March 2005 Disasters

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

• March 9, Mabini, Philippines: food poisoning killed 29 school children after they ate food from a local vendor.
• March 15, Arctic coast, Russia: a Russian twin-engine Antonov-24 plane, on route from Siberia, crashed 1,100 miles northeast of Moscow as it tried to make an emergency landing, killing 28 of the 52 people on board.
• March 19, Baluchistan province, Pakistan : five bombs exploded at religious shrines where Shiite Muslims gathered, killing at least 44. The previous week another bombing, which was the result of fighting between renegade tribesmen and government forces, killed 30.
• March 20, Kyushu, Japan: a magnitude 7.0 earthquake destroyed homes, killed 1, and injured 500.
• March 18–22, Afghanistan: heavy rains and melting snows killed more than 200 and left thousands homeless. This followed what was already the worst winter in years that had killed several hundred people.
• March 23, Texas City, Tex.: an explosion in the country's third-largest oil refinery killed 14 and injured 70.
• March 28, Sumatra, Indonesian: a magnitude 8.7 earthquake, off the west coast of Sumatra, killed 1313 in the islands of Nias and Simeulue. Many buildings were destroyed and some officials feared another tsunami would occur. The same area was at the center of a huge tsunami in December that killed over 283,000 people. Officials at the U.S. Geological Survey said that yesterday's earthquake was an aftershock of December's 9.0 quake. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake was twice the power of the 8.7 magnitude quake.

See also Major Earthquakes Around the World 2005

See also Estimated Deaths from Earthquakes, 2005

See also Recent Volcanic Activity