The tragedy will be remembered forever.
People are used to the concrete jungle, so all these skyscrapers, bridges and roads seem to be something immutable. But natural disasters and war prove the opposite, leaving behind only the ruins of the once advanced and organized life. And even the decline of the economy can destroy a city with the same force as a tsunami or earthquake. We should look to the past to ponder the future.
15. Pripyat
After the accident at Chernobyl in 1986, residents of nearby city Pripyat was evacuated. Now a Ghost town located in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. After the accident, work was carried out on the decontamination area, which led to a significant reduction of background radiation. Currently in the city, reminding about the dangers of nuclear energy tours.
14. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
6 and 9 August 1945, final stage world war II, US forces dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Killed about 450,000 people. The city was destroyed by 80%. At that time, the evacuation of people from contaminated areas were not conducted because no one knew about the presence of radioactive contamination. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were restored a few decades later.
13. Fukushima
March 11, 2011 the strongest ever Japan earthquake and the subsequent tsunami on NPP Fukushima-1 occurred radiation accident maximum of 7th level. Around the plant was created by a 20-kilometer exclusion zone, thousands of people were forced from nearby cities. To this day the works on decontamination of contaminated soil, but people are unlikely to ever be able to return to their homes.
12. Pompeii
The eruption of mount Vesuvius on 24 August 79 ad covered the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, the thickness of volcanic ash. From 20,000 inhabitants in the buildings and on the streets, killing about 2,000 people. In the process of excavations revealed that in the cities everything is preserved the way it was before the eruption.
11. Balakot
8 Oct 2005 in Kashmir, Pakistan, earthquake of 7.6 on the Richter scale. The disaster caused major damage in North-Eastern Pakistan, Afghanistan and Northern India. Was razed to the ground many cities, including Balakot.
10. Catania
The Italian city of Catania has survived numerous disasters. In 1169, Catania was destroyed by a strong earthquake. In 1669 there was a violent eruption of Etna, and most of the houses of the city were buried under a layer of lava and ash. And in 1693, when Riding is not recovered after the first shock, an earthquake of 7.4 on the Richter scale destroyed what was left of it was built.
9. Beichuan
In 2008 in the Chinese city of Beichuan earthquake of 7.9 on the Richter scale. The city was in ruins, killing almost half the population. Among the victims there were approximately 1,300 children who are victims of the collapse of the school building. The authorities did not rebuild the city, leaving it as a reminder of a large-scale disaster.
8. In humberston & Santa Laura
On a devastating effect can not only wars and natural disasters. In humberston & Santa Laura was once a prosperous development of nitrate in Northern Chile. During the great depression in 1929 because of the development of ammonia synthesis enterprises suffered bankruptcy. Working quickly departed, and the city remained empty. In 2005 UNESCO included in humberston & Santa Laura in the world heritage list.
7. Detroit
Half a century ago, Detroit was considered the richest city in the United States, but the decline of the automobile industry led to the bankruptcy and destruction of the city. The factories closed one after the other, and working together with their families went in search of a better life. Today Detroit is the city with the highest crime rate and lowest educational level in the United States.
6. Hashima
The Japanese island is located in the East China sea, about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki city. Prior to his arrival at the beginning of the XIX century, in connection with the discovery of coal, he was simply a piece of rock. Thanks to the coal industry began construction of houses for the miners and their families. The reef turned into an artificial island with a population of 5,300 people. By 1974, all the inhabitants left the island due to dwindling resources, and hashima became a Ghost town.
5. Centralia
Centralia was a prosperous mining town in Pennsylvania, whose population dropped from 1,000 people in 1981 to 12 in 2005 and 10 in 2010. The reason for this is the seemingly harmless burning of waste in a landfill in 1962. 5 firefighters were hired by the city for burning trash dump. They set fire to piles of garbage, and then they extinguished. Not until the end of the extinguished debris triggered an underground fire. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it burns to this day. Harmful fumes and poisonous land forces people to leave the city.
4. The great fire of London
From 2 to 5 September 1666 London was on fire. Burned 13,500 houses, 87 parish churches (even St. Paul’s Cathedral), most of the government buildings. It is believed that the fire was deprived of shelter 70,000 people, the then population of Central London at 80,000.
3. Halifax
6 Dec 1917 in the Harbor of the canadian city of Halifax the collision of the explosives-Laden French warship Mont Blanc with the Norwegian ship “IMO” terrible explosion thundered. Its capacity, according to modern estimates, amounted to about 3 kilotons of TNT. Approximately 2000 people died under the rubble of buildings and fires, 9,000 people were injured, 400 people have lost their sight.
2. Kowloon
The walled city of Kowloon was once densely populated settlement in Hong Kong. The city was controlled by triads, it was flourishing prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Only in 1993 the government began the demolition of the fortress, revealing in its place a Park of the same name.
1. Wellington
A strong earthquake measuring 7.4 points in 1848 caused serious damage in Wellington, and in 1854 for the same reason a lot of people died. The probability of earthquakes and subsequent tsunami in New Zealand is still high. And the largest city in the area of risk is the capital city of Wellington.
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