September 21
2013
Westgate shopping mall attack
On September 21, 2013, armed attackers entered the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi’s Westlands district. Over the next three days the incident became a siege: survivors hid or fled amid gunfire and explosions, Kenyan security forces mounted clearance operations, and the Islamist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. Official tallies later placed the death toll at 67 with roughly 175 injured. The attack reshaped Kenyan security practices, public life in Nairobi, and how cities prepare for strikes on soft targets. Read more
1999
1999 Chi‑Chi earthquake (921, Jiji)
In the pre‑dawn hours of September 21, 1999, a shallow, powerful earthquake with a moment magnitude of about 7.6 struck near Jiji (Chi‑Chi) in central Taiwan. The rupture raced along the Chelungpu Fault, splitting ground, toppling buildings and bridges, and killing 2,415 people. The quake exposed weaknesses in construction and preparedness, reshaped Taiwan’s emergency systems and engineering rules, and left a landscape and a nation changed by the shock. Read more
1957
Loss of the Pamir
On the night of September 21, 1957, the four‑masted barque Pamir — a 1905 steel windjammer carrying grain and a complement that included cadets — foundered in a severe North Atlantic storm several hundred nautical miles west‑northwest of the Azores. Of the roughly 86 people aboard, six survived; the rest were lost. The sinking shocked the maritime world and hastened scrutiny of the last era of commercial sail. Read more
1938
1938 New England hurricane (The Long Island Express)
In the predawn hours of September 21, 1938, a fast-moving, powerful hurricane struck the south shore of Long Island and ripped north through Long Island Sound into coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Known as the Great New England Hurricane or the "Long Island Express," it arrived with little warning, produced catastrophic storm surge and hurricane-force winds, killed at least 682 people in the United States, and reshaped how the region understood coastal risk.
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1934
1934 Muroto Typhoon
The Muroto Typhoon struck the southeastern tip of Shikoku on September 21, 1934, then tracked northeast across western Japan. A compact but ferocious storm brought extreme winds and a powerful storm surge that concentrated destruction on narrow coasts and shallow bays. Official tallies list about 3,066 dead or missing and roughly 13,000 injured; thousands of homes, ports, and fishing fleets were destroyed, and recovery reshaped Japan’s approach to coastal protection and meteorology.
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1921
Oppau explosion (BASF fertilizer silo disaster)
On 21 September 1921, two fertilizer silos at the BASF plant in Oppau, Germany, detonated after workers used small explosive charges to break up caked material. The blast demolished much of the village, killed 561 people, and injured roughly 1,000 more; it later became a seminal case in chemical safety and the handling of ammonium‑nitrate–containing fertilizers.
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Explore more events in September
Sep 16
Black Wednesday (the 1992 sterling crisis)
On September 16, 1992, a storm broke over Threadneedle Street. After months of pressure, the British government abandoned its attempt to keep the pound at a fixed parity inside the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. A chaotic day of heavy selling, frantic intervention in foreign-exchange markets and emergency interest-rate announcements ended with sterling allowed to float — a decision that would cost the Treasury billions, ruin political reputations and reshape Britain’s monetary policy for years to come.
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Sep 15
1958 Newark Bay rail accident
On September 15, 1958, a Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train ran onto a vertical-lift span at Newark Bay that had been raised for maritime traffic. Several cars plunged into the water; official tallies list 48 dead and many injured. Investigators concluded the disaster resulted from a breakdown of protective systems — human errors combined with inadequate interlocking and signaling — and the crash helped push railroads and regulators toward stronger fail‑safe protections for movable bridges.
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Sep 5
The 1972 Munich Massacre
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, eight members of the Palestinian militant group Black September took eleven Israeli athletes hostage, leading to a tense, day-long standoff and a failed rescue attempt that ended in the deaths of all hostages, a police officer, and five of the terrorists. The world watched in horror as a hopeful celebration of peace was turned into a scene of tragedy, fundamentally transforming global security protocols and the Olympic movement itself.
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