October 18

Mount Merapi on Java began a marked increase in activity on October 26, 2010, and entered its most dangerous phase in early November when summit lava-dome collapse produced fast, deadly pyroclastic flows. The eruption forced mass evacuations, killed several hundred people, and reshaped how Indonesia monitors and prepares for dome‑building volcanoes.

On the night of October 31, 2000, Singapore Airlines Flight 006 attempted to depart Chiang Kai‑shek International Airport in heavy rain from a runway that was closed for construction. The Boeing 747‑400 lined up on runway 05L instead of the active runway 05R, struck construction vehicles during its takeoff roll, and was destroyed by fire. Of the 179 people on board, 83 died and 96 survived.

On the evening of October 23, 2002, armed militants led by Movsar Barayev seized the Dubrovka Theatre during a performance of the musical Nord-Ost, taking roughly 850 people hostage. After a multi-day standoff, Russian special forces pumped an undisclosed incapacitating agent into the theatre and stormed the building in the early hours of October 26. About 129 hostages died; all attackers were killed. The use of an opioid-based gas, secrecy about its composition, and shortcomings in the medical response made the operation one of the most controversial counterterrorism actions of the post-Soviet era.