Major Disasters in the World (PDF)

# What is Disaster ## Types of Disaster - Disasters are hazards that cause destruction or environmental changes. - The types are - Natural disasters - Man made disasters ## Natural disasters A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic erup...

# What is Disaster ## Types of Disaster - Disasters are hazards that cause destruction or environmental changes. - The types are - Natural disasters - Man made disasters ## Natural disasters A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake, or landslide) ### List of top 10 natural disasters 1. Cyclone 2. Earthquake 3. Tornado 4. Volcanic Eruption 5. Tsunami 6. Flood 7. Wildfire 8. Drought 9. Avalanche 10. Landslide ### Cyclones - A cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion. It has low pressure on the inside and high pressure on the outside. - The center of the storm is called the eye and it has the calmest water and the lowest pressure. - Cyclones turn counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is because it follows the rotational movement of the earth. - The biggest cyclone recorded is the Bhola cyclone. It hit the coast of today's Bangladesh in 1970 with a death toll of around 500,000. ### Earthquakes - It is the result of a sudden release of energy from the earth's crust that creates seismic waves. - They are measured using seismographs. - The Valdivia earthquake also known as the great Chilean earthquake is the biggest earthquake ever recorded. It hit Chile on May 22, 1960 with a magnitude of 9.5 and a death toll of around 6000. ### Tornados (Twisters) - A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is touching both the ground and a cumulonimbus cloud. - Tornado conditions are caused when different temperatures and humidity meet to form thunder clouds. - “Twisters” can attain speeds up to 100 miles an hour. - The biggest tornado recorded was the Hallam, Nebraska tornado on May 22, 2004. It was around 2.5 miles big and had a death toll of around 160. - The deadliest tornado recorded occurred in Daultipur and Salturia, Bangladesh on April 26th, 1989. 1300 recorded dead and 12,000 injured. ### Volcanic Eruption - A volcano is an opening in a planet's surface which allows hot magma to escape from below the surface - Study of volcanoes is called Volcanology and volcanic eruptions are measured using Volcanic Explosivity Index. - The biggest volcanic eruption was Mount Tambora on April 10, 1815. It was heard over 2000 km away and had a death toll of around 71,000. Due to the explosion, 1816 became known as "The Year Without Summer". - The largest volcano known to humans is Olympus Mons on Mars. Olympus Mons means Mount Olympus and is bigger than Mount Everest. ### Tsunami's - Tsunami means harbor wave and is caused by the displacement of a large body of water normally an ocean or large lake. - The biggest tsunami ever happened at Lituya Bay, Alaska on July 9, 1958. The megatsunami was around 150 meters tall. - The tsunami caused by 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, is the 6th deadliest Natural disaster in recorded history with a death toll of 230,210 - 280,000. ### Floods - Floods are caused when water overflows from a water body. - One of the biggest floods in the world is probably the Yellow river in China 1887 which killed between around 900,000. ### Wildfire - A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in the countryside or wilderness. - Other names for a wildfire are brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and veldfire. - One of the largest wildfire is the 1910 wildfire ### Droughts - A drought is a long period of time in which certain region receives a shortage of water. - Lasting three years from 1958 to 1961, the Great Chinese Famine is the worst on record, 15 to 43 million were killed as a result. - USA has been hit by a huge drought in 2012 decreasing corn income by 12% ### Avalanches - An avalanche is a sudden and drastic drop of snow. - The biggest avalanche happened on Mt. Huascaran killing 20,000 ### Landslides - A landslide or a landslip is a movement in the ground and a shallow flow of debris. - The largest landslide in history happened because of Mount St. Helens, 3km of rock moved downhill. ## Unusual Natural Disasters - Firenadoes - Limnic Eruptions ### Firenadoes - A firenado is a column of smoke and fire caused when fire gets into a tornado. - Firenadoes are also known as firewhirls, fire devils and fire tornadoes. ### Limnic Eruptions - A limnic explosion is also called a lake overturn and is caused by an explosion of gas from the lake (normally carbon dioxide) erupting and suffocating people. - There are only three exploding lakes. They are Lake Menoun, Lake Nyos and Lake Kivu. - The biggest eruption ever recorded is Lake Nyos killing 1800 people and many animals. - The biggest danger is Lake Kivu which would cause a methane explosion and kill around 2 million. - Interestingly all these lakes are in Africa and both Menoun and Nyos are in Cameroon. ## Man made disasters An man made disaster is a threat having an element of human intent, negligence, or error, or involving a failure ### List of few man made disasters - The nuclear bombing - Terrorism - Oil spill ### The atomic bombing - The first two atomic bomb were used by the USA to end the war against Japan in 1945. - The first one was called Little Boy and dropped by a flight called Enola Gay on Hiroshima with a death toll of around 166,000 on 6 August 1945. - The second was named The fat man and wad dropped by a plane called Bockscar on Nagasaki with a death toll of around 80,000 on 9 August 1945. - If Japan did not surrender the USA planned too continue dropping atomic bombs until they did. ### Terrorism - 9/11 is the big act of terrorism on US. - On September 11th, 2001, 4 flights were hijacked, 2 of them hit the twin towers in New York and the third flight hit the pentagon, in Washington DC killing. - The 4th flight, passengers attacked the hijackers and crashed the flight down. - The 4th flight was believed to have a target of White house or the Capitol. ### Deepwater Horizon oil spill - The oil spill flowed for 3 months without being stopped. - About 780,000m3 oil is estimated to have flowed out. - 17 people were killed in the explosion that released the oil.