Top 10|Biggest natural disasters that shook the world in 2020

Many have termed 2020 as the year of tragedies that claimed thousands of lives be it in man-made or natural disasters. From COVID pandemic to locust attacks to floods, the year kept everyone on the edge.

With the rise in global temperatures and changing weather, the world witnessed a series of extreme events that caused both material damage and human suffering.

Here we list out five major natural disasters that took place in 2020

1. COVID pandemic:

Though the coronavirus outbreak occurred in the last quarter of 2019, the pandemic played havoc across the world in the following year in 2020. Many countries and organisations blamed China for the existence of the virus, but nothing conclusive could be established over Beijing's involvement in the pandemic. The virus was first discovered in China's Wuhan and later gripped the world forcing the nation to impose strict lockdown to contain the virus. The COVID-19 is estimated to have claimed over 1.5 million lives globally.

2. Locust swarms:

Another major natural catastrophe was locust attack that is said to have damaged millions of acres of standing crops across the continents in Asia and Africa. Locusts are said to be migratory pests and feed on crops. These locusts can destroy the crops within seconds. Changes in climate conditions and frequent cyclones in the Indian Ocean are said to produce perfect breeding grounds for locusts. Indian states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh among other witnessed locust attacks on the crop.

3. Cyclone Amphan:

This cyclonic was classified as one of the most powerful and deadly tropical cyclones to have affected India and Bangladesh. Amphan was categorised as a type 5 hurricane. The cyclone wreaked widespread devastation in the two countries. A total of 84 people were killed over 85 people in India and Bangladesh and flattened thousands of homes. West Bengal in India bore the brunt of the cyclone's fury. Many people were killed when they were crushed by falling trees and electrocuted by downed powerlines.

4. Indonesia Flash Floods:

Nearly 66 people were killed when there was a heavy downpour in the early hours of January 1 in 2020 leading to subsequent flooding in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and its surrounding areas. The flash floods displaced four lakh people. There was widespread material destruction caused by landslides due to heavy rains and flooding.

5. Volcanic eruption in Philippines:

The Taal Volcano that erupted on January 12, 2020 caused tremors and resulted in a large amount of ash and dust from it. The eruption caused teh death of at least 39 people. Reports suggested that a number of evacuees had died due to heart attack during the evacuation. The eruption also forced nearly 8,000 to evacuate from nearby areas and three lakh in total.

6. Australian Bushfires:

Although the Australian bushfires began in 2019, they continued to devastate the country’s state of New South Wales well until March 2020. The fire season, one of the worst on record for the country, burned more than 13 million acres, and directly killed at least 33 people, according to the BBC. The resulting smoke, however, is attributed to at least 445 deaths.

7. Philippines Volcano Eruption:

Located in the Ring of Fire, the Philippines routinely faces natural disasters from earthquakes to volcano eruptions. The tourist attraction and one of the country’s most active volcanoes, Taal, erupted on Jan. 12, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate, covering the land in ash and killing 39 people, according to the Manila Bulletin, with the reported deaths being “mostly due to anxiety and negligence of the casualties.”

8. Assam Floods, India:

Heavy rains in the past few months have been seen as a boon and bane around different parts of India. Many parts of Assam have also experienced these heavy rains and as a result, have been negatively affected in the form of floods. 128 villages, 5 districts and so many more have been caused harm.

9. Earthquakes, China-India-Iran-Philippines-Russia-Turkey-The Caribbean:

With the ongoing pandemic, this year and the people have faced so many catastrophic situations such as earthquakes all over the world. 45 major earthquakes have been categorized over 6 degrees on the Richter scale. Jamaica and Russia faced earthquakes with a reading of over 7 magnitudes and were symbolically the worst-hit countries. An earthquake in Turkey was responsible for 41 deaths.

10. Green Snow, Antarctica:

When thinking about Antarctica, one can imagine everything white; from glaciers to snow, penguins, seals, and more. However, it has been noticed that parts of Antarctica are turning green due to climate change and the bloom of snow algae. Snow algae tend to thrive on temperatures that are above the freezing temperature and as the climate is causing the snow to melt, it has accelerated the speed at which the snow algae grows. If someone were to look at the continent from space, they would see some of the green parts.