10 Disasters That Could Have Been Even WORSE

Top 10 Disasters That Could Have Been Even WORSE

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at moments in history when disasters and crises caused immense destruction or carried the threat of annihilation but ultimately fell short of becoming world-ending events.

#10: An Ice Age in South Africa pushed humans to the brink of Extinction

Thousands of years ago, expanding glaciers drastically altered landscapes and led to intense climate shifts across the planet. The conditions were particularly harsh around parts of southern Africa. Cooler temperatures reduced rainfall, causing forests and grasslands to shrink, both of which our ancestors relied on for food and water. Archaeological evidence suggested that small groups of early Homo sapiens were pushed toward narrow coastal refuges, like Mossel Bay, where survival became extremely difficult. It was a waiting game at this point for these communities who depended heavily on marine resources but also needed environmental conditions to improve. Had the ice expanded just a little farther or lasted longer, scientists believe that human populations in the region might have declined even more dramatically.

#9: 1961: A Blown Fuse Almost Set Off WWIII

The Cold War saw the United States and the Soviet Union standing on high alert to military activities on both sides. In 1961, radar stations built to detect incoming nuclear missiles suddenly went offline across parts of North America. Military officials feared the worst and briefly believed a Soviet attack might have destroyed those detection systems. Had the officials settled on this interpretation, it would have been the trigger to retaliatory nuclear strikes. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Commanders delayed their response long enough for technicians to investigate the problem. The cause turned out to be far less dramatic: a simple overheated fuse in a relay station located in Colorado. A small electrical failure nearly triggered a catastrophic misunderstanding.

#8: The 2012 Solar Storm Missed Humanity by a Week

On July 23, 2012, the Sun unleashed an enormous burst of energy known as a coronal mass ejection. These powerful eruptions blast magnetized plasma and radiation into space at incredible speeds. If such a solar storm strikes Earth directly, it can disrupt satellites, electrical grids, and communication networks. We would be sent back to the stone ages. Fortunately for modern civilization, the massive storm in 2012 traveled through the region of space where Earth had been only about a week earlier in its orbit. Had the timing been slightly different, the storm could have slammed into our planet and triggered widespread technological disruptions. Some experts believe it might have caused global power outages lasting months if not years.

#7: A Stone Age Supernova Star Exploded

Every 10 seconds, somewhere in the universe, a supernova occurs. A supernova is a powerful stellar explosion that releases enormous amounts of radiation and energetic particles into space.

Our cosmic neighbourhood witnessed something similar millions of years ago. Scientists in the 1970s found unusual deposits of a radioactive isotope called iron-60 found in deep ocean sediments. These traces suggested that a nearby supernova occurred roughly two to three million years ago. The radiation spewed out by the explosion is hypothesized to have slightly affected the atmosphere and exposed ancient life on our planet to increased cosmic rays. Any closer to our solar system, the consequences of this stellar explosion could have been far more dramatic.

#6: The Apollo 13 Mission

The Apollo 13 mission launched in 1970 with a goal to be the third human lunar landing. But roughly two days into the journey, disaster struck when an oxygen tank exploded inside the spacecraft’s service module. The blast crippled critical systems and forced NASA to abandon the lunar landing. With limited power, water, and oxygen, astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise suddenly faced a life-threatening situation nearly 200,000 miles from Earth. Engineers and mission controllers worked tirelessly to develop improvised solutions. Through remarkable teamwork and ingenuity, the astronauts safely returned home against overwhelming odds. Dubbed a “successful failure,” had the timing of the explosion gone any differently, Apollo 13 and its crew would have been lost forever.

#5: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

The San Andreas Fault remains a ticking time bomb for a massive earthquake. On April 18, 1906, the city of San Francisco got a sneak peek. The massive earthquake destroyed buildings, ruptured gas lines, and triggered fires that quickly spread through the damaged city. For several days, raging infernos consumed entire neighborhoods while emergency crews struggled to regain control. Desperate to quell the flames, firefighters and soldiers used dynamite to demolish buildings and create firebreaks. These barriers slowed the fires long enough for responders to finally contain the destruction. The earthquake devastated much of San Francisco and caused thousands of casualties but were it not for those firebreaks, the city would have been engulfed in flames that would have spread across the entire Bay Area.

#4: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Oil and water don’t mesh, and in April 2010, the world watched in silent horror when an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig triggered the worst offshore oil spill in the history of the United States. In its wake, a massive flow of crude oil escaped into the Gulf of Mexico. For nearly three months, oil gushed from the damaged well. Eventually, a specially drilled relief well intercepted the original wellbore and sealed it with heavy drilling fluid and cement. The spill caused enormous environmental and economic damage, but experts believe the prognosis would have been far worse had the timing of the disaster happened during hurricane season or if capping efforts had failed or if the blowout had occurred closer to the shore.

#3: 2013 Chelyabinsk Meteor Event

Over 100 tons of meteoritic material enter our planet’s atmosphere every day. On February 15, 2013, residents of Chelyabinsk, Russia stood witness when something much larger flashed across the morning sky. A large meteor weighing between 10,000 and 13,000 tons entered Earth’s atmosphere traveling at tremendous speed before exploding high above the city in a powerful airburst. The shockwave shattered windows across the region and injured more than a thousand people, mostly from flying glass. Scientists later estimated the explosion released energy equivalent to several hundred thousand tons of TNT. Fortunately, the meteor disintegrated about twenty miles above the ground. If the object had remained intact and struck the surface directly, the damage would have caused massive destruction and left a massive impact crater.

#2: Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the peak of the Cold War and when the world came dangerously close to nuclear conflict. The United States discovered that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear missile sites in Cuba, just ninety miles from the American coastline. Over the next thirteen days, tensions escalated as both sides prepared for potential conflict. It was even more frightening behind the scenes as several incidents brought the situation even closer to disaster. In one case, a Soviet submarine under attack from practice depth charges nearly launched a nuclear torpedo. Thankfully, the decision to hold fire helped prevent a catastrophe. Careful diplomacy and restraint by leaders on both sides helped deescalate and resolve the crisis without nuclear weapons ever being used.

#1: The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Nuclear energy is a double-edged sword, posing both great potential, and when handled inappropriately, irreparable danger like the case of the Chernobyl reactor explosion in April 1986. The blast destroyed the reactor core and released large amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding environment. Fires burned for days while firefighters and plant workers risked their lives to contain the damage. What many failed to realize is that the disaster could have been far worse. Nearby reactors remained dangerously close to the spreading flames, and scientists feared a massive steam explosion if molten nuclear fuel reached water beneath the reactor. A group of divers entered the flooded basement to open critical valves, draining the water and preventing a catastrophe that might have devastated much of Europe.

Which of these close calls gave you the chills? Let us know in the comments and be sure to subscribe if you want more countdowns on close-calls that could have gone worse.