Top 14 Worst And Major Natural Disasters of India

The Disastrous natural forces includes volcano disaster, floods,Tsunami and Earthquakes, which are major cause of casualties in the history of India. Other then Horrible Temple Stampedes such as Amarnath Yatra tragedy,Mandher Devi temple stampede and Sabrimala Kerala temple stampede and major train accidents like Karanjadi train crash and Vaibhavwadi train crash, there are many worst Natural Disasters had happened, latest is most disastrous Uttarakhand Flash Floods and recently happened Cyclone Phailin in Orissa coast .

List of Worst Natural Disasters in The Histroy of India

1770 Great Bengal Famine

The Great Bengal Famine was a large famine in Bengal during the British rule in the period of 1769-1773. Bengal famine was caused the deaths of 10 million people in Bengal, Bihar and some parts of Odisha.

1839 Coringa Cyclone

The Coringa Cyclone was one of the 10 big disasters that shook India,struck at a tiny village of Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. The Great Coringa Cyclone killed around 20,000 people in the ancient city of Coringa.

1894 Third Plague Pandemic

The major plague pandemic came to British India in 1896, killing more than 12 million people in India and China alone. Third Plague Pandemic was initially seen in port cities such as Bombay and Kolkata then spread to small towns and rural areas of many regions of India.

1979 Lahaul Valley Avalanche

Lahaul Spiti valley receives heavy snowfall during the winter season, causes Avalanches. The LaHaul Valley disaster in March of 1979 buried 200 people under 20 feet of snow, the only avalanche in the Himalayas and one of the 10 deadliest Avalanches in History of world.

1998 Malpa Landslide

Heavy rainfall caused, Malpa landslide was one of worst landslides in India, at village Malpa in Pithoragarh of Uttarkhand. Around 380 people were killed when massive landslides washed the entire village along with Hindu pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar yatra.

1999 Odisha Cyclone

The 1999 Odisha cyclone also known as super cyclone 05B was the most deadliest  tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean and most destructive Indian storm since 1971. It caused almost deaths of 15,000 people and made heavy to extreme damage.

2001 Gujarat Earthquake

The massive earthquake occurred on India’s 51st Republic Day on January 26, 2001 at Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat. Gujarat earthquake had a magnitude of between 7.6 and 7.7 and killed around 20,000 people.

2002 Indian Heat Wave

India’s heat wave in 2002 at south region killed more than 1000 people,  Most of the deaths occurred in state of Andhra Pradesh. The heat was so intense that birds fell from the sky, ponds and rivers dried up.

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

The Indian Ocean earthquake and Tsunami occurred in 2004 at the west coast of Sumatra, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries. Indian Ocean Tsunami was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history of India.

2007 Bihar Flood

The 2007- 2008 Bihar flood are listed as the worst hit flood in the living memory of Bihar in last 30 years. Bihar is India’s most flood-prone State, a recurring disaster appears annual basis and destroys thousands of human lives apart from livestock and assets worth millions.

2005 Mumbai Catastrophes

The 2005 Maharashtra floods was occurred just one month after the June 2005 Gujarat floods, Mumbai the capital city was most badly affected and witnessed one of its worst catastrophes in the history of India, killing at least 5,000 people.

2010 Eastern Indian Storm

The Eastern Indian storm was a severe storm struck parts of eastern Indian states,spanning for 30–40 minutes. At least 91 people died in Indian states and Over 91,000 dwellings were destroyed and partially damaged.

2013 Maharashtra Drought

Maharashtra state was affected by the region’s worst drought in 40 years,worst-hit areas are Jalna, Jalgaon and Dhule are also affected by the famine. Millions of people in Maharashtra are at serious risk of hunger after two years of low rainfall in the region.

2013 Uttarakhand Flash Floods

On June 2013 Uttarakhand received heavy rainfall,massive Landslides due to the large flashfloods, it suffered maximum damage of houses and structures, killing more than 1000 people, sources claimed the death toll could be rise up to 5000. Uttarakhand Flash Floods is the most disastrous floods in the history of India.