Lamentations Trivia Quiz

Answer: No

The Battle of Hastings (which was actually fought at Senlac Hill, about 10 km away from Hastings) took place on 14 October 1066. While small individual fires were still burning after the official end of 'The Great Fire' on 6 September, they would have been well and truly extinguished by 14 October.

This fire destroyed the City of London, and caused extensive damage throughout Greater London. The death toll from the fire is not known - fewer than ten deaths were officially recorded, but it has been suggested that nobody bothered to record those who died in the slum areas, or to record bodies which had been burned beyond recognition, and the deaths caused by exposure to the elements during the subsequent winter due to lack of housing have likewise not been carefully recorded.

Answer: Earthquake

When you say 'The San Francisco Earthquake', chances are you are referring to the major earthquake that occurred on 18 April 1906 at 5:12 am, which still ranks as one of the major natural disasters in the history of the United States. Over 3000 people are thought to have lost their lives due to the quake itself and the ensuing fires caused by broken gas mains. The fires, which burned for four days due to inadequate fire control because the Fire Chief had died in the original earthquake, were actually the cause of most of the damage and death.

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake, which occurred while the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics were warming up for the third game of the World Series in Candlestick Park, became the first earthquake to have its initial shock broadcast live on television. The baseball game was postponed.

Answer: No

RMS Titanic sank on 15 April 1912, with the loss of over 1500 lives (various posted figures between 1510 and 1530 can be found in different sources). This certainly made it one of the deadliest maritime disasters of all time, but more deadly events were to follow.

The single peacetime sinking which involved the greatest loss of life during the 20th century was that of the Philippine passenger ferry MV Doņa Paz, which collided with an oil tanker on 20 December 1987 while traveling from Leyte Island to Manila. Over 4000 people lost their lives either when the ferry sank or due to the fire caused by the collision.

On 30 January 1945 the German ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine and sank, with the loss of over 9000 lives. The passengers were being evacuated from positions in Prussia which were being surrounded by advancing Soviet troops, as part of a mission that was codenamed Operation Hannibal. This sinking remained the single most deadly maritime event ever recorded by the end of the 20th century.

Answer: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

This event is usually referred to as 'The Halifax Explosion'. The SS Mont-Blanc was fully loaded with explosives, and heading out of the harbour to cross the Atlantic and deliver these supplies, when it collided with the SS Imo in a part of Halifax harbour called "The Narrows".

The subsequent explosion caused massive damage to the area of the city near the harbour, and around 2000 people died as a result. At that time, it was the largest man-made explosion ever recorded; it was, of course, surpassed by the first test detonation of nuclear weapons in the Trinity test explosions in 1945.

Answer: Germany

The Hindenburg left Frankfurt am Maim, Germany on 3 May, the first of ten planned round trip voyages planned for the year. They planned to land at the Lakehurst Naval Station, whence they would be transported to Newark for connecting airplane flights, as necessary.

There were 36 passengers and 61 crew members aboard the airship; 13 passengers, 22 flight crew members and 1 member of the ground crew died, either in the explosion and fire, through jumping from the burning ship, or by being struck by falling debris.

Herbert Morrison's report of the event, recorded for Chicago radio station WLS, is one of the most famous in radio history, including the iconic exclamation, "Oh, the humanity!"

Answer: Auschwitz

Auschwitz was the official German name for the Polish town of Oswiecim, the site for the largest network of concentration and extermination camps set up by the Nazis. Auschwitz I was the base camp, where prisoners were received; Auschwitz II, also called Birkenau, was the main extermination camp, Auschwitz III, also called Monowitz, was the primary labour camp; there were also nearly 50 other smaller camps in the complex.

Heinrich Himmler designated Birkenau as the place where "the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe" (a euphemism for genocide) would occur, and between one and three million people died there. Because Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces on 27 January 1945, 27 January has been established as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Answer: Nuclear accident

The Chernobyl disaster (in what was then part of the Soviet Union, but is now the nation of Ukraine) was the first nuclear accident given a rating of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the highest level on the logarithmic scale used to measure the severity of such events in terms of impact on the environment.

A power surge led to what is called a 'criticality accident', meaning that the chain reaction intended to produce a steady flow of power increased to the rate that causes an explosion.

The steam explosion and fire caused a significant amount of radioactive material from the reactor core to be released into the environment. The event led to 56 immediate deaths, and an estimated 4000 later deaths (some groups make higher estimates - this is from the WHO) due to cancer caused by the exposure to radiation.

The cities of Chernobyl and Pripyat were abandoned, the plant involved in the explosion was buried in concrete, and (in 2000) the entire facility was finally closed. Although some people still live in the area, it is estimated that the area inside the 30-km radius exclusion zone will not be safe for human occupation for another 20,000 years.

Answer: Statue of Liberty

At 8:46am, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center; United Airlines Flight 175 flew into the South Tower at 9:03am; American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon at 9:37am; a fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, failed to reach its Washington DC target because passengers fought the hijackers and cause the plane to crash into a field near Shanksville PA at 10:03am. Its intended target is not known, but speculation is that it was either the White House or the Capitol.

These attacks cause the deaths of around 3000 people, mostly civilians, including 246 passengers on the four hijacked planes, 125 at the Pentagon and over 2500 in New York. The exact figures for New York may never be determined.

Answer: Boxing Day Tsunami

On 26 December (known as Boxing Day), an undersea earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra created a tsunami which is also called the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami and the Indonesian tsunami. The Sunda megathrust, a fault line running from Myanmar past Sumatra, Java and Bali to its terminus near the coast of Australia, experienced a rupture over 1300 km (810 mi) in length.

The earthquake was felt as far away as the Maldives, and the ensuing tsunamis devastated coastal areas around the entire Indian Ocean. Deaths caused by the tsunamis were highest in Indonesia, where over 100,000 died, but were experienced as far away as Rooi Els, South Africa, which is about 8000 km (5000 mi) from the epicentre of the earthquake. With nearly 200,000 estimated deaths and over 1.5 million people displaced, this became the worst tsunami in recorded history at that time.

Answer: Katrina

Over 1800 people died because of Katrina, and property damage exceeded 81 billion US dollars. The hurricane formed over the Bahamas on August 23 and hit Florida while still only a Category 1 hurricane. It then swung back into the Gulf of Mexico, where it grew in strength to Category 3 before striking land again in southeast Louisiana on 29 August, where it caused extensive damage. Over 80% of the city of New Orleans was flooded when the levee system protecting the city failed, leading to mass evacuations. The greatest property damage, however, occurred along the Gulf Coast, due to surging seas caused by the storm.

The three incorrect options were actually more intense storms than Katrina, but not as well known to the general public (although well remembered by those who experienced them). Wilma, also in 2005, was the most intense storm recorded to that time, and caused severe damage to Florida, Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, including over 60 deaths.