CONFIRMED87% CONFIDENCEHappened as dated, per iopscience.iop.org[1]: "…ing the box below. If you are unable to complete the above request please contact us using the below…"
Using time series aerial and satellite imagery from 1947 to 2014 of 33 islands, along with historical insight from local knowledge, we have identified five vegetated reef islands that have vanished over this time period and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession.
A study in Environmental Research Letters (published 6 May 2016) analysed aerial and satellite imagery from 1947 to 2014 of 33 Solomon Islands reef islands together with local knowledge[1][4]
Five vegetated reef islands vanished entirely and six more suffered severe shoreline recession; the lost islands were one to five hectares with vegetation at least 300 years old[1][2][3][4]
Recession destroyed villages that had existed since at least 1935 at two sites, forcing relocations; Nuatambu Island lost over half its habitable area, with 11 houses lost since 2011[1][3][4]
Wave exposure amplified sea-level rise: Isabel island loss rates rose from 0.1% a year (1947-1962) to 1.9% (2002-2014), while the sheltered Roviana lagoon saw little change[1][4]
Solomon Islands sea level has risen 7-10 mm a year since about 1993, almost three times the global average; the authors call it the first scientific evidence of such island loss in the Pacific[2][3][4]
Relocations were largely ad hoc with little government or climate-fund help; Taro, capital of Choiseul Province, is set to become the first provincial capital to relocate because of sea-level rise[3][4]
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
commondreams.org· Published May 10, 2016· 13% of score
CommonDreams could not be fetched directly (blocked), but its own headline, 'Warning for the World: Five Pacific Islands Officially Lost to Rising Seas' (10 May 2016), matches the pin's claim, with the 2016 publish date coming about two years after the pin's stored 2014 date as reporting on the underlying study.
news.mongabay.com· Published May 10, 2016· 13% of score
Mongabay's own reporting, citing the Environmental Research Letters study, confirms five reef islands in the Solomon Islands vanished based on aerial and satellite imagery spanning 1947-2014 - matching the pin's claim and its 2014 stored date as the end of the imagery period, though the article itself was published 10 May 2016, after the underlying study came out.
theconversation.com· Published May 6, 2016· 13% of score
The Conversation could not be fetched directly (blocked), but its own title and 6 May 2016 byline announce 'the first scientific evidence' of five Pacific islands lost to sea-level rise, consistent with the pin's claim about the 1947-2014 imagery study; the 2016 publication date postdates the pin's stored 2014 date, reflecting when the underlying research was first reported rather than when the islands vanished.
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CONFIRMED75% 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.
CONFIRMED93% 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.
CONFIRMED90% CONFIDENCE55.9 years agoThe source[1] dates the strike in its opening line — it "struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970" — though its own track narrative says the cyclone peaked on 10 November and made landfall "on the following afternoon". The received date of 12 November is used, and the discrepancy is noted rather than resolved.
The deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded drove a storm surge over the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. At least 300,000 died, and the Pakistani government's response helped set off the Bangladesh Liberation War.
ESTIMATED60% CONFIDENCEin 30.3 yearsA target, per the source[1]: "current forecasts predict that Kansai could drop below sea level by 2056 if it continues sinking at the current rate."
Built on an artificial island, Japan's Kansai International Airport has sunk more than 13 metres since opening and could drop below sea level by 2056 if its current subsidence rate continues.
CONFIRMED87% CONFIDENCE12.9 years agoThe landfall is timed in UTC by the source[1]: "At 20:40 UTC on November 7, 2013, the eye of the typhoon made its first landfall in the Philippines at Guiuan, Eastern Samar at maximum strength." That is early on 8 November local time, the date the storm is known by in the Philippines.
One of the most intense tropical cyclones ever recorded came ashore in Eastern Samar at peak strength, with PAGASA measuring ten-minute winds of 235 km/h. At least 6,300 died in the Visayas alone.
CONFIRMED93% CONFIDENCE21.7 years agoThe source[1] gives "26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7)", which is 00:58:53 UTC; the USGS[2][3] catalogue records 00:58:53.450Z for event official20041226005853450_30.
A magnitude 9.1 megathrust rupture off Aceh generated a tsunami that crossed the Indian Ocean and struck coastlines from Indonesia to East Africa. It is the third-largest earthquake ever instrumentally recorded.
SCHEDULED83% CONFIDENCEin 160 daysWikipedia[1] states "General elections are scheduled to be held in the Federated States of Micronesia on 2 March 2027", sourced to the FSM National Election Office.
The Federated States of Micronesia holds general elections on 2 March 2027 for its 14-member Congress, including the four state senators elected every four years.
CONFIRMED78% CONFIDENCE28 days agoWikipedia[3] and contemporary reporting (CNN, Stimson Center) date the Rasuwagadhi flash flood to the morning of 26 August 2026.
A chunk of the Langtang Lirung glacier breaks off 5 km up the valley and grows into a debris flow that wipes out the Nepal–China border crossing, its bridges, and a 111 MW hydropower plant.
CONFIRMED88% 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.
Santa Barbara County Courthouse, 1100, Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California, 93121, United StatesSable Offshore·…
CONFIRMED89% CONFIDENCE343 days agoStated as a completed event, per independent.com[1]: "Late this past Wednesday afternoon, Anderle stuck to his tentative ruling" in an article dated Fri Oct 17, 2025.
Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle finalized his tentative ruling against Sable Offshore, holding that the company's repair work at 121 sites along its 135-mile Gaviota Coast pipeline required California Coastal Commission development permits and violated the Coastal Act. The ruling leaves intact the injunction halting further repairs and keeps the Commission's $18 million fine a live issue.
CONFIRMED92% 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.
CONFIRMED90% CONFIDENCE7.7 years agoConfirmed against contemporaneous reporting of the reclamation completion ceremony. Happened as dated, per the source[1]: "the reclamation of 269 hectares from the Indian Ocean".
Sri Lanka finishes reclaiming 269 hectares of land from the Indian Ocean off Colombo, laying the ground for the Chinese-backed Port City Colombo financial district.
