The typhoon that hit the Philippines is estimated to have killed 10,000
people. This is an incredible toll from a natural disaster and should stimulate reflection in us all. We are, despite our knowledge and arrogance, in essence the sorcerer's apprentice. Some other natural events:
In March, 11, 2011, an earthquake, Richter 9, occurred in the sea 231 miles northeast of Tokyo and resulted in a tsunami with 30 foot waves and the confirmed deaths of 15,883.
28,000 people were killed in 1902 in St. Pierre, Martinique when Mt. Pelee erupted. There was warning but the people stayed in town to participate in an election--one of democracy's bad moments.
23,000 people were killed in Columbia in the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz on November 12, 1985. The explosion melted a glacier and most victims were drowned.
The Minoan civilization was destroyed in 1648 B.C. by a tsunami.
The best documented is the Krakatoa explosion starting August 26, 1883. The volcanic cloud was 17 miles high, the waves 100 feet. The fourth and greatest of its explosions was heard 3000 miles away on Rodriguez Island. The particles sent into the air caused red reflections throughout the world that stayed for three years and were included in American landscape paintings of the period. 36,000 people were killed by thermal injury and tsunami.
In 1815, April 10, Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa put 11 cubic miles(!) of rock, ash and dust in the air (versus Krakatoa's 6 cubic miles) killed 50,000 people, extinguished the language of Tambra, lowered the world temperature by one degree centigrade, caused crop failures all over the world and created the year known as "the year without a summer."
The largest explosion ever? Mount Toba, 72,000 B.C..
In March, 11, 2011, an earthquake, Richter 9, occurred in the sea 231 miles northeast of Tokyo and resulted in a tsunami with 30 foot waves and the confirmed deaths of 15,883.
28,000 people were killed in 1902 in St. Pierre, Martinique when Mt. Pelee erupted. There was warning but the people stayed in town to participate in an election--one of democracy's bad moments.
23,000 people were killed in Columbia in the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz on November 12, 1985. The explosion melted a glacier and most victims were drowned.
The Minoan civilization was destroyed in 1648 B.C. by a tsunami.
The best documented is the Krakatoa explosion starting August 26, 1883. The volcanic cloud was 17 miles high, the waves 100 feet. The fourth and greatest of its explosions was heard 3000 miles away on Rodriguez Island. The particles sent into the air caused red reflections throughout the world that stayed for three years and were included in American landscape paintings of the period. 36,000 people were killed by thermal injury and tsunami.
In 1815, April 10, Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa put 11 cubic miles(!) of rock, ash and dust in the air (versus Krakatoa's 6 cubic miles) killed 50,000 people, extinguished the language of Tambra, lowered the world temperature by one degree centigrade, caused crop failures all over the world and created the year known as "the year without a summer."
The largest explosion ever? Mount Toba, 72,000 B.C..
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