Natural Disasters in a Global Environment

ISBN-13: 9781118252338 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 360 str.

Anthony N. Penna

Opis

Natural Disasters in a Global Environment is a transnational, global and environmental history of natural and man-made disasters. Detailed case studies of past and present events are presented in a historical narrative, making use of the most recent scholarship.

• Examines a range of disasters including volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, landslides, hurricanes, famines, and more
• Highlights the role of science in studying natural disasters and describes the mechanisms responsible for them
• Features a range of case studies which can be used in conjunction with one another or as standalone examples
• Covers scientific material in a lucid and accessible style suited to undergraduate students or those outside of scientific disciplines
• Traces the transition of our understanding of disasters, from religious and superstitious explanations to contemporary scientific accounts

Recenzje

"Summing Up: Recommended. Lower–divison undergraduates through professionals; general readers." – CHOICE, November 2013

Spis treści

List of figures x

Preface xii

Acknowledgments xiv

Introduction 1

PART 1 INTERNAL PROCESSES 11

1 Supervolcanoes 13

Introduction 13

The Mt. Toba Eruption (73,000 BP) 15

The Thera (Santorini) Eruption in the Aegean Sea (1600 BCE) 20

Mt. Tambora (1815) and Krakatau (1883) 25

The Mt. Pinatubo Eruption (1991) 28

A Threatening Future Scenario 32

Summary 33

Notes 35

Further Reading 37

2 Earthquakes 38

Introduction 38

The San Francisco Earthquake (1906) 39

The Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) 48

The Haitian Earthquake (2010) 56

Summary 66

Notes 68

3 Tsunamis 71

Introduction 71

Lisbon, Portugal: The Quadruple Disaster (1755) 72

The Lituya Bay Mega–Tsunami (1958) 79

The Sumatra Andaman Earthquake (2004) 83

The Tôhoku (Japan) Tsunami (2011) 89

Summary 97

Notes 98

Further Reading 104

PART 2 SURFICIAL PROCESSES 105

4 Fire 107

Introduction 107

The Burning of Rome (68 CE) 108

The Great Fire of London (1666) 112

The Chicago and Peshtigo Fires (1871) 120

Summary 132

Notes 133

Further Reading 135

5 Floods 136

Introduction 136

Central China Floods (1931) 137

The Dutch Flood Disaster (1953) 144

The Bangladesh Floods (1997 98) 149

Summary 154

Notes 156

Further Reading 160

6 Landslides 162

Introduction 162

The Turtle Mountain Landslide, Canada (1903) 163

The Aberfan Landslide, Wales (1966) 167

The Ancash Earthquake and Landslide, Peru (1970) 171

The Southern Leyte Landslide, the Philippines (2006) 177

Summary 183

Notes 184

Further Reading 187

7 Pandemic Diseases 189

Introduction 189

The Bubonic Plague (1347 51 and After) 190

The Great Infl uenza Pandemic (1918 20) 200

HIV/AIDS (1985 ) 210

Summary 216

Notes 219

Further Reading 221

PART 3 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES 223

8 Hurricanes, Cyclones, and Typhoons 225

Introduction 225

The Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys (1935) 227

The Bhola Cyclone (1970) 236

Super–Typhoon Nina (1975) 244

Summary 250

Notes 250

Further Reading 252

9 Famines and Droughts 253

Introduction 253

The Irish Potato Famine (1845 51) 254

The Dust Bowl Drought in the American West (1930 40) 262

The Great Leap Forward Chinese Famine (1958 61) 271

Summary 281

Notes 282

Further Reading 285

10 Meteorite Impacts 287

Introduction 287

The Creation of Earth s Moon and the Origins of Meteorites 289

The Yucatán Chicxulub Crater, Mexico (65 MYA) 290

The Clovis Extinction (12,500 12,900 BP) 295

The Tunguska (Siberia) Event (1908) 298

Investigating Future Impacts 301

Summary 307

Notes 308

Further Reading 311

Epilogue 313

Index 319

O autorze

Anthony N. Penna is Professor Emeritus at Northeastern University. He is the author of Nature s Bounty: Historical and Modern Environmental Perspectives (1999), Remaking Boston: An Environmental History of the City and Its Surroundings (co–edited with Conrad Edick Wright, 2009), and The Human Footprint: A Global Environmental History (Wiley–Blackwell, 2009).

Jennifer S. Rivers is Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies program at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD from Syracuse University in Earth Science and has over thirty published articles in the field of Environmental Science.

Blurb

Natural Disasters in a Global Environment is a trans–national, global and environmental history of natural and man–made disasters. In order to provide students with the clearest and most powerful accounts of each disaster, the authors employ detailed case studies of past and present events; each case study is written as a historical narrative while making use of the most recent scholarship surrounding these cases. Personal narratives, which appear throughout the text, fully engage students in an appreciation of the complexity – and devastation – of these events.

The text also traces human responses to these occurrences and the historical transition from natural disasters being viewed as acts of a vengeful God to contemporary scientific explanations describing these events as a collection of scientific phenomena resulting from natural forces.  This book takes the unique approach of highlighting the role of science and describes the mechanisms responsible for these disasters in lucid and accessible terms in order to provide a better understanding of why they occur.