Editing 1990s (section)

===Natural disasters===
{{See also|Category:1990s natural disasters}}
[[File:Izmit eart3.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The [[1999 İzmit earthquake]], which occurred in northwestern Turkey, killed 17,217 and injured 43,959.]]
The 1990s saw a trend in frequent and more devastating natural disasters, breaking many previous records. Although the 1990s was designated by the United Nations as an [[International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction]] as part of its program to prevent losses due to disasters, disasters would go on to cause a record-breaking US$608 billion worth of damage—more than the past four decades combined.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPEf1AmFGmMC|chapter=Averting Natural Disasters|title=State of the World 2001|last=Abramovitz|first=Janet N.|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|date=2001|access-date=13 April 2020|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uPEf1AmFGmMC&pg=PA123 123], [https://books.google.com/books?id=uPEf1AmFGmMC&pg=PA126 126]|isbn=0-393-04866-7}} [[Worldwatch Institute]].</ref>

*The most prominent natural disasters of the decade include: [[Hurricane Andrew]] striking South Florida in August 1992, the crippling [[1993 Storm of the Century|super storm]] of March 1993 along the [[East Coast of the United States|Eastern Seaboard]], the devastating [[1994 Northridge earthquake]] in Los Angeles, the [[Great Hanshin earthquake]] in [[Kobe]], Japan in January 1995, the [[North American blizzard of 1996|Blizzard of 1996]] in the eastern United States, the US drought of 1999, the deadly [[Hurricane Mitch]] which struck Central America in October 1998, the destructive [[1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak|Oklahoma tornado outbreak]] in May 1999, the August [[1999 İzmit earthquake]] in Turkey, and the September 1999 [[Chi-Chi earthquake]] in Taiwan.
*A [[1990 Luzon earthquake|magnitude 7.8 earthquake]] hit the Philippines on 16 July 1990 and killed around 1000 people in [[Baguio]].
*After 600 years of inactivity, [[Mount Pinatubo]] in the [[Philippines]] erupted and devastated [[Zambales]] and [[Pampanga]] in June 1991.
*July 1995 – [[1995 Chicago heat wave|Midwestern United States heat wave]] – An unprecedented heat wave strikes the [[Midwestern United States]] for most of the month. Temperatures peak at {{convert|106|°F|°C}}, and remain above {{convert|94|°F|°C}} in the afternoon for 5 straight days. At least 739 people died in Chicago alone.
[[File:Key West Damage.jpg|right|thumb|[[Hurricane Georges]] downed trees in Key West along the old houseboat row on South Roosevelt Blvd.]]
*[[Hurricane Georges]] made landfall in at least seven different countries ([[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[St. Kitts and Nevis]], Haiti, the [[Dominican Republic]], Cuba, the United States and [[Puerto Rico]], a Commonwealth of the United States) – more than any other hurricane since [[Hurricane Inez]] of the 1966 season. The total estimated costs were $60 billion (about $110 billion in 2022).
*September 1996 – [[Hurricane Fran]] made landfall in [[North Carolina]], causing significant damage throughout the entire state.
*[[Hurricane Iniki]] hit the island of [[Kauai]] in the Hawaiian Islands on 11 September 1992, making it one of the costliest hurricanes on record in the eastern Pacific.
*A flood hits the [[1997 Red River flood|Red River Valley in 1997]] becoming the most severe flood since 1826.
*On May 3, 1999, the highest wind speeds recorded on Earth at 321 mph (517 km/h) took place during the [[1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado|1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado]] outbreak. The estimated costs were $1 billion (about $1.8 billion in 2024). This event was the first issued [[tornado emergency]] by the [[National Weather Service]] in history.
*In December 1999, torrential rains and flash floods killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans living in the state of [[Vargas (state)|Vargas]] in a natural disaster known as the [[Vargas tragedy]].