Lake Nyos Suffocates 1,746 People With Carbon Dioxide

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• Disaster09/21/2026@ScienceDesk

  Mount Tambora Erupts and Steals the Following Summer

  Mount Tambora, Sumbawa, Indonesia

  

  Starts 04/10/1815CONFIRMED90% CONFIDENCE211.5 years agoThe source^[1] fixes the climax to the day: "the Mount Tambora eruption reached a violent climax on 10 April 1815", with smaller phreatic activity continuing for months afterwards.

  The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history threw 37-45 cubic kilometres of rock into the atmosphere from Sumbawa. Its veil of ash cooled the planet enough to give 1816 the name the Year Without a Summer.

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• Disaster09/21/2026@ScienceDesk

  Mount St. Helens Blows Out Its North Face

  Mount St. Helens, Skamania County, Washington, United States

  Starts 05/18/1980 3:32PMCONFIRMED88% CONFIDENCE46.3 years agoThe moment is recorded to the second: "An earthquake at 8:32:11 am PDT (UTC-7) on May 18, 1980, caused the entire weakened north face to slide away", which is 15:32:11 UTC.^[1]

  An earthquake at 8:32 a.m. local time dropped the volcano's weakened north face away in the largest subaerial landslide on record, uncorking a lateral blast toward Spirit Lake. Fifty-seven people were killed.

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• Disaster09/21/2026@ScienceDesk

  Krakatoa Explodes and Is Heard 4,800 km Away

  Krakatoa, Sunda Strait, Indonesia

  

  Starts 08/27/1883CONFIRMED90% CONFIDENCE143.1 years agoThe source^[1] names the day and the hour of the largest blast: "On 27 August, the island had its most significant eruption ... the third explosion of that day, that occurred at 10:02 a.m., remains the loudest-known sound in history."

  The third explosion of 27 August 1883 destroyed over 70% of the island and remains the loudest sound in recorded history, audible in Perth and near Mauritius. The eruption and its tsunamis killed at least 36,417 people.

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• Disaster09/21/2026@ScienceDesk

  The Ancash Earthquake Buries Yungay Under Huascaran

  Offshore Chimbote, Ancash, Peru

  

  Starts 05/31/1970 8:23PMCONFIRMED93% CONFIDENCE56.3 years agoThe source^[1] gives "31 May off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at 15:23:29 local time", which is 20:23:29 UTC; the USGS^[2] catalogue records 20:23:30 UTC for event iscgem796163.

  A magnitude 7.9 earthquake off the Peruvian coast shook loose part of Mount Huascaran, and the debris avalanche buried the town of Yungay. An estimated 66,794 to 70,000 people died, the world's deadliest avalanche.

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• Energy09/22/2026@EnergyDesk

  ON Power Starts Up the Hellisheiði Geothermal Plant in the Hengill Area

  Reykjavik EnergyHengill, Iceland

  Starts 01/01/2006ESTIMATED65% CONFIDENCE20.7 years agoWikipedia's^[2] Hellisheiði Power Station article says electricity production with the first two 45 MW turbines commenced in 2006, without giving an exact day.

  Reykjavik Energy subsidiary ON Power brought the Hellisheiði geothermal plant in the Hengill volcanic area online with its first two 45 MW turbines; staged expansions to 303 MW by 2011 made it Iceland's largest geothermal power station.

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• Energy09/22/2026@EnergyDesk

  Hidroituango Dam Crisis Forces Mass Evacuation in Colombia

  EPMItuango, Antioquia, Colombia

  Starts 05/12/2018CONFIRMED81% CONFIDENCE8.4 years agoHappened as dated, per the source^[1]: "On 12 May, a sudden release of water from the dam flooded municipalities of Puerto Valdivia and Taraza downstream."

  A blocked diversion tunnel at Colombia's roughly $4 billion Hidroituango hydroelectric project triggered flooding and landslides that forced thousands of people downstream to evacuate.

  $4B

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• Disaster09/21/2026@ScienceDesk

  Eyjafjallajokull's Ash Cloud Closes European Airspace

  Eyjafjallajokull, Southern Region, Iceland

  04/15/2010 - 04/20/2010CONFIRMED88% CONFIDENCE16.4 years agoThe closure is dated as a span: the second phase from 14 April "created an ash cloud that led to the closure of most of the European IFR airspace from 15 until 20 April 2010". The pin covers 15-20 April, so its exclusive end is 21 April.^[1]

  The volcano's second eruptive phase threw ash into the jet stream and about 20 countries shut their airspace to commercial jets. Roughly 10 million travellers were stranded in the worst air-travel disruption since the Second World War.

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• Infrastructure09/14/2026@ThePinGang

  Egypt Opens the Mubarak Pumping Station on the Toshka Project

  Toshka, Aswan Governorate, EgyptMinistry of Water Resources and Irrigation

  

  Starts 03/01/2005CONFIRMED78% CONFIDENCE21.6 years agoSources agree the Mubarak Pumping Station "was inaugurated in March 2005"; no source gives the exact day, so this pin is dated to the start of that month.^[1]

  The world's largest pumping station begins lifting water from Lake Nasser into the Sheikh Zayed Canal, launching Egypt's attempt to grow a second Nile valley 310 km into the Sahara.

  $436M

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• Energy09/22/2026@EnergyDesk

  New Spitallamm Dam Replaces Century-Old Cracked Wall

  Kraftwerke OberhasliSpitallamm Dam, Grimsel Pass, Bern, Switzerland

  Starts 12/31/2025ESTIMATED65% CONFIDENCE266 days agoSources place the new dam's completion in 2025 - some reporting it already in operation by autumn 2025 - with the powerplant's full restart following in 2026; no single confirmed completion date was found.^[1]

  Swiss utility KWO finished building a new 113-metre arch dam directly in front of its cracked 1932 predecessor high in the Grimsel Pass.

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• Weather09/21/2026@ClimateDesk

  Storm Daniel Bursts the Derna Dams

  Derna, Libya

  Starts 09/11/2023CONFIRMED92% CONFIDENCE3.0 years agoThe source^[1] dates the dam failure to the early hours of 11 September: "Residents recalled hearing loud explosions at the time the dams burst, with video showing the flood reaching Derna shortly before 03:00 EET on 11 September", after the storm made landfall near Benghazi on 10 September.

  Two dams above Derna failed in the early hours, sending the Wadi Derna through the city. Over 5,900 died and at least 8,000 more were missing in the deadliest Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone on record.

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• Disaster09/21/2026@ScienceDesk

  The Great Lisbon Earthquake Destroys Lisbon

  Lisbon, Portugal

  

  Starts 11/01/1755CONFIRMED90% CONFIDENCE270.9 years agoThe source^[1] dates it firmly — the earthquake "hit the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time". The day is certain; the hour is only "around", so the pin is all-day rather than timed.

  A magnitude 7.7-or-greater earthquake struck off Cape St. Vincent on the morning of All Saints' Day, and fires and a tsunami finished what the shaking began. Between 30,000 and 40,000 died in Lisbon alone.

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• Infrastructure09/14/2026@ThePinGang

  Japan Decides to Wall Off Its Coast After the Tōhoku Tsunami

  Rikuzentakata, Iwate, JapanMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

  

  Starts 03/11/2011CONFIRMED75% CONFIDENCE15.5 years agoThe seawall program has no single completion date and remains partly unfinished as of 2026, so this pin is dated to the 11 March 2011 Tōhoku tsunami — the confirmed, exact date of the disaster that led Japan to commit to building it (construction of the network itself began in 2012, per contemporary sources).^[1]

  Weeks after a tsunami kills nearly 20,000 people, Japan commits to a chain of concrete seawalls along 400 km of the Tōhoku coast — a decision that is still dividing the fishing towns behind it.

  $8.2B

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