voyages apocalyptiques | Christoph Draeger

Wajima, Noto, Japan, Feb 24, 2024

# 111 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

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On 1 January 2024, a Mw7.5 earthquake struck 6 km north-northeast of Suzu, located on the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The shaking and accompanying tsunami caused widespread destruction on the Noto Peninsula, particularly in the towns of Suzu, Wajima, Noto and Anamizu, with the neighbouring prefectures of Toyama and Niigata also recording significant damage. There were 281 deaths confirmed and three people remaining missing, all of them in Ishikawa. Over 1,300 others were injured across six prefectures. It is the deadliest earthquake in Japan since the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Noto_earthquake

Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, Oct 21, 2023

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# 110 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

A series of bombings by members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people of more than 20 other nationalities). A further 209 people were injured.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings

Index of all “voyages apocalyptiques”, 1994 -2023

(the date on the left is the day when the photograph was taken)

1. World Trade Center, New York City, USA, Jun 24 1994 / Terrorist bomb Feb 26 1993, 5†

2. Charleston, South Carolina, USA, Jun 29 1994 / Hurricane Hugo Sep 22 1989, 20†

3. Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, Jul 1 1994 / Space shuttle Challenger disaster Jan 28 1987, 7†

4. Homestead, Florida, USA, Jul 7 1994/ Hurricane Andrew Aug 24 1992, 22†

5. Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA, Jul 24 1994 / “ Trinity”, first atomic bomb testing Jul 16 1945, 0†

6. Los Angeles, California, USA, Aug 8 1994 / Rodney King riots 4. 29. 1992, 58†

Northridge earthquake Jan 19 1994, 48†

7. Malibu, California, USA, Aug 12 1994 / Brushfires Oct 26 1992, 3 †

8. San Francisco, California, USA, Aug 17 1994 / Earthquake Apr 18 1908, 700†

-Loma Prieta earthquake, Oct 17 1989, 63†

9. Mount St. Helens, Washington, USA, Aug 22 1994 / Volcanic eruption May 18 1980, 57†

10. Little Bighorn, Montana, USA, Aug 25 1994 / Indian battle against General Custer, June 25 1876, 221 † (US soldiers )

11. Three Mile Island, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA, Aug 30 1994 / nuclear meltdown Mar 28 1979, 0†

12. Fiumicicoli, Corsica (F), Nov 7 1994 / flood Nov 7 1993, 4†

13. Brig, Switzerland, Nov 11 1994 /flood, May 1994, 2†

14. Heysel-Brussels, Belgium, Jan 13 1995 / Riot, followed by stampede, May 29 1985, 41†

15. Zeebrugge, Belgium, Feb 6 1995 / Ferry capsized 3. 6. 1987, 138 †

16. Bijlmermeer - Amsterdam, Nederlands, Feb 9 1995 / El-Al plane crash into building 10. 4. 1992, more than 250†

17. Schweizerhalle - Basel, Switzerland, March 9 1995 / fire in chemical plant 11. 1. 1986, 0†

18. US Airbase Ramstein, Gemany, March 28 1995 61† / USsoldiers midair collision during airshow 8. 22. 1988

19. Kobe, Japan, July 31 1995 / Hanshin-earthquake 1. 17. 1995, more than 5000†

20. Hiroshima, Japan, Aug 4 1995 / first atomic bomb dropped on a city 8. 6. 1945, more than 80’000†

21. Nagasaki, Japan, Aug 7 1995 / last atomic bomb dropped on a city 8. 9. 1945, more than 40’000†

22. Fugendake, Mt. Unzen, Japan, Aug 10 1995 / volcanic eruption 6. 3. 1991, 45†

23. Minamata, Japan, Aug 12 1995 / mercury pollution of the seashore from the1950’s, more than 1000†

24. Tokyo, Japan, Sep 9 1995/ japan’s worst earthquake 9. 1. 1923, more than 180’000†

- Terrorist sarin gas assault of subway system 20.3. 1995, 11†

25. Furiani-Bastia, Corsica (F), May 5 1996 / tribune crash during soccer match 5. 5. 1992, 17†

26. Vaison la Romaine, France, July 8 1997 / flashflood in campground 9. 22. 1992, 34†

27. Los Alfaques, Spain, July 10 1997 / gas truck explosion in campground 6. 11. 1978, 180†

28. Kwangju, Korea, Aug 31 1997 / military massacre during student riots 5. 9. 1980, hundreds †

29. Seoul, Korea, Sep 5 1997 / department store collapse 6. 29. 1995, 501†

30. Pont de l’Alma - Paris, France, May 9 1998 / Diana and Dodi crash and die with their driver 8. 31. 1997, 3†

31. Eschede, Germany, Aug 18 1998 / ICE 884 deraillement 6. 6. 1998, 102†

32. Dusseldorf-Airport, Germany, Aug 21 1998 / fire in elevator 4. 11. 1996, 17†

33. Omagh, Northern Ireland, Feb 17 1999 / terrorist car bomb Aug 1998, 29†

34. Derry, Northern Ireland, June 20 1999 / Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers shot catholics on 1. 30. 1972, 14†

35. Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 26 1999 / The Troubles: civil-war since 1968, Thousands †

36. Galtür, Austria, July 7 1999 / Avalanche 2. 24. 1999, 43 †

37. Lakehurst, New Jersey, Aug 13 1999 / Zeppelin Hindenburg crashes on landing: May 6 1937, 36 †

38. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Sep 1 1999 / TNT explosion in harbour: 2.12. 1917, more than 1900 †

39. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada, Sep 2 1999 / SR 111 Crash, Sep 2 1998, 229 †

40. Remscheid, Germany, Nov 3 1999 / Starfighter Plane crashes into building, 17.4.1990, 7 †

41. Bologna, Italy, Dec 27 1999 / Terrorist Bomb in Central Station, 2. 8. 1980, 85 †

42. Biesca, Spain, June 13 2000 / Flashflood on campground, 22. 8. 1998, Over 60 †

43. San Petru, Corsica(F), Sep 16 2000 / Plane crash, Inex Adria Aviopromet, 1. 12. 1981, 180†

44. Gonesse-Paris, France, Oct 2 2000 / Concorde Crash, 25. 7. 2000, 113 †

45. Uster, Switzerland, Oct 4 2000 / Public pool building collapse, 9. 5. 1985, 14 †

46. Brühl, Germany, Nov 11 2000 / Trainwreck, 6. 2. 2000, 9 †

47. Bay of Pigs, Giron, Cuba, Nov 19 2000 / Secret US-Invasion, 17. 4. 1961, more than 100 soldiers †

48. Pompeij, Italy, March 4 2001 / Volcanic eruption, / 24. 8. 79 a.c., more than 5000 †

49. World Trade Center, New York City, USA, Sept 11 2001 / Terrorist attack, 11.9. 2001, more than 3000 †

50. City Hall, Zug, Switzerland, Oct 10 2001 / Lunatic attack in parliament, 29.9. 2001, 14 †

51. Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, USA, Jan 3 2002 / AA 587 crashes after takeoff, 12.11. 2001, 265 †

52. Mexico City, Mexico, Feb 20 2002 / Earthquake, 19.9. 1985, more than 10’000 †

53. Mont Blanc Tunnel, Chamonix, France, April 22 2002 / tunnel fire 26. 3.1999, 39 †

54. Carandiru Prison, São Paolo, Brazil, May 30 2002 / police massacre after prison revolte 2. 10 .1992, 111 †

55. Lockerbie, Scotland (UK), Sep 11 2002 / Terrorist bombing of Jumbo Jet Pan Am 103, Dec 21 1988, 270 †

56. Evolène, Switzerland, Sep 16 2003 / Avalanche, 21. 2.1999, 12 †

57. Candelaria, Rio de Janeiro, Nov 24 2003 / Massacre on homeless children by police, 23. 7. 1993, 8†

58. Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France, July 11 2004 / Roof collapse of new airport terminal, 23. 5 2004, 4†

59. Toulouse, France, Sep 23 2004 / chemical explosion, 21.11.2001, 29†

60. Texas City, Texas, USA, Apr 3 2005 / chemical plant explosion/ 23. 3. 2005, 14†

- Explosion of 176-ton ship carrying fertilizer, 16. 4. 1947, more than 600†

61. Galveston, Texas, USA, Apr 3 2005 / Hurricane, greatest natural disaster in US history, 8. 9.1900, more than 6000 †

62. Guadalajara, Mexico, May 13, 2005 / Sewer explosion, 22. 4. 1992, 215†

63. Tlatelolco, Mexico D.F., Mexico, June 6, 2005 / police massacre on protesting students/ 2. 10.1968, more than 300 †

64. Ocosingo, Chiapas, Mexico, Aug 9 2005 / Army massacre on protesting Zapatistas, 2.1. 1993, more than 50†

65. Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico, Aug 12 2005 / Paramilitary massacre on Zapatista women and children, 22.12. 1997, 45†

66. Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA, Sep 25 2005 / National guards’ massacre on protesting students, 4. 5.1970, 4†

67. Atocha Station, Madrid, Spain, Apr 25 2006 / Series of simultaneous terrorist attacks against the commuter train system/ March 11 2004, 191 †

68. International Trade Hall, Chorzów-Katowice, Poland, May 21 2006/ Roof collapse due to heavy snowfall/ 28. 1.2006, 65†

69. Tavisstock Square, London, England Jun 5 2006 / Four simultaneous terrorist attacks on the subway system / 6. 6. 2005, 56†

70. Birmingham, England, Sep 16 2006/ two simultaneous pub bombings by IRA > Birmingham Six / 21. 11. 1974, 21†

71. Dubrovka theatre, Moscow, Russia, Mar 1st 2007/ Terrorists attack and hostage crisis, Oct 25 2002, 162 †

72. Loran, Alexandria, Egypt, Feb 15 2008 / building collapse, 25.12.2007, 35 †

73. Ras al-Shaitan, Sinai, Egypt, Mar 22 2008/ terror bombing, 7.10. 2004, 3 †

74. Taba, Sinai, Egypt, Mar 22 2008/ Terror bombing, 7.10.2004, 31 †

75. Ueberlingen, Germany, Feb 2 2009 / Mid-Air Collision, July 2 2002, 71 †

76. Altamont, California, USA, Sep 12 2009/ Violence at a Rolling Stones free concert, 4†

77. Plurs, Lombardy, Italy Jul 4 2010 / Rockslide, Sep 4 1618, 900 †

78. Fidaz, Graubünden, Switzerland, Jul 27 2010/ Rockslide, April 10 1939, 18†

79. Kaprun, Salzburg, Austria Aug 3 2010/ Fire in the train, Nov 11 2000, 155 †

80. Ban Namkhem, Thailand, Dec 13 2010 / Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

81. Kho Phi Phi Don, Thailand, Dec 18 2010/ Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

82. Khao Lak, Thailand, Dec 27 2011/ Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

83. Phuket Airport, Thailand, Jan 2 2011/ Crash upon landing, Sep 16 2007, 90†

84. Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, Jan 5 2011/ Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

85. Lampuuk, Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, Jan 9 2011/Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

86. Telwatta, Sri Lanka, Jan 19 2011/Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

87. Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India, Feb 12 2011, /Boxing Day Tsunami, Dec 26 2004, more than 250,000†

88. Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, India, Feb 20 2011/ Terrorist attacks, Nov 16 2008, 31†

89. Victoria Railway Terminal (CST), Mumbai, India, Feb 20 2011/ Terrorist attacks, Nov 16 2008, 58†

90. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Asch Building, New York City, USA, Apr 2 2011/ Factory fire, Mar 25 1911, 146†

91. Elm, Glarus, Switzerland, May 10 2011/ Rockslide, Aug 11 1881, 111 †

92. Barajas, Madrid, Spain, May 20, 2011/ Avianca Flight 011 crashed, Nov 27 1983, 181†

-Runway collision of two planes, 7 Dec 1983 135†

-Spanair Flight 5022 crashed upon take-off, Aug 20 2008, 154†

93. Livorno, Italy, Jun 6 2012/ Moby Prince disaster, ferry fire, April 10 1991, 140†

94. Sierre, Valais, Switzerland, Oct 3 2012/ bus accident, Mar 13 2012, 22†

95. St. Francis Dam, San Francisquito Canyon, California, USA, Mar 9 2014 / dam failure March 12, 1928, 600†

96. Le Mans, France, Aug 24 2014/ racing car disaster, Jun 11 1955, 84†

97. Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, Jan. 26 2015/ World's worst chemical disaster, Dec. 2–3, 1984, 3’787 †, unofficial more than 16’000 †

98. Charlie Hebdo, Paris, France, May 26 2015/ Terrorist attack on press office, 7 Jan 2015, 12 †

99. Parndorf, Burgenland, Austria, Nov 8 2015 / Discovery of truck with 71 dead fugitives, 27 Aug 2015, 71 †

100. Olympic Village, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Mar 31 2016 / terrorist attack and hostage crisis, 4 Sep 1972, 11 †

101. Brussels Airport, Brussels, Belgium, Oct 12 2016/ Coordinated suicide bombings, 22 Mar 2016, 32 1 †

102. Bataclan, Paris, France, June 9, 2018 / co-ordinated terrorist attacks, 13 Nov 2015, 130†

103. Nice, France, July 10, 2018/ Terrorist attack with truck, 14 July 2016, 86 †

104. Fukushima, Japan, Sep 29, 2018/ 11 March, 2011, Tsunami and nuclear meltdown, 15,899 †, and 2,529 people missing

105. Mati, Athens, Greece, Nov 28, 2018 / Brushfires, 23 July 2018, 107†

106. Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, Germany, Dec 19, 2018/ Terrorist attack with truck, Dec 19, 2016,12 †

107. Wall Memorial, Berlin, Germany, Jun 22, 2021/ 1961-1989, GDR state terrorism, 140-345†

108. Høyblokka, Oslo, Norway, Feb 19, 2022 / 22 July 2011, terrorist attack, 8†

109. Singapore, Sep 8, 2023 / 29 January 1983, cable car accident, 7†

110. Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, Oct 21, 2023, 202†

http://voyageapocalypticonumerique.blogspot.ch

Singapore, Sep 8, 2023

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# 109 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On 29 January 1983, the derrick of the Eniwetok, a Panamanian-registered oil rig, passed under the aerial ropeway of the Singapore Cable Car system and struck the cable that stretched over the waterway between the Jardine Steps Station and the Sentosa Station. As a result, two cabins plunged 55 metres into the sea, killing seven people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_cable_car_crash

Høyblokka, Oslo, Norway, Feb 19, 2022

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# 108 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp on the island of Utøya, in which 77 people were killed.

The first attack was a car bomb explosion in Oslo within Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter of Norway, at 15:25:22 (CEST). The bomb was placed inside a van next to the tower block housing the office of the then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. The explosion killed eight people and injured at least 209 people, twelve severely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks#Oslo_bombing

Wall Memorial, Berlin, Germany, Jun 22, 2021

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# 107 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

At least 140 people were killed at the Berlin Wall or died under circumstances directly connected with the GDR border regime, including people attempting to escape, border guards, and innocent parties. However, researchers at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum have estimated the death toll to be significantly higher.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_at_the_Berlin_Wall

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Mauer

Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, Germany, Dec 19, 2018

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# 106 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On 19 December 2016, a truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured. One of the victims was the truck's original driver, Łukasz Urban, who was found shot dead in the passenger seat. The truck was eventually stopped by its automatic brakes. The perpetrator was Anis Amri, a Tunisian failed asylum seeker. Four days after the attack, he was killed in a shootout with police near Milan in Italy. An initial suspect was arrested and later released due to lack of evidence. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant gave Anis Amri instructions. ISIL released a video of Amri pledging allegiance to the terror group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_truck_attack

Mati, Attica, Greece, Nov 28, 2018

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# 105 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

A series of wildfires in Greece, during the 2018 European heat wave, began in the coastal areas of Attica on 23rd of July and raged for two days. 103 people were confirmed dead. The fires were the second-deadliest wildfire event in the 21st century, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.

Over 700 residents were evacuated or rescued, mainly from the seaside settlements located north of the port town of Rafina, namely Kokkino Limanaki and Mati.[ ]Boats also recovered bodies from the water, and rescued hundreds of people from beaches and the sea. Ten people drowned when the boat rescuing them from a hotel in Mati capsized. Μore than 4,000 residents were affected by the wildfires.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Attica_wildfires

Fukushima, Japan, Sep 29, 2018

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# 104 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was due to a 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture initiated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. It was the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and the only other accident to receive the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale.

The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku was a magnitude 9.0–9.1 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JSTon Friday 11 March 2011,with the epicenter approximately 70 kilometers east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku and the hypocenter at an underwater depth of approximately 29 km (18 mi).The earthquake is often referred to in Japan as the Great East Japan Earthquake and is also known as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake,the Great Sendai Earthquake,the Great Tōhoku Earthquake,and the great earthquake of March 11.

It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.The tsunami swept the Japanese mainland and killed over ten thousand people, mainly through drowning, though blunt trauma also caused many deaths. The latest report from the Japanese National Police Agency report confirms 15,899 deaths,6,157 injured,and 2,529 people missing across twenty prefectures, and a report from 2015 indicated 228,863 people were still living away from their home in either temporary housing or due to permanent relocation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster

Nice, France, July 10, 2018

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# 103 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-ton cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in France. The attack ended following an exchange of gunfire, during which Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot and killed by police.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Nice_truck_attack

Bataclan, Paris, France, June 9, 2018

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# 102 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2015 Paris attacks were a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks that took place on 13 November 2015 in Paris, France and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16 CET, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during a football match. This was followed by several mass shootings and a suicide bombing, at cafés and restaurants. Gunmen carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an Eagles of Death Metal concert in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The attackers killed 130 people, including 90 at the Bataclan theatre. Another 413 people were injured, almost 100 seriously. Seven of the attackers also died while the authorities continued to search for accomplices.The attacks were the deadliest in France since the Second World War, and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks

Zaventem Airport, Brussels, Belgium, Oct 12, 2016

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# 101 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated suicide bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels. Thirty-two civilians and three perpetrators were killed, and more than 300 people were injured. Another bomb was found during a search of the airport. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Brussels_bombings

Olympic Village, Munich, Germany, Mar 31, 2016

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# 100 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Munich massacre was an attack on September 5th during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, in which the Palestinian terrorist group Black September took eleven Israeli Olympic team members hostage in the olympic village and killed them, along with a German police officer. Five of the eight terrorists died in the final shoot-out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre

Voyages Apocalyptiques

For his photographic series “Voyages Apocalyptiques,” Christoph Draeger only once witnessed the event himself — on 11 September 2001 from the window of his studio in Brooklyn he watched the Twin Towers collapse, and his camera recorded the disaster. But without being at a safe distance, the catastrophe was no longer simply to be consumed. No longer a journey to the site of past horror. The act of terror had come to him. And although Draeger was able in this moment to maintain some distance, this one picture still adheres formally to the sensational journalism he is usually at such pains to undermine.

The Swiss artist deals with catastrophes, terrorist acts and airplane crashes. Years after the events, he visits and photographs locations such as Three Miles Island, Lockerbie or Kobe. Places from which the traces of devastation have disappeared. The railway station in Bologna is once again a totally normal railway station with tracks, trains and covered platforms. And Hiroshima simply a Japanese city, cloaked in the tender red of the evening sky.

The photographic sequence “Voyages Apocalyptiques” (since 1994) is Draeger’s quietest work, and at the same time also his most enigmatic. Elsewhere he displays an almost childish delight in big bang effects, fireballs glowing in reds and yellows. On first encountering these images, it is not always clear whether they have been excavated from a media archive, lifted from an action movie or playfully created by the artist himself. The borders between fiction and reality are rendered indistinct, to resemble precisely the live spectacle transmitted through our screens by media pictures: news images and Hollywood scenes of terrifying beauty equalized and enjoyed from the comfort of an armchair. After a journey through Christoph Draeger’s world of images, reality is not quite so quickly forgotten.

Rolf Bismarck

(Excerpt from catalogue text in "Reprocessing Reality", P.S. 1/MOMA, New York 2006, curated by Claudia Spinelli)

Parndorf, Austria, Nov 8, 2015

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# 99 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On August 27, 2015, Austrian police found a lorry parked on the hard shoulder of the A4 motorway near Parndorf with the decomposing bodies of 71 people inside. The lorry with the 71 refugees from Syria originated in Budapest, Hungary. The people inside had no chance of survival, as the truck was sealed airtight. Four arrest have been made so far.

Charlie Hebdo, Paris, France, May 26, 2015

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# 98 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On the morning of 7 January 2015 at about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with assault rifles and other weapons, they killed 11 people and injured 11 others in the building. After leaving, they killed a French National Police officer outside the building. The gunmen identified themselves as belonging to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, who took responsibility for the attack. Several related attacks followed in the Île-de-France region, where a further five were killed and 11 wounded.[...]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, Jan 26, 2015

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# 97 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster.

It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way into and around the shanty towns located near the plant.

Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.

The cause of the disaster remains under debate. The Indian government and local activists argue that slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a backflow of water into a MIC tank triggering the disaster. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage.[...]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

Le Mans, France, Aug 24, 2014

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# 96 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The disaster occurred on June 11, 1955, during the 24-Hours-of-Le Mans motor race , when a crash caused large fragments of racing car debris to fly into the crowd. Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh perished at the scene with 120 more injured in the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history.[...]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster

St. Francis Dam, San Francisquito Canyon, California, USA, Mar 9, 2014

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# 95 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The St. Francis Dam was a curved concrete gravity dam, built to create a large regulating and storage reservoir and an integral part of the city's water supply infrastructure. It was located in San Francisquito Canyon, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Los Angeles. At two and a half minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood took the lives of as many as 600 people. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and remains the second greatest loss of life in California's history, after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francis_Dam

Sierre, Valais, Switzerland, Oct 3, 2012

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# 94 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Sierre coach crash occurred on Mar 13, 2012, near Sierre, Switzerland, when a coach carrying school teachers and pupils crashed into a wall in the Sierre Tunnel. Of the 52 people on board, 28 were killed in the crash, including both drivers, all four teachers, and 22 of the 46 children. The other 24 pupils, all aged between 10 and 12, were injured, including three severely. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierre_coach_crash

Livorno, Italy, Jun 6, 2012

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# 93 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Moby Prince disaster was a major naval accident resulting in 140 deaths. It occurred in the late evening of Wednesday April 10, 1991, in the harbor of Livorno, Italy. It is the worst disaster in the Italian merchant navy since World War II. It is also considered one of the two worst environmental disasters in Italian history, along with the explosion and loss of the tanker Amoco Milford Haven on the following day in an unrelated accident near Voltri. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Prince_disaster

Barajas Airport, Madrid, Spain, May 20, 2011

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# 92 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On 27 November 1983, Avianca Flight 011 crashed while attempting to land. Flight 011 struck a series of hills, causing the plane's right wing to break off. The 747 then cartwheeled, shattering into five pieces before coming to rest upside-down. Only 11 of the 169 passengers survived – there were no survivors among the 23 crew.

Only 10 days after the Avianca disaster, an Iberia 727 operating as Iberia Flight 350 collided during takeoff with Aviaco Flight 134, a DC-9. The Aviaco DC9 had accidentally entered the runway as the Iberia flight was taking off. 135 people were killed, including 93 from the Iberia and 42 from the Aviaco.

En route to Gran Canaria, a Spanair Flight 5022, immediately after lifting off from runway 36L at 14:45 local time, veered off to the right while climbing and crashed into the ground. The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was carrying 172 people, including 162 passengers. In the accident, 154 people were killed, 2 were seriously and 12 slightly injured. Prime Minister Zapatero ordered 3 days of national mourning. (CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Suárez_Madrid–Barajas_Airport#Incidents_and_accidents

Elm, Glarus, Switzerland, May 10, 2011

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# 91 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

A rockslide caused by excessive quarrying of slate killed 114 and buried 83 structures in the municipality. (CD)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergsturz_von_Elm

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Asch Building, New York City, USA, Apr 2, 2011

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# 90 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three; Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire

Victoria Railway Terminal (CST), Mumbai, India, Feb 20, 2011

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# 89 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2008 Mumbai attacks (sometimes referred to as 26/11) were 11 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by terrorists who came from Pakistan.

167 people were killed, including 22 foreigners and over 700 injured. According to the Mumbai Police, the bombings were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Two hotels, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Oberoi Trident, were amongst the five locations targeted. Six explosions were reported at the Taj hotel and one at the Oberoi Trident. At the Taj Mahal, 49 people were dead when the siege ended after more than 60 hours. [...]

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) was the first location to be attacked by two gunmen, one of whom, Ajmal Kasab, was later caught alive by the police and identified by eyewitnesses. The attacks began around 21:30 when the two men entered the passenger hall and opened fire, using AK-47 rifles.The attackers killed 58 people and injured 104 others, their assault ending at about 22:45.(CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks

Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, India, Feb 20, 2011

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# 88 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2008 Mumbai attacks (sometimes referred to as 26/11) were 11 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by terrorists who came from Pakistan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks

Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India, Feb 12, 2011

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# 87 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The town of Nagapattinam was the most severely hit town in India by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. More than 6,000 people died.(CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Telwatta, Sri Lanka, Jan 19, 2011

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# 86 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami-rail disaster was the rail disaster with the highest count of deaths in history. It occurred when a crowded passenger train was destroyed on a coastal railway in Sri Lanka by the tsunami which followed the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, and resulted in the greatest loss of life in railroad history. According to the Sri Lankan authorities, only a few dozen people on the train survived. The estimated death toll was at least 1,700 people, including many locals who tried to take shelter behind or on the roof of the train. But it was probably over 2,000, although only approximately 900 bodies were recovered by the authorities, as many were swept out to sea or taken away unofficially by relatives. In the whole of Sri Lanka more than 44,000 people died. (CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Lampuuk, Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, Jan 9, 2011

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# 85 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

In Lampuuk, from 8,000 inhabitants only 400 survived the Tsunami. This made Lampuuk the community with the highest proportional death toll in the tsunami.(CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, Jan 5, 2011

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# 84 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Banda Aceh was the closest major city to the earthquake's epicenter, and suffered further devasting damage when a tsunami struck shortly afterward. It was the worst hit area out of all the locations hit by the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. 67,000 people died and many more were injured. The tsunami resulted from an earthquake of magnitude 9.1 and struck at about 6:58am. In the whole province of Aceh an estimated 250,000 people lost their lives. Eight months later, a peace agreement between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government ended a civil war that lasted more than 30 years. (CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Phuket Airport, Thailand, Jan 2, 2011

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# 83 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 (OG269), a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed into a non-frangible embankment beside runway 27 at Phuket International Airport (HKT) bursting into flames upon impact on September 16, 2007, at about 15:41 ICT during an attempted go-around after an aborted landing, killing 90 of the 130 persons on board. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-Two-GO_Airlines_Flight_269

45 of the dead were tourists. Thai aviation officials initially claimed that the bad weather was a probable factor.The cause of the crash was later determined to be multiple flight crew errors caused by systemic failures including corruption and lack of training at One-Two-GO and within Thailand's Civil Aviation Authority, Department of Civil Aviation. (CD)

Khao Lak, Thailand, Dec 27, 2010

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# 82 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Khao Lak was one of the coastal areas of Thailand hardest hit by the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Many people died including many foreign tourists. The final death toll was over 4000, with local unofficial estimates topping 10,000 due to the lack of accurate government censuses and the mere fact that the Burmese population were not documented or recognized as legal residents. (CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Kho Phi Phi Don, Thailand, Dec 18, 2010

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# 81 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Much of the inhabited part of Phi Phi Don was devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. The island's main village, Ton Sai, is mainly built on a sandy isthmus, rising to less than two metres (six feet) above sea level between the island's two long, tall limestone ridges. When the tsunami hit at 10.37 am, it did so from both bays, and met in the middle of the isthmus. The wave that came into Ton Sai Bay was 3 metres (10 ft) high. By the end of July 2005, an estimated 850 bodies had been recovered, and an estimated 1,200 people were still missing. The total number of fatalities is unlikely to be known, however local tour guides cite the figure of 4,000. (CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Ban Namkhem, Thailand, Dec 13, 2010

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# 80 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Ban Namkhen was among the villages hardest hit in Thailand. Other than in Khao Lak, 20 km to the south, only indiginous people perished. The estimated death toll is more than 2000, half of the entire popoulation. sind. It is here that the Thai government constructed the official Tsunami memorial.(CD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami

Kaprun, Salzburg, Austria, Aug 3, 2010

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# 79 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Kaprun disaster was a fire that occurred in an ascending train in the tunnel of the Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 funicular in Kaprun, Austria, on 11 November 2000. The disaster claimed the lives of 155 people, leaving 12 survivors (10 Germans and two Austrians) from the burning train. The survivors successfully broke a window and, following another escaped passenger who had been a volunteer fire fighter for 20 years, ran downward past the fire and below the smoke. The victims were skiers and snowboarders on their way to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier, the train conductor, as well as the conductor and sole passenger of the descending train, and three people at the mountain top station. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprun_disaster

Altamont, California, USA, Sep 12, 2009

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# 76 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture-era rock concert held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway in northern California, between Tracy and Livermore. The event is best known for considerable violence, including the death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two caused by a hit-and-run car accident and one by drowning in an irrigation canal. Four births were reported during the event. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and then abandoned, and there was extensive property damage.[...]

Approximately 300,000 people attended the concert, and some anticipated that it would be a "Woodstock West."Filmmakers Albert and David Maysles shot footage of the event and incorporated it into a documentary film titled Gimme Shelter (1970). [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert

Altamont generally is considered the violent ending of the 1960's - and the end of the hippie dream of Peace, Love and Happiness. (CD)

Taba, Sinai, Egypt, Mar 22, 2008

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# 74 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on 7 October 2004. The attacks killed 34 people and injured 171. The explosions occurred on the night of 7 October, against the Hilton Taba and campsites used by Israelis in Ras al-Shitan. In the Taba attack, a truck drove into the lobby of the Taba Hilton and exploded, killing 31 people and wounding some 159 others. Ten floors of the hotel collapsed following the blast. Some 50 kilometers (31 mi) south, at campsites at Ras al-Shitan, near Nuweiba, two more bombings happened. A car parked in front of a restaurant at the Moon Island resort exploded, killing two Israelis and a Bedouin. Twelve were wounded. Another blast happened moments later, targeting the Baddiyah camp, but did not harm anyone because the bomber had apparently been scared off from entering the campground by a guard.

Of the dead, 15 were Egyptians, 12 were from Israel, two from Italy, one from Russia, and one was an Israeli-American. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Sinai_bombings

Dubrovka theatre, Moscow, Russia, Mar 1, 2007

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# 71 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War. The siege was officially led by Movsar Barayev.

Due to the disposition of the theater, special forces would have had to fight through 100 feet of corridor and attack up a well defended staircase, before they could reach the hall in where the hostages held up. The terrorist also had numerous explosives, with the most powerful in the center of the auditorium, that if detonated, could have brought down the ceiling and caused an excess of 80 percent casualties. After a two-and-a-half day siege and the execution of two female hostages, Spetznas operators from Federal Security Service (FSB) Alpha and Vega Groups, supported by Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) SOBR unit, pumped an undisclosed chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and raided it.

During the raid, all 40 of the attackers were killed, with no casualties among spetznas, but about 130 hostages died due to adverse reactions to the gas (including nine foreigners). All but two of the hostages who died during the siege were killed by the toxic substance pumped into the theater to subdue the militants. The use of the gas was widely condemned as heavy-handed, but the American and British governments deemed Russia's actions justifiable. Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the gas that prevented them from saving more lives. Some reports said the drug naloxone was successfully used to save some hostages. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis

Atocha Station, Madrid, Spain, Apr 25, 2006

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# 67 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11-M) were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004 – three days before Spain's general elections and two and a half years after the September 11 attacks in the United States. The explosions killed 191 people and wounded 1,800. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell, although no direct al-Qaeda participation has been established. Though they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings

Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico, Aug 12, 2005

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# 65 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Acteal Massacre was a massacre of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), in the small village of Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was carried out on December 22, 1997 by the paramilitary group Mascara Roja, or Red Mask. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acteal_massacre

Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, June 6, 2005

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# 63 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Tlatelolco massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco (from a book title by the Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska), was a killing of an estimated 30 to 300 students and civilians by military and police on October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. The events are considered part of the Mexican Dirty War, when the government used its forces to suppress political opposition. The massacre occurred 10 days before the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. More than 1300 people were arrested by security police. There has been no consensus on how many were killed that day in the plaza area. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_massacre

Guadalajara, Mexico, May 13, 2005

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# 62 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

A series of ten explosions took place on April 22, 1992, in the downtown district of Analco in Guadalajara city, Jalisco state, Mexico. Numerous gasoline explosions in the sewer system over four hours destroyed 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) of streets.[1] Gante Street was the most damaged. By the accounting of Lloyd's of London, 252 people were killed, nearly 500 injured and 15,000 were left homeless. The estimated monetary damage ranges between $300 million and $1 billion. The affected areas can be recognized by the more modern architecture in the areas that were destroyed. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Guadalajara_explosions

Texas City, Texas, USA, Apr 3, 2005

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# 60 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred April 16, 1947 in the Port of Texas City. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions. Originating with a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked in the port), its cargo of approximately 2,300 tons (approximately 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate detonated,[1] with the initial blast and subsequent chain-reaction of further fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.[2] The disaster triggered the first ever class action lawsuit against the United States government, under the then-recently enacted Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), on behalf of 8,485 victims. […]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

On March 23, 2005, a hydrocarbon vapour cloud explosion occurred at the ISOM isomerization process unit at BP's Texas City refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring more than 170 others. […] BP's own accident investigation report stated that the direct cause of the accident was “[…]heavier–than-air hydrocarbon vapors combusting after coming into contact with an ignition source, probably a running vehicle engine. BP was charged with criminal violations of federal environmental laws, and has been named in lawsuits from the victims' families. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration gave BP a record fine for hundreds of safety violations,and in 2009 imposed an even larger fine after claiming that BP had failed to implement safety improvements following the disaster.In 2011 BP announced that it was selling the refinery as part of its ongoing divestment plan to pay for ongoing compensation claims and remedial activities following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. […]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Refinery_explosion

Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France, Jul 11, 2004

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# 58 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Terminal 2E, with a daring design and wide open spaces, was CDG's newest addition. On 23 May 2004, not long after its inauguration, a portion of Terminal 2E's ceiling collapsed early in the day, near Gate E50, killing four people. Two of the dead were reported to be Chinese citizens and another a Czech. Three other people were injured in the collapse. Terminal 2E had been inaugurated in 2003 after some delays in construction and was designed by Paul Andreu. Administrative and judicial enquiries were started. Andreu also designed Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport, which collapsed while under construction on 28 September 2004. Paul Andreu denounced the building companies for having not correctly prepared the reinforced concrete.[...] On 17 March 2005, ADP decided to tear down and rebuild the whole part of Terminal 2E (the "jetty") of which a section had collapsed, at a cost of approximately €100 million.The reconstruction replaced the innovative concrete tube style of the jetty with a more traditional steel and glass structure. During reconstruction, two temporary departure lounges were constructed in the vicinity of the terminal that replicated the capacity of 2E before the collapse. The completed terminal reopened on 30 March 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle_Airport#Collapse_of_Termi...

Evolène, Switzerland, Sep 16, 2003

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# 56 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On 21 February 1999, Evolène was the place of a number of fatal avalanches that caused the deaths of 12 people. This was due to a substantial amount of snow which fell on the Alps during the winter of 1999. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolène

Lockerbie, Scotland (UK), Sep 11, 2002

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# 55 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Pan Am Flight 103 (involved in the Lockerbie bombing) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt Airport to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport via London Heathrow Airport and New York-JFK that was destroyed by a terrorist bomb on Wednesday, 21 December 1988, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew on board. Large sections of the aircraft crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 11 more people on the ground.

Following a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in November 1991. In 1999, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi handed over the two men for trial at Camp Zeist, Netherlands after protracted negotiations and UN sanctions. In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for the bombing. In August 2009, he was released by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died in May 2012, remaining the only person to be convicted for the attack. He had continually protested his innocence.

In 2003, Gaddafi accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the families of the victims, although he maintained that he had never given the order for the attack. During the Libyan Civil War, in 2011, a former government official claimed that the Libyan leader had personally ordered the bombing. Numerous conspiracy theories have developed regarding responsibility for the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103

Carandiru Prison, São Paolo, Brazil, May 30, 2002

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# 54 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Carandiru massacre took place on Friday, October 2, 1992, in Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, when military police stormed the facility following a prison riot. The massacre, which left 111 prisoners dead (102 shot by the police; 9 killed by other inmates), is considered a major human rights violation in the history of Brazil. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_massacre

Mexico City, Mexico, Feb 20, 2002

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# 52 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 1985 Mexico City earthquake was a magnitude 8.1 earthquake that struck some states of Mexico and Mexico City on the early morning of 19 September 1985 at around 7:19 am (CST), caused the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage to the Greater Mexico City Area. The complete seismic event consisted of four quakes. A pre-event quake of magnitude 5.2 occurred on 28 May 1985. The main and most powerful shock occurred 19 September, followed by two aftershocks: one on 20 September 1985 of magnitude 7.5 and the fourth occurring seven months later on 30 April 1986 of magnitude 7.0. The quakes were located off the Mexican Pacific coast, more than 350 kilometres (220 mi) away, but due to strength of the quake and the fact that Mexico City sits on an old lakebed, Mexico City suffered major damage. The event caused between three and four billion USD in damage as 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged in the city. While the number is in dispute, the most-often cited number of deaths is an estimated 10,000 people but experts agreed that it could be up to 40,000. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Mexico_City_earthquake

Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, USA, Jan 3, 2002

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# 51 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

American Airlines Flight 587 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Santo Domingo's Las Américas International Airport in the Dominican Republic. On November 12, 2001, the Airbus A300-600 flying the route crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, a borough of New York City, shortly after takeoff. All 260 people on board the flight were killed, along with five people on the ground. It is the second-deadliest aviation incident involving an Airbus A300, after Iran Air Flight 655 and the second-deadliest aviation incident to occur on U.S. soil, after American Airlines Flight 191.[note 1] To date, no single-airplane crash incident that was ruled accidental and not criminal since then has surpassed that death toll, though before 2001 there had been deadlier incidents of this type.

The location of the accident and the fact that it took place two months and one day after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan initially spawned fears of another terrorist attack. However, terrorism was officially ruled out as the cause by the National Transportation Safety Board, which instead attributed the disaster to the first officer's overuse of rudder controls in response to wake turbulence or jet wash from a Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400 that took off minutes before it. According to the NTSB, this aggressive use of the rudder controls by the co-pilot caused the vertical stabilizer to snap off the plane. The plane's two engines also separated from the aircraft before it hit the ground. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_587

City Hall, Zug, Switzerland, Oct 10, 2001

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# 50 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Zug massacre took place on September 27, 2001 in the city of Zug (Canton of Zug, Switzerland) in the canton's parliament. Fourteen people were shot dead by Friedrich Leibacher, who killed himself shortly after the crime.

In the years before the massacre, Leibacher drew attention to himself by an intense use of lawsuits. These were dismissed, so he assumed he was being persecuted by the state, thus he felt he had to resort to the crime. He was armed with a civilian version of a Stgw 90 (Swiss Army assault rifle), a SIG-Sauer-pistol, a pump-action shotgun, and a revolver, and he wore a home-made police vest. Leibacher was able to enter the parliament building without problem. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zug_massacre

World Trade Center, New York City, USA, Sep 11, 2001

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# 49 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage.

Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both towers collapsed with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the WTC complex, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, 2,996 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes. It also was the deadliest incident for firefighters and for law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

Pompeij, Italy, Mar 4, 2001

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# 48 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

In AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted in one of the most catastrophic and infamous eruptions in European history. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.

Mount Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of volcanic gas, stones, ash and fumes to a height of 33 kilometres (21 mi), ejecting molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima bombing. The towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits. An estimated 16,000 people died in the eruption. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79

Bay of Pigs, Giron, Cuba, Nov 19, 2000

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# 47 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Bay of Pigs Invasion, known in Latin America as Invasión de Bahía de Cochinos (or Invasión de Playa Girón or Batalla de Girón), was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961. A counter-revolutionary military, trained and funded by the United States government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the revolutionary left-wing government of Fidel Castro. Launched from Guatemala, the invading force was defeated within three days by the Cuban armed forces, under the direct command of Prime Minister Fidel Castro.

The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro's administration, who proceeded to openly proclaim their intention to adopt socialism and strengthen ties with the Soviet Union. This led eventually to the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The invasion was a major embarrassment for U.S. foreign policy. John Kennedy ordered a number of internal investigations across Latin America.

Aircrews killed in action totaled 6 from the Cuban air force, 10 Cuban exiles and 4 American airmen. 114 Cuban exiles from Brigade 2506 were killed in action.

The final toll in Cuban armed forces during the conflict was 176 killed in action. Other Cuban forces casualties were between 500 and 4,000 (killed, wounded or missing). The airfield attacks on 15 April left 7 Cubans dead and 53 wounded. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion

Uster, Switzerland, Oct 4, 2000

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# 45 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

A construction error helped corrode the steel enforcements in the concrete ceiling of the municipal pool. On September 5, 1985, the ceiling collapsed, killing 14 swimmers.(CD)

Gonesse-Paris, France, Oct 2, 2000

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# 44 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

Air France Flight 4590 was a Concorde flight operated by Air France which was scheduled to fly from Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. On 25 July 2000, it crashed into a hotel in Gonesse, France. All one hundred passengers and nine crew members on board the flight died. On the ground, four people were killed and one critically injured.

The flight was chartered by German company Peter Deilmann Cruises; the passengers were on their way to board the cruise ship MS Deutschland in New York City for a 16-day cruise to Manta, Ecuador. This was the only fatal Concorde accident during its 27-year operational history. It was the beginning of the end for Concorde as an airliner; the type was retired three years later. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_4590

San Petru, Corsica, France, Sep 16, 2000

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# 43 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

On December 1, 1981, coming from Slovenia, Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 crashed on Corsica's Mont San-Pietro while approaching Campo dell'Oro Airport in Ajaccio, killing all 180 people on board. The crash was the deadliest and first major aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-80,nas well as the second-deadliest air disaster in France behind Turkish Airlines Flight 981. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inex-Adria_Aviopromet_Flight_1308

http://www.christophdraeger.com/projects/objects/mobile

Biescas, Spain, June 13, 2000

C-print, 50x60 cm, framed, Ed. of 3+1

# 42 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

After rain storms of a rare violence, flash flooding devastated the Las Nieves camping ground, killing 86 on August 7, 1996.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biescas

Bologna, Italy, Dec 27, 1999

C-print, 50x60 cm, framed, Ed. of 3+1

# 41 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The Bologna massacre (Italian: strage di Bologna) was a terrorist bombing of the Central Station at Bologna, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The attack has been attributed to the neo-fascist terrorist organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (which always denied any involvement), although many other theories have been proposed, especially in correlation with the strategy of tension.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_massacre

Remscheid, Germany, Nov 3, 1999

C-print, 50x60 cm, framed, Ed. of 3+1

# 40 from Voyages Apocalyptiques, since 1994

The 1988 Remscheid A-10 crash occurred on December 8, 1988, when a United States Air Force attack jet, an A-10 Thunderbolt II crashed onto a residential area in the city of Remscheid, West Germany. The aircraft crashed into the upper floor of an apartment complex. In addition to the pilot, five people were killed. Fifty others were injured, including many seriously. According to press reports the plane was engaged in a low-altitude flight exercise. [...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Remscheid_A-10_crash