Disaster Area

Sometimes it feels as though Columbine was our first experience with school shootings. But it very much wasn't, as the town of West Paducah, Kentucky, can attest. Videos: Very Bad Men: Michael Carneal Articles and books: Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings , by Katherine S. Newman, Cybelle Fox, David J. Harding, Jal Metha, and Wendy Roth 1997 Kentucky school shooter denied parole COMMONW...

In part two, we watch as the Atlantic continues to head toward the southern coast of Nova Scotia ... with dangerous consequences. Videos:   The Terrifying Wreck of the SS ATLANTIC (Halifax, 1873 - 150th ANNIVERSARY) A Real-Time Animation of the Sinking A Visit to the SS Atlantic Heritage Park Interpretation Center, Nova Scotia Articles and books: Atlantic's Last Stop: Courage, Folly, and Lies in t...

It's been a rough week and a half on stormy seas as you and your family make the trip from Ireland to your new home in America in March of 1873. Now finally, the ship is making a stop in Halifax to refuel and you might all be able to rest. But there will be no rest for the passengers on the SS Atlantic. Videos: The Terrifying Wreck of the SS ATLANTIC (Halifax, 1873 - 150th ANNIVERSARY) A Real-Time...

It was just supposed to be a fun college party with a great band at a popular Brazil nightclub. But once the pyrotechnics came out, Kiss turned into Hell in an instant. Videos: Inside Kiss nightclub, purportedly minutes before the fire started: temospoucotempo and vinnicius.massagnini Tiktok video from diariodesantamaria of the ceremony prior to the nightclub's demolition World Association of Disa...

It was the first Halloween that the streets would be open in Seoul, South Korea, since the start of the COVID pandemic, and young people in the city couldn't wait to go celebrate in the vibrant Itaewon neighborhood. Many of them wouldn't make it home. Videos: Paramount+: Crush [Video] Special police unit reveals CCTVs of Itaewon tragedy The results of 74-day probe into Itaewon tragedy Kieran Porey...

It was the first Halloween that the streets would be open in Seoul, South Korea, since the start of the COVID pandemic, and young people in the city couldn't wait to go celebrate in the vibrant Itaewon neighborhood. Many of them wouldn't make it home. Videos: Paramount+: Crush [Video] Special police unit reveals CCTVs of Itaewon tragedy The results of 74-day probe into Itaewon tragedy Kieran Porey...

In the final part of this series, we learn about the perpetrator as well as the investigations which have followed in the past two years. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post...

In part four of this five-part series, we watch as people realize just how flawed the police response at Robb Elementary really was. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ball...

In part three of this five-part series, we see responding officers still preparing to approach classroom 111. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post Ballistic Gel Human Head VS...

In part two of this five-part series, we see local law enforcement in Uvalde arriving at Robb Elementary, and what happens next - and what does not. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | Ne...

In the first in this five-part series, we look at the town of Uvalde, and the first moments before a normal school day goes from calm to terrifying. Videos: Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | Ne...

A year ago this week, I covered the Amagasaki train derailment in 2005 in Japan. Why not cover a second one seven years earlier near a small town in Germany? Videos: Seconds from Disaster: The Eschede derailment TS2018 Rail Disasters - Derailment at High Speed (1998 Eschede train disaster) What Went Wrong: Countdown to Catastrophe: The Eschede Disaster Articles and books: Page about the Eschede tr...

It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906 Disaster by the Bay: The Great...

It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906 Disaster by the Bay: The Great...

It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906 Disaster by the Bay: The Great...

The deadliest fire in American history happened not in Chicago, but in a small Wisconsin town to the north of Chicago on the exact same day - October 8th, 1871. Videos: Watch now: The story of the tabernacle in the Peshtigo Fire Lake Michigan shipwreck; sank during 1871 Peshtigo Fire Articles and books: Firestorm at Peshtigo , by Denise Gess and William Lotz The Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871 Wis...

On April 9th, 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher departed Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for depth tests in the Atlantic. It would never return. Videos: Second Saturday: The Loss of the USS Thresher Finding the Titanic | Bob Ballard: An Explorer's Life Articles and books: U.S. Naval Institute: What Killed the Thresher? Arlington National Cemetery: USS Thresher memorial Titanic Discovery w...

The deadliest school fire in American history took place on - of all days - Ash Wednesday, March 8th, 1908, in the Cleveland suburb of Collinwood just after first period ended. Within a half hour, 172 students and three adults would be dead, or close to it. Videos: Cleveland Public Library: Collinwood school fire Articles and books: The Collinwood Tragedy: The Story of the Worst School Fire in Ame...

Jennifer stops rewatching the movie long enough to review the movie. Spoilers ahead!

You'd think if your plane crashed fifty meters from the end of the runway, you'd be saved. You'd be wrong. Videos: Disaster Breakdown: Locked into Disaster Articles and books: The Lever of Death: The crash of Dan-Air flight 0034 Department of Trade report on the accident

Jennifer talks about "Society of the Snow," the award-nominated adaptation of the Pablo Vierci book about the survival story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. "Society of the Snow" comes out in select theaters on December 22nd and on Netflix on January 4th. (No, Jennifer has not seen it yet. Although dear God, does she want to.)

On one February morning in 1997, a pair of men dressed in dark clothes entered a North Hollywood bank. What followed would be one of the most frightening things many Americans had ever watched live on TV up to that point. Videos: Zero Hour: The North Hollywood Shootout North Hollywood Bank Shootout_February 28, 1997 Articles and books:  20 years ago, gunbattle terrorized North Hollywood – and shoc...

On one February morning in 1997, a pair of men dressed in dark clothes entered a North Hollywood bank. What followed would be one of the most frightening things many Americans had ever watched live on TV up to that point. Videos: Zero Hour: The North Hollywood Shootout North Hollywood Bank Shootout_February 28, 1997 Articles and books:  20 years ago, gunbattle terrorized North Hollywood – and shoc...

It was just supposed to be a great night out seeing one of the best rock bands in the world. It turned out to be anything but. Videos: What Really Happened During The Who Concert Disaster? We Explain The Who: The Night that Changed Rock Articles and books: Crowd surge at a Who concert killed 11 people in 1979: 'It was so strong, it just tore us apart ' The Who concert 40 years later: Survivors and...

We all heard the news four years ago about a group of foolish tourists who made the mistake of visiting an active volcano and died as a result. Or at least, that's how the stories made them sound. Videos: The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (Netflix) Sky News Australia airs Krystal Browitt video of tour guide warning Trapped in the Volcano Articles and books: Eruption of Whakaari (White Island) kill...