Buzz
Due to the limited scope of media coverage, many significant global natural disasters remain underreported. This means that some monumental events often slip through the cracks. In recent years, we’ve seen the worst weather-related catastrophe in the southern hemisphere, a century-long oil spill take its first breath, and one of the largest evacuations ever.
There are also disasters that go unnoticed because they unfold so quietly. Examples include the loss of an ancient forest predating humanity, and the global spread of tiny plastic pellets, known as nurdles.
10. Nurdles
They may sound endearing, but nurdles are far from charming. These tiny pellets are a crucial component for the plastic industry, eventually being transformed into bottles, bags, and virtually anything plastic. Yet, these nurdles are becoming an unwanted beach presence.
While the media focused on the problem of plastic bags in the ocean, these pellets silently spread along shorelines globally. The issue gained attention when storms carried thousands of nurdles from the sea and left them scattered along the coastlines of the United Kingdom. It was later reported that nurdle containers had been lost overboard near South Africa. As awareness grew, so did the scope of the issue.
A 2016 investigation revealed that the incident near South Africa wasn’t an isolated mistake. The UK alone loses around 53 billion nurdles each year. Sadly, these pellets are all too easy to spill. They slip away during production, transportation, and handling. Many end up in drains and eventually make their way into the ocean, where they cause harm to marine life that mistake the pellets for food.
9. The Heat Streak
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been tracking Earth’s temperature for 139 years. Recently, the data revealed a concerning trend. Although the past few decades have seen a consistent rise in global temperatures, the last five years (2014–18) have been the hottest on record.
A warming climate brings more intense weather and makes seasonal patterns unpredictable. Storms and summers become fiercer. Snowfall vanishes or falls in unexpected places. This is why 2018 was marked by devastating wildfires, heat waves, heavy rains, and hurricanes. NOAA recorded 14 weather-related incidents in the United States alone, which claimed 247 lives and caused $91 billion in damages.
The heat waves that scorched America, Europe, and Australia were especially alarming. These heatwaves shattered temperature records, which is concerning since even higher temperatures are forecasted for the coming years. What’s behind the relentless increase in global heat? That persistent culprit—greenhouse gas emissions.
8. Alaska’s Dangerous Thaw
Alaska’s annual spring thaw is a critical period for locals. Many depend on frozen waterways for transportation. Scientists carefully monitor temperatures to ensure no one uses the routes when the seasons change and the ice begins to weaken.
Alaska, the fastest-warming state in the U.S., faced tragic consequences in 2019. A sudden temperature spike signaled the arrival of one of the hottest springs on record. This triggered a record-breaking thaw that weakened the waterways earlier than expected.
Two vehicles broke through the ice. One incident resulted in the deaths of two men, while the other tragically took the lives of a family of three, including a young child. The unstable ice also disrupted the traditional hunting practices of local communities still dependent on them for their livelihoods.
The most severe impact was felt by the residents of Shishmaref island. The ice melt caused such significant coastal damage that the entire town had to relocate to a new site.
7. Deadly Dust Storm
Dust storms typically hinder transportation, reduce visibility, and occasionally affect health, but they don’t usually result in large-scale fatalities. That changed in 2018.
Northern India was preparing for the night when a massive dust storm engulfed the region, stretching across the western state of Rajasthan, Delhi, and the eastern state of Uttar Pradesh. Once the dust cleared, over 100 lives had been lost.
Dust storms are typical for this area, but this one caught even Rajasthan’s disaster management team off guard. With 20 years of experience, the secretary had never witnessed a storm of such devastating magnitude. Meteorologists later determined the reasons behind the storm’s extraordinary size and strength.
That night, a huge thunderstorm system arrived, bringing with it downbursts—wind columns that strike downward with some of the most powerful gusts on record. The fatalities from the 2018 storm were caused by these intense winds, which knocked over large buildings, killing and injuring people inside.
6. The First Mammal to Fall Victim to Climate Change
In 2009, a fisherman spotted a rat on an island in the Great Barrier Reef. This marked the final sighting of the Bramble Cay melomys. First identified in 1845, a thriving population of these creatures once inhabited the small Bramble Cay island and nowhere else. By 1978, there were still hundreds of these rodents.
Two decades later, rising sea levels had wiped out 97 percent of their habitat. The rare species struggled to cope with these changes. By the time researchers tried to capture a few, it was already too late. In 2014, they combed through what was left of Bramble Cay, but found no trace of its distinctive resident.
In 2016, the Australian government officially declared the Bramble Cay melomys extinct. This extinction is significant, as the rising sea levels linked to climate change were likely the cause. The rats were doomed, having nowhere to escape. Similarly, if coastlines continue to move inland, other island species could face a similar fate.
5. A Major Evacuation
In 2019, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) noticed an anomaly on their radar. They recognized the danger as soon as they saw it. The incoming cyclone, named Fani, was set to be catastrophic as it made its way toward the Bay of Bengal.
India has faced its share of storms. In 1999, one made landfall in the same region, claiming 10,000 lives. Because of this, IMD took Fani very seriously. In what became India's largest evacuation and one of the largest in human history, over a million people fled to safety. This time, only 16 lives were lost.
Bangladesh faced even greater devastation. As Fani moved on to the neighboring country, it destroyed over 1,000 homes. It flooded many villages, leaving five dead and 63 injured.
Despite the widespread destruction, advanced early warning systems gave people a better chance to survive. The evacuations (around one million in Bangladesh too) played a crucial role in reducing the death toll from 10,000 in 1999 to just 21 in 2019.
4. The Southern Hemisphere’s Deadliest Catastrophe
On March 14, 2019, Hurricane Idai struck Mozambique. The storm made landfall near Beira as a devastating force, and the storm surge caused floods that obliterated roads and buildings.
The disaster didn’t stop in Mozambique. The powerful floods also destroyed infrastructure in Malawi and Zimbabwe. It is estimated that around 1,000 people lost their lives in Mozambique alone.
While hurricanes, also referred to as cyclones and typhoons, occur globally, the intensity of this particular storm was almost unparalleled for the region. After assessing the event and its damages, the UN World Meteorological Organization issued a statement declaring it likely “the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere.”
Forecasting hurricanes is far from an exact science, which is unsettling given their deadly potential. Even more alarming is the scientific consensus that their frequency and strength are expected to grow as a result of global warming.
3. The United Nations Report
In 2019, the United Nations released an initial report detailing Earth’s biodiversity, compiling insights from 15,000 research papers into an 1,800-page document. The focus was on extinction and the human influences driving it, such as population growth and rising greenhouse gas emissions.
Though no one expected positive news, the findings were worse than anticipated. The report issued a dire warning about the massive loss of biodiversity due to human activities. Factors such as rising oceans, climate change, and deforestation are causing species to disappear at an alarming rate.
The findings pointed to a disturbing truth. There have been five mass extinctions in Earth's history, and the report suggested that we may already be in the midst of the sixth. The threat is not just to animals; the study also revealed that half of the world’s rivers and 40 percent of the oceans are suffering from severe degradation. Additionally, around 75 percent of the land shows similar destructive human effects.
2. Daintree Disaster
Something is fading in the shadow of the Great Barrier Reef. The plight of the reef is well-documented. In short, global warming and coral bleaching have already wiped out half of its coral. Despite this, the reef continues to receive funding and advanced rescue efforts, such as 3-D-printed coral and robots transporting coral larvae to the reef.
Parallel to this natural wonder lies the rain forest of Daintree. Known as the world’s oldest rain forest, its trees and vines sprouted roughly 150 million years ago on the supercontinent Gondwana, making it older than humanity itself.
Stretching 450 kilometers (280 miles) through northern Queensland, this forest is home to more than one-third of Australia’s mammals, half of its bird species, 60 percent of its butterflies, and 41 percent of its freshwater fish species. Although it's not widely known, it is listed as the “second-most priceless” World Heritage site among over 173,000 recognized places.
After decades of deforestation, Daintree’s ecosystem has been weakened, and it faces direct threats from climate change and heatwaves. Some species are becoming vulnerable to the rising temperatures and have begun to disappear. Scientists worry that the ongoing heat could lead to a mass extinction event and potentially erase this irreplaceable treasure.
1. The 15-Year-Long Spill
Oil spills are damaging enough when they last for weeks or months, but one has been a persistent problem for 15 years. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan wrecked an oil rig owned by Taylor Energy in the Gulf of Mexico. While the company managed to repair some of the leaking pipes, the spill has continued, and the fumes are now nearly intolerable off the coast of Louisiana.
For years, Taylor Energy, the Coast Guard, and the government have tried to halt the leak, but all attempts have failed. No one is entirely sure how much oil is seeping out, though some estimates suggest it could be as much as 100 barrels a day.
The situation is nothing short of an ecological nightmare. Every living thing in the Gulf of Mexico passes through this area. One of the reasons that all efforts to stop the spill have failed is that a mudslide has buried the pipes under a thick layer of sludge.
The site has become a high-risk zone and a major engineering challenge. If a solution isn’t found soon, this 15-year leak could persist for much longer. There's enough oil trapped to continue flowing into the ocean for the next 100 years.
