- 3718 - - NATURAL DISASTERS - examples that make you think? Natural disasters are devastating events that have the potential to cause huge amounts of damage and loss of life. Globally, around 60,000 people die each year as a result of disasters such as droughts, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis, and a further 150 million people are impacted.
- Sometimes I am caught complaining about California fires and no rain, then too much rain,. So I tried to take a look at the bigger scheme of things:
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- Over the past decade, global natural disasters have accounted for 0.1% of total deaths. The number of deaths from natural disasters has declined over the past century yet these events continue to cause significant amounts of loss and damage.
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- FOR EXAMPLE:
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- On September 8, 1900, a storm swept through Galveston, an island off the coast of Texas. At the time, Galveston was one of Texas's biggest port cities, but a hurricane with 140 mph winds swept it off the map. It's estimated that 3,600 houses and 600 businesses were reduced to rubble across 1,900 acres.
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- The final death toll was estimated to be between 6,000 and 8,000 people, one-sixth of the island's population.
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- Another example occurred in 2008. A deadly 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit several regions of south-central China. It caused multiple landslides and building collapses that killed almost 70,000 people across Sichuan province.
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- The landslides created at least 828 makeshift dams across rivers and streams in the region, which caused widespread flooding. The situation was exacerbated by heavy rainfall before military personnel removed these accidental dams.
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- Between 2019 and 2020, Australia experienced some of the deadliest wildfires in recent history. The official death toll for the wildfires was 33. A further 445 people died from conditions related to smoke inhalation from the wildfires, and 4,000 people were admitted to hospital.
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- Between September 2019 and March 2020, 46 million acres of forests in southeast Australia were burnt. The majority of wildfires are believed to have been ignited by lightning; however, according to research conducted by the University of Oxford, the risk of intense fire weather during the bushfire season in southeastern Australia has increased by 30% since 1900 as a result of climate change.
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- On September 20, 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by the deadliest natural disaster in the last 100 years. Hurricane Maria had the highest average rainfall of all 129 storms that have hit Puerto Rico in the past 60 years.
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- The hurricane dropped around 41 inches of rain onto the island, which caused devastating floods. The total death toll caused by Hurricane Maria was more than 4,600. Hurricane Maria was also the third most costly tropical cyclone in the U.S., causing around $98 billion worth of damage.
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- We go from hurricanes to volcanoes. When the Mount Tambora volcano in Indonesia blew its top on April 10, 1815, it was the climax of the largest eruption in recorded history. It's estimated that 36 cubic miles of exploded rock blasted into the atmosphere and could be seen from as far as 808 miles away, according.
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- The explosion expelled so much volcanic ash into Earth's atmosphere that it reduced the amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface. As a result, the temperature in the Northern Hemisphere at the time, fell by 1 degree Fahrenheit and 1816 became known as "the year without a summer."
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- The eruption caused 11,000 immediate deaths from pyroclastic flows (fast-moving solid lava, hot gas and ash), and a further 100,00 people died from food shortages over the preceding decade caused by the reduction in sunlight.
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- In 1986, lethal clouds of carbon dioxide (CO2) bubbled up from the depths of Lake Nyos in northwest Cameroon and caused the deaths of almost 1,800 people and 3,000 livestock.
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- Lake Nyos is sat on top of a magma chamber, which leaks CO2 into the water above. In 1986, a sudden eruption of 1.6 million tons of CO2 gas burst from the lake, in an event known as a limnic eruption.
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- The gas cloud rolled down the surrounding hillsides and smothered neighboring villages. Eight hundred and forty-five people survived the event but were taken to hospital, 19% of whom were treated for lesions and bullae (blister-like protrusions on the skin) caused by the CO2.
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- On May 31, 1970, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake caused one of Peru's deadliest landslides. The quake emanated around 22 miles from Mount Huascarán, Peru's highest mountain. The force of the earthquake caused massive landslides that buried surrounding towns, in particular Yungay and Ranrahirca.
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- It's estimated that cascading mountain ice and rocks sped down Huascarán at around 100 mph, including a 772-ton boulder that crashed into Ranrahirca. A total of 70,000 people lost their lives.
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- On October 8 ,2005, Kashmir in Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake. Landslides caused by the earthquake buried several towns and villages, including Balakot and Muzaffarabad.
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- Around 90% of all buildings in Balakot were demolished by the quake. In total
3 million homes were destroyed throughout Kashmir; more than 75,000 people were killed and a further 100,000 were injured. It's believed that the sudden and rapid release of seismic stress between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates was the cause of the earthquake.
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- Ok, I’ll quit complaining about California’s fires and rain, and earthquakes. In the bigger picture this is a cakewalk living adventure.
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October 25, 2022 NATURAL DISASTERS - examples that make you think? 3718
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