Englishcataclysm
noun
their homeland was destroyed by a great cataclysm:
disaster, catastrophe, calamity, tragedy, act of God, devastation, crisis, holocaust, ruin, ruination, upheaval, convulsion, blow, shock, reverse, trouble, trial, tribulation;
misfortune, mishap, accident, mischance, misadventure, woe, affliction, distress;
informal meltdown, whammy;
British, informal car crash;
archaic bale;
Scottish, archaic mishanter.
▷antonyms salvation, godsend.