CRT Appendix D

Appendix D: Catastrophes Used as Reference Points in Training Curricula

* - NOVA provided outreach and/or consulting services

** - NOVA was involved at site

Other listings are included because information from these disasters has been incorporated into NOVA's training sessions.

Europe - 1347-1351. Plague kills an estimated 24 million people. As many as another 20 million die by the end of the century. Total deaths equal one-third of the population of Europe.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania - May 31, 1889. South Fork Dam breaks. Flood hits Johnstown at 4:07 p.m. Kills 2,209. Destroyed property in four square mile area. Fire raged for three days in aftermath.

New York, New York - March 25, 1911. Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. 146 dead.

Atlantic Ocean - 1912. One-thousand, five hundred and three people die in the sinking of the Titanic.

Boston, Massachusetts - November 28, 1942. Coconut Grove nightclub fire. Kills 492. Injures 166.

Newfoundland - February 3, 1943. S.S. Dorchester is sunk. 904 people aboard. 605 dead. Four Army chaplains are heroes. Rev. Lt. George Lansing Fox (Methodist); Rabbi Lt. Alexander David Goode; Rev. Lt. Clark Poling (First Reformed Church); Father John Washington. In 1961, Congress declares February 3rd four Chaplains Observance Day and The Chapel of the Four Chaplains is established in Philadelphia.

Willamette Valley, Oregon - Columbus Day Storm, October 12, 1960. Forty-two people killed. $170 million property damage.

Indianapolis, Indiana - October 31, 1963. Explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds killed 81 and injured nearly 400 people.

Topeka, Kansas - June 8, 1966. Tornado kills 17, injures 500, leaves 1,600 persons homeless.

Aberfan, Wales - October 21, 1966. 140,000 cubic yards of colliery rubbish swept down Methyr Mountain killing 116 children, 5 teachers, 23 other adults, injuring 35 persons and destroying two schools and many houses.

Los Angeles, California - February 9, 1971. Earthquake kills 50.

Buffalo Creek, West Virginia - February 26, 1972. Dam breaks causing flood. 118 people die; 7 were missing. 4,000 homeless; 500 homes destroyed; $50 million in property damage.

Rapid City, South Dakota - June 9 & 10, 1972. Floods killed 238 persons; left 1,300 families homeless; caused over $100 million in property damage.

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - June 23, 1972. Hurricane Agnes creates flood. Six people killed. 80,000 evacuated, damage to 25,000 homes and destruction of 400 homes. Property damage estimated at over $2 billion.

Sacramento, California - September 24, 1972. Airplane crashes into an ice cream parlor. Kills 10 adults and 12 children. Fourteen were injured.

Xenia, Ohio - April 3, 1974. Tornado kills 32 persons, injures 2,500, damages 2,757 homes, totally destroys 1,094 others.

Teton Dam, Idaho - June 5, 1976. Eleven dead, 1014 homes destroyed, 2,620 homes severely damaged, and $500 million property damage.

Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain - March 27, 1977. Jumbo jet collision: Pan Am 747 and KLM 747. 580 deaths.

Southgate, Kentucky - May 28, 1977 - Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. Kills 165. Injures 60.

San Diego, California - September 25, 1978 - PSA has midair collision with Cessna 172. Twenty-two homes are destroyed, 9 people on the ground are killed, in addition to the 137 airline passengers.

*Portland, Oregon - December 28, 1978 - United Airlines DC-8 runs out of fuel and glides into neighborhood near airport. Ten people killed.

Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania - March 28 - April 1, 1979. Nuclear reactor meltdown; though thousands of people evacuated, no deaths directly attributable to event.

Chicago, Illinois - May 25, 1979. American Airlines DC-10 crash. Killed in the crash: 275.

Antarctica - November 28, 1979. New Zealand DC-10 crashed into mountain killing 257.

Bogota, Columbia - February 27, 1980. Dominican Republic's Embassy in Bogota, Columbia, was stormed and 15 ambassadors from around the world were taken hostage for some 60 days.

*Mount St. Helens, Washington - May 18, 1980. Volcano eruption destroyed 150 miles of forest, killed 68 persons, and resulted in damages of more than $1.8 million in property and crops.

Las Vegas, Nevada - November 21, 1980. MGM Grand Hotel Fire kills 84.

*Tehran, Iran - 1979-1981. American Embassy in Tehran was stormed and hostages were held 444 days.

Kansas City, Missouri - July 17, 1981. Hyatt Hotel Skywalk collapse kills 111 people and injures over 200 others.

Santa Cruz County, California - January 3, 1982. Torrential rains and flooding; mountainside collapse. Twenty-two inches of rain fell in 24 hours. Death toll 22, more than 3,000 homes severely damaged or destroyed.

Washington, D.C. - January 13, 1982. Air Florida Boeing 737 crashed into Potomac River after take off. Seventy-eight people were killed.

Kenner, Louisiana - July 9, 1982. Pan Am Boeing 727 crashes after takeoff, and 153 people are killed.

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - September 25, 1982. George E. Banks, a prison guard, killed 13 people.

Seattle, Washington - February 19, 1983. Two Hong Kong immigrants, Kwan-Fai Mak & Benjamin Ng, killed 13 Chinese-American businessmen and gambling dealers in a gambling club.

USSR - September 1, 1983 - South Korean Boeing 747 - Flight 007 shot down after violating Soviet airspace. Two-hundred and sixty nine killed.

New York, New York - April 15, 1984. The "Palm Sunday massacre." Christopher Thomas killed 10 people.

San Ysidro, California - July 18, 1984. James Huberty massacres 21 people and injures 15 others in a McDonald's restaurant.

Bhopal, India - December 4, 1984. A pesticide factory accidentally released toxic chemical fumes, killing more than 3,000 people in one night. An additional 100,000 were severely affected.

Pitach Tikva, Israel - June 11, 1985. School bus collision with a passing train kills 19 children, and 3 adults. Fourteen children critically injured.

Ireland - June 23, 1985. Air India Flight 182 blown out of the skies by a terrorist bomb. Three-hundred twenty-nine people, including 295 Canadian citizens, were killed.

Los Angeles, California - July 18, 1985. Baldwin Hills Fire destroys 50 homes.

Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas - August 2, 1985. Delta Airlines jumbo jet crash kills 132.

Mexico City, Mexico - September 19, 1985. Earthquake registers 8.1 on the Richter Scale. By the end of November, the death toll had risen to about 20,000. One hundred and fifty thousand people had been left homeless.

Greater Roanoke, Virginia - November 4, 1985. Hurricane Juan creates major flooding. Eight dead.

Gander, Newfoundland - December, 1985. A chartered U.S. Army jetliner crashed. All 248 soldiers aboard were killed; 76% or 189 were members of a single battalion. One entire company (110 individuals) were killed.

Cape Canaveral, Florida - January 28, 1986. The space shuttle "Challenger" exploded a few seconds after lift off from the launchpad. Seven astronauts died in this national disaster. One of the victims was teacher, Christa McAuliffe.

Chernobyl, Kieve, USSR - April 26, 1986. At the end of the first month the Chernobyl death toll had risen from 2 to 28, and there were 278 people with radiation effects under close observation in hospitals in Moscow. Eventually, in the Chernobyl area alone, some 6,000 are expected to die from direct radiation, and 24,000 from indirect radiation. Since the disaster, the number of children born with birth defects and cancers has escalated.

Cokeville, Wyoming - May 16, 1986. A man and woman held students and teachers hostage in an elementary school. Their bomb exploded accidentally, killing the woman and burning some of the hostages. The man committed suicide, but not before shooting one teacher in the back.

**Edmond, Oklahoma - August 20, 1986. Murder of 14 people and injury of 6 in post office by Pat Sherrill, who then committed suicide.

*Cerritos/Los Angeles, California - August 31, 1986. An Aeromexico DC-9 collides with a small plane over the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos. Of the 82 killed, 15 were on the ground.

**Mt. Pleasant, Iowa - December 11, 1986. The mayor of Mt. Pleasant was murdered, and 2 City Council members were injured, by a man who was upset over his sewer problems. The assault took place at a public meeting.

*San Juan, Puerto Rico - December 31, 1986. Du Pont Hotel fire kills 97 and injures over 150 more.

**Baltimore County, (Harewood Park, Oliver Beach, West Twin River) Maryland - January 4, 1987. Amtrak/Conrail train crash kills 16 people and injuries 176.

*Arlington, Virginia - January 28, 1987. Bank holdup, 6 employees held hostage.

*Reading, Pennsylvania - February, 1987. Rash of multiple homicides.

*Detroit, Michigan - March, 1987. Small plane crash. Nine killed, 20 injured.

*Hackensack, New Jersey - March, 1987. Teacher sexually abused children.

*St.Joseph, Missouri - March, 1987. Twelve year old kills himself and a friend at school.

**Oxford, Mississippi - March 26, 1987. Truck crashes into students at University of Mississippi Walk-a-thon; kills 5 students and injures others.

*Frederick, Maryland - April, 1987. One hundred and nine cases of child abuse reported.

*Zeebrugge Harbor, Belguim - April, 1987. Capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise.

*Kokomo, Indiana - April, 1987. Courthouse bombing, 4 seriously injured.

*Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - April, 1987. Bus crashes, killing 1 teenager, and injuring 10 people.

Amsterdam, New York - April 5, 1987. Schoharie Creek Bridge collapse. Ten people are killed.

*Bridgeport, Connecticut - April 23, 1987. Collapse of the L'Ambiance Plaza during construction. Twenty-eight people killed.

**Palm Bay, Florida - April 23, 1987. Murder of 6 individuals in a shopping mall. Two police officers killed.

*Saragosa, Texas - May, 1987. Tornado destroys town. 30 killed, many families displaced.

*Dorchester, Massachusettes - June, 1987. Plane crashed, killing 1 person, burning 3 people, and destroying 3 homes.

*Rockville, Maryland - June, 1987. Child sexual abuse by principal at HebrewAcademy of Greater Washington.

**Tacoma, Washington - July, 1987. Multiple murders. Man killed 7 relatives, then committed suicide.

**Inkster, Michigan - July 7, 1987. Hostage-taking and killing of 3 police officers.

*Gaudalupe River, Texas - July 17, 1987. Flash flood overtakes a bus and a van loaded with youth members of Seagorville Road Baptist Church. 33 survived. 10 were killed.

**Berthoud Pass, Colorado - August 10, 1987. Large boulder is dislodged from mountain and crashes into a busload of tourists.

**Detroit, Michigan - August 16, 1987. Northwest Flight 255 crashes and kills 156 people, 1 survivor.

*Cincinnati, Ohio - August 18, 1987. Donald Harvey pleads guilty to 24 killings, between 1983 and 1987, at Daniel Drake Memorial Hospital. He admitted to killing over 30 other people over a 16 year period, in both Cincinnati and Kentucky.

*Hungerford, England - August 19, 1987. Mass murder in which over 14 people are killed before Michael Ryan kills himself. 16 others were injured.

**Lockport, New York - August 25-26, 1987 (date of visit). Aftermath of Northwest Flight 255 crash. Of the 154 dead, 5 were engineers from the Harrison Radiator plant, a division of GM.

*Kankakee, Illinois - September, 1987. Kidnap of broadcasting/newspaper publishing heir, who was later murdered by being buried alive or suffocation.

*Graham County, Arizona - September 1987. A father who felt custody arrangements were unfair, terrorized children at a small school in order to be with his children.

*Bronson, Florida - September 3, 1987. Six handicapped people killed in bus crash, and at least 20 injured.

*St. Louis, Missouri - September 4, 1987. Two men fatally shot 5 employees and wounded 2 others during the holdup of a National Super Market.

**Points of Rocks, Maryland - September 9, 1987. Electrocution of 10 year old boy as the result of riding a bicycle over a power line. Community members witness tragedy.

*Spartanville, South Carolina - October, 1987. Small plane crash, 2 dead, carnage throughout senior citizen neighborhood.

Midland, Texas - October 16, 1987. Eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued from a well, where she'd been trapped for 58 hours.

**Indianapolis, Indiana - October 20, 1987. Air Force plane crashes into Ramada Inn, kills 9 (later a tenth dies), destroys hotel and Bank One building.

*Homer, Arkansas - November 1987. Plane crash killed 14 out of 26 passengers. The plane landed 200 feet from the runway.

**Denver, Colorado - November 15, 1987. Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crash. Response in Boise, Idaho, November 23, 1987. Kills 26 and injures many.

*Oakdale, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia - November 21- December 4, 1987. Prison riots at federal prisons.

*Middlesex, Massachusettes - December, 1987. Multiple murders by teenager.

*Pleasantville, Ohio - December, 1987. Fire kills 6 children.

*Russellville, Arkansas - December, 1987. Mass murder — 16 killed, 4 injured.

**Paso Robles, California - December 7, 1987. Pacific Southwest plane crash-murder of pilot — 43 die.

*Morristown, New Jersey - January, 1988. A 14 year old involved in a cult, killed his mother then killed himself.

*Tuscaloosa, Alabama - February, 1988. Two masked gunmen held 1 teacher and 60 children (second graders) hostage in schoolroom.

*Sunnyvale, California - February, 1988. Multiple murders. Man spurned by female co-worker, shot 8 co-workers, killing 3.

**Washington, D.C. - February 25, 1988. Woman sexually assaulted in D.C. Counseling Center. Center personnel in building at time fled from area of assault.

*Hawaii - April 28, 1988. The roof ripped open in the top of an Aloha Airlines 737-200 over the Pacific Ocean, killing a flight attendant.

Los Angeles, California - May 4, 1988. First Interstate Tower building fire. 62 story building. One dead and 40 building workers and firefighters injured.

**Washington, D.C. - May 10, 1988. Teacher stabbed by a stranger in front of her class on the way to the playground.

**Radcliff, Kentucky - May 14, 1988. Bus crash in Carrollton, Kentucky, kills 27 individuals (24 children) from Radcliff. Drunk driver involved.

*Winnetka, Illinois - May 21, 1988. Woman fired as babysitter sets fire to house, then goes to Hubbard Woods Elementary school, kills 1, injures 6, and commits suicide.

*Concord, California - June 27, 1988. Shooting in Micropure Plant, killed 2, injured 4.

*Brownsville, Texas - July 8, 1988. Collapse of building killed 8 and injured 40.

*Hackensack, New Jersey - July 11, 1988. Car dealership fire killed 5 firefighters.

*Winston-Salem, North Carolina - July 21, 1988. Shooting killed 4 and wounded 2.

**Rapid City, South Dakota - July 31 - August 2, 1988. Arson fires destroy over 15 homes and thousands of acres of forest.

*Salem, Oregon - August 1, 1988. Field burning fire jumps to freeway and causes multiple car crash, killing 7.

*Dallas, Texas - September 1, 1988. Delta Air Lines crash, 14 killed, 95 survive.

Greenwood, South Carolina - September 26, 1988. A 19-year-old opened fire in a crowded cafeteria at Oakland Elementary School, killing 2 eight-year-old girls and wounding 9 other people.

*Pulaski, Wisconsin - October 11, 1988. Five schoolgirls killed by car jumping curb.

*Raleigh, North Carolina - November 28, 1988. Tornadoes killed 5, left 500 homeless.

Wyoming State Penitentiary - December 2, 1988. Hostage-taking. Barbara France and Betty Lewis were taken hostage. Offenders are Abdula Kru Amin and Donald Calkins.

*Lockerbie, Scotland - December 21, 1988. Pam Am Flight 103 explodes. All 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground are killed.

*Stockton, California - January 17, 1989. Mass murder at Cleveland Elementary School. Five children dead. Four Cambodians and one Vietnamese. Twenty-nine other students and a teacher were wounded, 15 seriously. The gunman killed himself.

*Dallas, Texas - January 24, 1989. Seven police officers killed in past year.

*Cove Neck, New York - January 25, 1989. Avianca Flight 52 crashed, killing 73 and injuring 88 passengers.

**Rockville, Maryland - February, 1989. Four employees killed by disgruntled worker at VISA bank center.

**Washington, D.C. - February, 1989. Hostage taking at D.C. public schools.

*Honolulu, Hawaii - February 24, 1989. The door on United Flight 811 bound for New Zealand blows off at 22,000 feet as the plane climbs away from Honolulu. Nine passengers are killed and 5 others are seriously injured.

Prince William Sound, Alaska - March, 1989. Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill. Captain Joseph Hazelwood found guilty of misdemeanor.

**Sonoma County, California - April 14, 1989. Ramon Salcido kills 7 people — his wife, 2 of his 3 children, his mother-in-law, 2 sisters-in-law and a fellow worker at Sonoma County's Grand Cru Winery.

**Washington, D.C. - May, 1989. Stabbing on school playground.

*Sioux City, Iowa - July 19, 1989. United Airlines Flight 232 crashed. 111 passengers die, 185 survive.

*Kentucky - September 13, 1989 - Mining explosion killed 10 miners.

*Louisville, Kentucky - September 14, 1989. Joseph Westbecker shot 20 Standard Gravure Corp. workers, killing 8 before taking his own life.

**St. Croix, Virgin Islands - September 17-18, 1989. Hurricane Hugo hit. Two dead and 80 hospitalized. 90% of the island's buildings were damaged. Puerto Rico hit by Hurricane as well.

*New York, New York - September 20, 1989. U.S. Air Boeing 737-400 slid into the East River next to LaGuardia Airport after an aborted take-off. 59 people survived. Two people were killed.

*Charleston, South Carolina - September 21, 1989. Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston with 135 m.p.h. winds and a 15 foot storm surge. Thirteen dead during the storm. Twenty-two more die in storm-related accidents or heart attacks.

*Alton, Texas - September 21, 1989. Bus crash — 16 killed, many children.

**Bay Area, California - October 17, 1989. Loma Prieta earthquake. 55 dead in the Bay area. Six dead in Santa Cruz County, 37 miles from San Francisco. Three dead in aftermath.

*San Francisco, California - November, 1989. Earthquake outreach.

*Huntsville, Alabama - November 16, 1989. Tornado kills 22.

*Newbergh, New York - November 16, 1989. Seven children killed when winds from tornado blows down wall and glass on their lunchroom.

*Montreal, Canada - December 6, 1989. Shooting in engineering building kills 14, wounds 13, ends in shooter's suicide.

*New York, New York - March 25, 1990. Happy Land night club arson fire kills 87.

Oslo, Sweden to Frederikshavn, Denmark - April 6, 1990. Scandinavian Star. Fire breaks out in a cabin (thought to be arson) and consumes ship. Of 385 passengers and 96 crew members, 158 die.

*Charles County, Maryland - May 1990. Six people died in a car crash. Five out of the six were from the same family.

Birmingham, England - June 10, 1990 - Window blows out in cockpit of British Airways Flight 5390. All 82 passengers and crew survive. Captain Lancaster is sucked out of the cockpit but passenger holds on to his legs. He survives as well.

Shadyside, Ohio - June 14, 1990. Flash floods kill 26.

*Jacksonville, Florida - June 18, 1990. Mass murder in General Motors Acceptance Corp. offices. James E. Pough shot 17 people, killing 10 before killing himself.

**Baltimore County, Maryland - July 8, 1990. Three-year-old struck and killed by a drunk driver in the backyard of his home.

**Kuwait/Iraq - August 3 - November, 1990. Hostage situation. NOVA involved in the United States with families of hostages.

**Gainesville, Florida - August 23 - August 30, 1990. Four University of Florida students and 1 Santa Fe Community College student are murdered.

*Joliet/Will Counties, Illinois - August 28, 1990 - Tornadoes kill 28, injure 350 people. Two schools and close to 500 homes destroyed.

*Berkeley, California - September 27, 1990 - Mehrdad Dashti opens fire in a crowded bar near University of California at Berkeley. One student killed, 7 wounded and hostages are taken in an all night standoff. Dashti is killed by police.

*Camen Islands - October 15, 1990 - Camen airways plane skidded into 3 feet of water 50 feet past the runway. None killed.

*Aramoana, New Zealand - November 13, 1990. Mass murder. David Gray kills 13 people before killing himself.

*Detroit, Michigan - December 3, 1990. Plane crash between two Northwest airplanes on a runway. Kills 8.

*Tennessee - December 11, 1990. Multi-car crash kills 15 people and injures 56.

*Persian Gulf - January, 1991. Military officers are faced with the responsibility of notifying parents that their child has died fighting in the Persian Gulf War.

*Los Angeles, California - February 1, 1991. U.S. Air plane crash with a commuter plane on the runway. Thirty-four people dead.

**Colorado Springs, Colorado - March 3, 1991. United Airlines 737 crashes and kills 20 passengers and 5 crew members. An additional body was recovered in a casket in the cargo hold.

*Colorado Springs, Colorado - March 4, 1991. Crystal Springs Estates, a personal care boarding home burns in a fire that kills 9 elderly women.

Banff, Alberta, Canada - March 5, 1991. Avalanche kills 10 heli-skiers.

*San Diego, California - March 22, 1991. Two Navy submarine-hunting planes collide. 27 Navy aviators died.

*Stetson University, DeLand, Florida - April 4, 1991. Car crash. Kills 3 students and injures 4 others.

*Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Suburb - April 4, 1991. Helicopter collides with a twin-engine airplane. Senator John Heinz killed along with 3 others in the air. The debris falls on a school yard and kills 2 children, injures 9 others.

*Sacramento, California - April 4-5, 1991. Florin Mall massacre. Four men take 30 hostages inside The Good Guys electronics store. After 8½ hour siege, 6 people killed (3 hostages and 3 hostage-takers) in a shoot-out. Thirteen hostages wounded.

*Brunswick, Georgia - April 5, 1991. Small plane crash. Twenty-three killed, including former Senator John Tower.

**Andover, Kansas - April 26, 1991 - Tornado killed nineteen people, destroyed 859 homes, and damaged 850. Swept through Sedgwick and Butler counties.

**Mt. Holly, New Jersey - April 28, 1991 - Murder of Assistant District Attorney.

**Sterlington, Louisiana - May 1, 1991 - IMC Fertilizer Plant explosion kills 8 people .

*Charleston, South Carolina - June 17, 1991. Albright and Wilson chemical company explosion. Two dead and 33 injured, 6 critically.

*Birmingham, Alabama - July 10, 1991. L'Express commuter plane crashed into the Ensley neighborhood outside the airport. Thirteen dead, 2 critically injured.

**Milwaukee, Wisconsin - July 24, 1991. First reports of murders by Jeffrey Dahmer. Eventual discovery that he killed at least 17 young men, 16 in Wisconsin and 1 in Ohio.

**Camden, South Carolina - July 31, 1991. Amtrak train derailment. Seven dead.

*Phoenix, Arizona - August 17, 1991. Gunshot slaying of 9 people occurred in an isolated Buddhist temple.

*New York, New York - August 27, 1991. Subway train wreck. Seven dead.

*Montreal, Canada - August 28, 1991. Hostage situation results in Emergency Medical Technician killing his colleague.

Talladega, Alabama - August 30, 1991. Federal Correctional Institution. Ten-day siege by Cuban detainees. Surprise pre-dawn raid ended it on August 30, 1991. Nine hostages held by 121 inmates.

**Lanham, Maryland - September 1991. Shooting of Hechingers' Vice President at store in Baltimore.

*Hamlet, North Carolina - September 3, 1991. Fire in Imperial Food Products plant. Twenty-five dead and 55 injured.

Forsyth, Missouri - September 14, 1991. Taney County Jail. Fire kills 4 inmates.

Montana State Prison - September 22, 1991. Inmates hold 5 correction officers hostage and kill 5 other inmates (held in protective custody) during a four-hour disturbance.

*Mineral Hills, Ohio - October 10, 1991. Explosion from gas storage tanks kills 3. Three people were unaccounted for.

*Wayne, New Jersey - October 10, 1991. Ex-postal worker murdered ex-supervisor, and two post office employees.

**Killeen, Texas - October 16, 1991. George Hennard crashes truck into Luby's cafeteria and emerges with a semiautomatic to kill 23 people and injure 15, before killing himself.

*Spokane, Washington - October 17, 1991. Fires destroy at least 65 homes.

*Oakland, California - October 20, 1991. Brush fires kill 19. Forty-three people missing and 148 injured. 1,800 homes and 900 apartments destroyed. 200 apartments damaged.

Ganeshpur, India - October 22, 1991. Earthquake kills approximately 1,000.

*Iowa City, Iowa - November 3, 1991. Gunfire erupted on the University of Iowa campus when a disgruntled graduate student opened fire, fatally wounding 5 people, (4 faculty and 1 student), before he took his own life.

*Beliz - 1992. American exchange student died in Beliz.

**Evansville, Indiana - February 6, 1992. Sixteen people killed when a C-130 military cargo plane crashed into hotel/restaurant complex. Nine were guests, 2 were hotel employees and 5 were members of the Kentucky Air National Guard. Investigation later listed pilot error as the cause of the crash.

*Wichita, Kansas - March 6, 1992. An employee shot his boss in front of 30 other employees.

** Meridian, Mississippi - April 9, 1992. Tornadoes in the south kill at least 24.

**East Orange, New Jersey - April 10 - 11, 1992. Discovery of 4 bodies over a two-day period, possibly related to 7 earlier serial killings. Task Force formed, arrest made April 12, 1992, tying the accused to 5 homicides and 2 assaults (between December 12, 1991 through April 11, 1992.)

*Newport News, Virginia - May 1, 1992. Train derailment.

*Kent, Ohio - May 1, 1992. A group of people attacked two students on the campus of Kent State University. This occurred 3 days prior to the 21st anniversary of the shooting of 4 students by the National Guard.

*Olivehurst, California - May 2, 1992. A man held 80 students hostage at the high school he had attended. One teacher, and three students were killed.

*Fort Worth, Texas - July 1, 1992. Two attorneys were killed, and two judges were among three people wounded, when a gunman stood in a courtroom spectators gallery and opened fire.

**South Dade County, Florida - August 23 - 24, 1992. Hurricane Andrew's force covers over 165 square miles. Fifty-plus fatalities, 85,000 homes destroyed during the storm. Estimated damages were $30 billion.

*Denver, Colorado - August 31, 1992. A student died tragically at St.Anne's Episcopal School.

*Kauai, Hawaii - September 12, 1992. Hurricane Iniki, the worst hurricane to hit Hawaii this century, destroyed much of the island. The severe storms caused the death of 2 people, and injured 98.

*Managua, Nicaragua - September 17, 1992. Coastal storms killed at least 116 people and left 16,000 people homeless.

*Bijlmermeer, Netherlands - October 4, 1992. An El Al 747-200F cargo plane crashed into a 10 story low-income apartment building in southeast Amsterdam, after the engines fell off the plane. Over 200 people were killed in this tragic plane crash.

**Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) - October 21, 1992. After 22 photographs of female students were stolen from a lab office in Carleton University's physic's building, a man threatened the lives of 19 of those women. The chemistry and physics buildings were evacuated.

*Baltimore, Maryland - October 26, 1992. Bank robbery and shooting.

* Brandon, Mississippi - November 22, 1992. Tornadoes swept through eight southern states. Twenty-four people were killed, 200 injured, and buildings and homes destroyed.

*Quincy, Illinois - November 23, 1992. Bank robbery and six hour hostage situation resulted in one death.

*Chester, Pennsylvania - December 5, 1992. Eight children died in a fire that began in a mattress and quickly spread throughout the rest of the townhouse. The house was heated by an open stove and a faulty space heater.

*Great Barrington, Massachusetts - December 15, 1992. Disgruntled student opened fire on campus of Simon's Rock College of Bard, killing 1 faculty and 1 student, and wounding 4 students.

*Alexandria, Virginia - December 30, 1992. A federal worker, who was trying to escape from a stalled elevator, fell 14 floors in the elevator shaft and died.

*Cancun, Mexico - January, 1993. Bus crash.

*New York, New York - February 26, 1993. An explosion, caused by a bomb, ripped through a garage in the World Trade Center, killing seven people, injuring more than 500 people and causing a frantic midday evacuation of tens of thousands of workers from the complex's twin towers. Smoke filled all 110 floors within minutes of the bomb.

*Waco, Texas - February 28, 1993. A stand-off between Branch Davidian cult leader, David Koresh, and federal agents, resulted in the death of 4 agents and two cult members. Sixteen agents were wounded, as well as a number of cult followers.

*Chicago, Illinois - March 17, 1993. A hotel fire left 15 people dead, and destroyed the building which housed 130 low-income and elderly people.

*Fort Lauderdale, Florida - March 18, 1993. Amtrak train collided with a gasoline tanker truck, killing six and injuring at least 15.

**Lucasville, Ohio - April 11 - 22, 1993. Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. Fighting broke out; 13 correctional officers taken hostage. The siege was brought to an end through negotiations. One correctional officer and 9 inmates died. Damages estimated at over $5 million.

*Pierre, South Dakota - April 19, 1993. Governor George Mickelson died in an airplane crash.

**Passaic, New Jersey - May 5, 1993. A 7 year old Hispanic/Latino girl is kidnapped, sexually assaulted and asphyxiated by a state parolee recently released and living in a nearby boarding house.

*Deerborn, Michigan - May 7, 1993. A disgruntled postal worker killed his supervisor, and three other employees, wounded three employees, and then killed himself.

**Skokie, Illinois - May 8, 1993. An explosion in a factory injured 6 workers.

*Washington, D.C. - May 19, 1993. Councilman Wilson commits suicide.

**Washington, D.C. - May 20, 1993. Violence, instigated by a shotgun stalker, plagued the communities of Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant.

*Fayetteville, North Carolina - August 9, 1993. A man opened fire in a restaurant killing 4 people and wounding 7 others. The 22 year old assailant was in the army and was raging about homosexuals in the military when he shot his victims.

*Mobile, Alabama - September 22, 1993. An Amtrak train plunged into a bayou. Forty-seven passengers died in the crash.

**Vienna, Virginia - September 29, 1993. Hotel employee murdered.

**Arlington, Virginia - September 28, 1993. A Hispanic/Latino 19 year old mother is shot to death by her ex-boyfriend in an apartment building laundry room. The victim's 16 month old son, 4 year old niece, and a 3 year old boy were present. Assailant escaped.

* Alexandria, Virginia - October 3, 1993. A 19 year old man was killed when his parachute collapsed during a jump from 10,500 feet. He had been an experienced sky diver.

*Snyder, Oklahoma - November 11,1993. A bus crash killing 9 elementary school students, and left the other students wounded and traumatized.

*Garden City, Long Island, New York - December 7, 1993. Long Island Rail Road Massacre. Five people were killed on the commuter train to Hicksville. 18 people were wounded.

*Des Moines, Iowa - 1993. The Prayer of Faith Church of God, the only African American church in West Des Moines, was destroyed by a flood. Insurance did not cover the cost of flood damages.

*Los Angeles, California - January 17, 1994. Northridge Earthquake. At least 24 people killed, and hundreds injured.

**Chicago, Illinois - April 7, 1994. Thirteen homicides at the Robert Taylor Homes. The killings affected tens of thousands of Chicagoans who lived in public housing.

*Alexandria, Virginia - May 24, 1994. Over the course of five years, a man attempted to abduct young girls in at least 30 incidents. In at least one of the cases, a thirteen year old girl was raped.

*Florida, Georgia, Alabama - July 12, 1994. Tropical Storm Alberto. Flooding in southern states affected over 12,000 family dwellings.

*Douglas, Wyoming - August 3, 1994. Five children were killed in a train accident.

*Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - December 13, 1994. An American Eagle Jetstream J31 crashed at Raleigh-Durham International airport. 15 people died and 5 survived. The plane was only 2 years old, and had a maintenance check one week prior to the crash.

*Sioux City, Iowa - December 13, 1994. A Missouri River fertilizer plant exploded, injuring 20 and killing 4. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the area, and the blast could be felt from 20 miles away.

*Washington, D.C. - December 20, 1994. Shots were fired at the White House.

*New York, New York - December 21, 1994. Firebomb exploded on a Manhattan subway car. The fire caused the injury of more than 35 individuals, including four who were critically hurt.

**Croatia/ Bosnia-Herzegovina - January 4, 1995. War refugees/ Displaced persons.

*Walnut Creek, California - January 23, 1995. Multiple bank robberies.

*Baltimore, Maryland - January 23, 1995. Federal armored express robberies.

*Chapel Hill, North Carolina - January 26, 1995. Shooting at University. Two students were killed, and several were injured.

**Kobe, Japan - February, 1995. Great Hanshin Earthquake killed over 2000 people, and left thousands of buildings destroyed.

*Buffalo, New York - March 6, 1995. Three people died in a shootout between factions feuding for leadership of the Seneca Nation of Indians.

*Richmond, Virginia - March 7, 1995. Shooting at hotel.

*San Francisco, California - March 13, 1995. Severe winter storms.

*New York, New York - March 21, 1995. Building collapses in Harlem, and kills 3.

*Montclair, New Jersey - Mach 22, 1995. Four men, two of them postal employees were killed in a Post Office shooting.

*Texas - March 31, 1995. Factory shooting.

*Texas - April 1, 1995. Murder of Selena (singer).

**Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - April 19. 1995. A bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in downtown Oklahoma City. This devastating incident destroyed the building, left 168 people dead, and hundreds more injured. NOVA responded with a total of 45 crisis intervenors, sent on 4 consecutive teams.

** Dryden, New York - October 15, 1995. Two 16 year old girls (both cheerleaders at the local high school) were murdered by a next door neighbor. This small town had recently been exposed to several deaths caused by violence.

*Fox River Grove, Illinois - October 25, 1995. An express commuter train slammed into a school bus at a suburban crossing, killing 5 people and injuring 30.

*Fort Bragg, North Carolina - October 27, 1995. Shooting, 82nd airborne.

*Charleston, West Virginia - January 23, 1996. Flooding.

**Tampa, Florida - February 5, 1996. Employees at Marriott witness a suicide.

*Dunblane, Scotland - March 13, 1996. A lone gunman shot 16 children ages five and six in a

"slaughter of the innocents" at a Scottish school. He also killed 2 adults (including a female teacher), and injured 17 people.

*Dubrovnick, Croatia - April 3, 1996. A U.S. military plane carrying Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown and 32 other people crashed into a hillside while trying to land in extremely bad weather. Everyone on board died.

*Port Arthur, Australia - April 29, 1996. A gunman with a semi-automatic rifle killed at least 34 people in Australia's worst massacre. He ran out of a burning cottage, where he had held police at bay for 12 hours, and was arrested.

*West Virginia - May 15, 1996. Flooding and heavy winds.

*Washington, D.C. - May 16, 1996. Jeremy Boorda, Chief of Naval Operations, commits suicide.

*Miami, Florida - May 14, 1996. ValuJet Flight 592 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 109 people.

*Hillview, Kentucky - May 29, 1996. Tornadoes swept the area, leaving 15,000 Louisville Gas and Electric customers without power for several days.

**Long Island, New York - July 17, 1996. TWA Flight 800 exploded, killing all 230 people on board.

**Fort Lauderdale, Florida - July 30, 1996. Disgruntled employee at the Marriott Harbor Beach stabbed and killed one fellow employee and stabbed and critically wounded two other employees.

* Detroit, Michigan - January 9, 1997. A commuter Comair flight crashed. Twenty-nine people died.

*Atlanta, Georgia - January 22, 1997. A bomb, targeting an abortion clinic, exploded and injured six people, and threatened hundreds of others.

**Little Rock, Arkansas - March 4, 1997. Tornado struck Arkansas, leaving 25 dead, and hundreds of homes destroyed.

* Edison, New Jersey - March 25, 1997. Apartment building exploded.

**Spotsylvania, Virginia - May 1, 1997. On September 9, 1996 Sofia Marlene Silva, aged 16 disappeared from her home. Three weeks later her body was found partially submerged in a creek in a neighboring county. On May 1, 1997 -15 year old Kristin Lisk and her 12 year old sister Kati Lisk disappeared from their home. Five days later their bodies were discovered in another neighboring county.

*Redford, Texas - May 20, 1997. Ezequiel Hernandez , was the first American killed by U.S. troops on U.S. soil since the 1970 Kent State incident.

*San Marcos, Texas - September 20, 1997. A plane crashed at an air show that 15,000 spectators attended. The pilot died in the crash.

*Pearl, Mississippi - October 1, 1997. Teenager, involved in Satanism, shoots his girlfriend at school.

**Paducah, Kentucky - December 7, 1997. Teenager opens fire on his classmates during an early morning prayer session. Three girls die and 1 is critically injured.

**Guam, U.S. Territory - December 16, 1997. Typhoon Paka hit Guam and later hit Saipan. In Guam, 5,774 housing units were either destroyed or damaged. Saipan experienced an influx of domestic violence cases.

**Orange County, California - December 18, 1997. A former employee killed 4 employees in a California Department of Transportation Maintenance Yard. Assailant died during incident.

**Orlando, Florida - December 1997. A man who was fleeing authorities because he was accused of murder, ran into a house and took 2 young children hostage for over 24 hours. The man was eventually shot when police officers stormed the house.

*Bassett, Virginia - December 1997. Fire killed three children and two grandparents.

*Eastern Shore, Maine - January 5, 1998. Severe ice storms, rain, and high winds threatened homes.

*Upstate, New York - January 5, 1998. Severe winter and ice storms, high winds, and flooding.

*Johnson (and surrounding) Counties, Tennessee - January 6, 1998. Severe storms and flooding. Seven people died, including a rescue worker.

*Glorietta, New Mexico - January 8, 1998. A bus carrying 56 passengers, traveling from El Paso to Denver, crashed. One person died.

* St. Mary's College, Maryland - January 19, 1998. Students visiting Guatemala were attacked by a group of men. Five female students were raped and assaulted. Everyone on the bus was robbed.

**Birmingham, Alabama - January 29, 1998. Bombing of an abortion clinic. Off duty policeman was killed, and a nurse was seriously injured.

*Maine and New Hampshire - February 2, 1998. Winter storms caused major power outages for over two weeks.

*Orlando, Florida - February 3, 1998. Aggravated robbery at a Boston Market Restaurant.

*Arkansas - February 4, 1998. A young man murdered his entire family. It was later learned that the man was brutally sexually abused by a boy scout leader.

*Florida - February 5, 1998. Severe storms caused flooding, beach erosion, and power outages.

*Ignatio, Colorado - February 5, 1998. Two drunk driving accidents, both involving young men from the Ute tribe, resulted in 8 deaths.

*Washington, D.C. - February 5, 1998. A man walked into the waiting room of a hospital cancer unit and shot 6 people. The one person who died was intentionally shot by the assailant.

*Northern California - February 18, 1998. Winter storms, driven by El Nino, created flooding and landslides. Twenty-seven counties were declared as a presidential disaster. At least four people died, and three were reported missing.

**Seminole and Osceola Counties, Florida - February 23, 1998. Tornadoes hit several counties causing massive damage to homes, shopping centers, and trailer parks. A confirmed 38 died.

**York, Pennsylvania - February 26, 1998. Armed robbery at theYork Tracktown Credit Union. There were no injuries or deaths, however the employees were traumatized by the event.

*Northern California - March 2, 1998. El Nino related storms caused mudslides to destroy homes. The storms were also cause to at least 5 deaths.

*Elba, Alabama - March 11, 1998. Flooding in the Southeast drove thousands from their homes and caused 12 deaths.

*Hartford, Connecticut - March 1998. Four employees were killed at the state lottery headquarters by a disgruntled employee.

*Elba, Georgia - March 11, 1998. Storms, flooding, and a broken dam destroyed 1,160 homes and was the cause of 12 deaths.

**Jonesboro, Arkansas - March 24, 1998. A fire alarm rang at Westside Middle School, and two

boys waited in the woods to attack their classmates. A teacher, and four students died in the shooting. Others students were injured and many of the children witnessed the incident.

**Catonsville, Maryland - April 8, 1998. An employee at a Boston Market Restaurant shot a fellow employee in the face. The victim suffered flesh wounds, and other employees witnessed the event.

**Birmingham, Alabama - April 8, 1998. A category five tornado hit several communities west of Birmingham. A school was demolished, a church destroyed, over 1,400 homes lost, and 33 people killed.

**Edinboro, Pennsylvania - April 24, 1998. An eighth grade student shot and killed a teacher and wounded two peers at a school dance. Approximately 240 individuals including students, teachers and parent volunteers were present.

*Arlington, Washington - April 27, 1998. A fire at an assisted living center caused 9 people to die, and massive destruction the building and personal items.

**Longmont, Colorado - May 1, 1998. Employees at a Boston Market were robbed at gun point. Employees were physically forced into basement.

**Springfield, Oregon - May 21, 1998. A high school student brought guns to school and began shooting at his classmates in the cafeteria. Two students were killed, many injured, and over 400 students and staff witnessed the violence.

*Danville, Illinois - May 24, 1998. A bomb exploded at a church. There were 33 injuries and no deaths.

*Fort Lauderdale, Florida - May 29, 1998. A teacher was shot to death in a high school parking lot as students and teachers arrived for morning classes. The gunman then killed himself.

**Aurora, Colorado - May 29, 1998. Employees at a Boston Market were robbed at gun point and forced into the walk in refrigerator.

*Jasper, Texas - June 12, 1998. An African-American man was chained to a pickup truck and dragged 2 miles until his body was torn to pieces. The murder was believed to be done by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

*Richmond, Virginia - June 15, 1998. A fight in a high school hallway led to a student wounding, by shotgun,one teacher and one adult volunteer.

**Bessemer, Alabama - June 29, 1998. Two young children were murdered on the same day. One child, age 6, was the victim of a drive by shooting. The other, age 6, was beaten to death with a baseball bat by his older step-brother.

**Brownsville, Texas - July 8, 1998. Two civilian women and two U.S. border patrol agents were killed, and two people were injured. The border patrols were ambushed by two men after a fatal domestic violence shooting.

Crime-Caused Community Crises Since 1980

Bogota, Columbia - February 27, 1980. Dominican Republic's Embassy in Bogota, Columbia, was stormed and 15 ambassadors from around the world were taken hostage for some 60 days.

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - September 25, 1982. George E. Banks, a prison guard, killed 13 people.

Seattle, Washington - February 19, 1983. Two Hong Kong immigrants, Kwan-Fai Mak & Benjamin Ng, killed 13 Chinese-American businessmen and gambling dealers in a gambling club.

New York, New York - April 15, 1984. The "Palm Sunday massacre." Christopher Thomas killed 10 people.

San Ysidro, California - July 18, 1984. James Huberty massacres 21 people and injures 15 others in a McDonald's restaurant.

**Edmond, Oklahoma - August 20, 1986. Murder of 14 people and injury of 6 in post office by Pat Sherrill who then committed suicide.

**Mt. Pleasant, Iowa - December 11, 1986. Murder of mayor of Mt. Pleasant and injury of 2 City Council members by man who was upset over his sewer problems.

*San Juan, Puerto Rico - December 31, 1986. Hotel fire, caused by arson, kills 97 and injures over 150 more.

*Hackensack, New Jersey - March, 1987. Teacher sexually abusing children.

*St.Joseph, Missouri - March, 1987. Twelve year old kills himself and a friend at school.

**Palm Bay, Florida - April 23, 1987. Murder of 6 individuals in a shopping mall. Two police officers killed.

*Rockville, Maryland - June, 1987. Child sexual abuse by principal at HebrewAcademy of Greater Washington.

**Tacoma, Washington - July, 1987. Multiple murders. Man killed 7 relatives, then committed suicide.

**Inkster, Michigan - July 7, 1987. Hostage-taking and killing of 3 police officers.

*Hungerford, England - August 19, 1987. Mass murder in which over 14 people are killed before Michael Ryan kills himself. 16 others were injured.

*Kankakee, Illinois - September, 1987. Kidnap of broadcasting/newspaper publishing heir, who was later murdered by being buried alive or suffocation.

*Graham County, Arizona - September 1987. A father, who felt custody arrangements were unfair, terrorized children at a small school in order to be with his children.

*St. Louis, Missouri - September 4, 1987. Two men fatally shot 5 employees and wounded 2 others during the holdup of a National Super Market.

*Oakdale, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia - November 21- December 4, 1987. Prison riots at federal prisons.

*Middlesex, Massachusetts - December, 1987. Multiple murders by teenager.

*Russellville, Arkansas - December, 1987. Mass murder — 16 killed, 4 injured.

**Paso Robles, California - December 7, 1987. Pacific Southwest plane crash-murder of pilot — 43 die.

*Morristown, New Jersey - January, 1988. A 14 year old involved in a cult, killed his mother then killed himself.

*Tuscaloosa, Alabama - February, 1988. Two masked gunmen held 1 teacher and 60 children (second graders) hostage in schoolroom.

*Sunnyvale, California - February, 1988. Multiple murders. Man spurned by female coworker, shot 8 coworkers, killing 3.

**Washington, D.C. - February 25, 1988. Woman sexually assaulted in D.C. Counseling Center. Center personnel in building at time fled from area of assault.

**Washington, D.C. - May 10, 1988. Teacher stabbed by a stranger in front of her class on the way to the playground.

**Radcliff, Kentucky - May 14, 1988. Bus crash in Carrollton, Kentucky, kills 27 individuals (24 children) from Radcliff. Drunk driver involved.

*Winnetka, Illinois - May 21, 1988. Woman fired as baby-sitter sets fire to house, then goes to Hubbard Woods Elementary school, kills 1, injures 6, and commits suicide.

*Concord, California - June 27, 1988. Shooting in Micropure Plant, killed 2, injured 4.

*Winston-Salem, North Carolina - July 21, 1988. Shooting killed 4 and wounded 2.

*Rapid City, South Dakota - July 31- August 2, 1988. Arson fires destroy over 15 homes and thousands of acres of forest.