September world disasters
Believe it or not but September is historically a month of natural and human-induced disasters. Let’s go back to major events in the World that occurred this month that are dreadfully noteworthy.
On September 1, 1939, Hitler’s army invaded Poland starting World War II in Europe. In 1969, military officers overthrew the Libyan government. The Libyan Arab Republic was proclaimed under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Russian fighter jet while on the route from New York to Seoul, killing all 269 persons on board.
On September 2, 1666 the Great Fire of London began in a bakery in Pudding Lane near the Tower. Over the next three days, more than 13,000 houses were destroyed.
On September 3, 1939 Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany after it invaded Poland two days earlier. In 1943, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies during World War II in Europe as British Eight Army invaded the Italian mainland from Sicily.
On September 7, 1940 the German Luftwaffe began its Blitz bombing campaign against London during World War II.
On September 8, 1900 a hurricane with winds of 120 mph struck Galveston, Texas, killing over 8,000 persons and destroyed 2,500 buildings making it the worst natural disaster in US history. In Germany in 1941, the German Army began its blockade of Leningrad, lasting until January 1944, resulting in the deaths of almost one million Russian civilians.
On September 9, 1943 the invasion of Salerno began during World War II in Europe as Allied forces made amphibious landings along the western coast of Italy near Naples.
On September 11, 2001 the worst terrorist attack in US history occurred as four large passenger jets were hijacked then crashed into different US landmarks, killing nearly 3,000 persons.
On September 19-20, 1985 earthquakes in Mexico City killed an estimated 5,000 to 20,000 persons and left more than 100,000 homeless. The quake registered 8.1 and 7.5 on the Richter scale.
On September 21, 1972 President Ferdinand E. Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law. Marcos defended the declaration stressing the need for extra powers to quell the rising wave of violence allegedly caused by communists.
On September 24, 1980 war erupted between Iran and Iraq as Iraqi troops crossed the border and encircled Abadan, then set fire to the world’s largest oil refinery.
On September 29-30, 1941 Nazis killed 33,771 Jews during the Babi Yar massacre near Kiev.
Among famous persons, political and church figures, celebrities who died in September were the following: King Louis XIV of France, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Elizabeth-Empress of Austria-Hungary, US President William McKinley, French ballet dancer Isadora Duncan, Princess Grace of Monaco, Pope John Paul I, and American actor James Dean.
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