Throughout our history, humans had to deal with disasters. Some were natural, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. Others were man-made, such as air pollution and fires that people started on purpose. Let’s take a look at some of history’s worst disasters. The Great Fire of Rome. On 18th July 64 CE, the capital of the Roman Empire – Rome – caught fire. The fire was almost certainly started on purpose, but no one knows who did it. The city burned for six days. Then, just as it looked like the disaster was over, the fires spread again and Rome burned for another three days. We don’t know how many people died, but it was probably hundreds. Thousands of people lost their homes, because the fire completely destroyed three of Rome’s 14 districts and badly damaged another seven. The Shaanxi earthquake. On 23rd January 1556, a magnitude 8 earthquake struck the province of Shaanxi in China. It lasted about 20 seconds, but caused buildings to fall down, landslides, flooding and fires. 830,000 people died – including about 60% of Shaanxi’s population. The Mount Tambora volcanic eruption. On 10th April 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted. It was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. People heard it over 2,000km away. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people died in the eruption and the fires and tsunamis it caused. However, the total is much higher, because Mount Tambora’s eruption changed the Earth’s climate. For three years afterwards, it was cold and it didn’t rain a lot. Crops didn’t grow and millions of people died from hunger. The Great Smog of London. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, smoke from factories and chimneys regularly caused smog over London. Smog is a mixture of smoke and fog in the streets. This makes it difficult to see and difficult to breathe. In December 1952, there was a lot of pollution and the weather made the smog worse. The Great Smog lasted for five days and the British government said that 4,000 people died. However, today, experts think up to 12,000 people probably lost their lives. The Indian Ocean tsunami. People also call this event the Boxing Day Tsunami, because it happened the day after Christmas Day in 2004. A huge earthquake in the sea near Indonesia caused the tsunami waves, which reached 30m high in some places! It caused the deaths of between 230,000 and 280,000 people in 14 different countries.