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Disasters

Major accidents, natural and environmental disasters, epidemics and famines

Germany's great catastrophes The storm surge in Hamburg, the air disaster in Ramstein, the Oder flood and the Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg are among the major disasters of the last 70 years. Sometimes there are miracles, however, such as the bailout during the mining accident in Lengede in 1963.

Germany's great catastrophes

THW - German Federal Agency for Technical Relief Almost all members of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), which was founded in Bonn in 1950, are volunteers. The specialists are deployed not only in Germany, but also in disasters and emergencies all over the world. Their tasks are manifold Power and water supply, rescue and recovery as well as fighting floods are among the tasks of the THW.

THW - German Federal Agency for Technical Relief

Love Parade disaster 2010 On July 24, 2010, 21 people died in a mass panic during the Love Parade in Duisburg and more than 500 were injured when a deadly crowd broke out in the only access to the event area.

Love Parade disaster 2010

Historical Archive of the City of Cologne collapses, 2009 The pictures of the collapsed Cologne City Archive went around the world: a gaping hole in the row of houses, a huge mountain of dusty rubble. Two residents were killed in the collapse on March 3, 2009. Countless historical documents were buried, and the city of Cologne estimates the damage at 1.2 billion euros.

Historical Archive of the City of Cologne collapses, 2009

The wonder of Lengede 1963 On November 7, 1963, 500 people became eyewitnesses to the most dramatic rescue operation in the history of German mining. Two weeks after a muddy water collapse on October 24, 1963, eleven miners were rescued from the "Mathilde" ore mine using the "Dahlbusch bomb"; for 29 miners, all help came too late.

The wonder of Lengede 1963

Costa Concordia accident (2012) On 13 January 2012, the cruise ship "Costa Concordia" capsized off the Tuscan coast with more than 4200 people on board. Due to a risky manoeuvre, the ship had come too close to the island of Giglio and collided with an offshore rock. 32 people lost their lives.

Costa Concordia accident (2012)

Kaprun tunnel disaster 2000 On 11 November 2000 a fire in a train of the Kaprun glacier railway in Austria killed 155 people.

Kaprun tunnel disaster 2000

Germanwings disaster 2015 On the flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf the aircraft of the Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings will crash in the French High Alps on 24 March 2015. The 144 passengers and six crew members will die in the crash which co-pilot Andreas Lubitz apparently caused intentionally.

Germanwings disaster 2015