|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
Wind and Water
|
In April 1989, the world's worst tornado disaster left the town of Shaturia in Bangladesh devastated and 1300 dead.
The Streets of Shiogama in Japan were littered with small boats after a massive earthquake in Chile in May 1960 sent giant tsunami waves across 16000km of ocean in just 24 hours.
Some 15 million trees were uprooted when hurricane-force winds hit Britain in October 1987.
In 1931, an 83-tonne railway carriage with 117 passengers on board was picked up by a tornado and dropped into a ditch.
When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in August 1992 it caused an estimated $22 million worth of damage, the highest of any natural disaster in US history.
Up to 230,000 people died when the Banqiao and Shimantan dams burst in China in August 1975.
1n 1993, scientists reported the discovery of the greatest flood in history. The bursting of an ice-dam in Siberia had released a lake 120km long and 760m deep. Fortunately, this disaster occurred around 18,000 years ago.
A cyclone and tidal wave killed 20,000 people in Bangladesh in 1963. Seven years later another 1 million were killed in a similar disaster.
1n 1972, more than 130 people were killed in a flash flood in Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado, USA. Nearly 25cm of rain had fallen in just a few hours.
|
| |
Previous:
Back
|
Book:
Horrible but True
|
Section:
Natural World
|
Chapter:
Natural Disasters
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
