The most destructive natural disasters. Natural disasters and cataclysms always cause huge damage to a person.

Every year, various human activities and natural phenomena cause environmental disasters and economic losses around the world. But beyond the dark side, there is something admirable about the destructive power of nature.

This article will present you the most interesting natural phenomena and cataclysms that happened in 2011 and 2012, and at the same time remained not very well known to the public.

10. Sea smoke on the Black Sea, Romania.

Sea smoke is the evaporation of sea water, which is formed when the air is cold enough and the water is heated by the sun. Because of the temperature difference, the water begins to evaporate.

This beautiful photo was taken a few months ago in Romania by Dan Mihailescu.

9. Strange sounds coming from the frozen Black Sea, Ukraine.

If you've ever wondered what a frozen sea sounds like, here's the answer! Reminds me of scratching wood with nails.

The video was filmed on the coast of Odessa in Ukraine.

8. Trees in the web, Pakistan.

An unexpected side effect of the massive flood that inundated one-fifth of Pakistan's landmass is that millions of spiders escaped the water and climbed trees to form cocoons and huge webs.

7. Fire tornado - Brazil.

A rare phenomenon called "fire tornado" was caught on camera in Aracatuba, Brazil. A deadly cocktail of high temperatures, strong winds and fires formed a whirlwind of fire.

6. Cappuccino Coast, UK.

In December 2011, the seaside resort of Cleveleys, Lancashire was covered in cappuccino-colored sea foam (first photo). The second and third photos were taken in Cape Town, South Africa.

According to experts, sea foam is formed from molecules of fat and proteins created as a result of the decomposition of tiny sea creatures (Phaeocystis).

5. Snow in the desert, Namibia.

As you know, the Namibian Desert is the oldest desert on earth, and it would seem that, apart from sand and eternal heat, there can be nothing unusual here. However, judging by the statistics, it snows here almost every ten years.

The last time this happened was in June 2011, when snow fell between 11 am and 12 noon. On this day, the lowest temperature in Namibia was recorded -7 degrees Celsius.

4. Huge whirlpool, Japan.

An incredibly large whirlpool formed off the east coast of Japan after the sensational tsunami last year. Whirlpools are common in tsunamis, but such large ones are rare.

3. Waterspouts, Australia.

In May 2011, four tornado-like tornadoes formed off the coast of Australia, one of which reached a height of 600 meters.

Waterspouts usually start as tornadoes - above the ground, and then move to a body of water. Their size in height starts from a few meters, and the width varies up to a hundred meters.

It is noteworthy that local residents in this region have not seen such phenomena for more than 45 years.

2. Massive sandstorms, USA.

This incredible video shows the huge sandstorm that engulfed Phoenix in 2011. The cloud of dust grew up to 50 km wide and reached 3 km in height.

Sandstorms are a common meteorological event in Arizona, but researchers and locals unanimously declared that this storm was the largest in the history of the state.

1. Volcanic ash from Lake Nahuel Huapi - Argentina.

The massive eruption of the Puyehue volcano - near the city of Osorno, in southern Chile, has created an incredible spectacle in Argentina.

Northeast winds blew some of the ash onto Lake Nahuel Huapi. And its surface was covered with a thick layer of volcanic debris, which is very abrasive and does not dissolve in water.

By the way, Nahuel Huapi is the deepest and cleanest lake in Argentina. The lake stretches for 100 km along the Chilean border.

The depth reaches 400 meters, and its area is 529 square meters. km.

17.04.2013

Natural disasters unpredictable, destructive, unstoppable. Perhaps that is why humanity fears them the most. We offer you the top rating in history, they claimed a huge number of lives.

10. The collapse of the Banqiao Dam, 1975

The dam was built to contain the effects of about 12 inches of precipitation daily. However, in August 1975 it became clear that this was not enough. As a result of the collision of cyclones, Typhoon Nina brought with it heavy rains - 7.46 inches per hour, which means 41.7 inches daily. In addition, due to clogging, the dam could no longer fulfill its role. In a few days, 15.738 billion tons of water broke through it, which swept through the surrounding area in a deadly wave. More than 231,000 people died.

9. Earthquake in Haiyan, China, 1920

As a result of the earthquake, which is on the 9th line in the top ranking deadliest natural disasters in history, affected 7 provinces of China. In the Hainan region alone, 73,000 people died, and more than 200,000 people died nationwide. Tremors continued for the next three years. It caused landslides and large ground cracks. The earthquake turned out to be so strong that some rivers changed course, in some natural dams appeared.

8. Tangshan Earthquake, 1976

It happened on July 28, 1976 and is called the strongest earthquake of the 20th century. The epicenter was the city of Tangshan, located in the province of Hebei, China. From a densely populated, large industrial city, almost nothing remained in 10 seconds. The number of victims is about 220,000.

7. Antakya (Antioch) earthquake, 565

Despite the small number of details that have survived to this day, earthquake was one of the most devastating and claimed more than 250,000 lives and brought enormous damage to the economy.

6. Earthquake in the Indian Ocean / tsunami, 2004

It happened on December 24, 2004, just in time for Christmas. The epicenter was off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and Thailand were most severely affected. The second earthquake in history of magnitude 9.1 -9.3. it has been the cause of a number of other earthquakes around the globe, such as in Alaska. It also triggered a deadly tsunami. More than 225,000 people died.

5. Indian cyclone, 1839

In 1839, an extremely large cyclone came to India. On November 25, a storm nearly destroyed the city of Coringa. He destroyed literally everything he came into contact with. 2,000 ships that were parked in the port have been swept off the face of the earth. The city was not restored. The storm surges it attracted killed over 300,000 people.

4. Cyclone Bola, 1970

After Cyclone Bola swept through the lands of Pakistan, more than half of the arable land was polluted and spoiled, a small part of the rice and grains were saved, but famine was no longer avoided. In addition, about 500,000 people died from the heavy rains and floods that it caused. Wind force -115 meters per hour, hurricane - category 3.

3. Shaanxi earthquake, 1556

The most destructive earthquake in history happened on February 14, 1556 in China. Its epicenter was in the Wei River valley and about 97 provinces were affected as a result. Buildings were destroyed, half of the people living in them were killed. According to some reports, 60% of the population of Huasqian province died. A total of 830,000 people died. The tremors continued for another six months.

2. Flooding of the Yellow River, 1887

The Yellow River in China is extremely prone to flooding and overflowing. In 1887, this led to the flooding of 50,000 square miles around. According to some reports, the flood claimed the lives of 900,000 - 2,000,000 people. Farmers, knowing the characteristics of the river, built dams that saved them from the annual floods, but in that year, the water swept away the farmers and their homes.

1. Flood of central China, 1931

According to statistics, the flood that occurred in 1931 was scariest in history. After a long drought, 7 cyclones came to China at once, bringing hundreds of liters of rain with them. As a result, three rivers burst their banks. The flood killed 4 million people.

Natural disasters and cataclysms always cause huge damage to a person., both physical (fatal outcome) and moral (experiences and fear). As a result, terrible harmful natural phenomena (such as tsunamis, tornadoes and tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, storms, etc.) are becoming an increasing threat to people.

Term - natural disasters - is used for two different concepts, in some sense overlapping. Catastrophe in literal translation means - a turn, a restructuring. This value corresponds to the most general idea of catastrophes in natural science, where the evolution of the Earth is seen as a series of different catastrophes that cause a change in geological processes and types of living organisms.

Also the concept - natural disasters refers only to extreme natural phenomena and processes resulting in loss of life. In this understanding - natural disasters opposed - technogenic disasters, i.e. those caused directly by human activity.

Natural disaster is an event caused by natural causes, the destructive effect of which manifests itself within a fairly wide spatio-temporal parameters and causes the death and / or injury of people, as well as significant temporary or permanent changes in the living communities that it affects. It also causes significant material damage due to the adverse impact on human activities and biological resources.

Global natural disasters can be called both very large, but not fatal for mankind catastrophes, and those that lead to the extinction of mankind.

Natural disasters in the generally accepted sense have always been one of the elements of global ecodynamics. Natural disasters and various natural cataclysms in the past occurred in accordance with the development of natural natural trends, and since the 19th century, anthropogenic factors began to influence their dynamics. The deployment of engineering activities in the 20th century and the formation of a complex socio-economic structure of the world not only dramatically increased the proportion of anthropogenic natural disasters, but also changed the characteristics of the environment, giving them dynamics in the direction of worsening the habitat of living beings, including humans.

Every year, the number of natural disasters in the world increases, on average, by about 20 percent. Such a disappointing conclusion was made by experts of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society.

For example, in 2006 there were 427 natural disasters in the world. Most of the deaths were recorded as a result of earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods. Over the past 10 years, the death rate in disasters has increased from 600 thousand to 1.2 million people a year, and the number of victims has increased from 230 to 270 million.

Some catastrophes occur under the earth's surface, others - on it, others - in the water shell (hydrosphere), and the last in the air shell (atmosphere) of the Earth.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, acting from below on the earth's surface, lead to surface catastrophes, such as landslides or tsunamis, as well as fires. Other surface catastrophes occur under the influence of processes in the atmosphere, where temperature and pressure drops are equalized and energy is transferred to the water surface.

As with all natural processes, natural disasters are interconnected. One catastrophe affects another, it happens that the first catastrophe serves as a trigger for subsequent ones.

The closest relationship exists between earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and fires. Tropical cyclones almost always cause flooding. Earthquakes can also cause landslides. Those, in turn, can block river valleys and cause floods. There is a mutual relationship between earthquakes and volcanic eruptions: earthquakes caused by volcanic eruptions are known, and, conversely, volcanic eruptions caused by the rapid movement of masses under the Earth's surface. Tropical cyclones can be a direct cause of both river and sea flooding. Atmospheric disturbances and heavy rainfall can affect slope creep.

Earthquakes are underground shocks and vibrations of the Earth's surface caused by natural causes (mainly tectonic processes). In some places on the Earth, earthquakes occur frequently and sometimes reach great strength, breaking the integrity of the soil, destroying buildings and causing loss of life.

The number of earthquakes recorded annually on the globe is in the hundreds of thousands. However, the vast majority of them are weak, and only a small proportion reaches the degree of catastrophe.

The area of occurrence of an underground impact - the focus of an earthquake - is a certain volume in the thickness of the Earth, within which the process of releasing energy accumulated for a long time takes place. In a geological sense, a focus is a gap or a group of gaps along which an almost instantaneous movement of masses occurs. In the center of the focus, a point is conventionally distinguished, called the hypocenter. The projection of the hypocenter onto the Earth's surface is called the epicenter. Around it is the region of the greatest destruction - the pleistoseist region. Lines connecting points with the same vibration intensity (in points) are called isoseists.

Seismic waves are recorded using instruments called seismographs. Nowadays, they are very complex electronic devices that make it possible to capture the weakest vibrations of the earth's surface.

There is a need for a simple and objective determination of the magnitude of earthquakes, and with the help of such a measure that could be easily calculated and freely compared. This kind of scale was proposed by the Japanese scientist Wadachi in 1931. In 1935, it was improved by the famous American seismologist C. Richter. Such an objective measure of the magnitude of earthquakes is the magnitude, denoted by M.

The characteristic of the earthquake strength depending on the value of M can be presented in the form of a table:

Richter scale characterizing the magnitude of earthquakes

	Characteristic
	The weakest earthquake that can be recorded using instruments
	Felt near the epicenter. About 100,000 such earthquakes are recorded annually.
	Minor damage may be observed near the epicenter
	Approximately equivalent to the energy of one atomic bomb
	In a limited area can cause significant damage. Annually such there are about 100 earthquakes
	From this level, earthquakes are considered strong

The Great Chilean earthquake (or the Valdivian earthquake) is the strongest earthquake in the history of observation, its magnitude, according to various estimates, was from 9.3 to 9.5. The earthquake occurred on May 22, 1960, its epicenter was located near the city of Valdivia, 435 kilometers south of Santiago.

The tremors caused a powerful tsunami, the wave height of which reached 10 meters. The number of victims was about 6 thousand people, and the main part of the people died precisely from the tsunami. Huge waves caused severe damage around the world, killing 138 people in Japan, 61 people in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines. The damage in 1960 prices amounted to about half a billion dollars.

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale struck east of Honshu Island. This earthquake is considered the most powerful in the entire known history of Japan.

Tremors caused the strongest tsunami (up to 7 meters in height), which killed about 16 thousand people. Moreover, the earthquake and tsunami impact were the cause of the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. The total damage from the disaster is estimated at $14.5-$36.6 billion.

North Sumatra, Indonesia, 2004 - magnitude 9.1-9.3

An undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004 triggered a tsunami that has been recognized as the deadliest natural disaster in modern history. The magnitude of the earthquake was, according to various estimates, from 9.1 to 9.3. This is the third strongest earthquake in the history of observation.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located not far from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake triggered one of the most destructive tsunamis in history. The height of the waves exceeded 15 meters, they reached the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, southern India, Thailand and a number of other countries.

The tsunami almost completely destroyed the coastal infrastructure in the east of Sri Lanka and the northwestern coast of Indonesia. Died, according to various estimates, from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people. The damage from the tsunami amounted to about $10 billion.

Tsunami (Japanese) - marine gravity waves of very large length, resulting from the upward or downward displacement of extended sections of the bottom during strong underwater and coastal earthquakes and, occasionally, due to volcanic eruptions and other tectonic processes. Due to the low compressibility of water and the speed of the process of deformation of the bottom sections, the water column resting on them also shifts without having time to spread, as a result of which a certain elevation or depression forms on the ocean surface. The resulting perturbation turns into oscillatory movements of the water column - tsunami waves propagating at high speed (from 50 to 1000 km / h). The distance between neighboring wave crests varies from 5 to 1500 km. The height of the waves in the area of their occurrence varies between 0.01-5 m. Near the coast, it can reach 10 m, and in unfavorable relief areas (wedge-shaped bays, river valleys, etc.) - over 50 m.

About 1000 cases of tsunamis are known, of which more than 100 had catastrophic consequences, which caused complete destruction, washing away of structures and soil and vegetation cover. 80% of tsunamis occur on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean, including the western slope of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. Based on the patterns of occurrence and spread of tsunamis, the zoning of the coast is carried out according to the degree of threat. Measures for partial protection against tsunamis: creation of artificial coastal structures (breakwaters, breakwaters and embankments), planting forest strips along the ocean coast

Flooding - significant flooding of the area with water as a result of a rise in the water level in a river, lake or sea, caused by various reasons. Flooding on the river occurs from a sharp increase in the amount of water due to the melting of snow or glaciers located in its basin, as well as as a result of heavy precipitation. Flooding is often caused by an increase in the water level in the river due to blockage of the channel by ice during ice drift (jam) or due to clogging of the channel under the immovable ice cover by accumulations of intra-water ice and the formation of an ice plug (jam). Floods often occur under the influence of winds that bring water from the sea and cause an increase in the level due to the delay at the mouth of the water brought by the river.

Petersburg flood, 1824, about 200-600 dead. On November 19, 1824, a flood occurred in St. Petersburg, which killed hundreds of human lives and destroyed many houses. Then the water level in the Neva River and its canals rose by 4.14 - 4.21 meters above the usual level (ordinary).

Flood in China, 1931, about 145 thousand - 4 million dead. From 1928 to 1930, China suffered from a severe drought. But at the end of the winter of 1930, heavy snowstorms began, and in the spring - incessant heavy rains and thaw, due to which the water level in the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers rose significantly. For example, in the Yangtze River only in July, the water rose by 70 cm. As a result, the river overflowed its banks and soon reached the city of Nanjing, which was then the capital of China. Many people drowned and died from water-borne infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Cases of cannibalism and infanticide among desperate residents are known. According to Chinese sources, about 145 thousand people died as a result of the flood, while Western sources claim that the death toll was from 3.7 million to 4 million.

Landslides - sliding displacement of rock masses down the slope under the influence of gravity. Landslides occur in any part of a slope or slope due to an imbalance in rocks caused by: an increase in the steepness of the slope as a result of water washing; weakening of the strength of rocks during weathering or waterlogging by precipitation and groundwater; the impact of seismic shocks; construction and economic activities carried out without taking into account the geological conditions of the area (destruction of slopes by road cuts, excessive watering of gardens and vegetable gardens located on slopes, etc.). Most often, landslides occur on slopes composed of alternating water-resistant (clay) and water-bearing rocks (for example, sand-gravel, fractured limestone). The development of a landslide is facilitated by such an occurrence when the layers are located with an inclination towards the slope or are crossed by cracks in the same direction. In highly moistened clay rocks, landslides take the form of a stream.

Landslide in Southern California in 2005. Powerful downpours that hit Southern California and the resulting floods, mudflows and landslides have claimed the lives of more than 20 people.

South Korea - August 2011

59 people died. 10 are listed as missing.

Heavy rainfall, which was observed to be the heaviest in recent times.

Volcanoes (named after the god of fire Vulcan), geological formations that arise above channels and cracks in the earth's crust, through which lava, hot gases and rock fragments erupt onto the earth's surface from deep magmatic sources. Volcanoes usually represent individual mountains composed of eruptions.

Volcanoes are divided into active, dormant and extinct. The former include: those that are currently erupting constantly or periodically; about the eruptions of which there are historical data; about the eruptions of which there is no information, but which emit hot gases and water (solfatar stage). Dormant volcanoes are those whose eruptions are not known, but they have retained their shape and local earthquakes occur under them. Extinct volcanoes are called heavily destroyed and eroded volcanoes without any manifestations of volcanic activity.

Eruptions are long-term (for several years, decades and centuries) and short-term (measured by hours).

An eruption usually begins with an increase in gas emissions, first along with dark, cold lava fragments, and then with red-hot ones. These emissions are in some cases accompanied by an outpouring of lava. The height of the rise of gases, water vapor, saturated with ash and lava fragments, depending on the strength of the explosions, ranges from 1 to 5 km (during the Bezymyanny eruption in Kamchatka in 1956, it reached 45 km). The ejected material is transported over distances from several to tens of thousands of kilometers. The volume of ejected clastic material sometimes reaches several km3.

During some eruptions, the concentration of volcanic ash in the atmosphere is so great that there is darkness, similar to darkness in an enclosed space. This took place in 1956 in the village of Klyuchi, located 40 km from V. Bezymyanny.

The products of volcanic eruptions are gaseous (volcanic gases), liquid (Lava) and solid (volcanic rocks).

Modern volcanoes are located along young mountain ranges or along large faults (grabens) for hundreds and thousands of kilometers in tectonically mobile areas (see table). Almost two-thirds of the volcanoes are concentrated on the islands and shores of the Pacific Ocean (Pacific volcanic belt). The Atlantic Ocean region stands out from other regions in terms of the number of active volcanoes.

Vesuvius, 79 AD

During the eruption, Vesuvius threw a deadly cloud of ash and smoke to a height of 20.5 km, and every second erupted about 1.5 million tons of molten rock and crushed pumice. At the same time, a huge amount of thermal energy was released, which many times exceeded the amount released during the explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

Tornadoes are catastrophic atmospheric vortices having the shape of a funnel with a diameter of 10 to 1 km. In this vortex, the wind speed can reach an incredible value - 300 m / s (which is more than 1000 km / h).

The forward speed of a tornado is 40 km / h, which means that you can’t run away from it, you can only leave by car. Escape from a tornado, however, is also problematic in this case, since its route is absolutely irregular and unpredictable.

A tornado is somewhat reminiscent of a cyclone, for example, in its circular whirling of air or in the fact that there is low pressure in the center of the funnel.

In the deserts of the United States, there are two types of eddy winds - classic tornadoes and the so-called "desert devils". Tornadoes are associated with thunderclouds, while inverted "desert devil" funnels are not associated with cloud formations.

The origin of a tornado is not completely understood. Obviously, they are formed at moments of unstable air stratification, when the heating of the earth's surface leads to heating of the lower layer of air as well. Above this layer there is a layer of colder air, this situation is unstable. Warm air rushes up, while cold air in a whirlwind, like a trunk, descends down to the earth's surface. Often this occurs over small, elevated areas within flat terrain.

There is a scale, similar to those used to determine the intensity of earthquakes or the strength of the wind, which determines the strength of a tornado.

Strong tornadoes leave a strip of devastated land behind them. Roofs are torn off houses, trees are uprooted from the ground, people and cars are lifted into the air. When the path of a tornado runs through a densely populated area, the number of victims reaches a significant value. So, on April 11, 1965, 37 tornadoes arose over the territory of the Midwest of the United States, which caused the death of 270 people. Tornadoes are most frequently reported in the United States of America.

Statistics on the number of victims of tornadoes are inaccurate. Over the past 50 years, up to 30 people have died from them annually in the United States alone.

Tornado protection is problematic. They appear unexpectedly. It is impossible to determine their trajectory. The transmission of warnings by telephone from city to city can help. The best and, apparently, the only defense against a tornado is to take cover in the basement or in a solid building.

Oklahoma 2013. According to scientists, the speed of EF5-type vortices is more than 322 kilometers per hour (89 meters per second). The width of the tornado was two kilometers, duration - 40 minutes. According to meteorologists, less than one percent of all tornadoes in the United States reach such a force, that is, about ten tornadoes per year. Previously, experts tentatively rated Oklahoma tornado power one point lower, that is, four points out of five on the improved Fujita scale.

About 24 dead. 237 people suffered.

In this article, we will consider some changes in the physical and geographical state of nature that occur on earth under the influence of cataclysms. Any area has its own individual position, and unique. And any physical-geographical change in it usually leads to corresponding consequences in the areas adjacent to it.

Some catastrophes and cataclysms will be briefly described here.

Definition of a cataclysm

According to Ushakov's explanatory dictionary, cataclysm (Greek kataklysmos - flood) is a sharp change in the nature and conditions of organic life on a large expanse of the earth's surface under the influence of destructive processes (atmospheric, volcanic). And cataclysm is also a drastic upheaval, and destructive one, in social life.

A sudden change in the physical and geographical state of the surface of the territory can only be provoked by natural phenomena or the activity of the person himself. And this is a cataclysm.

Hazardous natural phenomena are those that change the state of the natural environment from the range that is optimal for human life. And cataclysmic cataclysms even change the face of the Earth. This is also of endogenous origin.

Below we consider some significant changes in nature that occur under the influence of cataclysms.

Types of natural disasters

All cataclysms in the world have their own peculiarity. And recently they began to occur (and of the most diverse origin) more and more often. These are earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, meteorite falls, mudflows, avalanches and landslides, sudden onset of water from the sea, subsidence of soils, strong and many others. others

Let's give a brief description of the three most terrible natural phenomena.

earthquakes

The most important source of physical and geographical processes is an earthquake.

What is such a cataclysm? This is the shaking of the earth's crust, underground impacts and small fluctuations in the surface of the earth, which are mainly caused by various tectonic processes. Often they are accompanied by a terrifying underground rumble, the formation of cracks, undulating vibrations of the earth's surface, the destruction of buildings and other structures, and, unfortunately, human casualties.

More than 1 million shocks are recorded on planet Earth every year. And this is about 120 shocks per hour or 2 shocks per minute. It turns out that the Earth is constantly in a state of trembling.

According to statistics, on average, 1 catastrophic earthquake and about 100 destructive ones occur per year. Such processes are the consequences of the development of the lithosphere, namely, its compression in some regions and expansion in others. Earthquakes are the most terrible cataclysm. This phenomenon leads to tectonic breaks, uplifts and displacements.

Today, zones of different earthquake activity have been identified on the earth. The zones of the Pacific and Mediterranean belts are among the most active in this regard. In total, 20% of the territory of Russia is prone to earthquakes of varying degrees.

The most terrifying cataclysms of this kind (9 points or more) occur in the regions of Kamchatka, the Pamirs, the Kuril Islands, Transcaucasia, Transbaikalia, etc.

Earthquakes of 7-9 magnitude are observed in vast areas, from Kamchatka to the Carpathians. This includes Sakhalin, Sayans, Baikal, Crimea, Moldova, etc.

Tsunami

When located on the islands and under water, there is sometimes no less cataclysmic cataclysm. This is a tsunami.

Translated from Japanese, this word refers to an unusually huge wave of destructive force that occurs in zones of volcanic activity and earthquakes on the ocean floor. The advancement of such a mass of water occurs at a speed of 50-1000 km per hour.

When approaching the coast, a tsunami reaches a height of 10-50 meters or more. As a result, terrible destruction occurs on the coast. The causes of such a disaster can be underwater landslides, and powerful avalanches that break into the sea.

The most dangerous places in terms of such disasters are the coasts of Japan, the Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, Kamchatka, the Philippines, Canada, Indonesia, Peru, New Zealand, Chile, the Aegean, Ionian and Adriatic Seas.

Volcanoes

About the cataclysm, which is known to be a complex of processes associated with the movement of magma.

There are especially many of them in the Pacific belt. And again, Indonesia, Central America and Japan have a huge number of volcanoes. In total, there are up to 600 of them on land and about 1000 dormant.

Approximately 7% of the earth's population lives in the vicinity of active volcanoes. There are also underwater volcanoes. They are known on the mid-ocean ridges.

Russian dangerous areas - the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, Sakhalin. And in the Caucasus there are extinct volcanoes.

It is known that today active volcanoes erupt approximately 1 time in 10-15 years.

Such a cataclysm is also a dangerous and terrifying catastrophe.

Conclusion

Recently, anomalous natural phenomena and sudden changes in temperature have been constant companions of life on Earth. And all these phenomena greatly destabilize the planet. Therefore, future geophysical and natural-climatic changes, which pose a serious danger to the existence of all mankind, require all peoples to be constantly ready to act in such crisis conditions. According to certain estimates of scientists, people are still able to cope with the future consequences of such events.

In this paper, we will determine how natural disasters affect the climate of planet Earth, therefore, we consider it necessary to define this phenomenon and its main manifestations (types):

The term natural disasters is used for two different concepts, in a sense overlapping. Catastrophe in literal translation means a turn, a restructuring. This value corresponds to the most general idea of catastrophes in natural science, where the evolution of the Earth is seen as a series of different catastrophes that cause a change in geological processes and types of living organisms.

Interest in the catastrophic events of the past is fueled by the fact that an inevitable part of any forecast is the analysis of the past. The older the catastrophe, the more difficult it is to recognize its traces.

Lack of information always breeds fantasies. Some researchers explain the same steep milestones and turns in the history of the Earth by cosmic causes - meteorite falls, changes in solar activity, seasons of the galactic year, others - by the cyclical processes taking place in the bowels of the planet

The second concept - natural disasters refers only to extreme natural phenomena and processes, as a result of which people die. In this understanding, natural disasters are opposed to man-made disasters, i.e. those caused directly by human activity

The main types of natural disasters

The number of earthquakes recorded annually on the globe is in the hundreds of thousands. However, the vast majority of them are weak, and only a small proportion reaches the degree of catastrophe. Until the 20th century known, for example, are such catastrophic earthquakes as the Lisbon earthquake in 1755, the Vernensky earthquake in 1887, which destroyed the city of Verny (now Alma-Ata), the earthquake in Greece in 1870-73, etc.

By its intensity, i.e. according to the manifestation on the surface of the Earth, earthquakes are divided, according to the international seismic scale MSK-64, into 12 gradations - points.

On sea coasts and islands, floods can occur as a result of flooding of the coastal strip by a wave formed during earthquakes or volcanic eruptions in the ocean (tsunami). Similar floods are not uncommon on the shores of Japan and other Pacific islands. Floods can be caused by breaks of dams, protective dams. Flooding occurs on many rivers in Western Europe - the Danube, Seine, Rhone, Po, etc., as well as on the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers in China, Mississippi and Ohio in the USA. In the USSR, large N. were observed on the river. Dnieper and Volga.

Hurricane (French ouragan, from Spanish huracan; the word is borrowed from the language of the Caribbean Indians) is a wind of destructive force and considerable duration, the speed of which is over 30 m / s (according to the Beaufort scale 12 points). Tropical cyclones, especially in the Caribbean, are also called hurricanes.

Drought is a prolonged and significant lack of precipitation, more often at elevated temperatures and low air humidity, as a result of which moisture reserves in the soil dry out, which leads to a decrease or death of the crop. The beginning of a drought is usually associated with the establishment of an anticyclone. The abundance of solar heat and dry air create increased evaporation (atmospheric drought), and soil moisture reserves are depleted without replenishment by rains (soil drought). During drought, the flow of water into plants through the root systems is hindered, the consumption of moisture for transpiration begins to exceed its inflow from the soil, the water saturation of tissues decreases, and the normal conditions for photosynthesis and carbon nutrition are violated. Depending on the season, there are spring, summer and autumn droughts. Spring droughts are especially dangerous for early crops; summer causes severe damage to both early and late grain and other annual crops, as well as fruit plants; autumn are dangerous for winter seedlings. The most destructive are spring-summer and summer-autumn droughts. Most often, droughts are observed in the steppe zone, less often in the forest-steppe zone: 2-3 times a century, droughts occur even in the forest zone. The concept of drought is inapplicable to areas with a rainless summer and extremely low rainfall, where agriculture is possible only with artificial irrigation (for example, the Sahara, Gobi deserts, etc.).

To combat droughts, a complex of agrotechnical and reclamation measures is used to enhance the water-absorbing and water-retaining properties of the soil, to retain snow in the fields. Of the agrotechnical control measures, the most effective is the main deep plowing, especially soils with a highly compacted subsurface horizon (chestnut, solonets, etc.)

Volcanic eruptions. Volcanoes are geological formations that arise above channels and cracks in the earth's crust, through which lava, hot gases and rock fragments erupt to the earth's surface from deep magmatic sources. Volcanoes usually represent individual mountains composed of eruptions. Volcanoes are divided into active, dormant and extinct. The former include: those that are currently erupting constantly or periodically; about the eruptions of which there are historical data; about the eruptions of which there is no information, but which emit hot gases and water (solfatar stage). Dormant volcanoes are those whose eruptions are not known, but they have retained their shape and local earthquakes occur under them. Extinct volcanoes are called heavily destroyed and eroded volcanoes without any manifestations of volcanic activity.

Eruptions are long-term (for several years, decades and centuries) and short-term (measured by hours). Eruption precursors include volcanic earthquakes, acoustic phenomena, changes in the magnetic properties and composition of fumarole gases, and other phenomena. An eruption usually begins with an increase in gas emissions, first along with dark, cold lava fragments, and then with red-hot ones. These emissions are in some cases accompanied by an outpouring of lava. The height of the rise of gases, water vapor, saturated with ash and lava fragments, depending on the strength of the explosions, ranges from 1 to 5 km (during the Bezymyanny eruption in Kamchatka in 1956, it reached 45 km). The ejected material is transported over distances from several to tens of thousands of kilometers. The volume of ejected clastic material sometimes reaches several km3. The eruption is an alternation of weak and strong explosions and lava outpourings. Explosions of maximum force are called climactic paroxysms. After them, there is a decrease in the strength of explosions and a gradual cessation of eruptions. The volumes of the erupted lava are up to tens of km3.

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