Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1
ROSS
Cross
The
British
Some
^->5=3
You
An
toll
from
(page 84)
(4)
a volcanic
(page 32)
(5)
Armero
Colombia were
rr
much
Mt
eruption of
death
8
(page 86)
(5)
told to keep
(4)
in
(page 34)
flames (5)
(general)
14
The Nowruz
is
15
oilfield,
(page 83)
(4)
16
17
10
12
11
DOWN
The Challenger
14
13
15
At any time
16
volcano
(4)
(6)
(page 28)
12 Oil spillages
.....
13
T^3
(general)
17
by burrowing
(page 69)
(5)
(5)
can damage
(5)
(page 61)
(page 83)
The town of
(page 43)
TJ
8
_sc
t^
book
DISASTERS
Michael Pollard
Grolier Educational
SHERMAN TURNPIKE, DANBURY, CONNECTICUT 06816
BR BR
REF
D24
.A22
1997
Contents
Published 1997
Grolier Educational
Danbury,
CT 06816
Permian extinctions
The Yucatan
Introduction
asteroid strike
H
UJ
Barringer Crater
Z
<
The plagues
10
of Egypt
12
Tunguska
13
tU
ISBN 0-7172-7691-0
Volume ISBN 0-7172-7684-8
fireball
Set
14
15
16
Library of Congress
The
cm.
p.
Includes index.
Summary: Presents
Mount
St.
Helens, Chernobyl
<
shuttle explosion.
1.
[1.
Disasters--Juvenile literature.
UJ
Disasters.]
D24.A22 1997
i
904'.7-dc21
96-38056
CIP
AC
<
z
C/5
No part of this
without permission
who may
18
Valparaiso earthquake
19
Messina earthquake
20
Kanto earthquake
21
Anchorage earthquake
22
o Tangshan
0-7172-7684-8
transmitted in
in writing
a
reviewer
a review.
O
<
u
Q
>
i
Kyla Barber
Designer:
Mel Raymond
Picture Research:
Josine Meijer
Art Director:
John Strange
Editorial Director:
Pippa Rubinstein
17
en
ISBN
earthquake
New Madrid
earthquake
23
24
Kobe earthquake
The devastation of Knossos
The destruction of Pompeii
Mount Etna eruption
25
28
Laki eruption
29
30
Krakatoa
31
Mount Pelee
Mount St Helens
Armero
32
35
Huang He
floods
36
37
The
38
26
27
33
34
Cfl
hJ
Mississippi floods
39
Calcutta cyclone
40
Galveston hurricane
41
Printed in Italy
and
1
Hurricanes
Dam collapse
42
Hurricane
43
Yungay avalanche
78
44
79
45
80
Bangladesh cyclone
46
The
Sahel drought
47
The
48
The Nowruz
49
84
50
The
85
51
86
Piper Alpha
87
88
89
Fifi
Vaiont
77
Cyclones
ght
Wreck
of the Spanish
Armada
The
-3
London smog
great
oil spill
blowout
oilfield
81
82
83
<*>
oq
52
Lake Nios
hJ
i
The Great
Fire of
The Chicago
Fire
fire
Australian bush
Ph
Chinese forest
J
c/5
<
o
i
London
fire
fire
53
54
g
*
1
z
oil spill
55
90
56
>
Z
Soil erosion
91
p
<
Deforestation in the
57
Constantinople plague
58
59
Amazon
92
Acid rain
93
94
60
Q
<
2
Z
Salinization
95
Ergot poisoning
61
96
Cholera outbreak
62
97
The
63
The sinking
Phylloxera infestation
64
99
65
The R101
airship
100
Influenza
66
The Hindenburg
101
AIDS
67
102
Deforestation in Europe
68
103
Rabbits in Australia
69
104
70
105
71
The
106
107
Irish
Famine
hJ
collapse
of the Titanic
98
H The
72
DDT
73
Word
Thalidomide
74
Index
109
Kyshtym
75
Puzzle answers
III
76
String Puzzle
108
ntroduction
The Earth on which we
seems, most of the
live
Other
we
as
to happen.
once
in a
completely
But
while an event
us that in
strongest
ever recorded, in
split
the universe,
is
Its
weather
It is
way
vulnerable
from
book
volcanoes or the
that
loss of life
in 1908.
Such
that,
all
world we
one hundred
New Madrid,
No
open, causing
had
of the
About
One
earthquakes
very
move and
some ways
unexpected.
make up
can
were
disasters
expect
them
time.
happen
bringing huge
live in,
some grim
it
can
still
give us
surprises.
Some
of the greatest
killers in history
diseases that
have been
swept
uncontrollably across
the world. In the
days
when
the
regular pattern of
the world's
of disease were
weather.
The
Huang He
or
Yellow River
in
China, for
example, has
flooded regularly
throughout history,
not understood,
these epidemics
economic and
social
upheaval
as
left
Over most of
now
the appearance of
AIDS was
reminder
third
group of
disasters
from human
activity.
whose death
toll,
book
whose
resulted
Excluding wars
human greed or
Our
waste large
to poison our
tracts of land,
more
threatened
all
our sakes.
Michael Pollard
and driven
and animal
life.
Most
of this
many
like the
in India in
oil spill in
Opposite
Titanic,
1912.
OFF PLANET
Permian extinctions
250 million years ago
Up
by
was one huge land mass
on Earth
at that
time disappeared.
One
theory
oceans: there
is
that there
area
life.
split
Geologists
call this
up
many
species could
not survive.
About one-third
we know
period, a disaster of
Pangea began to
>^r
The
living
things
in
200 and
first
"hey
were
able
million years
Off Planet
The Yucatan
asteroid strike
Earth.
It
much
of
on
life
and
a dust
would have
the animals
fed
years.
including dinosaurs
on them.
by
died, followed
that
all
were formed
One
an
enormous
Earth's surface.
^ Large plant-eating
dinosaurs
like
Apatosaurus
(center)
the
to suffer
first
when
like
Tyrannosourus
soon
TC
~jy~T
??
Many other
ideas have
in
These
the world's
in
deadly radiation.
Off Planet
Barringer Crater
50,000 bc
c.
Near
the
town
of
Winslow
It is
in the heart
is
huge
feet across
and
or Meteor, Crater.
The
calculated
from the
A The typical
air
slightly raised
edges,
is
visible
its
from
The
Barringer Crater
is
only. about
60 miles
July 19,
were astounded to
sky.
1912.
find small
A total
of 14,000
is
is
is
meteorite that
some 50,000
made
it
years ago.
Off Planet
The plagues
of
1300 bc
c.
of
Exodus
Israelites
out of Egypt.
relied
on the
pollution,
Nile, and the first plague
which killed the fish in the river would
have been a serious blow. But there was
worse to come. Frogs, driven from the
river by the rotting fish, invaded homes,
while gnats and flies bred on the dead
fish.
The
flies
A This early
described
illustration
shows the
and storms
hail
in
T This
The
Egypt with
and
cities
to cope with.
was
built at
In
1970,
killed
all
Bible
the
cattle.
it
but as towns
became difficult
the Aswan High Dam
power
valley.
for Egypt
floods.
12
Off Planet
L'Aigle meteorite
shower
1803
On
it
saw
and
who had
Others,
picked up the stones, reported
that they
were
still
hot.
Baptiste Biot
He
find out
many
witnesses.
Some
is
glow
caused by glowing
as
trails
Its
bright
Holbrook
in
Arizona on
Most of
like
it
burned
its
Off Planet
Tunguska
fireball
1908
No
its
kind in
is
almost uninhabited
The most
Tunguska
likely explanation
fireball
is
was caused by
In
that the
a small
fireball
brought
The
force of the
Some
of
all
directions.
The
effects
several miles in
can
It
still
be seen today.
that the
it
did.
area
to thousands of people.
instant death
13
EARTHQUAKES
14
is
now
Turkey, was
On May 29,
526,
it
was bustling
who
Antioch's buildings
and palaces,
its
as well as its
fine churches
humble homes
first
Almost
all
destroyed.
TURKEY
f
Antioch
later.
Between 250,000
As
among the
Earthquakes
15
The
human
number
of lives
lost,
S.
KOFI EA
SHENSI PROVINCE
city,
KOREA
N.
Beijing
Shanghai
TAIWAN
Hong Kong
CHINA SEA
MYANMAR (BURMA)
THAILAND
BAY OF BENGAL
\\
by
Some
floods.
disappeared, swallowed up
tremor or
its
by
the huge
consequences. The
number
There have been nine earthquakes
killed
in
more
-$~o \
China,
two
in
in
in India.
-^
<&
.v~<
z4
v..
"*
5
4?
X
l
*a**S
>.
1
China
is
shown on
this
^*
K
1
seventeenth-century map.
*^>
felt
it
1
returned to normal
life.
16
Earthquakes
1,
The Portuguese
city of
its
center.
Lisbon was
Lisbon earthquake
tidal
wave
drowned
that followed
it.
in
the enormous
Earthquakes
17
-j
The
1811
In
small
New Year.
that they
Little did
they
know
season
of terror.
On December
little
town.
not in an area
known
iC
y~r
Earthquakes
an average of
kill
damage.
N.
It
5,000 people
dollars'
in
earthquakes
of humankind.
in
worth of
00
million
the history
that
shows
New
lower
rivers.
18
Earthquakes
700 people
who
The majority of
the
were destroyed.
earthquake-proof
more
California
live in
constant fear of
The people of
hundred
years. Schools
regular earthquake
fifty
to a
drills,
and emergency
skills
they
buildings.
again.
will
Earthquakes
Valparaiso earthquake
jflT
1906
Valparaiso
is
on the
VENEZUELA
Pacific coast of
world
was built
many
times in
its
history
1873 but
in
the
to strike
Soon afterwards,
was destroyed
in
an upheaval that
by over
3 feet
and
Valparaiso
ARGENTINA
Santiago
suffered
T The business
district
19
20 Earthquakes
Messina earthquake
1908
Messina
Sicily,
is
on the northeastern
tip
of the
mainland across
of Messina. It was famous for
the Straits
its
December
J&i
28, 1908.
lS
N&
Bj.r
Emergency
to save
some
surgical stations
were
set
up to try
Straits
six
783. These
were followed by
nearly
October
2Jft3
V
/
WJd
/_>
was once
,200
until, in
again at rest.
Earthquakes
Kanto earthquake
1923
At about midday on September 1, 1923,
there was an earthquake beneath Sagami
Bay, on Japan's main island of Honshu.
Within minutes
cities
of
many
buildings in the
wooden
found themselves
trapped between a wall of flames and the
Sumida River. Hundreds of people were
tsunami (or
tidal
wave) sweeping in
The death
toll
T On September
from the
being
streets
felt. It
was
reached 130,000.
3,
still
21
,
Earthquakes
22
Anchorage earthquake
1964
Good
fine,
Friday,
March
sunny day
largest city.
27, 1964,
was
Anchorage, Alaska's
The people of the city were
in
Many were
still
at
cliffs slid
a tsunami,
was only
might
such a
is
most
unstable,
WHt
and
In
is
1912,
liable
to
Mount
blew
off
its
top.
The area
is
now
a national park.
MEM
when
the
in
low number of
the damage to
economy of Anchorage
casualties,
the
Earthquakes 23
Tangshan earthquake
1976
Tangshan, with a population of over six
million, is an industrial city in northern
China. On July 28, 1976, the city and
were rocked
violent earthquake that shook
by
woman who
split in
the figure
perhaps
as
life.
make up the
plates that
railway
shows the
Earth's crust.
Many of
why
coasts of
Pacific
Ocean, which
vulnerable to earthquakes.
24
Earthquakes
much
who
from
and
in
building collapsed.
severe
damage
The
official
death
toll
number
of dead
When
Mikhail Gorbachev,
was on
visit
immediately canceled
his trip
He
and returned to
Earthquakes 25
Kobe earthquake
1995
The Kobe earthquake was
a disaster that
At
5:46
Kobe
17,
discovered
how
seriously
made
homeless
in the
fires that
followed.
Damage
to roads
like this
made
of water mains
equipment to be used
new
it
in
expressway hampered
many
areas.
Thousands of
Kobe would
world take
power of earthquakes.
~\
One
thousands of the
On
Ty~~t
rc
February
9,
city's
human
inhabitants.
^ Great
rising
when
and unscathed
but
hungry.
as the
26
The devastation
of Knossos
1450 BC
c.
is
is
not
known
The
tidal
settlements
were
'.*.../*.
ZJ*,/^
fiUfy
ffiM^jti*
i/**s<a.
wave.
on Santorini
by
totally destroyed
molten rock.
Meanwhile, a great cloud
rivers of
M(
and, according to
some
palace of Knossos.
A The
island
here
the
Certainly,
They
in
island's volcanic
eruptions
is
The
is
shown
ash from
thought to have
to
first,
giving the
civilization.
Lb
zz
explosion
in
96
BC,
was an underwater
when
new
island
79
Vesuvius
is
Romans
built the
towns
Stabiae.
fear living
its
slopes.
we know
It
of Pompeii
in
Much of what
near-perfect condition.
about
life
in
Roman
times
is
above
it,
is
still
based on
plume of smoke
It
risk
the people
live in
T This
the
who
villages
continue to
below.
palls
like,
of thick smoke.
with a
28
Mount Etna
eruption
1669
Mount Etna
It is
on
an active
March
8,
1669.
An
Monday
weighing up to 300
lbs
hot cinders
fell
were hurled
air.
A rain
of red-
on the surrounding
the side of
Mount
Etna.
A river of lava
and flowed
were
killed,
total as
high as 100,000.
A. This flow of lava from Etna
in
1979.
of Calabria,
In
1669,
much of the
7 miles from
the summit.
is
how
the
fire,
word "volcano"
satellite
photograph of
flank of
smoke and
JL
Laki eruption
1783
Iceland
is
a land of volcanoes.
There are
on the island, of
which twenty-five have erupted in fairly
recent times. One of the most disastrous
well over a hundred
had previously
30
one
in the
effects
Tambora
1.67
When
the
top," reducing
its
its
About
immediately.
by
Sun
all
result
was
snow
dust,
brown
r^r
6t=
The landscape paintings of J.M.W. Turner
77585 ) are renowned for their vivid use
(
of color In 8 5, he was starting the series of
1
in his
It
is
thought
paintings
on the atmosphere.
4 miles
across.
is
some
Material
weather
In
was known
thrown up by
without summer"
it
Krakatoa
1883
Krakatoa
in Indonesia
is
a volcanic
The
island
eruption
But
it
itself
had
terrible
consequences. The
tsunami
(tidal
wave) 115
feet
up
high that
on Java
and Sumatra. Further waves poured
More than
people were drowned. The ashes
Krakatoa shot
high into the atmosphere, darkening the
skies over the whole of Indonesia and
coloring sunsets all over the world.
at
31
32
Mount
Pelee
1902
The eruption
of
Mount
Pelee
on the
Caribbean
town of
St Pierre lay
Signs of trouble
The
came
in April 1902,
Mount Pelee
fell on the surrounding area. A week
later, about 150 people were killed when
when showers
of ash from
St Pierre.
Then on May
8,
Mount
Pelee
down through
St Pierre
and
killing
some
40,000 people.
>^
Damage
to the
life
so shocking, that
Mount
it
lava,
island
rebuilt,
died
in
the resulting
killed
many. Even
more
fires in St Pierre.
number
destroyed
all
town of
St Pierre
on
in
fire
and
the harbor
eruption.
Mount
St Helens
1980
Mount
Washington, was a
familiar tourist landmark. Its conical
shape, with distinctive snow-covered
St Helens, in
On May
18, 1980,
it
changed
appearance forever.
eruption had been expected. For
months there had been rumblings from
the volcano, and small clouds of steam
its
An
When
the
it
tore
mountain, leaving a
huge, gaping hole. Clouds of burning
ash and poisonous gas swept across the
landscape, destroying everything in their
path. The ice at the peak of the volcano
melted, carrying rocks, mud and water
off the top of the
The
The Mount
area of
government
now become
Monument, with a
tourists. The United
The height
St
National Volcanic
States
educate people
232
it
indicates
how
far
were destroyed.
special
33
34
Armero
1985
Even
areas,
if
some
distance away.
This
del
disaster to
to rain
darkness
fell,
down from
a torrent of
mud
cascaded
rivers.
by
A few
Mud from
buildings
in
the volcano
Armero
laid
in
largest
1985.
FLOODS
35
c.
6000 BC
The legends
of
many
of the world's
Some
of the legends
ships being
overwhelmed
tell
marooned
One
BC.
of fierce storms,
(like
Ashurbanipal
Noah's ark)
to 626 bc.
in
r*
comes
from a
tablet
reassembled
it
in
who
of Assyria,
The
872 by a
was
in
British archaeologist.
and found
it
pieces
He
contained part of a
biblical
story of Noah.
jl\
o^_
_-^JX_-
was discovered
We
will never
know any
was
or perhaps
this
it
of the details
seems likely
The memories of
event were preserved by ancient
several.
The
literature.
waters start to go
down
fifteenth-century English
in this
picture
book of
hours.
from a
36
Floods
Huang He
1887, 1931
floods
MONGOLIA
and 1938
River, flows
its
course
it
last
flows across a
Huang He
is
CHINA
live.
sometimes called
MYANMAR
(BURMA)
LAOS
^THAILAND
BAY OF BENGAL
up
the
to
Huang He
The Yellow
River takes
earth carried
in
its
on the lower
yellow
plain, this
down
Floods 37
North Sea
floods
1953
On January 31, 1953, a fierce storm,
with northwesterly winds reaching 127
mph, swept across the North Sea
between Britain and western Europe. It
was also the day of a high spring tide.
The two
"surge"
factors
combined
a wall of
to create a
the
-IP*
:t
*l
areas of eastern
many of which
had dikes or
southern Netherlands
Only
the turning
Island,
England,
>-^r
fr
Surface drainage, as well as irrigation from
Some
fallen
by as
century.
The
much
as
in
I
3 feet
soil
sink.
& JS
38
Floods
The
Mississippi floods
1993
The
It
it
Muddy."
Its
mud
call
delta
is
from a
between the Rocky Mountains
and the Appalachian Mountains.
Flooding has always been a problem
the outlet into the sea for water
vast area
on
this
first
levees, or dikes,
the river
from time
still
flood
to time.
The
river,
swollen by heavy
Mississippi River
rainfall, either
the levees.
A This false-color
satellite
photograph of the
July 1993.
The
At
on July
The flooding
started
but
it
lives.
During a flood
in
midday, but
two hours
later
mules were
carts.
1703, people in
It
all
that
day
tore through
trees,
Eddystone
lighthouse, towering 121 feet above the
water, was swept away, drowning the
keepers and the lighthouse's builder,
sea.
Henry
Winstanley.
coast, the
Over
8,000 other
people died, mostly crushed in the
known
the
He
author; journalist
later
became
real-life
and
better
on
40
Calcutta cyclone
1737
word "cyclone
storm with
It
describes a violent
low-pressure area
at its center.
storm
called a hurricane or a
is
typhoon.
of Calcutta. Built
River, Calcutta
it
river,
are affected
Bengal.
by the
Many
stretched
which
Bay of
tides in the
managed
to escape
from
their
Many
people
who
devastated by cyclones
many
times.
In
864,
on pages 42 and
46.
^vA-
visible
in
from a
978.
in
A modern
photograph
like in
the
city.
Cycloi^jS^d Hurricanes
Galveston hurricane
1900
The worst hurricane
in
American
many
of the
Galveston went
down
Thousands
A The strength
raised
~T
Galveston was
about
church,
y~r-
When
like this
TV
"TC
rebuilt,
level.
wall that
Galveston was
many
wooden houses
devastated, and
of the
at
totally
were overturned.
41
42
Bangladesh cyclone
1970
Bangladesh is occupied almost entirely
the low-lying deltas of three rivers,
the Ganges, the Meghna and the
Brahmaputra. There have always been
storms and floods here. None was worse
than the cyclone that struck the area at
midnight on November 13, 1970.
The storm was followed by a tidal
wave that swept up the the river
estuaries from the sea, washing away
twenty-five island communities. When
the waters receded, the delta had been
transformed. River channels had been
blocked by mud, and new ones created.
Rescue efforts were hampered by
political turmoil in Bangladesh. The
delay meant that thousands of corpses
polluted water supplies, causing
widespread disease. Crops were ruined,
and people began to die from starvation.
by
from 300,000
to over
life
varied
one million.
A Survivors from a
wade
village in
southern Bangladesh
The
terrible period
civil
war broke
out.
farm
in
southern Bangladesh,
is
its
buildings
this
ended,
needed
destroyed,
When
stability.
Hurricane
Fifi
1974
On September 18, 1974, the cyclone that
weather forecasters named "Hurricane
Fifi" suddenly swung toward Honduras.
Torrential rain and winds of over 110
mph
By
the
all
over, 11,000
Hondurans
of the
damage and
loss of life
time it was
were dead and another 600,000 were
homeless.
Most
plantations
basis
The
hurricane season
name
to help
in
tracking
its
is
progress.
given a
The first
name
first
WEST
MEXICO
Mexico City
GUATEMALA
HOfoBlJfcASr'
NICARAGUA
OCEAN
PANAMA
COSTARICA
U.S. National
with
PACIFIC
in
INDIES
43
44
Darwin
By
was necessary
allow
it
to be rebuilt.
Over
left
airlifted out,
by road.
buildings
made
were
flying
English Channel.
A This
millions of dollars'
worth of damage.
satellite picture
spiral
is
visible
on the
_,
46 Cyclones
and Hurricanes
Bangladesh cyclone
/
1991
The
from the
whole of
the coast of Bangladesh, driven by winds
that reached speeds of 145 mph. The
waves were accompanied by torrential
rolled in
rain.
to be harvested
were destroyed.
survivors
fell
Many
snow
/^
the
heavy
rain. In
1974, the
monsoon
lasted for
in
DROUGHT
47
onward
across Africa,
from Mauritania
to
'
iP^^SS-^
who
drought were
bad years.
years.
~~?-p
TV^v
"T-^TT
Sahel,
those
move
who
are
to the
still
cities,
T The problem
is
emergency feeding
The
find
in
long-term
climate.
city
less
than
48
Drought
onward
When,
in 1990,
hundred
years.
Farming was so
cotton crop in
of
two years
before.
Many
in
up,
from elsewhere.
be caught up
in
windstorms.
them
to drink.
families
Hundreds of farming
T-^TC
Ty>
A
in
in
Australia occurred
came
No
it
for
two
was so heavy
that
rain
fell
years, but
it
In this
will
area there
stop the
is
is
soil
still
some
vegetation
left
parched.
it
"the Big
when
it
which
their land
It
The wreck
49
of the Spanish
Armada
1588
By
summer
of 1588,
?MI
England had
130 ships
had entered the
carrying 30,000
men
Spanish.
ships,
would
take
them around
-^= *
the coast of
A This
map
English ships
"TVT
TV
captain sailed
on
all
were
Thousands of men
drowned. Many of
the survivors
managed
who
to scramble
ashore in Ireland
were
killed or
starved to death.
Of
home.
met them
as they
50
Other Natural
Disasters
many
particularly
common
in southeastern
flight in search of
new
When
they completely
they
settle,
breeding grounds.
One
Cyprus,
in the
Swarms of
tropical
eggs.
A total
still
bring destruction to
local
locusts
from the
air,
insecticides sprayed
T A swarm
insects,
make
effective
to achieve.
cover up to 12
sq. miles,
The
crops
agricultural areas.
arrival
and
travel
billion
hundreds
of miles.
in
difficult
Other Natural
Disasters 51
is
a clean city
compared
how
with
there
by
coal,
hauled
many
1952,
when
A Transport
It
on December
was estimated
that
10, the
it
had
smog
killed
When
lifted,
about
in
paralyzed.
the
city
moves
lights
slowly through
to help
it.
in
City.
It
hangs
in
is
pollution
the
air
all
the
fitted
reduce the
risk
pollution, but
it
52
Other Natural
Disasters
Lake Nios
1986
The people of the villages around Lake
Nios in Cameroon, in western central
down
on
air,
villagers
they settled
A Today Lake
Nios looks
crater
in
in its
volcanic
Cameroon,
Africa
the
Cameroon
government sent
in
troops to
lies
close to the
FIRES
The Great
Fire of
53
London
1666
At about
a.m.
on Sunday, September
2,
Londoners
fled in their
its
city.
down
Soldiers
were
path.
hundreds of
hills
north of
called in to pull
failed.
churches,
many
Only
map shows
fire.
remained standing.
it
took
fifty
by the
fire
was so
54 Fires
The Chicago
fire
1871
Between 1831 and 1871, Chicago,
Illinois, grew into a major city, and
timber homes were hastily built to
settlers who moved there.
The summer of 1871 was dry. When
fire broke out on the west side of the
city on October 8, it was carried by
the wind through the timber buildings,
house the
In the south,
city.
later.
By
by the
fire,
with
It
took
city.
Fires 55
fire
1965
VENEZUELA
COLOMBIA
UADOR
were on
fire.
Fire
wooded
areas.
Amazon
BRAZIL
ERU
BOLIVIA
Sao Paulo
ARGENTINA
56 Fires
Australian bush
1983
In 1982 and 1983, Australia suffered a
severe drought that dried
up thousands
perhaps
set
an area
was
trees
Over
fire
Fires 57
Chinese forest
fire
1987
It
was
1987
windy day
when
in the early
summer
a forester in northeastern
of
China
A firebreak
75 miles wide
forest.
Meanwhile,
Fire
warnings such as
wooded
areas
all
this are
The
common
in
fire.
devastating forest
blowing. This risk
ground
is
is
fire
if
greatest
covered with
in fall,
dry,
when
dead
the
leaves,
DISEASES
58
Constantinople plague
AD 542
In April
AD
By August,
number
It
Constantinople. People
after
who
cases
the
had begun to
fall,
of plague
although the
of their
lives.
looked
first
in
the
From
there,
it
in
first
in
the
century ad,
when
Egypt and
Syria.
Libya,
Roman
illness
was kept
made
in this
mosaic,
a remarkable recovery.
fifteen centuries.
Diseases 59
known
as the
It
Europe by ship. Among the symptoms of one form of the disease was the
appearance of dark blotches on the
to
is
why
this particular
by
the black
fleas,
rat.
which
A The Indian
of the
The
was enormous,
of the
popular
Once
evil,
but their
cats' popularity.
1\
this
was not
It
Whole
villages
workers.
were abandoned.
as a
starvation in
many
parts of
Europe.
A
all
centuries.
These
them. Those
who
died
town to nurse
were
quickly buried.
60 Diseases
r~
Diseases 61
Ergot poisoning
1816
on rye and contains
if
Burgundy
numbers
What had
One
in
1959. Mineral
oil
T A healthy
when they
field
in
Morocco
ate food
oil.
Over 10,000
instant paralysis
cooked
in
the
is
in
oi
62 Diseases
Cholera outbreak
1817-1832
caused by
bacteria in water contaminated by
sewage. Throughout history, it has been
By
common
North America.
Cholera
is
a disease that
in India
is
it
from northern
Persia.
By
India, Afghanistan
it
1831,
it
had reached
Britain,
where
and
Russia, and
some European
countries
incoming travelers. In
the English Channel, British warships
intercepted cargo ships from infected
places. But the disease marched on.
tried to restrict
A This caricature of
methods
In
in
their attempts to
cholera was
rife,
combat the
many other
people burned
places
sulfur
disease.
where
and tar
in
the
Diseases 63
The
Irish
Famine
1845-1849
Ireland in the 1840s
in
was
one-room
huts, often
as
poor
as
any country
made
of
summer
1845 population.
Many Americans, Canadians,
New
Australians and
the
Irish
Irish
925,
Irish
it
was estimated
that nearly
five million
States.
"4>
64 Diseases
Phylloxera infestation
1860s
France is the world's leading wineproducing nation. In the 1860s, a plant
disease that affects grapevines brought
disaster to French wine producers.
Between 1858 and 1863, vines were
brought in from the United States to
improve the quality of the grape crop.
Unknown to anyone, the imported vines
were infested by insects the grape
fail
to
^r-^
Chile
is
unaffected by phylloxera.
Its
wine-growing industry
85
- before the
arrival
it
in
Its
from the
now
the
thanks
producer
largely to
itself as
a major
wine
the American
and
lays
its
It
lives in
Diseases 65
of the worst
human
disasters in
The
on which China
relies
its
failed in
two following
There were no
reserves of grain, and famine soon set
People were forced to eat whatever
years.
in.
increased
was cheaper
demand soon
raised prices.
food.
Some
There were
some
in
areas.
lives.
Desperate people
will
'Ty^~T
-K~
go to any lengths to
government imposed a
They were
nailed
"sorrow
families. In
up
cages,"
in
left
cages, called
to starve.
4 Even those
who
sur-
Diseases such
as cholera
and bubonic
plague were
cruel
stealing food.
wooden
and
find
the
rife.
66 Diseases
Influenza
1918-1919
we do not
Today,
when
or people
who
it
flu) as
among
in
soldiers fighting in
began to increase
carried
badly
built
By
hit,
up
as the bacteria
all
the death
were
down
it
wore
cloth
masks
as protection
from
in
A A street cleaner
as protection
in
New
as
1
rr
years, but
advances
in
medicine
flu.
some
reduce
Diseases 67
AIDS
1980s
onward
notice that
pneumonia and
forms of
They gave
name AIDS
cancer.
this
believe that
The HIV
virus.
It
therefore at
risk, is
in the skin.
The use
of
When
infected needles
infected
and are
>^
through breaks
virus,
unknown.
it
some
first identified,
would spread
rapidly
become the
T A giant
quilt
made
by people
in
the U.S.
'
-^c
68
Deforestation in Europe
1500
c.
trees.
years ago,
were
Wood was
the
main
being felled
at
situation in
Europe reached
crisis point.
their furnaces.
jumped
Wood
in price.
The
quantities in
for fuel in
trees
The
homes
could not be
great
now
to restore them.
trees
69
?
Rabbits in Australia
1859
Rabbits are not native to Australia and
But in
that year a farmer introduced a colony
of twenty-four wild rabbits from
England. Little did he know that he was
were none
there.
new method
was
Rabbits
became
problem
in
quickly.
One
female can
year.
of controlling
Myxomatosis, a
was introduced
into Australia. Mosquitoes were
infected with the disease and the insects
the rabbits
tried.
in
when
infected
rabbits.
Once
introduced,
it
two
952
Britain.
By the
still
alive.
70
of Halifax,
Nova
Scotia,
maimed and
dramas. Into
count was
made
sank
It
was
in this
at
harbor
on December
7,
freighter called
1917,
Mont
when
French
Blanc, packed
which
worst accidental
explosion.
Luckily, the accident happened in a
part of the harbor called the Narrows,
where
a hill
the explosion
full
force of
away
ship's
the
as
air.
A column
of
smoke
by
felt
as far
it
rose as
from
could be seen
Nova
Scotia.
71
__
Oakland
in California. It
the valley
Water for
is
is
amount of
an area that
rain. Despite
intensively farmed.
irrigation
is
pumped from
floor.
The use
of
began as early as
1780, but the volume of water used
increased hugely from the beginning
By
1920, over
being irrigated
much
The
but
at a far
slower
is still
subsiding,
rate. Scientists
hope
were
as
as in 1900.
result
was
inevitable.
Large areas
in
many
Any human
activity
in
Valley,
Some
much
as
soil
72
first settlers in
the
Midwest used
However,
meant that
the farmers were able to plow land
early twentieth century
to
grow wheat.
failed.
The plowed
soil
was
left
winds
covered 25,000
Dust Bowl.
sq. miles.
The
A
in
Oklahoma, and
Texas.
also
in
west to California to
find
this
area had to
move
work.
7~r
The
common
~T
TT
~~
TV*
in
the
his best-selling
It
was
:_'
:
later
^__
""-''_
---^^j
|WM
~~~
E,
Sk
-''"'-.,:.'
'TI&2 3/
I'*
made
into a film.
It
73
7
DDT
1950s
In 1939, there was what seemed to be
insecticide called
A new,
"safe"
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) had
been invented.
contact
It
killed insects
by paralyzing
their
on
nervous
It
Over
of tons of
the world.
lives in
huge
New
Guinea.
broken
Modern
down by
his
crops
in
more
insecticides are
DDT.
animals than
less effective
discovered that
DDT was
it
was
accumulating
that ate
DDT-sprayed
plants.
DDT was
insects they
lay
die.
If
DDT
might
it
had eaten
shells.
young
leaving the
could affect
birds,
what
be doing to humans?
Scientists
and ecologists
in
972.
It
is
completely banned
now
in
the
many other
countries.
74
Thalidomide
1950s and 1960s
In the 1950s, scientists
new drug
that
was
came up with
women
to sleep soundly.
called thalidomide.
States
1957,
later
By
at the
It
was
in the
United
it
Developed
number
company
A An American victim
The story
to be thoroughly
particularly to pregnant
women.
soon
as
its
about testing
new
drugs.
^ Martin Snijders
Holland's
child."
first
Even
was
"thalidomide
when
quite
young, he learned to
with
live
his disability,
developing a range of
skills
including playing
Kyshtym
1958
What may
is
shrouded
happened at Kyshtym, a
miles from the industrial
city of Chelyabinsk in Siberia. It was in
1958, when relations were hostile
between the communist countries, led
by the then USSR, and the capitalist
countries allied to the United States.
The Soviet government of that time
never released details of major disasters.
It kept especially quiet about this one
in mystery. It
town about 60
because
may
it
known
One
was a major
explosion near Kyshtym, and that the
names and locations of a number of
villages in the area were later removed
from official Soviet maps.
Today, the explosion would have been
observed by satellite, but none existed in
1958.
is
Was
As
yet,
at
/ NORTH \JjRm
SEA
J
u,-
-^
^\
first
Russian hydrogen
1957
five
was
trying desperately
bomb
the
It
in
is
was
bomb
that
failed.
Sverdlovsk
^v
RUSSIA
Chelyabinsk
St Petersburg
Moscow
GERMANY
y FRANCE
[Aral
31Al
in
FINLAND
the Soviet
in
Kyshtym?
s\
,
I
>X-
What happened
weapons developed
that there
of the
is
r-
Sea
75
76
that anything
show symptoms
such
as
It
was not
A A victim
today,
later that
some
poison.
In
The
Tbkyo
Osaka
^^/^
SOUTH KOREA
plant closed
PACIFIC
OCEAN
can contaminate
down
fish
in 1966, but
many
young women
Minimata Bay
it
left
in
stocks.
by
with a
Kyushu
a particularly deadly
international ban
that time
it
alive
eliminated, making
I JAPAN
cared for
Once
NORTH KOREA
is
still
of
them
children.
The
were
=L1
Vaiont
Dam collapse
1963
In September 1963, shepherds tending
their flocks
the
dam
For weeks,
rain
had lashed
at
Mount
October
9,
dam
At
in a
everyone
villages
who
were devastated.
77
78
Yungay avalanche
1970
On May
31, 1970, a
huge earthquake
250-mile
could do
little
dust that
filled
air.
Not
until
then poured
down
ice
7T
-7~ir
I.
spirit.
On
June
2,
\.
great
1970, only a
The mass of
an
few
in
falls
dammed
river
flags in
the heaps of
lies in
beneath.
The
A year later,
tremors
began
in
what
had
earth
previously been an earthquake-free
reservoir started in 1962.
Once
the stresses
Although these
to predict
measured,
earlier
it is still
can be
almost impossible
stresses
when an earthquake
It
was hoped
that the
store
damage.
Unknown
Delhi
set
INDIA
~V>T
The
first
earthquakes emerged
in
in
the 1930s,
the
it,
constructed.
1939, local
earthquakes
in
been
will
Spi
LANKA
79
,
80
was an accident
when domestic
animals began to
die for
Humans exposed
more
serious.
worse,
it
can take
many
It
can
whose
it.
What
years to
Italy,
in
at
which
July 1976.
of dioxin poisoning.
As
The case
^^
The
disaster
ZT*\
first
victims of the
were
small animals
in
81
oil spill
1978
In stormy weather in
March
March
Brittany.
The
failed in the
ship's steering
heavy
seas.
Amoco
by
the waves,
Thousands of seabirds
Along the
were washed
~7y
killed in their
in
as their
if
in
oi
is
about
oil
across
,000 fewer
the
past.
The danger of
money
TV^-r
t-^tt
serious pollution
Fish
oil.
died.
up.
is
fleet
therefore greater
of
82
The Ixtoc
oil
blowout
1979
On June
3,
1979, there
on the Ixtoc
oil rig in
was
blowout
hampered by two
it
wind
crude oil was
made
and allowed
tracing
its
it
oil
in
oil rig,
coast,
TK
9r
Environmental experts say that about 924
million gallons of
oil
oil
The
biggest offenders
MEXICO
Mexico City
part of the
Mexican
rig.
to seep
PACIFIC
off the
progress
under the
barriers (or booms) that had been laid
difficult
A An
xtoc oilfield
OCEAN
GUATEMALA
3DATEIV
H^NpURASNICARAGUA
RICA
""cDSTAr-Rp
oil
after being
The Nowruz
blowout
oilfield
1983
"Catastrophic" was the
Fund (now
Wildlife
Fund
the
word
the World
World Wide
In 1983, the
Nowruz
gush from an
by
a ship. Iraq,
In
all,
as
many
rig
on March
2.
may
was
a severe
Fund
said that
it
would
Wildlife casualties
oil
everything.
It
it
sticks
to
many
fish
and seabirds
perish.
hit
T When
take thirty
in
the
July 1983.
83
84
the night of
December
9,
1984, the
were
killed,
A The
first
difficulties.
People were
over a year
still
later
ill
lining
Kidney
effects
Up
to 250,000
up for treatment
failure, blindness,
were reported.
later
The
1986
On November
at a
1,
1986, there
was
a fire
Basle, Switzerland.
at
As a result, western
Europe's largest waterway became a
river of death. The Rhine turned red.
Within
river
its
was
whole of
Switzerland through
mouth
Germany
in the Netherlands.
to
its
A massive
On January
was reported
that the Rhine was recovering and that
in a further six months the river would
be almost back to normal. Complete
from the
to be cleaned up
19, 1987,
it
T The cleanup
river
involved divers
pumping up mud
to the surface.
85
86
power
down
the
pumps
the atmosphere.
Dressed
in
shield surrounding
In
March
experienced a disaster
When
at
Chernobyl.
at
in
Pennsylvania, there
water and
gas.
evacuated
was a
power
failed
station
leak of radioactive
until
the
crisis
had passed.
Piper Alpha
1988
Occidental Petroleum's
oil rig
Piper
The
988
disaster
first
time that
oil rig.
rig
75 to make a hasty
evacuation by helicopter
A. By the morning of July
all
7,
that remained of
Piper Alpha
was a tangled
mass of wreckage.
One
of
six helicopters
oil
in
87
Hillsborough soccer
disaster
1989
On April
When
kickoff,
still
FA Cup.
The
police
As
in,
people
at
By
that time,
many
more
final
death
who
years in a coma)
was
ninety-six.
toll
It
was the
were
Heysel stadium
was
in
involved
in
disaster,
a tragedy at the
European Cup
Final.
in
the
scarves
were
at
left
the
gates of Liverpool's
home
field as
tokens of
remembrance of those
who
died.
died.
Some trapped
spectators
were
able to
oil spill
1989
At
9 p.m.
Valdez, a
Alaska with a
full
cargo of crude
oil.
The
were
oil spill
spilling out.
covered 500
sq. miles of
sea
site
and the
frozen solid.
Up
mammals
Why
oil.
The
operation.
did the
coast.
the
new
in
course to be
ship
oil
difficult
to 30,000 seabirds,
clean
ground was
in
remove the
set,
and
foundered on the
as a result the
rocks.
89
90
The
result
is
were used
'
'V*w
that
v:
are
now
vast areas of
year the
mud
What
soil
is
makes
is
here.
is
it
into the
to
"T
TV~T
TC"
The
many changes
in its level.
the lake
began to
nearly
rise.
feet.
now
When
fell,
By
but from
880 onward
Modern cotton-farming
reversed
has
this trend.
these chemicals
of
that,
all
One
Sea,
if
terrible fact
one
its first
in ten
year.
the shrinking of
be very
little
of
it
left
it
Aral Sea
Soil erosion
today
Modern farming methods have
greatly
It is
an
was once
valleys. Basilicata
all
plow many of
Because the
forested,
made
it
possible
Without the
low
soil
rainfall.
Damage
the
iving
city.
Families
who
can no longer
make
cities
live in
in
to
find
unhealthy,
91
92
Deforestation in the
Amazon
today
For hundreds of years people have been
clearing land for farming near the
Amazon
in
demand
for land
move
after a
soil is
exhausted
New
cleared here to
paved roads
built
make way
for
nearby have
this area.
in
to the
size
of 200 soccer
fields.
At the present
Amazon
rainforest will
In
southeastern
Brazil, large
areas of rainforest
will also
encourage people to
new
railroad.
settle nearby.
Acid rain
today
The smoke and
gases released
when
such
as coal
The
rain
It
many
trees die.
The
industrial areas
in the
Germany and
Scandinavia
damage from
acid rain.
The Germans
called the
if
they
93
94
including
human
life,
forest-dwellers.
from
from the
air,
temperatures in check.
In West Africa, 13,500 sq. miles of
Ghana,
the area of forest has declined from
In this
of
wood
West
section of
remains of the
and a
solitary tree
defaced by
few
splinters
graffiti.
Many
one of the
Nature
for
Park
in
Cameroon, West
trying to
is
(WWF)
is
show how
Africa,
At Korup
the
WWF
rainforests can
be
living
-3l
It is
The
3T*\
sale of
Logs
float
Gabon, West
tropical
down
a river to be sold
Africa.
hardwoods
world climatic
in
Gabon's good-quality
disaster.
95
Salinization
today
Salinization
is
irrigated land
In
many
made
fit
by the deposit of
salt.
by irrigation
from rivers
drainage is poor and the
and streams.
If
it
damage plant
from the
roots. In
soil,
wet
which can
climates,
much
salt
white
layer.
The land
can be seen as a
often has to be
In this
former farmland
drained.
Now virtually
by
salinization. In
one-third or
more
is
affected
is
Egypt, salinization
nothing
will
TV
Almost one-third of the world's food
on
in
irrigated land.
more
Some
irrigated land
of salinization than
new
is
is
is
grown
irrigation
schemes.
J.
problem
up
in this
Egyptian
field
away
water
not drained
Eventually the
will
evaporate
salts
behind.
in
96
The Ozone
layer
today
The ozone
layer
is
makes
life
possible
by
dangerous radiation
ultraviolet rays
filtering
It
out
especially
Instruments on
satellites
allow the
show an
These observations
over Antarctica.
If
increased amounts of
"hole."
In
1986,
as
partly caused
~rre
It
is
wear
hats
in
layer has
that
change
are advised to
tv
is
in
cases
TRAVEL
97
collapse
1879
The Tay Bridge carries the main railroad
line between London and Aberdeen over
the Firth of Tay on the east coast of
Scotland. The first Tay Bridge was two
miles long. At the time of its opening in
May 1878, it was the longest bridge in
the world.
Dundee-bound~mail
train
steamed
by
a brilliant
flash of light
Sir
Firth,
down
never
down
train.
divers went
They were unable
Later calculations
showed
it
was
that he
already designed a
to a
new
design,
was opened
in
890.
98 Travel
Titanic
1912
People said that she was unsinkable. The
largest passenger ship afloat, the Titanic
was built with watertight compartments
even
On
voyage to
New York. On
board were
The
making good
iceberg off
ship began,
the
Titanic,
carried out.
Titanic
should be
it
and she
slid
been
-X
V. -N-E-y^^y^
In
the end,
,5
Travel 99
On June
6,
from
very
Most
little
of
its
inhabitants have
it is
not
pay
is
too
little
and that
pay people to
there
is
no money
to
common
poorer parts
of India for trains to be massively
overcrowded, with passengers clinging
It is
in the
268, but
many
800, and
The R101
airship
1930
In the 1920s, winged aircraft had a short
a gas-
opposite), and
made
non-
was planned.
R101, was
On
October
out from
big
new
airship, the
built.
4,
1930, the
London with
R101
set
fifty-three
its
huge engines
is
clearly visible.
R101
air.
The
Only
five
disaster so
people escaped.
The Hindenburg
1937
After the R101 disaster (see opposite)
and
American
German
airship the
luxury
designer,
Hugo
its "balloon" to be
with helium gas, which was safer
than the usual hydrogen. However,
helium was only manufactured in the
United States, and the Americans feared
filled
if it
On May
approached
Lakehurst,
6,
Hindenburg
mooring tower at
1937, the
its
New Jersey,
after a flight
it
it
It
at
about 7:30
many
public
the
first
The
on
air
fire
by a radio
was
carried
airship rapidly
when
it
was
away from
mooring tower
only yards
its
live
caught
airship's
it
a huge impression
because the
at Lakehurst.
flies
on
its
New Jersey.
New York
way to
Here
City
Lakehurst.
The Hindenburg
ended
Germany's airship program, and it also
ended the use of hydrogen for the few
airships
mostly for military purposes
that were built afterward. It closed a
disaster
The sinking
of
Le Surcouf
1942
When
f>
A
!
'
ship accidents.
It
in
World War
II,
Le Surcouf was
sailing
?T
-r-r-
armored turret
is
clearly visible
in
July
toward the
933. The
stern.
To make
with water;
to make it rise, water is emptied out. A
hole in the inner hull of a submarine will
wreck it, as it would any other ship.
The worst British disaster involving
a submarine occurred on June 1, 1939,
when HMS Thetis was sunk during trials
in Liverpool, with the loss of 99 lives.
is
filled
994
tons.
It
aircraft carrier
when
commanded by Commander Joseph
'44
it
of
F.
Enright
1
T
on
Travel 103
was
in the forest.
all
the wreckage
Investigations
the
causing the
DC- 10
some people
to crash
and causing
to be sucked out.
Priests
DC-
worst
disaster
air
At the time
it
was
called "the
104
Travel
1977, an
American Pan
take-off
It
in the Canaries.
Too
late,
was
KLM
The
On
the
Pan
Am plane, seventy
The
The
bomb
piled
up on the runway
disaster
at Tenerife.
in
The
were
collision
aviation history.
total
disaster
explosion
at the airport at
Las
KLM
clearance
from
hope of
aircraft.
There was no
by
this time.
in
its first
regular service.
carry up to
passengers, cruising at
500
580 mph.
Travel 105
settled
down
to
watch the
on
television. It
space shuttle
flight,
Her
lift-
horror
as
were
fell
later
into a fireball.
106 Travel
The
1987
On
I
December
carrying a
full
load of
It
was
was
fine.
its
few
destination when,
it
collided
No
one
will ever
passenger
list
of the
The
Dona Paz
many
collision
as 4,000.
was
possibly
A Local
Dona
Poz.
The number of
many people
as she
was
licensed to carry.
It
found none,
and due to
fierce
collisions in
eighty
17 sinkings.
Travi-i
The
1994
At
7 p.m.
on September
left
went to sleep.
Four hours
capsized.
The
up
Rescue teams
as
many
in
find.
rafts as
when
the ship
the doors at
TC
"T
^
As
of roll-on
life
disaster occurred
can be
roll-off ferries,
made more
stable
in
107
Word
P E
Strings
L
4
U
\ u
There are four words
Q
\
s
in this
Start at the
/n
word
E N
snake's head
and see
if
you can
find:
EA
PO
F_
PO_
Start in the
work outward
to find three
connected with
disasters.
more words
They are:
at the
11
109
Index
Lindad del Carmen
fires:
Antioch 14
acid rain 93
AIDS
diseases:
population control by
67
103
Hindenburg 101
R101 100
Akron
101
69
see specific diseases
drought:
locusts:
Australian bush 56
Cyprus swarm 50
Chicago 54
Chinese forest 57
Sao Paulo 55
plague of
Machu Picchu
Tokyo
21
American Midwest 72
see also
Australian 48
forest fires;
Chinese 65
Sahel 47
Great Fire
bush
fires;
flies,
asteroid strike,
floods:
duststorms:
Arizona 10
France 12
Great 35
Siberia 13
Michell,
Huang He 36
Arizona 10
ancient Egyptian
Mississippi 38
Muddy"
"Big
38
Black Death 59
earthquakes:
Anchorage 22
Antioch 14
Armenian 24
chemical leak/spillage:
Basle 85
Bhopal 84
chemicals, "ozone
friendly" 96
children, handicapped 74,
76
Mount Etna
28
Caribbean season 43
code names 43
bursts:
Vaiont 77
Darwin 44
Center, U.S. 44
1
21
Chernobyl 86
leak 80
Kyshtym
poisoning by 52
39
Heysel stadium 88
Hillsborough 88
Hindenburg
HIV virus
explosions:
mine 70
87
airship 101
Fifi
oil rig
87
Permian 8
of
"eye
the storm" 40
Huskisson, William 99
Constantinople 58
famine:
influenza 66
20th-century 67
extinctions,
Galveston 41
plague 65
of ancient Egypt
irrigation,
see also
drought
from
subsidence
Philippines collision
106
Tunguska
Kyshtym,
Siberia 75
13
poisoning;
salinization
Death
European 68
fireball,
poisoning: by gas 52
by pollution 76
71
ferry disasters:
extinction of 9
DDT
phylloxera 64
Piper Alpha
43
insecticide, "safe" 73
dioxin leak 80
96
Permian extinctions
Europe's October 45
81
Exxon Valdez 89
ozone layer, depletion of
pesticides see
Irish 63
dinosaurs,
87
oil spills:
Chinese 65
region 92
83
hurricanes:
deforestation:
Amazon
Nowruz
67
Defoe, Daniel 39
African 94
blowouts:
Ixtoc 82
Amoco Cadiz
101
DDT 73
oil
75
Hugo
Noah's flood 35
gas:
64
ergot poisoning 61
oil rig
Honduras 43
Armero 34
National Hurricane
93
Gilgamesh, Epic of 35
"global warming" 92
Eddystone Lighthouse
coal
dam
grapevines, destruction of
Eckener,
course of 17
myxomatosis 69
61
Shensi Province 15
Valparaiso 19
Mississippi River,
mudslides,
Gorbachev, Mikhail 24
cyclones:
end
of 26
bursts
San Francisco 18
Tokyo
John 16
civilization,
nuclear accidents:
Lisbon 16
Messina 20
New Madrid
oil
frogs, plague of
Koyna Reservoir 79
cholera 62, 65
1991 46
dam
Minoan
rye bread 61
Kanto 21
Kobe/Osaka 25
Tangshan 23
Calcutta 40
see also
mineral
deaths from 17
"China's sorrow" 36
Bangladesh: 1970 42
St
food poisoning:
estimated yearly
cannibalism 65
Mount
Helens 33
North Sea 37
"Big Dry" 48
103
meteorite strikes:
plague of
American Midwest 72
Sahel 47
60
McDonnell Douglas
DC-10
Barringer Crater,
mercury poisoning 76
"flashover" 55
Aral Sea 90
Yucatan 9
oil
rig 82
pollution:
Aral Sea 90
oil spills
Minimata Bay 76
110
River Nile
salt
95
smog
potato blight 63
sound of 31
of 49
Anchorage 22
Surtsey 29
Krakatoa 31
Lisbon 16
Tambora 30
Tambora 30
Tokyo 21
Vesuvius,
London
African 94
Steinbeck,
59
Vulcan (god of
Koyna
weather:
disease 60, 66
30,31
wind storms,
volcanic eruptions:
Armero 34
Australian 48
Mount
Henry 39
World Wide Fund for
Winstanley,
28
subsidence: causes 71
Etna,
Herculaneum and
Mount
thalidomide 74
"Thirty Percent Club" 93
smallpox, in the
Americas 60
tidal
83, 94
22
Knossos 26
Krakatoa 31
Tay Bridge 97
Nature
Stabiae 27
Katmai,
Titanic 98
see also ferry
satellite
vaccination against
ancient Egyptian
salinization 95
shipping disasters:
28
monitoring 44
John 72
Great 39
submarine sinking 102
79
fire)
Waldsterben 93
Union Carbide 84
53
storm:
reservoir tremors,
Mount 27
Turner, J.M.W. 30
St Paul's Cathedral,
rainforest clearance,
rat flea
Dust Bowl
99
33
tsunami:
railway disasters:
first
Mount
St Helens,
soil erosion:
Solfatara 52
bridge collapse 97
32
Santorini (Thera) 26
airship 100
problem 69
Pompeii 27
Titanic 98
see also
rabbits, Australian
Pelee,
Knossos 26
see also tsunami
soccer disasters 88
southern Italy 91
R101
Mount
Bangladesh 42
Laki 29
Nevado
waves:
del
Ruiz 34
Picture
Acknowledgments
ouse), 93a
I
a = above
I = left
b - below r = right
Ardea: 10a & b (Francois
Gohier), 9b (Mina Carpi),
91a
b,
&b,
107a
& b;
&
Parer
&
&
&b
(Reuter) 52a
78, 84a
105a
&
& b;
t),
101,
&b.
&b
94b
95a
&b
News
Unrated
&b (Jonas
& E.
nar
_ ah Lrb
Lemberg/Pressens Bild).
Corbis-Bettman: 16a, 18a
&b, 20b, 41a & b, 47b, 72a
Intyre),
cti&Li&a
a&
offeri^: 37a &'
%<&& $kp5a tf'BV.
I^al^tfgpaphical
*
SoCWy:^ 71.
Scier&kPni
^ifara
(NASJ^
av&fcA.
Hardy);
12 (Pekka
& b (Novo
Ressmeyer /
n^aum
ience
(NRSC
Library: 98a
(Gianni Torto"
(Geospace), 28b\fi|regory
Dimjian), 30a (M3kew
Hulton Deutsch:
Shipp), 30b
Kuwabara), 80a
Heitmann), 81a
& b (Adrian
& b & 83
3a, 14b,
(Reuters), 39a
53a, 62b, 63a
&b.
Hutchison: 36a & b (Sarah
Errington), 46a & b (S.
Errington), 48a, 48b (Hilly
James), 55b, 57a (John
Ryle), 57b
28a
(NASA), 33a
(Professor Stewart
(Novosti), 45a
(NRSC
Ltd),
Photo Library
Ltd);
Range/Bettmann; Camera
Press; Ardea (Mina Carpi);
Science Photo Library
(Gianni Tortoli); Corbis-
Bettmann/UPI; Science
Photo Library (NIBSC).
Back cover (clockwise from
top left): Hulton Deutsch;
Bridgeman Art Library
(Musee des Beaux-arts, Le
Havre);
Camera
Press;
(National Library of
27a(Rger
ight),
Ardea (Francois
left):
Gohier);
riafimienfe*13a
Picture
top
Blickov);
Mary Evans
la
100a
(Victoria and
(NASA).
tSUb
Answers
Ul\l
KUtSLIU
LltSI-lMI-ll
3 9999 03191
463
Word
Es
e ;e
r-fL
Strings
&T^fv
M
n
<
are:
METEORITE
FAMINE
FLOOD
The hidden words
FIRE
are:
EARTHQUAKE
POLLUTION
POISON
these places?
OZONE
O
N
N
TSUNAMI
EXPLOSION
Krakatoa
A San Francisco
Kanto
Prehistoric Earth
Hi
A Antioch
A Piper Alpha
oil rig
<\
Mount
Pelee
are:
A Basle
r.tsji
Ss3S
1.
3.
Women
2. Men
Explorers
Sports
4.
5.
6.
Champions
Tyrants
Archaeological Discoveries
7.
8.
Inventions
Medical Discoveries
9.
10.
Disasters
Manmade Wonders
1 1
Natural Wonders
12.
Amazing Animals
Grolier Educational
SHERMAN TURNPIKE, DANBURY, CT 06816
Set ISBN 0-7172-7691-0