Print

4 Natural Disasters Natural events were also experiences of interest and con- cern. What was it, early humans wondered, that causes the sun and moon to rise and set every day on such a regular pattern? And what causes less common events, such a solar or lunar eclipse? Again, humans used their imagination and reasoning powers to come up with an answer. For example, eclipses were often explained by the action of some evil crea- ture’s attempt to swallow the moon or sun. Th is explanation was reinforced by the observation that eclipses always begin with a small chunk of the moon or sun disappearing from view (Grady 2017). Among the most puzzling of all natural events are those that occur without warning and, generally, with disastrous eff ects on humans and the world around them. Such disasters include avalanches blizzards cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons earthquakes fl oods landslides limnic eruptions (the sudden release of gases from a lake or other body of water) sinkholes thunderstorms tsunamis volcanic eruptions and wildfi res. In the following sections, some of the many explanations in- vented by early humans for the most common of these events are discussed. Natural Disasters in Human History Untold numbers of devastating natural disasters have occurred throughout human history. No single book can discuss in any detail even a fraction of those events. It is possible, however, to off er some examples of such incidents. Perhaps the earliest of all known such occasions occurred about 66 million years ago, when an asteroid from outer space crashed into Earth’s surface near the modern-day town of Chicxulub, in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. One could reasonably ask how anyone in the 21st century could know anything about an event that occurred so far in the past, long before humans even existed on Earth. Th e answer is that scientists from a number of disciplines have found