2002 Disasters

January 2002 Disasters

• Jan. 17–18, Goma, Dem. Rep. of Congo: Rivers of molten lava poured from Nyiragongo volcano, wiping out at least a dozen villages and engulfing the city of Goma. An estimated 300,000–500,000 people were displaced, many of whom fled temporarily to neighboring Rwanda. The Red Cross set the death toll at 47, but the number was expected to rise. Experts said the eruption was the worst since 1977, when 2,000 people died after lava burst from fissures on the volcano's flanks. A few days later (Jan. 21) the hot lava touched off an explosion at a gas station in the center of Goma, killing dozens of people who were looting gasoline.
• Jan. 27, Lagos, Nigeria: More than 1,000 people were killed when a series of explosions at a military weapons depot triggered a stampede from the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the victims were trampled to death or drowned in 2 muddy canals as they tried to flee the area.
• Jan. 28, nr. Ipiales, southwest Colombia: Ecuadorian TAME airlines Boeing 727 crashed near the crater of the Nevado de Cumbal volcano, which rises nearly 16,000 ft near the Ecuador-Colombia border. All 92 passengers and crew aboard were killed. Foggy weather and pilot error were blamed for the crash.

February 2002 Disasters

• Feb. 9 et seq., southern Calif.: More than 5,400 acres were burned in 2 separate brush fires, one near Fallbrook, north of San Diego, and the other outside Anaheim. About 40 buildings (including 30 residences) and 2 fire engines were destroyed by the Fallbrook blaze.
• Feb. 12, western Iran: Iranian airliner en route from Teheran to Khorramabad crashed into a mountain while trying to land, killing all 118 aboard. Overcast or foggy conditions may have contributed to the crash.
• Feb. 19, La Paz, Bolivia: Heavy rains collapsed scores of homes and caused flash flooding in the city, resulting in 69 deaths and approximately $60 million in damage.
• Feb. 20, nr. Ayyat, Egypt: 361 people were killed in a fire aboard a crowded passenger train. The fire was reportedly started after a gas cylinder used for cooking exploded. The train, which was en route from Cairo to Luxor, was filled with holiday celebrants heading to their home villages for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha. It is Egypt's worst train disaster.

March 2002 Disasters

• March 3, Central Asia: 7.2 magnitude earthquake was felt in six countries—Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Kazakhstan. At least 100 people died in the village of Dakhli-e-Zeu in northern Afghanistan.
• March 25, northeast Afghanistan: Series of earthquakes—the largest measuring 6.1 in magnitude—rattled a mountainous area 100 mi north of Kabul. Officials estimated that 1,000 people were killed and that 7,000 families were homeless. The city of Nahrin, a densely populated district capital, was completely razed.

April 2002 Disasters

• April 15, nr. Pusan, South Korea: Air China Boeing 767 en route from Beijing crashed into a forested hillside 5 mi from the airport in Pusan, killing at least 115 people. Miraculously, 39 passengers survived. Heavy winds, rain, and fog were probably a factor in the crash.
• April 28, east-central U.S.: Outbreak of tornadoes caused pockets of devastation from Maryland to Missouri. In southern Maryland a powerful F-5 tornado, with winds ranging over 261 mph, killed 3 people and nearly leveled the town of La Plata. In Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois, one person was killed in each state.

May 2002 Disasters

• May, southern India: Brutal heat wave, particularly in Andhra Pradesh State, left more than 600 dead nationwide.
• May 2–5, southern W. Va. and southwest Va.: Storm system moving through Appalachian region dumped some 6 in. of rain in 4 just hours, causing major landslides and flooding. At least a dozen people died and nearly 2,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. The same region also suffered devastating floods in May and July of 2001.
• May 3, Meghna River, southern Bangladesh: Overloaded ferry, Salahuddin 2, capsized in an storm about 100 mi south of Dhaka. Officials estimated that as many as 300 people may have drowned.
• May 4, Kano, Nigeria: EAS Airline BAC 1–11 bound for Lagos ploughed into a poor, densely populated suburb of Kano shortly after takeoff, killing 148. The dead included all 76 people aboard the plane and dozens more on the ground.
• May 7, Dalian Bay, northeast China: China Northern Airlines jet crashed into the bay shortly after the captain reported a fire in the cabin. The plane, which was an MD-82, had departed from Beijing with 103 passengers and 9 crew aboard; none survived.
• May 25, Muamba, Mozambique: 192 people died and 169 more were injured when the passenger cars of a train rolled for several miles at top speed into the freight cars from which it had been disconnected because of mechanical problems. The accident occurred on the main rail line between Maputo, the capital, and Ressano Garcia, a popular weekend spot on the border of South Africa.
• May 25, nr. Pescadores (islands) off western Taiwan: China Airlines Boeing 747, bound for Hong Kong with 225 people aboard, broke apart in midair and plunged into the sea 20 minutes after takeoff from Taipei. There were no survivors.
• May 26, Webbers Falls, Okla.: A 500-foot section of a bridge along Interstate 40 collapsed, plunging ten cars and trucks into the Arkansas River below and leaving 14 people dead. The collapse occurred after a towboat slammed into the bridge.

June 2002 Disasters

• June–early July, mainly western U.S.: Several major wildfires burned throughout the West and Southwest, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes. The Hayman fire in the Pike National Forest consumed some 137,760 acres and 600 structures, making it the worst wildfire in Colorado's history. In central Ariz., the 85,000-acre Rodeo fire, which had already been declared the worst in Arizona's history, merged with the Chediski fire to form a raging inferno that consumed 468,638 acres and more than 400 structures. Large wildfires also burned in Alaska, southern Calif., N.M., Utah, and Ga.
• June, central and southeast China: Torrential rainfall produced floods and mudslides that left more than 750 people dead and tens of thousands more homeless in Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces. Officials estimated that more than 5 million acres of crops had been destroyed, and numerous bridges, roads, and power and telephone lines had been wiped out.
• June 20, northern Tanzania: 48 miners suffocated to death in a Tanzanite gemstone mine after a device used to pump oxygen into the mine failed. It is Tanzania's worst mining disaster since 1998, when 70 people died after heavy rains caused a mine to collapse.
• June 20, Jixi, Heilongjian province, China: A gas explosion at the Chengzihe coal mine killed 111 people. China's mining industry is one of the deadliest; it is estimated that more than 5,000 mining-related deaths occurred in 2001.
• June 21–29, southern Russia: Heavy rains caused the worst flooding in 10 years. Areas hardest hit were the Stavropol and Krasnodar regions, the republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria. The flooding left 93 people dead and 87,000 homeless. Damages estimated at $385 million were expected to rise.
• June 22, northwest Iran: Magnitude 6 earthquake flattened about 60 villages, killing at least 220 and leaving thousands homeless.
• June 24, nr. Msagali, central Tanzania: Runaway passenger train collided with freight train on the same track, leaving some 200 dead.

July 2002 Disasters

• July 1, nr. Ueberlingen, Germany: Russian airliner and cargo jet collided in midair over Germany near the Swiss border, killing 71 people. The Russian plane was a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev 154, carrying 45 school children to a Spanish beach resort near Barcelona; the Boeing 757 cargo jet was operated by DHL International delivery service. Faulty monitoring by Swiss air traffic control may have led to the crash.
• July 1–6, south-central Texas:Heavy rains and severe flooding resulted in damage to at least 48,000 houses, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.
• July 7, Ukrainsk, Urkraine: Fire gutted the Ukraina coal pit in the eastern Donetsk region, leaving 35 miners dead. Ukrainian coal mines are among the world's most dangerous; according to the Associated Press, some 3,700 miners have been killed in Ukraine since 1991.
• July 16, Philippines and Japan: Typhoon Halong caused widespread evacuations in Japan and left 61 people dead in the Philippines. In all, four typhoons (Rammasun, Chata'an, Nakri, and Halong) swept through region in early July, killing about 100 people in Micronesia, the Philippines, China, and the Korean Peninsula.
• July 18, nr. Lutoto, Uganda:Fuel truck hit a passenger bus and exploded, killing more than 60 people.
• July 27, nr. Lviv, Ukraine:Russian-built Sukhoi-27 fighter jet crashed while performing an acrobatic maneuver during an air show. Eighty-three people were killed, including 23 children; the 2 pilots ejected to safety. It is the worst air show disaster in history. In 1988 70 people were killed when three Italian Air Force jets collided in midair at an air show at the American Air Force Base in Ramstein, West Germany.

August 2002 Disasters

• August, central and western Europe: Torrential rains and flooding wreaked havoc across the region, from Germany to Russia, causing at least 71 deaths. The Black Sea area, in Russia, was among the hardest hit; flash floods swept houses and bridges into the sea and left thousands of vacationers stranded. In Czech Republic, thousands of people were evacuated from Prague as floodwaters deluged the city center, and Salzburg, Austria, was declared a disaster zone, with 1,000 buildings partially or totally submerged. The heavy rains also triggered landslides in Germany and Switzerland and caused major crop damage in northern Italy. Bulgaria and Romania were also the scenes of destructive flooding.
• August, southeast China: Torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that left about 200 people dead (as of Aug. 16) in Hunan province. In the province of Yunnan, 25 people were killed and another 44 were said to be missing following a massive landslide (Aug. 16). An earlier landslide in the province left at least 16 dead (Aug. 12). The total death toll due to flooding this year in China has risen to about 1,000.
• August, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh: Monsoon floods and mudslides resulted in 323 deaths in India; 424 in Nepal; and 157 in Bangladesh. In addition, there was a widespread loss of crops and livestock across the region.
• Aug. 31, southern and eastern South Korea: Typhoon Rusa triggered flash floods and landslides, leaving more than 100 dead or missing. Wind gusts up to 127 mph uprooted trees and left more than a million homes without power. South Korea's worst typhoon in 40 years.

September 2002 Disasters

• Sept. 20, Karmadon Gorge, North Ossetia, Russia: An avalanche of mud, ice, and rocks left more than 100 people dead, including popular Russian movie actor Sergei Bodrov, who was filming in the area. The avalanche was caused by a 500-foot chunk of glacier that broke loose and slid down the gorge.
• Sept. 26, Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Gambia: Overloaded Senegalese ferry, Joola, capsized. The death toll of 1,863 people make it one of the worst maritime disasters in history. The maximum capacity of the ferry was 550 people.

October 2002 Disasters

• Oct. 12, Bali, Indonesia: 202 die and hundreds more are wounded when a car bomb explodes in front of 2 nightclubs. The extremist Muslim group Jemaah Islamiyah, which has ties to al-Qaeda, is suspected.
• Oct. 31, San Giuliano di Puglia, Italy: Magnitude 5.4 earthquake flattened school, killing 29, including 26 children.

November 2002 Disasters

• Nov. 3, east-central Alaska: Magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck, damaging roads and bridges and triggering mudslides but causing no major injuries. Some of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline's supports were also damaged, but no leaks were reported. The quake was centered about 45 mi east-northeast of Cantwell, near Mt. McKinley, in the state's less populated interior.
• Nov. 9–11, central and southeast U.S.: A series of more than 70 tornadoes flattened homes and other buildings across 14 states from Mississippi to Pennsylvania, killing some 36 people. Most of the deaths occurred in Tenn. (17); 12 died in Ala., 5 in Ohio, 1 in Pa., and 1 in Miss.
• Nov. 19, Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of northern Spain: After leaking oil for six days from a cracked hull, the oil tanker Prestige broke in 2 and sank, spilling some 4 million gallons of oil. Most of the rest of the tanker's 20-million-gallon load remained aboard the sunken ship, where it was expected to solidify in cold underwater temperatures. However, drifting slicks caused major environmental damage along Spain's Galician coast and France's Atlantic coast. Fishing grounds have been closed and cleanup costs are more than $1.6 billion. As a result of this disaster, the EU (European Union) allows only double-hulled ships to carry heavy fuel oil in EU waters.
• Nov. 30–Dec. 1, Caracas, Venezuela: A fire at a packed downtown nightclub left 47 people dead.

December 2002 Disasters

• Dec. 4–5, eastern U.S.: A major winter storm swept across the country from Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle all the way to the Carolinas and the northeast coast. Ice and snow downed power lines, delayed travelers, and closed schools in half a dozen states. North Carolina was the hardest hit, with more than one million homes and businesses left without power. At least 29 people nationwide died as a result of the storm.
• Dec. 3–9, Sydney, Australia: Up to 65 wildfires around Sydney have claimed one life, destroyed more than 60 homes, and burned more than 296,000 acres for an estimated $56 million in damages.
• Dec. 6, Jilin province, China: An underground blaze in mine shafts killed 30 coal miners. The Chinese mining industry is one of the most dangerous industries in the world with official figures showing more than 5,000 miners died in accidents last year.
• Dec. 8, Angra Dos Reis, Brazil: Torrential rains (more than 5 inches in 24 hours) caused mudslides that killed at least 39 people in a seaside town near Rio de Janeiro.
• Dec. 23, :Isfahar, Iran: A Ukrainian Airways crashed in a mountainous area of central Iran, killing all 46 people.
• Dec. 29, Southwest Pacific: Cyclone Zoe, a category 5 cyclone, with high winds and massive waves raced across the tiny islands of Tikopia and Anuta in the Solomon Islands chain located about 1900 miles northeast of Australia. Homes and crops were destroyed but the inhabitants survived by fleeing to mountain caves.