User:Viccivarner

Not using a template, so here goes.

I've only recently started editing things on Wikipedia. I'm nervous about it.

I'm compiling a list of disasters by day of the year. In order to make it more clear about what I consider to be a disaster, I decided to write down some explanatory notes (in case anyone ever asks).


 * 1) What makes something a disaster?
 * 2) A large death count (50+)
 * 3) Large-scale loss of property
 * 4) Aftermath of significant proportions
 * 5) All this is relative in my head (since it's my list I get to decide).
 * 6) Examples of disasters and not disasters
 * 7) The assassination of Franz Ferdinand is a disaster.  Although only two people died, it led directly to World War I.
 * 8) The beginning of serial killer crimes is not a disaster.  Spree killings can be disasters depending on the danger level to the local population.  Ted Bundy did not cause a disaster. The Columbine shooters did.
 * 9) A disaster can be an accident, or the result of some design. The 9/11 attacks are a disaster. The sinking of the Titanic is a disaster.  One was planned and the other an accident, but disasters all the same
 * 10) Disasters sometimes depend on the point of view.  The Battle of New Orleans was not a disaster for the United States (only 13 deaths), but it was a big one for England(1300+ dead).
 * 11) If some people die and other people die trying to rescue them, whether or not that's a disaster depends on the incident and the aftermath.
 * 12) Other criteria
 * 13) All tragedies are not disasters. They are all sad and usually caused by ignorance, but are not necessarily disasters.
 * 14) Not all commercial airline crashes are disasters, depending on circumstances.  The early crash of a Lockheed Electra only killed 10 people, but it caused the grounding of every Lockheed commercial plane and was the first step in the demise of Lockheed Aviation. The loss of Malaysian Airlines  Flight 370 is not a disaster, because the circumstances and aftermath are unknown.  It took four crashes to seal the fate of the deHavilland Comet, but each one had different circumstances and aftermaths.
 * 15) Not all earthquakes are disasters, even big ones. It depends on the loss of people and property, and the aftermath.
 * 16) Natural disasters and man-made disasters are both in the calendar.  It's a distinction without a difference.
 * 17) Near-misses, however close, are usually not disasters.  A Hawaiian Airlines commercial jet had half of the roof of the passenger cabin come off in mid-flight.  Miraculously, there was only 1 casualty and the pilot landed safely with no fire and no explosions. There was a lot of activity as the result of the investigation into how it happened, but it was not a disaster--just a bad scare.  Had the plane crashed in a live volcano crater, then it probably would have been a disaster.
 * 18) Rumors about a disaster that have no clear information don't go in the calendar.  There is a rumor that Allied Forces went on a killing spree of the German POW's during the liberation of the Dachau prison camp (not on the camp prisoners, but the soldiers who were guards).  Unfortunately, the rumor was supposedly covered up, but there's not a lot of information and what's there is conflicting.
 * 19) Calendar Limitations
 * 20) A disaster has to have a definite starting date, or it can't be put on a calendar.  "Sometime in June" is not a date.
 * 21) If a disaster extends over more than day, only the starting date shows up on the calendar.  The LA riots were a disaster, but they continued for a few days.
 * 22) Some days seem to be more dangerous than others.  Stay out of third world countries on January 9 and don't travel anywhere on the 8th.  Just saying.