Five catastrophes of the planet earth. Great Catastrophes in the History of the Earth - Earth before the Flood: Disappeared Continents and Civilizations

Over the billions of years of existence of our planet, certain mechanisms have been formed on it by which nature works. Many of these mechanisms are subtle and harmless, while others are large-scale and bring great destruction with them. 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.

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A mudflow is a mud or mud-stone stream that suddenly forms in the beds of mountain rivers as a result of heavy rains, rapid melting of glaciers or seasonal snow cover. Deforestation in mountainous areas can be a decisive factor in the occurrence - the roots of trees hold the upper part 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 streams up to 25-30 kilometers long. On their way, the streams lay deep channels, which in regular time are dry or contain small streams. The consequences of mudflows are catastrophic.

Imagine that a mass of earth, silt, stones, snow, sand, driven by a strong stream of water, fell on the city from the side of the mountains. This stream will be demolished at the foot of the city buildings along with people, and orchards. All this stream will break into the city, turn its streets into raging rivers with steep banks of destroyed houses. Houses break off their foundations and along with people they are carried away by a stormy stream.

10

A landslide is the sliding of masses of rocks down a slope under the influence of gravity, often while maintaining their connectedness and solidity. Landslides occur on the slopes of valleys or river banks, in the mountains, on the shores of the seas, the most grandiose at the bottom of the seas. Bias large masses ground or rock downhill is caused in most cases by rainwater wetting the soil so that the mass of the soil becomes heavy and more mobile. Such large landslides harm agricultural land, enterprises, and settlements. To combat landslides, bank protection structures and planting of vegetation are used.

Only fast 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 the mountain directly to a village or city, and buildings are destroyed under tons of this earth and people who have not had time to leave the place of the landslide are dying.

9

A sandstorm is an atmospheric phenomenon in the form of transport large quantities dust, soil particles and grains of sand blown several meters from the ground with a noticeable deterioration in horizontal visibility. At the same time, 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 hue. It usually occurs when the soil surface is dry and the wind speed is 10 m/s or more.

Most often these catastrophic events meet in the desert. A sure sign that a sandstorm is about to begin is a 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-purple cloud. The lost 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 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 that falls or slides off a mountain slope. Snow avalanches pose a considerable danger, causing casualties among climbers, lovers of mountain skiing and snowboarding and causing significant damage to property. Sometimes snow avalanches have catastrophic consequences, destroying entire villages and causing the death of dozens of people. Snow avalanches, to varying degrees, are common in all mountainous areas. In winter, they are the main natural danger of the mountains.

Tones of snow are held on the tops of the mountains due to the force of friction. Large avalanches descend at the moment when the pressure force of the snow mass begins to exceed the force of friction. An avalanche is usually triggered by climatic causes: a sudden change in weather, rain, heavy snowfalls, as well as mechanical effects on the snow mass, including the impact of rockfalls, earthquakes, etc. Sometimes an avalanche can start due to a slight push like a gunshot or pressure on the snow of a man. 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 ejection by a volcano onto the earth's surface of incandescent fragments, ash, an outpouring of magma, which, having poured onto the surface, becomes lava. The strongest volcanic eruption can have a time period from several hours to many years. Incandescent 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 ejects gases, liquids and solids with high temperature. This often causes the destruction of buildings and the death of people. Lava and other red-hot eruptive substances flow down the slopes of the mountain and burn out everything they meet on their way, bringing innumerable victims and material losses that stagger the imagination. The only protection against volcanoes is a 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 life of all life on Earth, so you should not treat these hot guys with condescension. Almost all manifestations of volcanic activity are dangerous. It goes without saying that the danger of boiling lava is understandable. But no less terrible is the ash that literally penetrates everywhere in the form of a continuous gray-black snowfall that fills up streets, ponds, entire cities. Geophysicists claim to be capable of eruptions hundreds of times more powerful than have ever been observed. The largest volcanic eruptions, however, have already occurred on Earth - long before the advent of civilization.

6

A tornado or tornado is an atmospheric vortex that occurs in a thundercloud and spreads down, often to the very surface of the earth, in the form of a cloud sleeve or trunk with a diameter of tens and hundreds of meters. Typically, the diameter of a tornado funnel on the ground is 300-400 meters, but if a tornado originated on the surface of the 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. Every year, about a thousand tornadoes occur in the United States. The strongest tornado can last up to an hour or more. But most of them exist for no more than ten minutes.

On average, about 60 people die each year from tornadoes, 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 go into the hundreds, and the victims into the thousands, not to mention the material damage. The reasons for the formation of tornadoes have not been fully studied so far.

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 geographical area and the formation of these cyclones in tropical air masses. It is generally accepted, according to the Beaufort scale, that a storm turns into a hurricane at a wind speed of more than 117 km / h. The strongest hurricanes can cause not only extreme downpours, but also big waves on the surface of the sea, storm surges and tornadoes. Tropical cyclones can form and maintain their strength only over the surface of large bodies of water, while over land they quickly lose strength.

A hurricane can cause downpours, tornadoes, small tsunamis and floods. A direct effect of tropical cyclones on land is storm winds that can destroy buildings, bridges, and other man-made structures. The strongest permanent winds within the cyclone exceed 70 meters per second. The worst effect of tropical cyclones in terms of casualties has historically been storm surge, that is, the rise in sea level caused by the cyclone, which on average results in about 90% of 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, power lines, causing enormous economic damage to the affected areas.

The most destructive and terrible hurricane in the history of the United States - Katrina, occurred at the end of August 2005. The most severe damage was caused to New Orleans in Louisiana, where about 80% of the city's area was under water. As a result of the natural disaster, 1,836 residents were killed and the economic damage amounted to $125 billion.

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Flooding - flooding of the area as a result of rising water levels in rivers, lakes, seas due to rain, rapid snowmelt, wind surge of water on the coast and other causes, which damages people's health and even leads to their death, and also causes material damage . For example, in mid-January 2009 there was the largest flood in Brazil. More than 60 cities were affected then. About 13 thousand people left 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 region. As a result, Thailand experienced the worst floods in over half a century. Streams of water flooded villages, ancient temples, farms and factories. At least 280 people have died in Thailand, and another 200 in neighboring Cambodia. About 8.2 million people in 60 of Thailand's 77 provinces were affected by the floods, and economic losses are currently estimated to exceed $2 billion.

Drought is a long period of stable weather with high temperatures air and low rainfall, as a result of which the moisture reserves of the soil decrease and oppression and death of cultural crops occur. The onset of a severe drought is usually associated with the establishment of an inactive high anticyclone. The abundance of solar heat and gradually decreasing air humidity create increased evaporation, and therefore soil moisture reserves are depleted without being replenished by rains. Gradually, as soil drought intensifies, ponds, rivers, lakes, springs dry up, and a hydrological drought begins.

For example, almost every year in Thailand, severe floods alternate with severe droughts, when a state of emergency is declared in dozens of provinces, and several million people somehow feel the effects of the drought. As for the victims of this natural phenomenon, only in Africa 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 water column in the ocean or other body of water. Most tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes, during which there is a sharp displacement of the seabed. Tsunamis are formed during an earthquake of any magnitude, but those that arise due to strong earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 7 on the Richter scale reach a large force. As a result of an earthquake, several waves propagate. More than 80% of tsunamis occur on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean. The first scientific description of the phenomenon was given by Jose 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 there was a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 - the second most powerful of all recorded, which caused the deadliest of all known tsunamis. The tsunami affected the countries of Asia and African Somalia. The total number of deaths exceeded 235 thousand people. The second tsunami happened 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 the ensuing tsunami caused the Fukushima I nuclear accident. injured.

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

Earthquakes are best known for the devastation they can cause. The destruction of buildings and structures is caused by soil vibrations or giant tidal waves (tsunamis) that occur during seismic displacements on seabed. A powerful earthquake begins with the rupture and movement of rocks in some place deep in the Earth. This place is called the earthquake focus or hypocenter. Its depth is usually no more than 100 km, but sometimes it reaches up to 700 km. Sometimes the focus 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 Chinese authorities, the death toll was 242,419 people, however, according to some estimates, the death toll reaches 800,000 people. At 3:42 local time, the city was destroyed by a strong earthquake. Destruction also took place in Tianjin and in Beijing, located just 140 km to the west. As a result of the earthquake, about 5.3 million houses were destroyed or damaged so much that it was impossible to live in them. Several aftershocks, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 7.1, led to even more casualties. The Tangshan earthquake is the second largest earthquake in history after the most devastating Shaanxi earthquake in 1556. Then about 830 thousand people died.

We can speculate about how things might have ended if some catastrophe hadn't happened, but the variables are so small and so numerous that we'll never know the right answer. Like a weather forecast (which looks to the future, anyway), we can only make a guess based on the information we receive, which is very limited. Let's take a look at 10 natural disasters from our past, and then imagine what the world would look like without them. You may be interested in articles 10 most expensive terrorist attacks in the history of mankind.

10. Lake Agassiz outburst, North America

Approximately 14,500 years ago, the planet's climate was beginning to emerge from the last Great Ice Age. And as temperatures began to rise, the Arctic ice sheet, covering most of the Northern Hemisphere, began to melt. Fast-forward 1,600 years to the center of northern North America (which is now North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario), which was under a huge proglacial lake formed by meltwater that was blocked by a wall of ice or other natural dam. Approximate area of ​​273,000 sq. km, Lake Agassiz was larger than any lake currently existing in the world, approximately the size of the Black Sea.

Then, for some reason, the dam broke, and all the fresh water from the lake rushed into the Arctic Ocean through the valley of the Mackenzie River. And even if the flood itself was not strong enough, its consequences probably killed the megafauna of North America, as well as the people of the Clovis culture. The insane amount of fresh water flooding the Arctic Ocean has significantly weakened the Atlantic “conveyor line” by 30% or more. Through this conveyor, warm water reaches the Arctic, where, as it cools, it sinks to the bottom and returns south along the ocean floor. With a new influx fresh water from Lake Agassiz, the cycle slowed and the Northern Hemisphere returned to near-icy temperatures for 1200 years, in a period known as the Younger Dryas. The end of this period, about 11,500 years ago, was even more abrupt than its beginning, when the temperature in Greenland rose by 18 degrees Fahrenheit in just 10 years.

9. Siberian traps eruptions, Central Russia

Approximately 252 million years ago, the planet Earth looked very different compared to today. Life was as alien as it could be, and all the continents were pushed together to form a single super-continent known as Pangea. Evolution proceeded along the usual path, with the flourishing of life on land and in the sea. Then, as if out of nowhere, everything changed in one geological instant.

In the Far North of Pangea, where Siberia is now located, a super-volcano of biblical proportions began to erupt. The eruption was incredibly strong and destructive, the area was almost 2.7 million square meters. km (roughly equal to the continental United States) and was covered with a layer of lava 1.5 km thick. Just over 800,000 sq. km of this layer can still be seen in a region called Siberian traps.

The eruption itself and the subsequent destructive lava flows became only the catalyst for an irreversible chain of events that destroyed 75% of all life on earth and more than 95% of all marine creatures. This apocalyptic event, known as the Great Dying, marked the transition between the Permian and Triassic periods. The immediate effect of the super volcano completely devastated the Northern Hemisphere, turning the air into veritable acid and throwing the entire food chain into complete chaos. The eruption was followed by centuries of volcanic winter, 10% of all species on earth died. After the deposition of dust, the climate on the planet immediately went into a phase global warming, the general temperature rose by 5 degrees Celsius, which led to the extinction of another 35% of all land creatures.

The oceans were nearby, the water absorbed a large amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turning it into carbonic acid. As the temperature rose, the oxygen-depleted water from the ocean floor began to expand and rise from the depths, putting all marine life in a difficult position. Huge amounts of methane hydrate, even today found at the bottom of the ocean, rose to the surface due to warming water, thereby increasing the temperature of the planet by another 5 degrees Celsius. At that time, almost all marine species became extinct, and only the strongest living creatures managed to survive. This event is biggest case mass extinction on Earth. But by now, our production is emitting four times more CO2 into the atmosphere than a super-volcano many millions of years ago, and most of the above effects are already beginning to occur.

8. Sturegg Landslide, Norwegian Sea

About 8000 years ago, 100 km from the northern coast of modern Norway, a huge piece of land about the size of Iceland broke off from the European continental shelf and plunged into the depths of the Norwegian Sea. Most likely this process was caused by an earthquake, which led to the destabilization of methane hydrates located at the bottom, 1,350 cubic kilometers of sediments were distributed over more than 1,600 kilometers in the ocean floor, covering an area of ​​about 59,000 square kilometers. km. The tsunami that followed caused a landslide that wreaked havoc on all nearby land masses.

Since the planet was just emerging from the previous Ice Age, sea levels were 14 meters lower than they are today. Even so, deposits left by the Sturegga landslide have been found as far as 80 km inland in some places and as high as 6 meters above today's high tide. Territories were seriously damaged by waves 25 meters high modern Scotland, England, Norway, Iceland, Faroe, Orkney and Shetland, Greenland, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The last stretch of land that once connected the British Isles to mainland Europe, known as Doggerland, was completely submerged, giving rise to the North Sea we know today. This happened not in the first and not in last time, several other small landslides off the coast of present-day Norway occurred between 50,000 and 6,000 years ago. Oil and gas companies take special precautions to avoid accidentally triggering such an event.

7 Lucky Eruption, Iceland

Iceland sits directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where two large tectonic plates are moving away from each other. This makes the island nation one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. In 1783, a 29 km fissure in the island's surface, known as the Laki fissure, was ripped open by an eruption. 130 craters were formed along the entire length of the volcano, which erupted 5.4 cubic meters. km of basaltic lava within 8 months. Incomparable in size and destruction to what happened in Siberia 252 million years ago, the Laki eruption was characterized by very similar features, and was the largest volcanic eruption in the last 500 years. Through a network of underground tunnels known as lava tubes, the molten stone spread hundreds of kilometers from the fault and wiped out 20 villages.

However, Lucky's most devastating effect was not the lava itself, but the toxic gases released into the atmosphere. About 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride and 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide were released, poisoning the air and forming acid rain. As a result, three-quarters of the sheep and more than half of all cattle in Iceland died. Due to starvation and disease, more than 20% of Iceland's population died over the next few months. In addition, sulfur dioxide has spread to much of the Northern Hemisphere, blocking out the sun's rays and plunging the planet into a mini-volcanic winter. Europe suffered the most from this eruption, causing crop failures and famine, leading to the infamous French Revolution.

The rest of the world was also affected by the eruption. North America suffered its longest and harshest winter, one-sixth of Egypt's population starved to death, and the monsoon seasons were in disarray, affecting as far away as India and Southeast Asia.

6 Super Tornado Outbreak 2011 Central US

In general, tornadoes left few traces of their existence over a long period of time. Their effects can be devastating, but from an archaeological point of view, not much evidence of a tornado passing can be found. However, the largest and most destructive tornado event in human history took place in 2011 in a square colloquially known as “ tornado alley” in the US and Canada.

From April 25 to April 28, a total of 362 tornadoes were recorded and confirmed by the National Weather Service in 15 states. Destructive tornadoes occurred every day, since April 27 the most active ones were recorded, 218 tornadoes were recorded. Four of them were classified in category EF5, highest rating on the Fujita Tornado Scale. On average, one EF5 tornado is recorded around the world once a year or less.

A total of 348 people were killed in this outbreak, 324 of whom died directly from the tornado. The remaining 24 people were victims of flash floods, fist-sized hail or lightning strikes. Another 2,200 people were injured. Alabama was hit the hardest with 252 deaths. The epicenter of the impact was the city of Tuscaloosa in Alabama, where an EF4 tornado with a diameter of almost 1.5 km and wind speeds of more than 200 km / h passed through residential areas of the city. Total property damage is in the order of $11 billion, making the 2011 super-tornado outbreak one of the costliest natural disasters to hit the US.

5. Spanish flu, worldwide

At a time when the world was engulfed in the horrors of the First World War, an even more merciless killer spread across the planet. The Spanish flu, or Spanish flu, has become the deadliest pandemic in modern history, 500 million people worldwide have been infected - about a third of the population - and between 20 and 50 million people have died in less than six months. Since at the end of 1918 the First World War gradually came to an end, the influenza virus was initially neglected, especially on the battlefield, which quickly became an ideal breeding ground for an airborne disease.

For many years, scientists believed that the origin of influenza began in the trenches of France, and intensive research was carried out in neutral Spain on this type of influenza, which gave it its name “ spanish flu". The harsh conditions of combat were ideal for such a disease, with large numbers of people living together in poverty and often in close proximity to animals such as pigs. Moreover, many deadly chemical substances, used during the First World War, gave ample opportunity for the virus to mutate.

However, ten years after the war, Kansas was seriously considered as another possible breeding ground for the H1N1 influenza virus when 48 infantrymen were found to have died in military camps. More recent figures point to a group of 96,000 Chinese workers who were sent to work behind British and French lines. Reports of a respiratory disease that struck northern China in November 1917 were identified a year later by Chinese health officials as identical to the Spanish flu. However, no direct link between Chinese disease and the global epidemic of Spanish flu has been found.

The effects of the pandemic can still be felt today, 100 years later, as related strains of the virus caused epidemics in 1957, 1968 and again in 2009 and 2010 during the “ swine flu crisis". None of these cases were as deadly as at the end of the First World War, when only the isolated island of Marajo in the Brazilian Amazon Delta was not reported to have an outbreak.

4. The last breakthrough of Lake Agassiz and the flood of the Black Sea, Eastern Europe

V Once again Lake Agassiz makes this list, this time due to its final draining, which took place around 8,200 years ago. After the last flood of this large lake, mentioned above, the ice sheet formed again due to cooling caused by the influx of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean. But after 1,200 years, the planet warmed up again and the lake overflowed again. But this time, Agassiz merged with another equally large lake, Ojibwe. The union, however, did not last long, and this time their waters rushed into Hudson Bay. As before, the planet plunged into another period of global cooling (6200 BC). However, this time the cooling was much shorter than the Younger Dryas, and lasted about 150 years. However, the sudden influx of water into the oceans has led to a rise in sea levels by as much as 4 meters.

Major floods occurred in all corners of the world: from America, Europe, Africa, Arabia, South Asia and to the Pacific Islands. A large number of submerged settlements have been found all over the world that could probably date from this period. Perhaps it was during this period that myths about the Flood were born. But the largest case of flooding occurred in Eastern Europe in the area of ​​the Black Sea, which at that time was nothing more than a freshwater lake. Due to the rapid rise in sea level, the Bosphorus was partially destroyed and water from mediterranean sea poured into the lake, which as a result turned into the Black Sea. The rate at which water entered the lake, as well as its quantity, remains a matter of controversy to this day.

Some believe that more than 16 cubic kilometers of water passed through the strait in a flow 200 times the flow of Niagara Falls. This went on for three centuries and 96,500 sq. km of land, the water level rose by 15 cm per day. Others believe that the flood was gradual and only 1,240 sq. km.

3. The Zancklin Flood and the Mediterranean Sea

Like the Black Sea mentioned above, the Mediterranean was once a lake. As the African and Eurasian tectonic plates moved closer and closer together over many millions of years, they eventually collided. About 5.6 million years ago, their initial point of contact was between the Iberian Peninsula and the northern coast of West Africa. Isolated from the Atlantic Ocean, the modern Mediterranean lake began to evaporate due to arid conditions for several hundred thousand years. In most places, the seabed was covered with a layer of salt more than a kilometer thick. This salt was blown by the winds, wreaking havoc on the surrounding landscape.

Fortunately, after 300,000 years, the Mediterranean Sea filled up again. The probable cause is considered to be the ongoing shifting of the earth's crust, which in turn caused the land around the Strait of Gibraltar to subside. Within a few thousand years, which is an instant in geological terms, the Atlantic Ocean has dug its way through a 200-kilometer channel. The flow of water that reached the Mediterranean Basin was slow at first, but even then was three times the flow of the Amazon River today. However, it is believed that after the canal became wide enough, the flow of water became enormous, filling the remaining 90% of the Mediterranean basin in a period of several months to two years. The rise in water level could reach 10 meters per day. This event is known as the Zancklin Flood. And even today, more than 5 million years later, the Mediterranean Sea is much saltier than the ocean due to the narrow strait that connects them.

2. Drought in northern China, 1876-79

Between 1876 and 1879 there was a severe drought in China, which killed about 13 million people out of a total population of 108 million. As the world emerged from its final period of cooling, known as the "Little Ice Age", a drought in the Yellow River basin began in early 1876, degrading the next year's crop with almost no rain. It was the worst drought in the region in over 300 years, and likely led to the most a large number victims. Shanxi Province was the hardest hit by the famine, with an estimated 5.5 million victims total strength population of 15 million.

This was not the first time that China faced a severe drought, and until the 18th century, the country invested heavily in the storage and distribution of grain in case of such dire situations. In fact, the state has, on a number of occasions, taken effective measures to prevent serious droughts that could lead to mass starvation.

But this time, the Qing state was significantly weakened by the middle of the century due to rebellions and strong British imperialism, and was completely unprepared for a crisis of this magnitude. And although both international and local assistance was provided, much of China's rural areas were left deserted due to hunger, disease and migration.

1. Collision between Earth and Theia

Although this list has not been compiled in any particular order, we have decided to end it with a huge cataclysmic event on an astronomical scale that made our planet what it is today. And even if scientists are not 100% sure that this happened, there is good reason to believe that it all really happened that way. About 100 million years after the planet formed due to the gradual collection of asteroids and other space debris, the young planet Earth collided with the planet Theia, a hypothetical planet in our young solar system. This planet is believed to have been about the size of Mars, or somewhat smaller, and which 4.31 billion years ago flew towards the Earth and shattered into pieces on it.

The force of the collision brought the two planets together, forming the Earth we know and love today. The pieces ejected from the collision were captured by the planet's gravitational field and then formed the Moon. Big size natural satellite with respect to the Earth supports the collision hypothesis. In addition, scientists analyzed lunar rocks from three Apollo missions and compared them with volcanic rocks found in Hawaii and Arizona and found no difference in oxygen isotopes. Another evidence of the collision is the unusually large core and shell of our planet compared to other rocky worlds. solar system, like the core of Theia and a shell mixed with the shell of the Earth.

Video about possible natural disasters of the future. Life in the 21st century seems comfortable and safe, but man can control the power of nature within very modest limits. Scientists make their predictions based on research.

“-In fact, humanity does not have not only 100 years, but even 50 years! The maximum that we have is several decades, taking into account impending events. Over the past two decades, alarming changes in the geophysical parameters of the planet, the emergence of a variety of observed anomalies, an increase in the frequency and scale of extreme events, an abrupt increase in natural disasters on Earth in the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere indicate the release of extremely high level additional exogenous (external) and endogenous (internal) energy. As you know, in 2011 this process began to enter a new active phase, as evidenced by noticeable jumps in the released seismic energy, recorded during more frequent strong earthquakes, as well as an increase in the number of powerful destructive typhoons, a widespread change in thunderstorm activity and other anomalous natural phenomena. report

What awaits humanity tomorrow - no one knows. But the fact that our civilization is already on the verge of self-destruction is no longer a secret to anyone. This is evidenced by daily events around the world, to which we simply turn a blind eye. A great amount of material has been accumulated that reflects the reality of our life and future events. As an example, very impressive video summaries of catastrophic events taking place from September 2015 to the present.

The subsequent photographs are by no means a method of shock therapy, this is the harsh reality of our life, which is neither THERE, but HERE - on our planet. But for some reason we turn away from this, or we prefer not to notice the reality and seriousness of what is happening.

Agree indisputable fact is that great amount people, as well as each individual separately, do not fully realize the complexity and seriousness of the current situation on Earth today. For some reason, we turn a blind eye to this, adhering to the principle: "the less you know - you sleep better, you have enough worries, my hut is on the edge." But the fact that every day on the entire planet Earth, on different continents there are floods, volcanic eruptions, scientists, newspapers, television, and the Internet inform. But, nevertheless, the media, for certain reasons, do not reveal the whole truth, carefully hiding the true climate situation in the world and the urgent need for urgent action. This is one of the main reasons why most people naively believe that these terrible events will not affect them, at a time when all the facts indicate that an irreversible global process of climate change has begun. And already in our time there is a rapid growth of such a worldwide problem as global cataclysms.

These graphs clearly demonstrate that over the past decade, the world has seen a significant increase in the number of natural disasters, and dozens of times.

Rice. 1. Graph of the number of natural disasters in the world from 1920 to 2015. Compiled on the basis of the EM-DAT database.

Rice. 2. Cumulative total plot showing US numbers of magnitude 3 or higher from 1975 to April 2015. Compiled from the USGS database.

The statistics given above clearly show the climatic situation on our planet. Most people today, lulled and blinded by illusion, do not even want to think about the future. Many feel that something is happening to the climate around the world and understand that natural anomalies this kind of evidence of the seriousness of everything that is happening. But fear and irresponsibility are pushing people to turn away and again plunge into the usual bustle. V modern society it is considered quite normal to shift the responsibility for everything that happens to us and around us to someone. We live our lives relying on the fact that the state authorities will do everything for us: they will create good conditions for living in a peaceful life, and in case of danger, great scientists will warn us in advance and the state authorities will take care of us. The phenomenon is paradoxical, but this is how our consciousness works - we always believe that someone owes us something and forget that we ourselves are responsible for our lives. And here it is important to understand that in order to survive, people themselves need to unite. Only the people themselves can lay the foundation for the worldwide unification of all mankind, no one but us will do this. The words of the great poet F. Tyutchev fit perfectly:

Unity, - proclaimed the oracle of our days, -
Perhaps soldered with iron and blood only ... "
But we will try to solder it with love, -
And then we will see that it is stronger ...

It would also be appropriate to remind our readers of the current refugee situation in Europe. There are only about three million of them, according to official figures, but huge problems of banal survival have already begun. And this is in a civilized, well-fed Europe. Why, it would seem, even rich Europe is not able to adequately solve the problem of migrants? And what will happen if about two billion people undergo forced migration in the coming years?! The following question also arises: where do you think millions and billions of people will go if they manage to survive in global cataclysms? But the problem of survival will become acute for everyone: housing, food, work, etc. What will happen then if we, in a peaceful life, given the format of a consumer society, are constantly fighting for our piece of matter, starting from MY apartment, MY car and ending with MY mug, MY armchair and MY favorite, inviolable slippers?

It becomes clear that we can survive the period of global cataclysms only by joining our efforts. The coming trials will be possible to pass with honor and the least number of human casualties, only if we are a single family, united by friendship, humanity and mutual assistance. If we prefer to be a herd of animals, then the animal world has its own laws of survival - the strongest survive. But are we animals?

“Yes, if society does not change, then humanity simply will not survive. During the period of global changes, people, due to the aggressive activation of the Animal nature (which obeys the general Animal mind), like any other intelligent matter, will simply fight for survival alone, that is, peoples will exterminate each other, and those who remain alive will be destroyed by itself. nature. It will be possible to survive the coming cataclysms only with the unification of all mankind and the qualitative transformation of society into spiritual sense. If, by joint efforts, people can still change the direction of the world community from the consumer channel towards true spiritual development, with the dominance of the Spiritual nature in it, then humanity will have a chance to survive this period. Moreover, both society and future generations will be able to reach a qualitatively new stage in their development. But only now it depends on the real choice and actions of everyone! And most importantly, many smart people the planets understand this, they see the impending catastrophe, the collapse of society, but they don’t know how to resist all this and what to do.” Anastasia Novykh "AllatRa"

Why do people not notice, or pretend not to notice, or simply do not want to notice those numerous threats of planetary global cataclysms and all other acute problems facing all mankind today. The reason for such behavior of the inhabitants of our planet is the lack of real Knowledge about man and the world. At modern man the concept of the true value of life has been replaced, and therefore today few people can confidently answer such questions as: “Why does a person come into this world? What awaits us after the death of our body? Where and why did this whole material world appear, which brings not only happiness, but also a lot of suffering to a person? Surely there must be some meaning to this? Or maybe the Great Divine Plan?

Today we have books by Anastasia Novykh that answer all these questions. Moreover, having become acquainted with the Primordial Knowledge about the world and man, set forth in these books, most of us accepted them as a guide to action for the internal transformation of ourselves into better side. Now we know the purpose of our life and we know what we need to do in order to achieve it. We gratefully meet obstacles on our way and rejoice in victories. And it's wonderful! In fact, this Knowledge is a great gift for humanity. But having come into contact with them and accepting them, we are responsible for our actions and for what is happening around us. But why do we forget about it? Why do we constantly forget about what is happening now on other continents, in other cities and countries?

"The personal contribution of each person to the common cause of the spiritual and moral transformation of society is very important"- book "AllatRa" -Now-- this is the right time to ask yourself the question: What contribution can I personally make to create the conditions necessary to unite all people in order to survive the impending disasters?

“It is important to raise public awareness of the problems of the near future. All socially active people need to take an active part in the unification and rallying of the world society today, ignoring all selfish, social, political, religious and other barriers that the system artificially separates people. Only by joining our efforts in the global community, not on paper, but in deed, it is possible to have time to prepare the majority of the inhabitants of the planet for those planetary climate, world economic global shocks and changes that are coming. Each of us can do a lot of useful things in this direction! By uniting, people multiply their capabilities” (From the Report “On the Problems and Consequences of Global Climate Change on Earth. Effective Ways to Solve These Problems”).

To unite all mankind into a single family, a general mobilization of our forces and capabilities is necessary. The fate of all mankind today hangs in the balance, and a lot really depends on our actions.

At the moment, ALLATRA IPM participants from all over the world are jointly implementing projects aimed at uniting all people and building a creative society. Everyone who remains indifferent to the future of all mankind and feels a spiritual need to sincerely help people not in words, but in deeds, and is ready to lend a helping hand right now, can join this project to inform the inhabitants of the planet about upcoming cataclysms and ways out of the current circumstances through the unification of all the people of the planet into a single and friendly family.

It's no secret that time is running out. Therefore, it is very important now to understand that only together we can survive the coming cataclysms. The unification of people is the key to the survival of mankind.

Literature:

Report “On the problems and consequences of global climate change on Earth. Effective ways to solve these problems” by an international group of scientists of the International social movement ALLATRA, November 26, 2014 allatra-science.org

J.L.Rubinstein, A.B.Mahani, Myths and Facts on Wastewater Injection, Hydraulic Fracturing, Enhanced Oil Recovery, and Induced Seismicity, Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 86, Num. 4, July/August 2015 link

Anastasia Novykh "AllatRa", K.: AllatRa, 2013 books.allatra.org

Prepared by: Jamal Magomedov

There are a huge number of versions and assumptions about where the inhabitants of the Earth can expect trouble and when this terrifying event will occur. It turns out that a global catastrophe can happen quite suddenly and very soon, or it can pave the way for gradual changes and unexpectedly change the whole life of mankind. In any case, according to scientists, we won't have to wait long: for the next 10-15 years, people have prepared a wide variety of forecasts.

Threat from the sky

Studies by astronomers, seismologists and other scientists are full of statements that trouble awaits the planet in the next decade. Almost every year, the Earth runs the risk of colliding with celestial bodies - asteroids. The biggest danger among them is Apophis, an asteroid that threatens to meet the Earth in 2035.

While it is difficult to predict exactly what changes the collision will entail, but preliminary forecasts show that the Earth is threatened by climate change on the entire planet. When falling to the ground, all are considered potentially dangerous. celestial bodies over 100 meters in diameter. Apophis is about a kilometer in diameter, and its collision with our planet will entail not only the instant death of millions of people, but huge faults in earth's crust, earthquakes, floods, huge tsunamis. A column of dust from its fall will block the light of the sun for a long time, plunging everything into darkness. After such an event, many more people, plants and animals will die, the economies of all countries will collapse, and the survivors will have to restore life on Earth for a long time.

Warming or new ice age?

Gradual climate change is also preparing big troubles. According to scientists, due to global warming, the ice of the Arctic will completely melt in the next few years, which will raise the level of the world ocean and cause flooding of many regions of the planet, whose lands are located in lowlands near the seas. Melting glaciers will trigger huge tsunamis and landscape changes throughout the planet.

Other scientists, on the contrary, say that Europe and Africa are facing a new ice Age. This is due to a change in the movement of the warm Gulf Stream, which has been heating Europe for many millennia. According to them, the Gulf Stream is changing its direction, already today deviating from its previous course by more than 800 kilometers. The warm current is directed to the regions of Canada and does not reach Europe, which explains the cold winters. European countries and unnaturally warm weather in Canada. If this trend continues, then soon the Gulf Stream will melt the ice of Greenland, then North America will literally be washed away from the face of the earth by constant floods and tsunamis, and Europe will die from the cold in 40-degree frosts.

Supervolcano

Another topic of discussion is the activity of the supervolcano in national park Yellowstone in the USA. The park covers an area of ​​more than 8.9 thousand square kilometers and is famous not only for its stunning nature, but also for its geysers and thermal springs. In the center of this park is the most powerful supervolcano to date with a crater from 55 to 75 kilometers. Its activity manifests itself every 400 thousand years, and for about 400 thousand years the volcano has been silent. And this means only one thing: its eruption can begin at any moment. Some researchers have set the start date for the eruption as early as 2016, some studies assure that the activity of the volcano will begin within the next 40 years, but many American scientists are in no hurry to raise a panic and claim that the eruption does not threaten the planet for another 20-40 thousand years.

But if this happens in the near future, the population of the United States and all the inhabitants of the planet are threatened with a global catastrophe on such a scale that mankind has not yet seen. The next 300-500 kilometers from Yellowstone will be filled with molten lava. Units will be able to escape from this zone. Hot gases and ash will hit the air for many days, filling the atmosphere of the planet with dust and fumes. The column of volcanic eruptions will be so great that it will close the sun for many months. The air between countries and continents will stop, ash will fill up the territory of the United States, making the land unsuitable for plants and animals. Many species of the living world will perish, humanity will have to cope with an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions. And this is not counting the huge human casualties in the first moments of the supervolcano.

Whatever catastrophe occurs on Earth, people will have to face global changes in their lives.

Today, the attention of the whole world is drawn to Chile, where a large-scale eruption of the Calbuco volcano began. The time has come to remember 7 biggest natural disasters recent years to know what we can expect in the future. Nature steps on people, as people used to step on nature.

Calbuco volcano eruption. 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, starting the ejection of volcanic ash to a height of several kilometers.

On the Internet you can find a huge number of videos about this amazingly beautiful sight. However, it is pleasant to enjoy the view only through a computer, being thousands of kilometers 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 step. It is not yet known how long the eruption will last and what real damage it will bring. But it will definitely be a sum of several billion dollars.

Earthquake in Haiti

On January 12, 2010, Haiti suffered a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. There were several tremors, the main of which had a magnitude of 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.

More than 222,000 people died and 311,000 were injured during and after the earthquake, according to official figures. varying degrees. 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 huge due to the high deterioration of infrastructure in Haiti, and also because of 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 the removal of rubble and the restoration of the country.

As a result, an international military contingent was sent to Haiti, which took over the government in the first period 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 inhabitants of the Earth knew about the tsunami 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 coast of dozens of states in the Indian Ocean.

It all started with major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1-9.3 what happened a little north of the island Sumatra. It caused a giant wave up to 15 meters high, which spread in all directions of the ocean and hundreds of settlements from the face of the Earth, 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 states on the Indian Ocean. Statisticians counted more than 300 thousand dead in this disaster. At the same time, the bodies of many could not be found - the wave carried them into the open ocean.

The consequences of this disaster are enormous. In many places infrastructure was never fully restored after the 2004 tsunami.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption

The hard-to-pronounce Icelandic name Eyjafjallajokull became one of the most popular words in 2010. And all thanks to the volcanic eruption in the mountain range with this name.

Paradoxically, not a single person died during this eruption. But this natural disaster seriously disrupted business life throughout the world, primarily in Europe. After all, a huge amount of volcanic ash thrown into the sky from the Eyjafjallajökull vent completely paralyzed air traffic in the Old World. 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. The daily losses of airlines during that period amounted to more than $200 million.

Earthquake in China's Sichuan province

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

As a result of the main earthquake of magnitude 8, as well as smaller concussions that followed it, more than 69,000 people died in Sichuan, 18,000 were missing, and 288,000 were injured.

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

For publishing real data about the dead and destruction, as well as for articles about corruption, which led to such huge numbers of losses, the PRC authorities even imprisoned the most famous contemporary Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, 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 hit the Southeast coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico in late August 2005.

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

The population who refused or did not have time to evacuate fled on the roofs of houses. The famous Superdom stadium became the main gathering place for people. But it turned into a trap at the same time, because it was already impossible to get out of it.

During the hurricane, 1,836 people died and more than a million were made homeless. The damage from this natural disaster is estimated at 125 billion dollars. 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 in 2005.

March 11, 2011 in the Pacific Ocean east of the island of Honshu there were shocks with a magnitude of 9-9.1, which led to the appearance of a huge tsunami wave up to 7 meters high. She hit Japan, washing away many coastal objects and going deep into the tens of kilometers.

V different parts In Japan, after the earthquake and tsunami, fires broke out, infrastructure was destroyed, including industrial. 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. The world knows about the 2011 disaster in Japan, primarily because of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which occurred as a result of the collapse of a tsunami wave on it.

More than four years have passed since this accident, but the operation at the nuclear power plant is still ongoing. And those closest to her settlements were permanently settled. So Japan got its own.

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