These true stories of tragedy and survival recall the worst natural and accidental disasters ever to strike the Northwest. Major disasters leave deep and lasting scars on the people they impact, but they also test the resiliency of communities as they rally in the face of calamity. Read about the disasters that have been etched permanently into the history of the Northwest:

• Hard to imagine how a bucket of glue could bring down an entire city, but in 1889, one managed to grind Seattle’s bustling business district to a halt
• Two of the deadliest natural disasters in the Northwest happened in Oregon towns so small, you’ve probably never heard of them
• Not all that long ago, you could park a cargo truck packed with 6.5 tons of explosive materials and not even get so much as a ticket—even if it blew up—as the citizens of Roseburg, Oregon can tell you
• Rule of thumb for airline pilots: make sure you have enough fuel when you leave the airport, especially if you have 189 people on board and you’re flying over, say, Portland
• In 1949, when Tacoma’s Lowell Elementary started to shake from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake, an 11-year-old boy knew what it would take to save the life of another boy, even if he had to sacrifice his own life to do it.