History doesn't play favorites with dates, but some stretches on the calendar seem cursed with tragedy.
The seven-day window from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 has witnessed a chilling array of non-war disasters, earthquakes shattering cities, floods swallowing coastlines, massacres in the snow, and modern pandemics overwhelming hospitals.
No battles or bombs here; just the raw force of nature and human vulnerability piling up body counts.
My premise?
This week ranks among the bloodiest non-war periods ever, with death tolls from clustered events rivaling some of history's worst single calamities.
To back that up, I've dug deeper into overlooked tragedies and tallied the fatalities day by day, drawing on reliable sources such as USGS reports, CDC data, and historical archives. The numbers aren't always precise, old records are spotty, and modern ones evolve as investigations wrap up, but they paint a grim picture.
At the end of each day's summary, I'll tally the estimated deaths for that date across all known events. Then, a grand total for the week. Finally, for context, I'll compare this span to other deadly seven-day periods in history, showing where it stacks up (spoiler: it's no slouch, but a few mega-disasters eclipse it).
I don't diminish the casualties: Each death is a tragedy, one where people lost their loved ones. My prayers go out to those who fell on the following days.
Jan. 26: Earthquakes Dominate the Day
There's a seismic reputation associated with Jan. 26, where multiple quakes have been recorded over the centuries.
Let's start with the 1531 Lisbon earthquake in Portugal, estimated at magnitude 6.5-7.0, that flattened around one-third of the city, ignited fires, and unleashed a tsunami along the Tagus River. The quake was felt as far away as Morocco, burying survivors under rubble and drowning others in subsequent floods.
Because of sixteenth-century record-keeping, there are only estimates of the death toll, but historians have settled on around 30,000 deaths, which was about one-third of Lisbon's population.
This quake exposed the dangers of building on unstable soil, where ground liquefaction turned the earth into quicksand.
A mega-earthquake hit along the Pacific Northwest coast in 1700. The Cascadia quake predated Europeans, but Native American oral histories from tribes such as the Yurok describe villages vanishing into the sea because of landslides and tsunamis. Those waves reached Japan, while being dubbed the "orphan tsunami."
Counting the death toll was difficult because there weren't a great many people living in the area. Still, estimates range from dozens to hundreds in coastal communities. Historians estimate that around 300 people died, based on the geographical evidence, such as buried forests.
In 2001, the Gujarat earthquake in India, a 7.7 magnitude quake, hit during Republic Day celebrations near Bhuj, leveling villages, crumpling high-rises in Ahmedabad, and injuring over 166,000 as it destroyed around 400,000 homes.
Poor construction codes exacerbated the toll, resulting in pancaked buildings, while aid was delayed, leading to epidemics.
Official counts listed 20,023 dead, with 18 more in Pakistan.
In addition to this earthquake, there were smaller tragedies, such as the 1947 KLM plane crash near Copenhagen, with 22 deaths, and daily COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S. during the 2021 winter surge.
The day's death tally resulted in around 54,079 people.
Jan. 27: Fires in Space and Lingering Cold
Although there weren't as many significant fatal events on this date, the event was spotlighted in a 1967 launch rehearsal for Apollo 1 at Cape Kennedy.
A cabin fire erupted from a spark in pure oxygen, killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. The accident halted NASA's moon program for 20 months and prompted several major safety overhauls.
Then, a week ago, a winter storm hit the United States. The deadly cold contributed to hypothermia and accidental deaths. As of Jan. 31, the storm's toll stood at 119 across over 20 states, with many resulting from exposure to lingering freezing temperatures, while other fatalities continued because of power outages.
During the 2021 COVID-19 surge, U.S. average daily deaths were around 3,000, with estimates pegging Jan. 27 at around 3,200 based on weekly trends.
The day's tally resulted in around 3,205 deaths.
Jan. 28: Space Tragedies and Ongoing Crises
1986 brought the Challenger shuttle disaster, where an O-ring failure caused an explosion 73 seconds after liftoff, killing seven crew members.
The disaster was televised and millions watched it, prompting NASA to ground its fleet for nearly three years and exposing the risks of launching during cold weather.
The 2026 winter storm kept pounding vast areas, adding more cold-related deaths, with estimates of around five deaths due to ongoing power outages. In 2021, COVID increased to another 3,100 U.S. deaths, as hospitals strained under the winter wave, totaling around 3,112 people.
Jan. 29: Massacres and Modern Storms
In 1863, U.S. troops slaughtered a Shoshone encampment in Idaho, resulting in 384 dead, the deadliest attack on Native Americans in U.S. history. The event became a grim chapter in the history of frontier expansion, in which the attackers cleared land for settlers.
At least ten people died from crashes and exposure to the continuing 2026 storm. Overall, between COVID, the storm, and the attack, around 3,594 people were killed.
Jan. 30: Building Tensions and Bitter Cold
Comparatively speaking, Jan. 30 was quiet. However, around 15 people died from hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and accidents on icy roads. The day's toll is estimated at 2,997 people.
Jan. 31: Floods and Freezes
The 1953 North Sea Flood hit overnight into Feb. 1, when a storm surge breached dikes in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Scotland.
Hurricane winds combined with high tides drowned 2,551, with 1,836 in the Netherlands alone. The tragedy spurred massive infrastructure projects, such as the Delta Works barriers.
The grim total for Jan. 31 resulted in around 3,355 people dying on that date.
Feb. 1: Flood Aftermath and Shuttle Losses
This date marked the end of victims from the North Sea flood, bringing the total to around 1,275.
The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry in 2003, killing seven, due to foam debris that damaged the wing during launch.
The day's total killed is around 2,849 people.
In total, around 73,191 people died this week, with clusters surrounding high-toll events, from ancient quakes to recent storms and pandemics.
Comparing to Other Deadly Spans
Is this seven-day stretch the bloodiest non-war week? Almost. Some periods contained mega-disasters for days. For a clean comparison, here are the results for the other seven-day windows with clustered or single massive events, again focusing on non-war, using similar tally methods.
- Dec. 26, 2004, to Jan. 1, 2005: A 9.1-magnitude quake on December 26 triggered waves that killed around 230,000 people across 14 countries. Lingering deaths from disease and injuries pushed the week's total to over 230,000 people, triple our spans.
- Jan. 12 to 18, 2010: The 7.0 Haiti earthquake on Jan. 12 claimed between 100,000 and 316,000 people, with aftershocks and cholera adding to the toll. The weekly total was around 250,000 people.
- July 28 to Aug. 3, 1976. The 7.6 Tangshan earthquake in China on July 28 killed between 242,000 and 655,000 (estimates) people in mere hours.
- Nov. 12 to 18, 1970. The Bhola cyclone hit Bangladesh on Nov. 12-13, killing around 500,000 people in surges. Continued flooding and starvation added to the total.
- Jan. 23 to 29, 1556. The 8.0 Shaanxi earthquake killed around 830,000 people from collapses and famine, followed by several significant aftershocks. The Shaanzi earthquake is considered the deadliest single disaster in history.
Although this week resulted in fewer fatalities than others, it stands out for its diversity: no single event dominates, as with a single quake or storm. Instead, it's a grim mosaic across eras and continents.
Other spans, such as the 1918 flu's peak weeks, or the 1931 China floods, show other significant events that rival earthquakes.
This late-January window's pattern of recurring high-impact hits earns its dark spot on the calendar.
This column isn't about doomsday vibes; it's a reminder for us to respect nature's punch. From requiring better building codes after the Gujarat earthquake to flood barriers after 1953, these tragedies drove progress towards safer planning.
As we keep an eye on forecasts, remember: preparation saves lives.
Stay vigilant: history tends to repeat itself.
