November 2004 Disasters

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

• Nov. 7, southern Philippines: Southern Philippines hit by tropical storm Lingling experienced flash floods and landslides that killed at least 115.
• Nov. 11, Kepulauan Alor, Indonesia: A 7.5 earthquake, the largest in 2004, killed 28 people.
• Nov. 20, San Jose, Costa Rica: A 6.4 earthquake, 30 mi south-southwest of San Jose, killed 8 people, several from heart attacks.
• Nov. 21, Baotou, China: China Eastern Airlines commuter plane, a Bombardier CRJ-200, exploded and plunged into a frozen lake just after take-off from Baotou, a city in northern China. All 53 people on board and 1 on the ground were killed
• Nov. 20–21, El Campo, Tex.: Fifteen inches of rain flooded El Campo and parts of southeast Texas. More than 250 were evacuated.
• Nov. 22–26, Philippines and Vietnam: Tropical storm Muifa sank several boats and pounded the Philippine coast, killing at least 60. In Vietnam, torrential rains from Muifa killed at least 45 people, flooded more than 170,000 houses, and blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts and the delivery of relief supplies. Flooding also threatened the World Heritage site of Hoi An in Vietnam.
• Nov. 27, Shaanxi province, China: A gas explosion at Chenjiashan Coal Mine in northwest China killed 166 miners. In October another blast killed 148. More than 4,500 miners died in China this year.
• Nov. 26, West Papua province, Indonesia: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake destroyed 328 buildings and killed at least 32.
• Nov. 27–28, Sierra Nevadas and Rocky Mountains: Holiday storms dumped up to three feet of snow in California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nebraska bringing holiday travel to a halt.
• Nov. 29, eastern coast and Quezon province, Philippines: Flash floods and landslides from Typhoon Winnie killed more than 500 people and hundreds are still missing. Because of the many landslides, many areas were inaccessible to rescue and clean-up crews. The landslides were caused by the deforestation from both illegal and legal logging.
• Nov. 30, Solo, Indonesia: A Lion Air MD-82 plane skidded off the runway in Solo, Indonesia, killing 31 and injuring at least 62.

See also Major Earthquakes Around the World 2004

See also Estimated Deaths from Earthquakes, 2004

See also Recent Volcanic Activity