Natural Disasters in a Global Environment

“ . . . Penna and Rivers couple delightful exposition, insightful comparative images, and historical anecdotes that together produce some of the finest science writing I′ve seen. This book not only could be an outstanding text for a course on the subject, but it also would be a fine read for anyone interested in how the earth ‘works.’” – Donald Siegel, Syracuse University “This is an impressive collection, wide ranging in time, place and discipline. The result stimulates new thinking both about history and about the ongoing role of catastrophe in the course of human society –– altogether, an imaginative venture.” – Peter Stearns, George Mason University “Eco–anxiety sometimes makes us exaggerate our power over nature for good and ill. In an important, welcome and riveting collaboration between history and science, Penna and Rivers unfold a minatory drama of disasters – seismic, climatic, pandemic, atmospheric, meteoric – that humans can barely influence, let alone control.” – Felipe Fernandez–Armesto, University of Notre Dame “This skillful record of natural disaster—in climate, epidemics, and earth tremors—shows how society risks further disaster even in planning for safety.” – Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh  “. . . [A]n indispensable introduction for everyone who wants to understand human response to disaster—scientists, disaster planners, historians, and policy–makers, students and senior researchers.” – Conevery Bolton Valencius, University of Massachusetts Boston 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. 

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

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.

“Summing Up: Recommended.  Lower–division undergraduates through professionals; general readers.”  ( Choice , 1 November 2013)