Man is accustomed to consider himself the ruler of the earth, the king of the universe and the duke of the solar system. And if in ancient times someone could experience a superstitious fear at the sight of lightning or start burning redheads at the stake because of the next solar eclipse, then modern people are sure that they are above such relics of the past. But such confidence is maintained only until the first meeting with some truly formidable natural phenomenon.

If you think that only a hurricane, tsunami or volcanic eruption can be classified as such, you are very mistaken. There are rarer, more refined and unusual phenomena that may not kill, but will make you roll on the ground in superstitious horror, pretending to be a primitive monitor lizard. To save readers from having to re-read banal things like: “lightning strikes and avalanches are dangerous to health,” we will rank various natural phenomena in this rating not by the number of people killed, but by how frightening they look. Even if they are relatively safe... After all, what kind of safety can we talk about if nerve cells are not restored?

Terrible natural phenomena that can scare anyone

It’s nice to have the opportunity to add something familiar and dear in its own way to the ranking, like Odessa. Moreover, there is a reason: in February 2012, severe frosts hit and the Black Sea off the coast of Odessa successfully froze. The news was full of messages like: “Wow! For the first time in 30 years! Sensation! Everyone watch!!!" - and although the Odessa residents themselves maintained a poker face and assured that such nonsense happens regularly once every 5 years, no one listened to them... The Odessa residents did not listen, but they heard the sea - the undercurrent made the ice make simply incredible sounds.

From a discussion on the Odessa forum of those times

• Why should you be afraid? There are many reasons. Here are just some plausible versions that can be found in the comments under the video: it is quite possible that a UFO fell into the sea. Or maybe Optimus Prime is underwater. Or someone is trying to summon Cthulhu (maybe he has already summoned him?). Be that as it may, this sea could use some WD-40 (a thing for lubricating squeaky parts)... But jokes aside - this phenomenon is completely unsafe. Most likely, this is how dub step appeared. And music lovers even noticed the similarity between the creaking of the Black Sea and Darude’s track “Sandstorm”.

9. Asperatus

Meet the asperatus clouds (Undulatus asperatus), which means “undulating clouds,” which were identified as a separate species in 2009. This is a rather rare phenomenon, and therefore little studied. Wikipedia, as usual, pleases with its information content and logic:

P - sequence

It is believed that in recent decades they have begun to appear more often than before. But what this is connected with is unknown. By the way, this is the first new type of cloud to be discovered since 1951.

• Why should you be afraid? Let's start with the fact that no one really knows what asperatus are. Yes, it is incredibly beautiful and exciting - as if a sea storm had broken out overhead. At the same time, the Avengers films taught us one thing: such things always mark the appearance of Thor, the opening of a portal to other worlds and other phenomena associated with the destruction of New York. Or at least with a tropical downpour in Khabarovsk, which is also unpleasant.

8. St. Elmo's Fire

St. Elmo's Fire is a corona discharge that occurs when there is a high electric field voltage in the atmosphere. I realize this doesn't say much, so let's say it again: Under certain conditions, such as during a thunderstorm or storm, a small electrical discharge occurs in the air at the tops of tall objects (ships, treetops, and rocks). The sailors perceived this phenomenon as a good sign and were not far from the truth. After all, such lights are really not dangerous - at most, they will damage some electrical appliance (and there is no point in leaving electrical appliances at matches). But here's what happened in 1982.

I flew a Boeing 747 one evening over Java, without bothering anyone. Suddenly the crew noticed the lights of St. Elmo on the windshield, although there was no thunderstorm. The pilots were so happy about this good sign that they ordered the passengers to fasten their seat belts and turned on the deicers. A few minutes later, the smell of smoke and sulfur appeared on the plane - it turned out that the board had flown into a cloud of volcanic ash. 4 engines stalled one after another and the plane began to descend rapidly. Despite virtually zero visibility and the failure of some instruments, the crew was able to successfully land the plane in Jakarta and none of the passengers were injured.

• Why should you be afraid? If you are on a plane and notice St. Elmo's Lights, there are two options: either you are caught in a thunderstorm cyclone, or in a few minutes the plane's engines will stall and it will crash down. But overall, this is, of course, a very good sign.

7. Blood Tide

Moses, stop it

This phenomenon is actually called a red tide, but "bloody" sounds much more dangerous. Something similar happens to water during a bloom of a certain type of algae. Or during the exit of a certain type of slaves from Egypt. Red tide is often observed where coastal waters are polluted - they say, when there is nothing left to lose... Although in fact there are losses - the pigmentation of the water leads to the death of various sea creatures and organisms (all according to the Bible).

In 2001, in India, this disaster took on a new form - in the state of Kerala there were “bloody” rains for 2 months. Studies have shown that the raindrops contained red algae spores. So the red tide may be taking on a more frightening form - locals were horrified when the skies decided to pull an unexpected "prank".

• Why should you be afraid? One of the pigments that colors water red is toxic - it releases a strong paralytic poison, saxitoxin. It would seem that it couldn’t be simpler: just don’t drink blood-colored salt water—natural selection in action. But even if a person is smart enough not to drink the red sea, he is not immune from poisoning. Shellfish and other marine life, having picked up toxins, successfully poison people - there are real cases of fatal poisoning from such seafood. And one more thing: you can’t step on the rake of history. The Egyptians know how the transformation of water into blood ends - beware, firstborn!

6. Whirlpool

As a result of the terrifying tsunami that hit the shores of Japan in 2011, a huge whirlpool appeared near the port of Oarai. Many media outlets covered a video of a small yacht being twisted by a funnel - however, no one was able to provide the end of this story... But this did not stop Russia 24 from reporting that this is a ship that disappeared during the tsunami, carrying 100 people.

Searches for full versions of this video in other languages ​​did not yield much - the boat appears in many reports, but it is not fully shown anywhere whether it is being pulled in by the funnel or not. We can definitely say that 100 people definitely won’t fit on this yacht, and, apparently, he was simply drifting with the engine turned off. That is, most likely, there was no one on board. This is how a story that was supposed to scare turned into a debunking of a myth. But don't be too quick to mock the whirlpools - they are not weaklings at all.

• Why should you be afraid? In addition to temporary craters in the water after a tsunami, there are permanent whirlpools. One of the most famous is the Malsterm whirlpool in the Norwegian Sea, which was mentioned by Jules Verne in. Strong turbulence regularly occurs in the Malsterm Strait, which is why ships are advised to avoid these waters. Although the speed of “dragging” water does not exceed 11 km/h, which is clearly less than the speed of modern ships, the danger is quite real. Turbulences in the water appear unpredictably and can throw the ship off course, sending it towards the rocks. This, of course, is not as epic as being pulled to the bottom, but no less effective.

5. Killer Waves

Among the dangerous and destructive phenomena one could mention the tsunami. But this choice is too obvious, and we are not looking for easy ways. Therefore, instead of a tsunami, our rating will feature its close relative - a rogue wave. Until 1995, few people suspected its existence - stories about huge waves roaming the ocean were considered tales and urban legends. Until one such beauty came across the Dropner oil platform on January 1 - this New Year will be remembered by the platform workers for a long time!

The height of the Dropner wave was about 25 meters - before this, there was an opinion that waves larger than 20 meters do not exist on our planet, and any eyewitnesses who claim the opposite should drink less. Now they believed the eyewitnesses, and the newly-minted giants began to be suspected of the destruction of ships, the cause of the collapse of which could not be established before. Despite further study of this phenomenon, the reason for the appearance of such waves is not completely clear. But it is known that such a wave (or group of waves) has a small width, up to 1 km, and can move regardless of the general roughness of the sea surface - that is, it can appear from any direction.

• Why should you be afraid? If we put together all the mental conclusions of oceanologists, we get a deep thought, like the Mariana Trench: these waves appear from time to time in different places. Extremely rare, but with a certain pattern. But you can’t predict it... In general, if you find yourself on a ship in the open ocean, try to stay close to the boats - you never know.

4. Spider Web in Pakistan

After another flood in Pakistan, which turned 1/5 of this country into a swamp, local spiders decided: “Oh, screw it!” — abandoned their usual habitats and moved to the trees, taking over all the thickets in the area.

The largest web that has been recorded was 183 meters long - just imagine that arachnophobe's nightmare! Interestingly, spiders are loners, are observed in cannibalism and prefer not to connect their web with others. In the same case, experts discovered 12 different species of spiders in the web that lived in harmony with each other - no matter what lengths you will go to intimidate people.

Tell them that only girls are afraid of insects

That feeling when you choose to walk instead of ride a bike

• Why should you be afraid? Let's start with the fact that the flood version is a weak explanation of what is happening. Floods happen all the time all over the world, but this does not serve as a reason to capture human settlements. So we don’t know the spider’s true motives. Perhaps they just wanted to do it - and no one could stop them. The photo above evokes strong associations with the abode of the giant spider Shelob, who went on a hunt for Frodo and Sam - I don’t think it’s worth explaining why such places are dangerous?

3. Lake made of volcanic ash

Puue - sounds like these are the sounds my drunk neighbor makes on payday. This is also the name of a volcano in southern Chile, which in the summer of 2011 delighted the residents of South America with a fresh eruption. True, not only Chile suffered, but also neighboring Argentina. More precisely Lake Nahuel Huapi, which is the largest and deepest body of clean water in this country. And so, this lake was completely covered with volcanic ash... Unlike ordinary ash, such ash does not dissolve in water.

• Why should you be afraid? If a diver is afraid to go waist-deep in water without an oxygen tank, then there is probably a good reason for this. A volcanic eruption is always unpleasant, and if you imagine that such nonsense can unexpectedly fly in from abroad and cover your couch while relaxing on your favorite beach, then it becomes terribly unpleasant.

2. Firestorm

A fire tornado is a rare and truly dangerous natural phenomenon. It appears as a result of the coincidence of several factors, the most important of which, obviously, is a large-scale fire. High temperatures, multiple fires and cold air currents can lead to the formation of a fire whirlwind that destroys everything in its path. A fire tornado does not disappear until it burns everything around, because the flames are constantly fanned by a stream of air that acts like a giant bellows.

A fire tornado was observed in 1812, when Moscow was burning, and a little earlier in Kyiv (1811, Podolsk fire). Other major cities in the world experienced a similar disaster: Chicago, London, Dresden and others.

• Why should you be afraid? In 1923, after a large earthquake in Tokyo (the Great Kanto Earthquake), a fiery tornado rose from multiple fires. The flame reached a height of 60m. In one of the squares, surrounded by buildings, a crowd of frightened people was trapped - in just 15 minutes, about 38,000 people died in a fiery whirlwind.

1. Sandstorm

A sandstorm, whatever you say, looks more epic than any other natural phenomenon. Someone might think: there’s nothing wrong with it - it’ll bring sand for free and that’s all. However, the historian Herodotus describes how in 525 BC. A sandstorm in the Sahara buried 50,000 troops alive.

But someone naive will again object: the time was dense then, people died from absolutely everything - in the era of the Internet and video bloggers, sand does not scare us. Nothing like this: in 2008, a sandstorm in Mongolia killed 46 people. The year before, in 2007, this phenomenon ended even more tragically - about 200 people died.

Our old, but already a little frightened, naive friend will not calm down on this - he will begin to console himself that far from the desert you can relax and not be afraid of dust. No matter how it is: in 1928, a dust storm swept through Ukraine, giving away 15 million tons of Ukrainian black soil for long-term use to its closest western neighbors. And on May 9, 2016, residents of Irkutsk were able to enjoy a festive dust storm - Happy Victory Day, th...

• Why should you be afraid? Sandstorm kills. In addition, it can appear almost anywhere on our planet - the sands of the Sahara regularly travel across the Atlantic to delight US residents with an unexpected visit. So no one is immune from this joy.

In recent months, the earth has been hit by numerous storms, torrential rains in central Europe and parts of China, tornadoes in Australia, Montana and throughout the American midwest, and severe thunderstorms in the northeastern United States. Tropical Storm Bonnie has made landfall in Florida and is heading toward the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, oil collection in the Gulf has been temporarily halted and the final cleanup operation will be delayed by at least a week. All these natural phenomena were destructive and deadly, but at the same time, very beautiful.

This report contains photographs of thunderclouds, lightning flashes, and disasters that these formidable elements brought with them.

A flash of lightning lights up the sky above the 2,500-year-old Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis during heavy rainfall in Athens, Greece, June 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A large storm cloud moves across a field between the towns of Ross and Stanley, North Dakota, on July 12, 2010. According to eyewitnesses, just a couple of minutes later a tornado appeared from the cloud. (AP Photo/The Forum, Dave Samson)

Lightning flashes across the sky over Iaquoketa, Iowa, on June 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin E. Schmidt, Quad-City Times)

Lightning flashes over downtown Chicago on June 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Chicago Sun Times, Tom Cruze)

Storm clouds clear over Cook Inlet, 27 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, on July 5, 2010. The photo was taken at 9:48 pm, but the sun is still high above the horizon. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A severe thunderstorm moves through the brush in Kentucky on July 19, 2010. This lightning struck near Maysville, Kentucky. (AP Photo/The Ledger Independent, Terry Prather)

A farmer drives a tractor in his field in southwest Wakini, Kansas, as ominous clouds gather over the field on June 20, 2010. Northwest Kansas was hit by heavy rain, wind, hail and even isolated tornadoes. (AP Photo/The Hays Daily News, Steven Hausler)

Chris Dickey of the Metropolitan Police Department shows hailstones the size of golf balls on May 26, 2010 in Commerce City, Colorado. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Hyoung Chang)

This photo was provided by Harry Gilway, Kimball County Sheriff. It shows a windshield damaged by hail in Kimball, Nebraska on May 24, 2010. A severe thunderstorm with rain and hail hit Nebraska, North and South Dakota. (AP Photo/Kimball County Sheriff, Harry Gillway)

Thunderclouds gather over the skyscrapers of Bangkok, Thailand, July 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom)

A sinkhole forms near Grand Faulks International Airport on the evening of June 17, 2010. Tornadoes were reported in the Red River Valley in North Dakota and Minnesota. (AP Photo/The Grand Forks Herald, John Stennes)

Various debris was thrown into the air by a powerful tornado that struck the coastal town of Lennox Head in Australia on June 3, 2010. A funnel with a diameter of about 300 meters swept away everything in its path. The tornado demolished 12 and seriously damaged 30 houses, 6 people were injured or injured, and thousands of people were left without power. (ROSS TUCKERMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

An airplane view of the town of Woden, Minnesota, which was hit by a tornado. Filmed June 18, 2010. (AP Photo/The Wadena Pioneer Journal, Brian Hansel)

Heaps of assorted debris lie along Main Street in Millbury, Ohio on June 6, 2010. Thunderstorms and tornadoes that tore through the Midwest killed several people in Ohio, destroyed 50 homes and destroyed a high school where graduation was to take place on Sunday, authorities said. (AP Photo/Paul Sancy)

Storm surges engulf a commercial vessel off the coast of Valparaiso in Chile, 121 km northwest of Santiago, on July 6, 2010. (REUTERS/Eliseo Fernandez)

Flashes of lightning illuminate the city of Poyang, China July 20, 2010. In much of China, people are suffering from floods and landslides caused by heavy rains. Since the beginning of the month, at least 146 people have died, and another 40 remain missing. (REUTERS/Aly Song)

A large funnel cloud hangs over western Elbert Lee, Minnesota, in the early evening of June 16, 2010. Several tornadoes ripped through southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, some causing widespread damage, authorities said. (AP Photo/The Globe-Gazette, Arian Schuessler)

Flashes of lightning illuminate the night sky over Roswell, New Mexico on July 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Roswell Daily Record, Mark Wilson)

Casino workers fresh from a tornado stand on Main Street in Billings as a new crater forms in the sky in Montana on June 20, 2010. Many buildings were seriously damaged after the tornado touched down near the city's main street. (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, Larry Mayer)

A tornado that struck Millbury, Ohio, slammed this child's bicycle into the wall of a house so hard that it was left hanging there, June 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sancy)

Darlene Shiey inspects the remains of her kitchen after her home was destroyed by a tornado. June 7, 2010, Millbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/J.D. Pooley)

Lightning flashes over the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 26, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Pawel Dwulit)

A flash of lightning reflects at the Hilton Hotel during a hurricane in Mexico City, Mexico, May 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar)

The photo shows how a thunderstorm gathers over New York in the rays of the setting sun. June 17, 2010. (Alain Aguilar)

Several lightning bolts lit up the sky over New York City during a thunderstorm on May 2, 2010. The photo was taken from the western part of the city, from the New Jersey area, looking across the Hudson River. (Alain Aguilar)

Thunderclouds were photographed near the Eva community in Oklahoma on May 31, 2010. (AP Photo/The Guymon Daily Herald, Shawn Yorks)

Paul Verheyen inspects his home after it was damaged during a thunderstorm and possible tornado in Leamington, Ontario, Canada on June 6, 2010. As luck would have it, Verheijen and his family were not home at the time. An uprooted tree fell on the spot where his son's crib stands. (AP Photo/Dave Chidley, The Canadian Press)

Volunteers clear debris from a field brought in by a tornado that destroyed at least 50 homes in Millbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/J.D. Pooley)

Streaks of a rainbow appear over the Antelope Valley near Pearblossom in California on July 15, 2010. (AP Photo Mike Meadows)

Tropical storm clouds gather over Havana, Cuba, July 2, 2010. (REUTERS/Desmond Boylan)

Flashes of lightning illuminate the sky above Rosenblatt Stadium during an NCAA College World Series baseball game in Omaha, Nebraska, June 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Francis)

A violent storm destroyed a home on Route 109 in Fulton County, Ohio, on June 6, 2010. The house caught fire after it was struck by lightning. (AP Photo/The Toledo Blade, Dave Zapotosky)

Lightning struck a high-rise building in Foshan in southern China's Guangdong province on June 21, 2010. (AP Photo)

An airplane flies past a rainbow overlooking Easter Island Bay, 3,700 km off the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, July 12, 2010. (MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images)

Robert Morgan fishes amid lightning flashes in the shoreline reeds of Lake Boudreaux near Cocodrie, Louisiana, on May 28, 2010. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Over the billions of years of our planet’s existence, certain mechanisms by which nature works have formed. Many of these mechanisms are subtle and harmless, while others are large-scale and cause enormous destruction. In this rating, we will talk about the 11 most destructive natural disasters on our planet, some of which can destroy thousands of people and an entire city in a few minutes.

11

A mudflow is a mud or mud-stone flow that suddenly forms in the beds of mountain rivers as a result of rainfall, rapid melting of glaciers or seasonal snow cover. The decisive factor in the occurrence may be deforestation in mountainous areas - tree roots hold the top of the soil, which prevents the occurrence of a mudflow. This phenomenon is short-term and usually lasts from 1 to 3 hours, typical for small watercourses up to 25-30 kilometers long. Along their path, streams carve deep channels that are usually dry or contain small streams. The consequences of mudflows can be catastrophic.

Imagine that a mass of earth, silt, stones, snow, sand, driven by a strong flow of water, fell on the city from the mountains. This stream will demolish the dacha buildings located at the foot of the city along with people and orchards. This entire stream will rush into the city, turning its streets into raging rivers with steep banks of destroyed houses. Houses will be torn off their foundations and, along with their people, will be carried away by a stormy stream.

10

Landslide is the sliding of masses of rocks down a slope under the influence of gravity, often while maintaining their coherence and solidity. Landslides occur on the slopes of valleys or river banks, in the mountains, on the shores of the seas, and the largest ones occur at the bottom of the seas. The displacement of large masses of earth or rock along a slope is caused in most cases by wetting the soil with rainwater so that the soil mass becomes heavier and more mobile. Such large landslides damage agricultural lands, enterprises, and populated areas. To combat landslides, bank protection structures and planting of vegetation are used.

Only rapid landslides, the speed of which is several tens of kilometers, can cause real natural disasters with hundreds of casualties when there is no time for evacuation. Imagine that huge pieces of soil are quickly moving from a mountain directly onto a village or city, and under tons of this earth, buildings are destroyed and people who did not have time to leave the landslide site die.

9

A sandstorm is an atmospheric phenomenon in which large quantities of dust, soil particles and grains of sand are transported by the wind several meters from the ground with a noticeable deterioration in horizontal visibility. In this case, dust and sand rise into the air and at the same time dust settles over a large area. Depending on the color of the soil in a given region, distant objects take on a grayish, yellowish or reddish tint. It usually occurs when the soil surface is dry and the wind speed is 10 m/s or more.

Most often, these catastrophic phenomena occur in the desert. A sure sign that a sandstorm is starting is sudden silence. Rustles and sounds disappear with the wind. The desert literally freezes. A small cloud appears on the horizon, which quickly grows and turns into a black and purple cloud. The missing wind rises and very quickly reaches speeds of up to 150-200 km/h. A sandstorm can cover streets within a radius of several kilometers with sand and dust, but the main danger of sandstorms is the wind and poor visibility, which causes car accidents in which dozens of people are injured and some even die.

8

An avalanche is a mass of snow falling or sliding down the slopes of mountains. Snow avalanches pose a considerable danger, causing casualties among climbers, skiers and snowboarders and causing significant damage to property. Sometimes avalanches have catastrophic consequences, destroying entire villages and causing the death of dozens of people. Snow avalanches, to one degree or another, are common in all mountainous regions. In winter, they are the main natural danger of the mountains.

Tones of snow are held on top of mountains due to the force of friction. Large avalanches occur at the moment when the pressure force of the snow mass begins to exceed the force of friction. A snow avalanche is usually triggered by climatic reasons: sudden changes in weather, rain, heavy snowfalls, as well as mechanical effects on the snow mass, including the effects of rockfalls, earthquakes, etc. Sometimes an avalanche can begin due to a minor shock such as a weapon shot or pressure on the snow of a person. The volume of snow in an avalanche can reach several million cubic meters. However, even avalanches with a volume of about 5 m³ can be life-threatening.

7

A volcanic eruption is the process of a volcano throwing hot debris, ash, and magma onto the earth’s surface, which, when poured onto the surface, becomes lava. A major volcanic eruption can last from a few hours to many years. Hot clouds of ash and gases, capable of moving at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour and rising hundreds of meters into the air. The volcano emits gases, liquids and solids with high temperatures. This often causes the destruction of buildings and loss of life. Lava and other hot erupted substances flow down the slopes of the mountain and burn out everything they meet on their way, causing innumerable casualties and staggering material losses. The only protection against volcanoes is general evacuation, so the population must be familiar with the evacuation plan and unquestioningly obey the authorities if necessary.

It is worth noting that the danger from a volcanic eruption exists not only for the region around the mountain. Potentially, volcanoes threaten the lives of all life on Earth, so you shouldn’t be lenient towards these hot guys. Almost all manifestations of volcanic activity are dangerous. The danger of boiling lava goes without saying. But no less terrible is the ash, which penetrates literally everywhere in the form of continuous gray-black snowfall, which covers streets, ponds, and entire cities. Geophysicists say they are capable of eruptions hundreds of times more powerful than those ever observed. Major volcanic eruptions, however, have already occurred on Earth - long before the advent of civilization.

6

A tornado or tornado is an atmospheric vortex that arises in a thundercloud and spreads down, often to the very surface of the earth, in the form of a cloud arm or trunk with a diameter of tens and hundreds of meters. Typically, the diameter of a tornado funnel on land is 300-400 meters, but if a tornado occurs on the surface of water, this value can be only 20-30 meters, and when the funnel passes over land it can reach 1-3 kilometers. The largest number of tornadoes is recorded on the North American continent, especially in the central states of the United States. About a thousand tornadoes occur in the United States every year. The strongest tornadoes can last up to an hour or more. But most of them last no more than ten minutes.

On average, about 60 people die from tornadoes each year, mostly from flying or falling debris. However, it happens that huge tornadoes rush at a speed of about 100 kilometers per hour, destroying all buildings in their path. The maximum recorded wind speed in the largest tornado is about 500 kilometers per hour. During such tornadoes, the death toll can number in the hundreds and the number of injured in the thousands, not to mention the material damage. The reasons for the formation of tornadoes have not yet been fully studied.

5

A hurricane or tropical cyclone is a type of low-pressure weather system that occurs over a warm sea surface and is accompanied by severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall and gale-force winds. The term “tropical” refers to both the geographic area and the formation of these cyclones in tropical air masses. It is generally accepted, according to the Beaufort scale, that a storm becomes a hurricane when wind speeds exceed 117 km/h. The strongest hurricanes can cause not only extreme downpours, but also large waves on the sea surface, storm surges and tornadoes. Tropical cyclones can arise and maintain their strength only over the surface of large bodies of water, while over land they quickly lose strength.

A hurricane can cause heavy rain, tornadoes, small tsunamis and floods. The direct effect of tropical cyclones on land is stormy winds that can destroy buildings, bridges and other man-made structures. The strongest sustained winds within the cyclone exceed 70 meters per second. The worst effect of tropical cyclones in terms of death toll has historically been storm surge, the rise in sea level caused by the cyclone, which on average accounts for about 90% of the casualties. Over the past two centuries, tropical cyclones have killed 1.9 million people worldwide. In addition to the direct effect on residential buildings and economic facilities, tropical cyclones destroy infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and power lines, causing enormous economic damage to the affected areas.

The most destructive and terrible hurricane in US history, Katrina, occurred at the end of August 2005. The heaviest damage was caused to New Orleans in Louisiana, where about 80% of the city's area was under water. The disaster killed 1,836 residents and caused economic losses of $125 billion.

4

Flood - flooding of an area as a result of rising water levels in rivers, lakes, seas due to rain, rapid snow melting, wind surge of water to the coast and other reasons, which damages people's health and even leads to their death, and also causes material damage . For example, in mid-January 2009, the largest flood in Brazil occurred. More than 60 cities were affected then. About 13 thousand people fled their homes, more than 800 people died. Floods and numerous landslides are caused by heavy rains.

Heavy monsoon rains have continued in Southeast Asia since mid-July 2001, causing landslides and flooding in the Mekong River region. As a result, Thailand experienced its worst floods in the last half century. Streams of water flooded villages, ancient temples, farms and factories. At least 280 people died in Thailand, and another 200 in neighboring Cambodia. Some 8.2 million people in 60 of Thailand's 77 provinces have been affected by the floods, and economic losses so far are estimated to exceed $2 billion.

Drought is a long period of stable weather with high air temperatures and low precipitation, as a result of which the soil moisture reserves decrease and the suppression and death of crops occurs. The onset of severe drought is usually associated with the establishment of a sedentary high anticyclone. The abundance of solar heat and gradually decreasing air humidity create increased evaporation, and therefore the reserves of soil moisture are depleted without replenishment by rain. Gradually, as soil drought intensifies, ponds, rivers, lakes, and springs dry up—a hydrological drought begins.

For example, in Thailand, almost every year, severe floods alternate with severe droughts, when a state of emergency is declared in dozens of provinces, and several million people feel the effects of the drought in one way or another. As for the victims of this natural phenomenon, in Africa alone, from 1970 to 2010, the death toll from droughts is 1 million people.

2

Tsunamis are long waves generated by a powerful impact on the entire thickness of water in the ocean or other body of water. Most tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes, during which a portion of the seabed suddenly shifts. Tsunamis are formed during an earthquake of any strength, but those that arise due to strong earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 7 on the Richter scale reach great strength. As a result of an earthquake, several waves are propagated. More than 80% of tsunamis occur on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean. The first scientific description of the phenomenon was given by José de Acosta in 1586 in Lima, Peru, after a powerful earthquake, then a strong tsunami 25 meters high burst onto land at a distance of 10 km.

The largest tsunamis in the world occurred in 2004 and 2011. So, on December 26, 2004 at 00:58, a powerful earthquake of magnitude 9.3 occurred - the second most powerful of all recorded, which caused the deadliest tsunami of all known. Asian countries and African Somalia were hit by the tsunami. The total number of deaths exceeded 235 thousand people. The second tsunami occurred on March 11, 2011 in Japan after a strong earthquake of magnitude 9.0 with an epicenter caused a tsunami with a wave height exceeding 40 meters. In addition, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused the accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant. As of July 2, 2011, the official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is 15,524 people, 7,130 people are missing, 5,393 people wounded.

1

An earthquake is an underground tremors and vibrations of the Earth's surface caused by natural causes. Small tremors can also be caused by the rise of lava during volcanic eruptions. About a million earthquakes occur throughout the Earth each year, but most are so small that they go unnoticed. The strongest earthquakes, capable of causing widespread destruction, occur on the planet approximately once every two weeks. Most of them fall on the bottom of the oceans, and therefore are not accompanied by catastrophic consequences if an earthquake occurs without a tsunami.

Earthquakes are best known for the devastation they can cause. Destructions of buildings and structures are caused by soil vibrations or giant tidal waves (tsunamis) that occur during seismic displacements on the seabed. A powerful earthquake begins with the rupture and movement of rocks somewhere deep within the Earth. This location is called the earthquake focus or hypocenter. Its depth is usually no more than 100 km, but sometimes it reaches 700 km. Sometimes the source of an earthquake can be near the surface of the Earth. In such cases, if the earthquake is strong, bridges, roads, houses and other structures are torn and destroyed.

The largest natural disaster is considered to be an earthquake of magnitude 8.2 on July 28, 1976 in the Chinese city of Tangshan, Hebei Province. According to official data from the PRC authorities, the death toll was 242,419 people, however, according to some estimates, the death toll reaches 800 thousand people. At 3:42 local time the city was destroyed by a strong earthquake. There was also destruction in Tianjin and Beijing, just 140 km to the west. As a result of the earthquake, about 5.3 million houses were destroyed or damaged so much that they were uninhabitable. Several aftershocks, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 7.1, led to even greater casualties. The Tangshan earthquake is the second-largest in history after the most destructive earthquake in Shaanxi in 1556. About 830 thousand people died then.

Hazardous natural phenomena mean extreme climatic or meteorological phenomena that occur naturally at one point or another on the planet. In some regions, such hazardous events may occur with greater frequency and destructive force than in others. Dangerous natural phenomena develop into natural disasters when the infrastructure created by civilization is destroyed and people themselves die.

1.Earthquakes

Among all natural hazards, earthquakes should take first place. In places where the earth's crust breaks, tremors occur, which cause vibrations of the earth's surface with the release of gigantic energy. The resulting seismic waves are transmitted over very long distances, although these waves have the greatest destructive power at the epicenter of the earthquake. Due to strong vibrations of the earth's surface, massive destruction of buildings occurs.
Since quite a lot of earthquakes occur, and the surface of the earth is quite densely built up, the total number of people throughout history who died as a result of earthquakes exceeds the number of all victims of other natural disasters and is estimated in many millions. For example, over the past decade, about 700 thousand people have died from earthquakes around the world. Entire settlements instantly collapsed from the most destructive shocks. Japan is the country most affected by earthquakes, and one of the most catastrophic earthquakes occurred there in 2011. The epicenter of this earthquake was in the ocean near the island of Honshu; on the Richter scale, the force of the tremors reached 9.1. Powerful tremors and the subsequent destructive tsunami disabled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, destroying three out of four power units. Radiation covered a significant area around the station, making densely populated areas, so valuable in Japanese conditions, uninhabitable. The colossal tsunami wave turned into mush what the earthquake could not destroy. Only officially over 16 thousand people died, to which we can safely include another 2.5 thousand who are considered missing. In this century alone, destructive earthquakes occurred in the Indian Ocean, Iran, Chile, Haiti, Italy, and Nepal.

2.Tsunami waves

A specific water disaster in the form of tsunami waves often results in numerous casualties and catastrophic destruction. As a result of underwater earthquakes or shifts of tectonic plates in the ocean, very fast but subtle waves arise, which grow into huge ones as they approach the shores and reach shallow waters. Most often, tsunamis occur in areas with increased seismic activity. A huge mass of water, quickly approaching the shore, destroys everything in its path, picks it up and carries it deep into the coast, and then carries it into the ocean with a reverse current. People, unable to sense danger like animals, often do not notice the approach of a deadly wave, and when they do, it is too late.
A tsunami usually kills more people than the earthquake that caused it (most recently in Japan). In 1971, the most powerful tsunami ever observed occurred there, the wave of which rose 85 meters at a speed of about 700 km/h. But the most catastrophic was the tsunami observed in the Indian Ocean (source - an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia), which claimed the lives of about 300 thousand people along a large part of the Indian Ocean coast.

3. Volcanic eruption

Throughout its history, humanity has remembered many catastrophic volcanic eruptions. When the pressure of magma exceeds the strength of the earth's crust at the weakest points, which are volcanoes, it ends in an explosion and outpouring of lava. But the lava itself, from which you can simply walk away, is not so dangerous as the hot pyroclastic gases rushing from the mountain, penetrated here and there by lightning, as well as the noticeable influence of the strongest eruptions on the climate.
Volcanologists count about half a thousand dangerous active volcanoes, several dormant supervolcanoes, not counting thousands of extinct ones. Thus, during the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, the surrounding lands were plunged into darkness for two days, 92 thousand inhabitants died, and cold temperatures were felt even in Europe and America.
List of some major volcanic eruptions:

• Volcano Laki (Iceland, 1783). As a result of that eruption, a third of the island's population died - 20 thousand inhabitants. The eruption lasted for 8 months, during which streams of lava and liquid mud erupted from volcanic fissures. Geysers have become more active than ever. Living on the island at this time was almost impossible. The crops were destroyed and even the fish disappeared, leaving the survivors hungry and suffering from unbearable living conditions. This may be the longest eruption in human history.
• Volcano Tambora (Indonesia, Sumbawa Island, 1815). When the volcano exploded, the sound of the explosion spread over 2 thousand kilometers. Even the remote islands of the archipelago were covered with ash, and 70 thousand people died from the eruption. But even today, Tambora is one of the highest mountains in Indonesia that remains volcanically active.
• Volcano Krakatoa (Indonesia, 1883). 100 years after Tambora, another catastrophic eruption occurred in Indonesia, this time “blowing the roof off” (literally) the Krakatoa volcano. After the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the volcano itself, frightening rumbles were heard for another two months. A gigantic amount of rock, ash and hot gases were thrown into the atmosphere. The eruption was followed by a powerful tsunami with wave heights of up to 40 meters. These two natural disasters together destroyed 34 thousand islanders along with the island itself.
• Volcano Santa Maria (Guatemala, 1902). After a 500-year hibernation, this volcano woke up again in 1902, beginning the 20th century with the most catastrophic eruption, which resulted in the formation of a one and a half kilometer crater. In 1922, Santa Maria reminded itself again - this time the eruption itself was not too strong, but the cloud of hot gases and ash brought the death of 5 thousand people.

4.Tornadoes

A tornado is a very impressive natural phenomenon, especially in the United States, where it is called a tornado. This is an air flow twisted in a spiral into a funnel. Small tornadoes resemble slender, narrow pillars, and giant tornadoes can resemble a mighty carousel reaching towards the sky. The closer you are to the funnel, the stronger the wind speed is; it begins to drag along increasingly larger objects, up to cars, carriages and light buildings. In the “tornado alley” of the United States, entire city blocks are often destroyed and people die. The most powerful vortices of the F5 category reach a speed of about 500 km/h at the center. The state that suffers the most from tornadoes every year is Alabama.

There is a type of fire tornado that sometimes occurs in areas of massive fires. There, from the heat of the flame, powerful upward currents are formed, which begin to twist into a spiral, like an ordinary tornado, only this one is filled with flame. As a result, a powerful draft is formed near the surface of the earth, from which the flame grows even stronger and incinerates everything around. When a catastrophic earthquake occurred in Tokyo in 1923, it caused massive fires that led to the formation of a fire tornado that rose 60 meters. The column of fire moved towards the square with frightened people and burned 38 thousand people in a few minutes.

5.Sandstorms

This phenomenon occurs in sandy deserts when strong winds rise. Sand, dust and soil particles rise to a fairly high altitude, forming a cloud that sharply reduces visibility. If an unprepared traveler gets caught in such a storm, he may die from grains of sand falling into his lungs. Herodotus described the story as 525 BC. e. In the Sahara, a 50,000-strong army was buried alive by a sandstorm. In Mongolia in 2008, 46 people died as a result of this natural phenomenon, and a year earlier two hundred people suffered the same fate.

6.Avalanches

Avalanches periodically fall from snow-capped mountain peaks. Climbers especially often suffer from them. During the First World War, up to 80 thousand people died from avalanches in the Tyrolean Alps. In 1679, half a thousand people died from snow melting in Norway. In 1886, a major disaster occurred, as a result of which the “white death” claimed 161 lives. The records of Bulgarian monasteries also mention human casualties from avalanches.

7.Hurricanes

In the Atlantic they are called hurricanes, and in the Pacific they are called typhoons. These are huge atmospheric vortices, in the center of which the strongest winds and sharply reduced pressure are observed. Several years ago, the devastating Hurricane Katrina swept over the United States, which particularly affected the state of Louisiana and the densely populated city of New Orleans, located at the mouth of the Mississippi. 80% of the city's territory was flooded, and 1,836 people died. Other famous destructive hurricanes include:

• Hurricane Ike (2008). The diameter of the vortex was over 900 km, and in its center the wind blew at a speed of 135 km/h. In the 14 hours that the cyclone moved across the United States, it managed to cause $30 billion worth of destruction.
• Hurricane Wilma (2005). This is the largest Atlantic cyclone in the entire history of weather observations. The cyclone, which originated in the Atlantic, made landfall several times. The damage it caused amounted to $20 billion, killing 62 people.
• Typhoon Nina (1975). This typhoon was able to breach China's Bangqiao Dam, causing the destruction of the dams below and causing catastrophic flooding. The typhoon killed up to 230 thousand Chinese.

8.Tropical cyclones

These are the same hurricanes, but in tropical and subtropical waters, representing huge low-pressure atmospheric systems with winds and thunderstorms, often exceeding a thousand kilometers in diameter. Near the surface of the earth, winds at the center of the cyclone can reach speeds of more than 200 km/h. Low pressure and wind cause the formation of a coastal storm surge - when colossal masses of water are thrown ashore at high speed, washing away everything in its path.

9.Landslide

Prolonged rains can cause landslides. The soil swells, loses stability and slides down, taking with it everything that is on the surface of the earth. Most often, landslides occur in the mountains. In 1920, the most devastating landslide occurred in China, under which 180 thousand people were buried. Other examples:

• Bududa (Uganda, 2010). Due to mudflows, 400 people died, and 200 thousand had to be evacuated.
• Sichuan (China, 2008). Avalanches, landslides and mudflows caused by an 8-magnitude earthquake claimed 20 thousand lives.
• Leyte (Philippines, 2006). The downpour caused a mudslide and landslide that killed 1,100 people.
• Vargas (Venezuela, 1999). Mudflows and landslides after heavy rains (almost 1000 mm of precipitation fell in 3 days) on the northern coast led to the death of almost 30 thousand people.

10. Ball lightning

We are accustomed to ordinary linear lightning accompanied by thunder, but ball lightning is much rarer and more mysterious. The nature of this phenomenon is electrical, but scientists cannot yet give a more accurate description of ball lightning. It is known that it can have different sizes and shapes, most often they are yellowish or reddish luminous spheres. For unknown reasons, ball lightning often defies the laws of mechanics. Most often they occur before a thunderstorm, although they can also appear in absolutely clear weather, as well as indoors or in an airplane cabin. The luminous ball hovers in the air with a slight hiss, then can begin to move in any direction. Over time, it seems to shrink until it disappears completely or explodes with a roar. But the damage ball lightning can cause is very limited.

Today, the world's attention is drawn to Chile, where a large-scale eruption of the Calbuco volcano began. It's time to remember 7 biggest natural disasters recent years, in order to know what may await us in the future. Nature is attacking people, just as people used to attack nature.

Eruption of Calbuco volcano. Chile

Mount Calbuco in Chile is a fairly active volcano. However, its last eruption took place more than forty years ago - in 1972, and even then it lasted only one hour. But on April 22, 2015, everything changed for the worse. Calbuco literally exploded, releasing volcanic ash to a height of several kilometers.

On the Internet you can find a huge number of videos about this amazingly beautiful spectacle. However, it is pleasant to enjoy the view only through a computer, being thousands of kilometers away from the scene. In reality, being near Calbuco is scary and deadly.

The Chilean government decided to resettle all people within a radius of 20 kilometers from the volcano. And this is only the first measure. It is not yet known how long the eruption will last and what actual damage it will cause. But this will definitely be an amount of several billion dollars.

Earthquake in Haiti

On January 12, 2010, Haiti suffered a disaster of unprecedented scale. Several tremors occurred, the main one of magnitude 7. As a result, almost the entire country was in ruins. Even the presidential palace, one of the most majestic and capital buildings in Haiti, was destroyed.

According to official data, more than 222 thousand people died during the earthquake and after it, and 311 thousand suffered varying degrees of damage. At the same time, millions of Haitians were left homeless.

This is not to say that magnitude 7 is something unprecedented in the history of seismic observations. The scale of destruction turned out to be so enormous due to the high deterioration of the infrastructure in Haiti, as well as due to the extremely low quality of absolutely all buildings. In addition, the local population itself was in no hurry to provide first aid to the victims, as well as to participate in clearing the rubble and restoring the country.

As a result, an international military contingent was sent to Haiti, which took over control of the state in the first time after the earthquake, when the traditional authorities were paralyzed and extremely corrupt.

Tsunami in the Pacific Ocean

Until December 26, 2004, the vast majority of the world's inhabitants knew about tsunamis exclusively from textbooks and disaster films. However, that day will forever remain in the memory of Mankind because of the huge wave that covered the coasts of dozens of states in the Indian Ocean.

It all started with a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1-9.3 that occurred just north of the island of Sumatra. It caused a gigantic wave up to 15 meters high, which spread in all directions of the ocean and wiped out hundreds of settlements, as well as world-famous seaside resorts.

The tsunami covered coastal areas in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, South Africa, Madagascar, Kenya, Maldives, Seychelles, Oman and other countries on the Indian Ocean. Statisticians counted more than 300 thousand dead in this disaster. At the same time, the bodies of many were never found - the wave carried them into the open ocean.

The consequences of this disaster are colossal. In many places, infrastructure was never fully rebuilt after the 2004 tsunami.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption

The unpronounceable Icelandic name Eyjafjallajökull became one of the most popular words in 2010. And all thanks to the eruption of a volcano in the mountain range with this name.

Paradoxically, not a single person died during this eruption. But this natural disaster seriously disrupted business life around the world, primarily in Europe. After all, a huge amount of volcanic ash thrown into the sky from the mouth of Eyjafjallajökull completely paralyzed air traffic in the Old World. The natural disaster destabilized the lives of millions of people in Europe itself, as well as in North America.

Thousands of flights, both passenger and cargo, were cancelled. Daily airline losses during that period amounted to more than $200 million.

Earthquake in China's Sichuan province

As in the case of the earthquake in Haiti, the huge number of victims after a similar disaster in the Chinese province of Sichuan, which occurred there on May 12, 2008, is due to the low level of capital buildings.

As a result of the main earthquake of magnitude 8, as well as subsequent smaller tremors, more than 69 thousand people died in Sichuan, 18 thousand were missing, and 288 thousand were injured.

At the same time, the government of the People's Republic of China greatly limited international assistance in the disaster zone; it tried to solve the problem with its own hands. According to experts, the Chinese thus wanted to hide the real scale of what happened.

For publishing real data about deaths and destruction, as well as for articles about corruption that led to such huge numbers of losses, the Chinese authorities even sent the most famous contemporary Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, to prison for several months.

Hurricane Katrina

However, the scale of the consequences of a natural disaster does not always directly depend on the quality of construction in a particular region, as well as on the presence or absence of corruption there. An example of this is Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Southeast coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of August 2005.

The main impact of Hurricane Katrina fell on the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. Rising water levels in several places broke the dam protecting New Orleans, and about 80 percent of the city was under water. At this moment, entire areas were destroyed, infrastructure facilities, transport interchanges and communications were destroyed.

The population that refused or did not have time to evacuate took refuge on the roofs of houses. The main gathering place for people was the famous Superdome stadium. But it also turned into a trap, because it was no longer possible to get out of it.

The hurricane killed 1,836 people and left more than a million homeless. Damage from this natural disaster is estimated at $125 billion. At the same time, New Orleans has not been able to return to a full-fledged normal life in ten years - the city's population is still about a third less than the 2005 level.

On March 11, 2011, tremors with a magnitude of 9-9.1 occurred in the Pacific Ocean east of the island of Honshu, which led to the appearance of a huge tsunami wave up to 7 meters high. It hit Japan, washing away many coastal objects and going tens of kilometers inland.

In different parts of Japan, after the earthquake and tsunami, fires started, infrastructure, including industrial, was destroyed. In total, almost 16 thousand people died as a result of this disaster, and economic losses amounted to about 309 billion dollars.

But this turned out to be not the worst thing. The world knows about the 2011 disaster in Japan, primarily due to the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which occurred as a result of a tsunami wave hitting it.

More than four years have passed since this accident, but the operation at the nuclear power plant is still ongoing. And the nearest settlements were resettled forever. This is how Japan got its own.

A large-scale natural disaster is one of the options for the death of our Civilization. We have collected.