Disasters can be either fortuitous or man-made. But either way, all disasters have bad effects on the environment and mankind. The word ‘disaster’ was actually derived from the Middle French désastre and from Old Italian disastro which both mean ‘star’. This is the reason why there are some people who believe that the word disaster came from astrology, that when the stars are positioned badly, bad things or disasters happen.
The following are a few of the disasters that have occurred in the 20th century:
1. World Trade Center, New York
The World Trade Center in New York used to be referred to as the Twin Towers or the WTC. It used to be located at the heart of New York City’s financial district and contained almost 4% of Manhattan’s entire office inventory. But last September 11, 2001, terrorists brought it down by having suicidal commercial planes crash into it. The terrorists were triumphant in implementing their plan. The World Trade Center came rolling down, leaving about 4,500 casualties, and a lot of citizens emotional.
2. Wildfires in Southern California
Wildfires are caused by extremely hot and dry weather. Last October 2003, there were 13 wildfires that burned about 800,000 acres of land. This disaster left 22 people dead, destroyed about 3,500 structures and left an estimate of 100,000 people homeless.
3. Cyclone in Burma, Myanmar
Cyclone Nargis is considered the most terrible natural disaster in the history of Myanmar, the deadliest cyclone in the North Indian Ocean Basin and the 2nd deadliest cyclone of all time. Last May 2, 2008, this very same cyclone hit Myanmar and left at least 90,000 people dead and about 56,000 people missing. Since this is a very recent disaster and due to the lack of relief efforts, the number of dead people could reach to about a million.
4. Hurricane Katrina (2005)
This hurricane was recorded as the fifth deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States, the sixth strongest Atlantic hurricane and the third strongest hurricane on record. Also considered as a tropical storm, hurricane Katrina hit last August 2005 and caused severe destruction, most especially in New Orleans, Louisiana area where it was recorded that the place had the most property damage and dead people.
5. Southeast Asia Tsunami
Again, one of the worst of the worsts, with an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Waves reached as high as 100 feet! This is actually the deadliest natural disaster in the history. The earthquake set two more record by giving off a magnitude 9.3 in the seismograph and in terms of the longest duration of faulting ever observed.
6. 2008 Sichuan Earthquake
Also known as the Great Sichuan Earthquake and the Wenchuan Earthquake, was measured at about 7.9 M which occurred last May 12, 2008 in the Sichuan province of China. This earthquake was so strong that it was actually felt in nearby countries! As of the most recent news, there are already 69,196 dead people, 374,176 injured, 18,379 still missing and left about 4.8 to 11 million people homeless. This is a lot, taking into consideration that there are only about 15 million people who lived in the area.
This is all part of global warming taking effect and of course, a way of God punishing us. Take care of the environment and appreciate his blessings more. This is just for the 21st century. There are other also far worse disasters before.
Ceinwen Bennett was born in Los Angeles on September 21, 1980. She is a college dropout who decided to pursue her career in acting and theater. She initially entered an economics course in college but realized that her heart was not into it and immediately started auditioning for parts in plays, musicals, commercials and movies.
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