# Most amount of damage/money lost from single civilian act? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176 "2012-07-23T22:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/1 "2012-07-23T22:24:49Z")
On May 23 Casey James Fury had anxiety and wanted to get home early from his Navy job on a Navy attack sub, so he “”…grabbed his cigarettes and a lighter, walked up to a bunk room and set fire to some rags on the top bunk.“” The Navy originally said the fire started when an industrial vacuum cleaner sucked up a heat source that ignited debris inside." The damage is estimated at $400 million. This is from an AP report [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_SUBMARINE\_FIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-23-14-26-28](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUBMARINE_FIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-23-14-26-28) What other moronic acts, _intentional_ acts, have caused such financial damage? Must be civilian. “Damage,” in this sense, does not include loss of life. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/2 "2012-07-23T22:52:35Z")
I think some forest fires have got to be close. The 2007 Greek fires cost $3 billion, but parts were not man-made and several alleged arsonists were arrested (instead of just one person). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/3 "2012-07-23T22:59:16Z")
Yeah I thought of forest fires, too. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/4 "2012-07-23T23:25:22Z")
Are we allowed to count financial disasters like Enron or Bernie Madoff? Both were on the order of $60 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/5 "2012-07-23T23:29:08Z")
Shooting one man lead directly to two world wars. How much they cost is almost impossible to calculate, so it’s hard to imagine anything beating that. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/6 "2012-07-23T23:31:45Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Are we allowed to count financial disasters like Enron or Bernie Madoff? Both were on the order of $60 billion. I think that both of those are violating the signal act. Those were both years long collections of many different acts. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/7 "2012-07-23T23:35:47Z")
The Costa Concordia cost over $500m to build ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/8 "2012-07-23T23:59:35Z")
The [Hayman Fire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayman_Fire) only caused $80M of damage and 6 deaths. All because she was pissed at her boyfriend. She got off really easy. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/9 "2012-07-24T03:57:20Z")
Would the acts of rogue traders count ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/10 "2012-07-24T04:03:00Z")
Does 9/11 count? Obviously not a crime commited by a single person, but still. A small handfull of people managed to cost this country (and many others) several trillion (with a T) dollars and hundreds of thousands of human lives. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/11 "2012-07-24T04:35:56Z")
Do cows count? Mrs. O’Leary’s was an idiot. (Yes, I know that’s an urban legend.) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/12 "2012-07-24T04:44:43Z")
I heard a story about someone using a airport fuel tank cap or device to tow or something and caused a massive fuel leak. Can’t remember the details, I think it was at an airport, that person connected a ring on the floor to a vehicle and pulled the ring out. ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/13 "2012-07-24T04:55:38Z")
Valdez Captain Hazelwood to the tune of roughly $7 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/14 "2012-07-24T05:04:11Z")
The OP put “intentional” so I think shipwrecks are out. 9/11 is a great answer, though I suppose you could argue it was an act of war carried out by civilians. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/15 "2012-07-24T05:34:15Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > The OP put “intentional” so I think shipwrecks are out. > > 9/11 is a great answer, though I suppose you could argue it was an act of war carried out by civilians. 9/11 would certainly be the top. Just the buildings alone cost 400million to build almost 40 years ago, so a few billion by today’s standards. Then you add in the contents and entire businesses lost, with huge rippling effect on the economy. If you want to exclude 9/11 maybe Timothy McVeigh’s total damage in the Oklahoma City bombing. It was in the neighborhood of 650 million that counts for something. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/16 "2012-07-24T05:48:18Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > 9/11 would certainly be the top. Just the buildings alone cost 400million to build almost 40 years ago, so a few billion by today’s standards. Then you add in the contents and entire businesses lost, with huge rippling effect on the economy. > > If you want to exclude 9/11 maybe Timothy McVeigh’s total damage in the Oklahoma City bombing. It was in the neighborhood of 650 million that counts for something. I was also including Iraq / Afganistan as “damage” caused as a result of 9/11. I think most people would agree that Bush would have invaded Iraq even without using 9/11 as an excuse, so not sure if meets the requirements of the OP. However, even if you discount the ensuing wars, 9/11 should be near the top. Although **Blake** had a good answer. One man basically started WWI, and one man certainly started WWII. When you factor in the cost of the war itself, the Holocaust, various other war crimes as well as the devestation left in Europe and the cost of rebuilding, it’s hard to argue against Gavrilo Princip or Adolf Hitler being equalled in pure financial devestation they caused the world. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/17 "2012-07-24T05:56:29Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Shooting one man lead directly to two world wars. How much they cost is almost impossible to calculate, so it’s hard to imagine anything beating that. Both wars were basically inevitable (WWI should have happened before the Russo-Japanese war.) The Sarajevo shooting may have precipitated it, but it didn’t take much to start the shooting. Without Princips, something or someone else would have made a good excuse. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/18 "2012-07-24T05:57:56Z")
Mine: Akhenaton, who suggested monotheism. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/19 "2012-07-24T07:49:12Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Mine: Akhenaton, who suggested monotheism. Yes, of course, because no evil ever came out of a polytheistic religion. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176/20 "2012-07-24T08:27:41Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > Yes, of course, because no evil ever came out of a polytheistic religion. :rolleyes: Plenty of people have argued that monotheism is by nature more dangerous, because the attitude that you worship the one and only god naturally leads to believing that everyone else worships false gods. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-amount-of-damage-money-lost-from-single-civilian-act/629176.md?page=2)