cause trust me, it could be worse.

So from a survival standpoint,

our planet can be a pretty scary place.

Aside from all of the death and destruction

that we ourselves as the human race cause,

planet Earth has been known to cause just as much

devastation herself.

From viruses, to tsunamis, and earthquakes

this space rock that we live on can be a real jerk

when it feels like showing off.

So this week I collected a list of some of the most

destructive natural events ever recorded that are

pretty much guaranteed to make you feel better about

your day so here they are.

The 10 deadliest natural disasters in history.

Number one is Black Death.

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics

in human history resulting in the deaths of

an estimated 75 to 200 million people,

peaking in Europe between 1346 and 1353.

The plague hit Europe like a freight train killing

an estimated 25 to 60% of the entire continents population.

The name Black Death reflects a common attribute

of the disease which would cause the flesh of those infected

to die and rot into an ashen black color.

So as you can see, it's lovely.

The Black Death was also known as the Great Morality,

or the Great Pestilence.

It was the second plague pandemic of the middle ages,

the first being the Justinian Plague of the 6th century

which was equally as unpleasant.

Scientist still do not know what the cause of the outbreak

was as there as several competing theories that exist today.

However, an analysis of DNA from victims in

Northern and Southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011

indicates that the pathogen responsible was the

Yersinia pestis bacterium causing several forms

of the plague.

Wait, we have no idea exactly where it came from?

Okay.

Well between that, Netflix,

and the ability to order groceries online,

I now have every reason to never leave my house.

Great!

Number two is the Spanish Flu.

Between 1918 and 1920,

an unusually deadly influenza pandemic occurred

that infected 500 million people across the world

and killed 50 to 100 million of them.

Around 4% of the entire world's population.

To maintain moral during the war,

the governments of Germany, Britain, France,

and the United States censored the virus' effects

but talked much about its effect on Spain

hence the nickname of the Spanish Flu.

Unlike most influenza outbreaks that would often take

the lives of the juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients,

the Spanish Flu would easily kill young and healthy adults.

The virus died as quickly as it grew as it's speculated

that the virus had mutated so rapidly that it mutated

into a less lethal strain.

This was first of two pandemics involving the

H1N1 influenza virus.

That's right.

This was the same virus that rocked the world

not long ago back in 2009.

I really don't understand how a virus can reemerge like this

after over 100 years.

How does that happen?

What, did someone cough on an ice cube and leave it

in the freezer for future generations?

Oh, grandpa left me an ice cube in the freezer everyone!

I chilled my drink with it!

(sips)

Uh, oh.

Number three is the Afghanistan Blizzard.

You might think of Afghanistan as a smoldering hot country

full of desert but surprisingly it can get cold.

Really cold.

In February of 2008,

Afghanistan suffered the second worst blizzard in modern

history with regards to casualties.

The blizzard caused temperatures to fall below

30 degrees Celsius and up to 1.8 meters of snow fell.

This resulted in total casualties of over 1 thousand people

freezing to death.

In addition, at least 100 people were stricken with

frost bite and had to get amputations.

What's equally as sad is animals were the most vulnerable

to the blizzard as more than 100,000 sheep and goats,

and 315,000 cattle died.

It's important to keep in mind that this was all at a time

when the country was already ravaged by on going wars

which further devastated the country and its economy.

This is really sad and almost hard to understand

because as a kid growing up in Canada,

the worse the weather the better because we got snow days.

There was never any horrible pain and suffering.

Well, y'know that wasn't 'till we had to go back to school.

Number four are the Central China Floods.

In 1931 the Republic of China was hit by a series of floods

that resulted in arguably the deadliest natural disaster

of the 20th century discounting pandemics and famines.

The flood occurred after a series of odd weather occurrences

in China.

From 1928 to 1930,

there was a long drought followed by heavy snow storms,

then a spring thaw and a heavy rainfall

that continuously grew.

Then in 1931, the Yangtze River overflowed

and caused a series of floods causing millions of deaths

due to drowning, disease, and starvation.

More than 51 million people,

or 1/4 of China's entire population,

was effected by the Central China Floods with the total

number of casualties from the disaster estimated

to be as high as 4 million.

Exacerbating the problem was the fact that the government

was ill-equipped to monetarily deal with the disaster

after just freshly emerging from a war as well as still

dealing with an on-going civil war.

But at least there was a silver lining which was...

nope, nope, there was no silver lining.

Just a lot of people died.

Yeah, awkward.

Number five is Hurricane Andrew.

When Hurricane Andrew occurred in 1992 it was

the costliest hurricane in history.

It was formed when a tropical wave moved to the

West Coast of Africa on August of 1992.

Within only two days it became a major tropical depression

and while it's intensity was initially damped by wind sheer,

the days after gave it time to develop into a

destructive tropical cyclone.

Along with Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Ike,

the cyclones spread massive destruction with Andrew

causing 44 fatalities and $26 million of property damage

in Florida alone.

But before it even hit the Florida coast,

it hit the Bahamas with high tides,

hurricane force winds, and tornadoes where it caused

a whopping $250 million of damage four deaths.

With no electricity and no clean water many citizens

began looting stores which of course makes no sense

considering most of them were underwater, but hey!

It's a tough economy,

so a free water logged TV is still a free TV!

Number six is the European Heatwave.

Between July and August of 2003,

Europe was struck with the hottest summer on record

since 1540 with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celcius

or higher daily.

Unfortunately, Europe was not too familiar with scorching

hot summers like that leaving them particularly vunerable

to its effects.

The heatwave caused a health crisis in several countries

as well as a drought that led to crop shortages

further worsening the problem.

Almost 15,000 casualties were recorded in France alone,

where old people in nursing homes were vulnerable as well as

single family homes with no air conditioning systems.

The blazing hot temperature dried up most of Europe

which caused forest fires and counter-intuitively

even flooding.

Before its end, the heatwave was believe to have taken

a total of 70,000 lives.

I'd like to point out that ironlically,

this heatwave occurred during the

International Year of Freshwater.

Oh, how cruel fate can be.

Number seven is the Haiti Earthquake.

What was once an unknown city in the Dominican Republic,

blew up in international headlines when it was struck with a

massive earthquake in 2010.

With a depth of 13 kilometers,

a 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti on the 12th of January

just south of Port au Prince.

The initial hit was followed by 59 aftershocks

ranging from 4.2 to 5.8 magnitudes and was the strongest

quake that hit the country since 1970.

The disaster led to over 200,000 deaths,

2 million people homeless, and 3 million people

in need of emergency aid.

Thankfully, the country received so much media attention

that a subsequent out poor of aid followed

totaling over $195 million.

As of 2013, still only half of the 10 million cubic meters

of debris has been remove with 20% of that being recycled.

See?

The media is still sometimes used for good!

Y'know, when they're not trying to controlling your

mind trying to keep you as a working zombie cog in a system

that's making rich men richer.

What?

Number eight is the Nevado Del Ruiz Volcano Irruption.

The Colombian volcano, Nevado Del Ruiz,

is a stratovolcano that is known for causing the

second largest volcano related disaster of the 20th century.

Generally, the volcano would produce Plinian irruptions,

which are columns of gas and volcanic ash that extend

into the atmosphere.

But on November 13 of 1985,

the volcano turned ugly and produced an enormous

pyroclastic flow that buried and devastated the

town of Armero in Tolima.

Known as the Armero tragedy,

the massive pyroclastic flow combined with a huge mud flow

buried the town causing the death of 25,000 people.

Much of it could've been avoided because of early

warning signs but the concerns were dismissed as

too alarmist and nothing was done to avoid the tragedy.

Y'know, if you think about it you really can't blame them

for not panicking or even listening to the warnings.

I mean, they live next to a volcano.

After a while, the threat of living next to a potential

imminent danger source eh, the shock and awe of it

kinda goes away. So, y'know.

Not their fault really.

Number nine is the North Korean Famine.

North Korea is known as a perfectly normal place

where nothing weird ever happens and it's led by a super

cool dude in a stellar jumpsuit,

so it's surprising that the country would ever face

a disaster of any kind!

Between 1994 and 1998,

a famine devastated the country with an estimated death toll

between 240,000 and 3.5 million caused by starvation

and other hunger related illnesses.

The event forever became known as the Arduous March.

Of it's 24 million people,

5 million of them were malnourished including

800,000 children that were on the brink of starvation.

Those citizens that were further from the capitol suffered

greater but everyone in North Korea suffered

from this famine.

The United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and other

European Union countries provided food assistance until 2002

when the North Korean government requested that they

end deliveries.

Obviously, because North Korea doesn't need help anymore.

They can feed their people just fine off of something

tastier and more nourishing like grass.

(laughs)

And number ten is New Zealand Earthquakes.

In 2011, New Zeland was hit with a magnitude 6.3 earthquake

that hit the country so hard that it became one of

the nations deadliest peace-time disasters.

Targeting the second largest city,

the disaster killed 185 people with 238 people reported

missing and 168 patients treated for injuries.

Causing an estimated $16 billion in damage,

the Christ Church and the Central Canterbury Church