Awesome Disasters

MetaBallStudios is usually comparing the sizes of things, but in this wild video, they created a CG simulation of what might happen if the moon took aim at Earth, affected its gravity, and eventually collided with it. The destruction isn’t based on scientifically-accurate calculations, but it sure looks terrifying.

In 1972, a small plane crashed into the Andes mountains carrying 45 passengers and crew. The story of the life-and-death drama was told before in the film Alive, but Society of the Snow is said to be more accurate in its portrayal. Director J. A. Bayona insisted on realism, shooting the film in the actual locations and featuring an entirely Uruguayan-Argentinian cast.

On December 2-3, 1984, a chemical leak at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, exposed more than 500,000 people to a highly toxic gas, killing thousands and impacting lives for years to come. The Railway Men tells the story of a handful of railway workers who headed into the heart of the disaster to save thousands. The four-episode series hits Netflix 11.18.2023.

This video shows the kind of terrifying catastrophe that can happen in a metal factory. J.D. Christopher shared this footage of a fiery disaster on an aluminum extrusion line that he described accurately as opening “a portal to a demon dimension.” Fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident.

Movies and TV shows use a mix of practical, optical, and digital visual effects to simulate natural disasters. Insider compiled behind-the-scenes footage from eight movies where VFX pros brought storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other acts of Mother Nature’s fury to life.

(NSFW:Language) Here’s hoping our East Coast readers are overcoming any difficulties that Sandy dealt them. We can only imagine what it’s like to witness nature’s fury like what imasharky captured.

No matter what your opinion of the megafest is, you have to hand it to the Lollapalooza organizers for getting the capacity crowd out of the path of this dangerous storm and safely back to raging.

Here we were thinking that bee swarms and hungry bears were the scariest thing about being outdoors. Let’s just say that there will be no pic-a-nik basket negotiating when it comes to mudslides.

An ice hockey team in Slovakia manages to narrowly escape tragedy when the roof on their rink unexpectedly collapses under the weight of the snow outside. Incredible footage, and no injuries.