5 Worst Modern Disasters

1906 The San Francisco Earthquake

April 18th 1906 5:12 A.M. a huge 7.8 earthquake starts to rupture across a 295 area of the San Andreas fault 2 miles away from San Francisco. The quake was felt north as far as Oregon and as far inland as Nevada. The quake would cause hundreds of fires and crumble San Francisco The quake is California’s worst disaster ever and has been compared to Hurricane Katrina.

The cost of this earthquake was more than $400 million (5.1 billion today).The earthquake itself destroyed San Francisco tearing buildings and houses down breaking under grown pipes thus causing fires from the gas lines under the city. The worst affect of the quake was the fires which literally burned down 90% of San Francisco or over 500 city blocks. Over 25,000 people were misplaced from there homes. Scientists say that another earthquake will hit San Francisco in the next 25 to 35 years and the results of the next quake will be worst than the 1906 quake.

1925 The Great Tri-State Tornado

March 18th 1925 a tornado is about to go through three states Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The tornado caused a confirmed 696 deaths and 3,000 wounded the worst in United States history. It was an F5 tornado that left a 219 mile track some people of that time called it the finger of god because of its destruction it left behind. The tornado was part of nine others in the early Tornado season.

The vortex was first seen at around 1:00 P.M. northwest of Ellington Missouri. 2:30 P.M. the tornado crosses the Mississippi river and enters Illinois and goes straight through and destroys the entire town of Gorham. Illinois was the most affected area of this disaster killing almost 615 people in the state alone. The tornado then crosses the Wabash River into Indiana and demolishes the town of Griffin. At least 71 are killed in Indiana. In all 696 die in all three states and the amount wounded is disputed from 1,000 to as high as 3,000.The disaster causes 16.5 million dollars (1.6 billion today) the Tri state Tornado was one of the U.S.A.’s worst disasters as well as one of the worlds.

1980 Mount St. Helens

May 18th 1980 a major volcanic eruption is about to take place that would kill 57 people. Several small earthquakes started to pump magma up through the volcano during the previous two week leading up to the eruption. This pumping of the magma into the volcano would cause a bulge in the side of the volcano which would lead to this face sliding off. 123 years of a dormant volcano would be know more on March 18th 1980 with a huge eruption caused by a weak 4.1 earthquake.