratropical cyclone on record for the northern Atlantic Ocean, occurs.source
• 1993March 13–15 – The 1993 Storm of the Century strikes the eastern U.S., bringing record snowfall and other severe weather all the way from Cuba to Quebec; it reportedly kills 184 people.source
• 1993April–October – Great Flood of 1993: The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers flood large portions of the American Midwest.source
• 1993June 26–28 – Typhoon Koryn causes massive damage to the Philippines, China and Macau.source
• 1993July 7–9 – The 19th G7 summit is held in Tokyo, Japan.source
• 1993July 7 – Hurricane Calvin lands in Mexico. It is the second Pacific hurricane on record to land in Mexico in July and kills 34.source
• 1993July 8 – Monsoonal floods in South Asia begin, going on to kill more than three thousand people over the next month.source
• 1993July 12 – The 7.7 Hokkaidō earthquake affects northern Japan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and triggers a devastating tsunami that kills 230 on the small island of Okushiri, Hokkaido.source
• 1993July 30 – A wildfire on the Greek island of Ikaria kills 13.source
• 1993September 15–21 – Hurricane Gert crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through Central America and Mexico.source
• 1993September 30 – Latur earthquake: A 6.2 earthquake occurs in the vicinity of Maharashtra, India having a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000.source
• 1993October 13 – The 1993 Finisterre earthquakes in Papua New Guinea kill at least 60 due to landslides.source
• 1994January 17 – The 6.7 Northridge earthquake strikes the Greater Los Angeles Area of the United States, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.source
• 1994June 30 – Tropical Storm Alberto forms, hitting parts of Florida causing $1.03 billion in damage and 32 deaths.source
• 1994August 18 – 1994 Mascara earthquake: a 5.8 earthquake leaves 171 dead in Algeria.source
• 1994November 6 – A flood in Piedmont, Italy, kills dozens of people.source
• 1994November 8 – Hurricane Gordon hits Central America, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti and the Southeastern United States, causing $594 million in damages and 1,152 fatalities.source
• 1994November 15 – 1994 Mindoro earthquake A 7.1 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Mindoro, killing 78 people, injuring 430 and triggering a tsunami up to 8.5 m ft high.source
• 1995January 17 – The 6.9 Great Hanshin earthquake strikes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.source
• 1995May 13 – The 6.6 Western Macedonia earthquake strikes northwestern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), injuring 25 and causing $450 million in damage.source
• 1995May 28 – The 7.0 Neftegorsk earthquake strikes northern Sakhalin Island in Russia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 1,967 people dead and 750 injured.source
• 1995August 7 – The Chilean government declares a state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake.source
• 1995October 26 – An avalanche hits the village Flateyri in Iceland, killing 20 people, the second of two deadly avalanches to occur in Iceland during this calendar year.source
• 1995November 7 – Typhoon Angela leaves the Philippines and Vietnam devastated, with 882 deaths and US$315 million in damage. The typhoon is the strongest to strike the Philippines in 25 years, with wind speeds of 130 mi/h km/h and gusts of 180 mi/h km/h.source
• 1995November 22 – The 7.3 Gulf of Aqaba earthquake shakes the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 30, and generating a non-destructive tsunami.source
• 1995December 30 – The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of -27.2 °C °F is recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equals the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire in 1895 and 1982.source
• 1996February 3 – The 6.6 earthquake near Lijiang in South-west China kills up to 322 people, injures 17,000, and leaves 300,000 homeless.source
• 1996February 17 – The 8.2 Biak earthquake strikes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving 166 people dead or missing and 423 injured.source
• 1996March 8 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: China begins surface-to-surface missile testing and military exercises off Taiwanese coastal areas. The United States government condemns the act as provocation, and the Taiwanese government warns of retaliation.source
• 1996May 9 – Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni wins a landslide victory in the country's first direct presidential elections, securing 75% of the vote.source
• 1996May 13 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.source
• 1996July 12 – Hurricane Bertha: made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 2 storm, causing $270 million in damage ($ in present-day terms) to the United States and its possessions and many indirect deaths.source
• 1996July 21 – The Saguenay Flood, one of Canada's most costly natural disasters, is caused by flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec.source
• 1996September 5 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damages ($ in present-day terms) and killed 27 people, mainly in North Carolina. The name "Fran" was retired due to the extensive damage.source
• 1996November 7 – A category 4 cyclone strikes Andhra Pradesh, India, killing at least 1,000 people.source
• 1997February 4 – A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes North Khorasan province, Iran, killing 88 people and injuring 1,948.source
• 1997April 18 – The Red River of the North breaks through dikes and floods Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing US$2 billion in damage.source
• 1997May 10 – The 7.3 Qayen earthquake strikes eastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). At least 1,567 were killed and 2,300 were injured.source
• 1997May 12 – An F1-rated tornado strikes downtown Miami, causing $525,000 in damages. Pictures and videos of this tornado made news headlines around the world.source
• 1997May 27 – The fourth-deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people and causing extreme damage in the Double Creek Estates.source
• 1997June 25 – A massive eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat leads to evacuation and eventual abandonment of the capital, Plymouth.source
• 1997July 30 – 18 people are killed in the Thredbo landslide in the Snowy Mountains resort in Australia.source
• 1997July – The 1997 Central European flood occurs across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.source
• 1997September 26 – An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.source
• 1998February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With up to 4,000 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.source
• 1998April 20 – The alleged date the German Red Army Faction (created 1970) is dissolved.source
• 1998May 5–6 - landslides in Campania, Italy kill 161source
• 1998May 30 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.source
• 1998July 17 – The 7.0 Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving more than 2,100 dead and thousands injured.source
• 1998August 7 – Yangtze River Floods: in China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.source
• 1998September 9 – Keiko the orca, captured in 1979, is released back into the wild off the coast of Iceland.source
• 1998October 29 – Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 11,000 people.source
• 1999January 25 – The 6.2 Colombia earthquake strikes western Colombia, killing at least 1,900 people.source
• 1999February 23 – 1999 Galtür avalanche: An avalanche destroys the village of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.source
• 1999May 3 – 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak: a devastating tornado, rated F5 on the Fujita scale, hits southern and eastern Oklahoma City metropolitan area, killing 36 people (and 5 indirectly) and producing the highest winds recorded on Earth: 301 ± 20.source
• 1999July 22–25 – Woodstock '99 was held in Rome, New York at former Griffiss Air Force Base, which was marred with difficult environmental conditions, poor sanitation, overpriced food and water, looting, violence, rapes, riots and several deaths.source
• 1999August 17 – The 7.6 İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 17,000 dead and around 50,000 injured.source
• 1999September 7 – The 6.0 Athens earthquake hits with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 143, injuring 800–1,600, and leaving 50,000 homeless.source
• 1999September 21 – The 7.7 921 earthquake (also known as the Jiji earthquake) affects central Taiwan with a maximum Mercali intensity of X (Extreme) leaving 2,400 people dead and more than 11,000 injured.source
• 1999October 29 – 1999 Odisha cyclone: A super cyclonic storm impacts Orissa, India, killing approximately 10,000 people.source
• 1999November 12 – The 7.2 Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 845 people are killed and almost 5,000 are injured.source
• 1999November 26 – The 7.5 Ambrym earthquake shakes Vanuatu and a destructive tsunami follows, killing 10 and injuring 40.source
• 1999December 26 – Cyclone Lothar kills 140 people as it crosses France, southern Germany, and Switzerland.source
• 1999December 27 – A day after Cyclone Lothar, Cyclone Martin causes additional damage throughout France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy, including an emergency due to flooding at the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant.source