Can there be a non-nuclear explosion that can cause similar damage?

Answer 1

Yes, when a comet or Meteor hits the atmosphere the pressure of the air and speed of the object causes the object to expand so rapidly that a hugh explosion occurs.
there was one in 1908 in Tunguska Siberia which flattened trees for thousands of miles
and the shockwave was detected in London

http://www.psi.edu/projects/siberia/siberia.html
http://www.world-mysteries.com/dougy_tunguska.htm
http://www.doomsdayguide.org/Mystery/unexplained_tunguska.htm
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/n/nuclear_tunguska.html

Answer 2

Yes, check up on all the sites that an earlier answerer gave you for the 1908 Tunguska event. The damage it caused was so visibly similar to that from a high-altitude nuclear explosion that, for quite a number of years, even reputable scientists were seriously wondering if it might have been an alien nuclear-powered spacecraft blowing up as it tried to make an emergency landing near Lake Baikal.

However, they now seem to be agreed that the damage is also consistent with a high-altitude airburst of an incoming meteorite overheated by its atmospheric speed.

Answer 3

up to a point, yes. The Oklahoma City bombing was a massive explosion created with an ammonium nitrate bomb. There are a variety of fuel-air exposives that can produce explosions comparable to small nuclear devices.

However, consider the meaning of a megaton bomb. A million tons of TNT is hard to duplicate.

Answer 4

The United States has a conventional (non-nuclear) bomb that causes massive devastation. It's an absolutely huge bomb designed to be a non-nuclear deterrent.

They also have thermobaric bombs that are capable of completely destroying anything or anyone hiding in tunnels. It causes massive pressure waves that will travel through tunnels destroying any personnel or equipment, even getting to places where nuclear blasts might miss.

Answer 5

not really
the blast effect of a very small nuke can of course be duplicated ( it is rated in tons of TNT after all ) and fuel-air explosives can make very big bangs BUT it would be impractical and the radiation would be missing ( a cause of lots of the deaths immediate and long term )

AS I HOPE YOU KNOW ( what is with the people below ? ) an H ( hydrogen ) bomb is also a nuclear explosion as well as the Atomic bomb ( what do they do in schools these days ? )

to put it in perspective a 10 kiloton atomic bomb is the equal to 20,000 lbs of TNT in blast effect and would fit in an artiliary shell the big boys are rated in Megatons ( 200,000 lbs of TNT ) some as much as 100 Megatons

Answer 6

an h-bomb will do it, or enough tnt, whatever really. With enough gunpowder you can get an explosion that causes similar damage.

Answer 7

Yes, H- bomb