The 50 Most Famous Disaster Photographs

Photos of 50 disasters from the last 100 years.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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After seeing these images, you might agree that we use the term "disaster" a little too loosely. So much of disaster photography is abstracted from the reality of everyday life, emphasizing the sublime, unbounded power of nature — a crashing waterfall, a bright bolt of lightning, or a thunderous wave crashing on a pristine beach.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, however, disasters are never simply pure, majestic moments of disturbing beauty or colossal majesty. With seven billion people on Earth, every tremor and breeze has a distinctive human impact. The growing world population is a key factor in the following list of unthinkable, bizarre, and tragic disaster photographs.

Keep in mind that we tried our best to credit each respective photographer and the number of casualties when that information was made available. Additionally, the "fame" of each photograph is highly relative, so consider the list for the most part unranked.

From the Titanic in 1912 to the rapture in 2012, here is the Complex list of The 50 Most Famous Disaster Photographs.

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1991 Mt. Pinatubo Eruption

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The Good Friday Earthquake

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1920 Haiyuan Earthquake

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1976 Tangshan Earthquake

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2010 Kalapana Lava Disaster

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The Cloquet Fire of 1918

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Boston Molasses Flood

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2010 Hungary Disaster

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2010 Haiti Earthquake

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The Great Smog

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1950 Alps Avalanches

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2010 Queensland Floods

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Cyclone Nargis

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2007 Guatemala Sinkhole

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2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

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The End of the World

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2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

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1998 Quebec Ice Storm

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The 1938 Yellow River Flood

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1939 NYC Fire

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2011 Sindh Floods

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2011 Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Earthquake

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1991 Stampede at Mecca

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1971 North Vietnam Flood

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1989 San Francisco Earthquake

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Lake Nyos Outgassing

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The Armero Tragedy

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1981 Winter Park Sinkhole

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Mt. St. Helens Volano Eruption

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1948 Ashgabat Earthquake

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1970 Mt. Huascaran Avalanche

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1999 Vargas Floods

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1960 Valdivia Earthquake

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1972 Iran Blizzard

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Superstorm

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The Central China Floods

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The Bhola Cyclone

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Black Sunday Dust Storms

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The Great Kanto Earthquake

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Locust Swarm in Palestine

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Summer 2010 Heat Wave

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Chandka Forest Elephant Rampage

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2010 Pakistan Flood

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1912 NYC Fire

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1991 Chittagong Cyclone

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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

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2008 Bangor Fire Tornado

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Beebe Bird Rains

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Hurricane Katrina

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The Titanic

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