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Natural Disaster

Damage caused by Hurricane Dennis in Florida in 2005.

A disaster is a sudden movement, natural or human, generally having the death and destruction on a large scale accordingly.

The uniqueness and magnitude of the disaster that caused major disasters affecting the minds of the people involved. Today, they appear through the media. Previously, they entered the myths and legends , like the story of the deluge. In the Greek theater , the disaster was the last of the five parts of the tragedy , the ending where the hero received his punishment, usually fatal ( catharsis ).

Unlike accidents , disasters have resulted in new thinking on ways to implement to avoid or to mitigate the disastrous effects. These reflections, which led to the formulation of the precautionary and preventive measures, can lead to the creation of new standards or new legal constraints.

It is possible to distinguish, broadly, two families of disasters are distinguished by their causes.

  • Natural disasters affect weather events, seismic or astronomical major
  • disasters associated with human activities, which are sometimes far more devastating.

This distinction remains artificial, since the impact of 'natural' disasters depends largely on the human factor (for instance, floods are more dangerous when the mangroves have been destroyed or they had constructed in flood land , and similarly, the earthquakes damage are different depending on the type of construction adopted, the use of anti-seismic , etc.)..

Painting: The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii.

Summary

Natural disasters

Legal status

In France, the official status of "natural disaster" by the "law of natural disaster," can unlock and play compensation insurance.

Impact and occurrence

Mortality due to natural disasters has increased 60% between the 1980s and 2000s and the number of disasters has been multiplied by 3 in 50 years, with a cost that has reached 1,600 billion in 1980 to 2009 . Such disasters can leave irreparable traces in the landscape (eg meteors or dryness of the Dead Sea) and others have more moderate effects which disappear within a few time (fires, floods).

From 2000 to 2010, the number of natural disasters has also increased significantly , including in coastal areas. The disaster called "climate" have increased and are the most + / - 70% of total disaster, almost double in 1990. In 2009, floods and other disasters related to water, accounted for 53% of the total number of natural disasters. The number of victims of weather disasters (typhoons, hurricanes) had increased by 220% over 2008, mainly concentrated in Asia in 2009 over 40% of these phenomena.

The World Bank and Columbia University have identified 86 countries at high risk of cyclones, earthquakes, floods, droughts, fires, eruptions, landslides, etc.. The risks grow faster in countries with average or low incomes and rapidly growing economies and fragile states, small and poor have lower resilience .

Climate Disasters

Main articles: Cyclogenesis , tropical cyclogenesis and storm.

The atmosphere is a thin film gas composed primarily of oxygen , of nitrogen and water vapor. It covers the globe and is subject to two main factors: the energy input from the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. The difference in temperature between the equator and poles creates differences in pressure that put the moving air. Earth's rotation deflects the movement, and creates cyclonic systems of various sizes and anticyclones.

In the former, the condensation of water vapor will give clouds and precipitation. Their rotation also generates winds that can be powerful and destroy not only directly but also cause breaking waves. In the latter, the air is dry and clear skies, which may be interesting for a few days but can cause droughts.

Climate disasters are primarily the effect of these systems on the human environment. They take various forms:

These disasters are expected to be more frequent and involve more people because of the increase in population in areas at risk and climate change due to global warming.

Floods and tidal wave

List
  • 1219 : Grenoble flooding caused by the rupture of a natural dam at the outlet of the plain of Bourg d'Oisans. The dam was formed after a landslide magnitude. His presence disrupts the flow of the Romanche, causing the formation of an upstream lake (ice jam) in the plain of Bourg d'Oisans. When the dam burst, the collapse has devastated the city of Grenoble.
  • 1421 : The flooding of the St. Elisabeth in Holland and Zealand devastated dozens of villages and caused between 2,000 and 10,000 dead.
  • 1755 : The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 in Portugal is one of the most destructive and deadliest of the story: there are between 50,000 and 100,000 victims. The quake was followed by a tsunami and fire , which destroyed the city of Lisbon in its quasi-totality.
  • 1861 : The flooding of the mine Bessges in the Gard , following a flurry of Ceze , is 140 dead.
  • 27 August 1883 : the eruption of Krakatoa caused a tidal surge that in places rises to 40 meters high. A boat , the Berouw , anchored in the bay of Sumatra off Telukbetung was found three kilometers from the coast at an altitude of 10 meters. The whole world has felt, and on the coasts of the North Atlantic , there has been a wave of 12 meters. .
  • January 12, 2010: Earthquakes in Haiti by 250,000 dead and 300,000 wounded.
  • February 2010: In Vende, Charente-Maritime and Britain due to the storm Xynthia , which killed 52 people.
  • July 26, 2010: Flooding in Pakistan , the most catastrophic in history

Seismic Disasters

Main article: List of seismic disasters.

Landslides

Main article: Landslide.

Volcanic Eruptions

List

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