Natural disasters. The most terrible cataclysms in the history of the Earth. Massive sandstorms, USA

Natural disasters and cataclysms always cause enormous damage to people, as physical ( death), and moral (experiences and fear). As a result, terrible harmful natural phenomena (such as tsunamis, tornadoes and tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, storms, etc.) are becoming an increasing threat to people.

Term - natural disasters - is used for two different concepts, which in some sense overlap. Catastrophe literally means a turn, a restructuring. This value corresponds most general idea about disasters in natural science, where the evolution of the Earth is seen as a series of different disasters that cause a change in geological processes and types of living organisms.

Also the concept - natural disasters refers only to extreme natural phenomena and processes that result in loss of life. In this understanding - natural disasters are opposed – technogenic disasters, i.e. those caused directly by human activity.

Natural disaster- an event caused by natural causes, the destructive effect of which occurs within a sufficiently large space-time parameters and causes death and/or injury of people, as well as significant temporary or permanent changes in the living communities that it affects. It also causes significant material damage due to its adverse effects on human activities and biological resources.

Global natural disasters can be called both very large, but not fatal disasters for humanity, and those that lead to the extinction of humanity.

Natural disasters in their generally accepted understanding have always been one of the elements of global ecodynamics. Natural disasters and various natural disasters in the past occurred in accordance with the development of natural trends, and starting from the 19th century, anthropogenic factors began to influence their dynamics. The deployment of engineering activities in the 20th century and the formation of a complex socio-economic structure of the world sharply increased not only the share of anthropogenically caused natural disasters, but also changed the characteristics environment with giving them dynamics in the direction of deterioration of the habitat of living beings, including humans.

Every year the number of natural disasters in the world increases, on average, by about 20 percent. Experts from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society came to this disappointing conclusion.

For example, in 2006, 427 natural disasters occurred in the world. Most deaths were recorded as a result of earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods. Over the past 10 years, mortality in disasters has increased from 600 thousand to 1.2 million people per year, and the number of victims has increased from 230 to 270 million.

Some disasters occur under the earth's surface, others - on it, others - in the water shell (hydrosphere), and the latter in the air shell (atmosphere) of the Earth.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, acting from below on the earth's surface, lead to surface disasters such as landslides or tsunamis, as well as fires. Other surface disasters arise under the influence of processes in the atmosphere, where temperature and pressure differences are equalized and energy is transferred to the water surface.

As with all natural processes, there is a mutual connection between natural disasters. One disaster influences another; it happens that the first disaster serves as a trigger for subsequent ones.

The closest relationship exists between earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and fires. Tropical cyclones almost always cause flooding. Earthquakes can also cause landslides. Those, in turn, can block river valleys and cause floods. The relationship between earthquakes and volcanic eruptions is mutual: earthquakes caused by volcanic eruptions are known, and, conversely, volcanic eruptions caused by the rapid movement of masses under the surface of the Earth. Tropical cyclones can be a direct cause of flooding, both river and sea. Atmospheric disturbances and heavy rains can affect slope sliding.

Earthquakes are underground shocks and vibrations of the Earth's surface caused by natural causes (mainly tectonic processes). In some places on Earth, earthquakes occur frequently and sometimes reach great strength, disrupting the integrity of the soil, destroying buildings and causing casualties.

The number of earthquakes recorded annually around the globe amounts to hundreds of thousands. However, the overwhelming majority of them are weak, and only a small proportion reaches the level of catastrophe.

The area where an underground shock occurs - the source of an earthquake - is a certain volume in the thickness of the Earth, within which the process of releasing energy that has been accumulating for a long time occurs. In a geological sense, a source is a rupture or a group of ruptures along which almost instantaneous mass movement occurs. In the center of the outbreak there is a point called the hypocenter. The projection of the hypocenter onto the Earth's surface is called the epicenter. Around it there is an area of ​​greatest destruction - the pleistoseist region. Lines connecting points with the same intensity of vibrations (in points) are called isoseists.

Seismic waves are recorded using instruments called seismographs. Nowadays, they are very complex electronic devices that allow them to capture the weakest vibrations earth's surface.

There is a need for a simple and objective determination of the magnitude of earthquakes, using a measure that can be easily calculated and freely compared. This kind of scale was proposed by the Japanese scientist Wadachi in 1931. In 1935, it was improved by the famous American seismologist Charles Richter. Such an objective measure of the magnitude of earthquakes is magnitude, denoted M.

The characteristics of the earthquake force depending on the value of M can be presented in the form of a table:

Richter scale characterizing the magnitude of earthquakes

The Great Chilean Earthquake (or Valdivian Earthquake) is the strongest earthquake in the history of observation; its magnitude, according to various estimates, ranged from 9.3 to 9.5. The earthquake occurred on May 22, 1960, its epicenter was located near the city of Valdivia, 435 kilometers south of Santiago.

The tremors caused a powerful tsunami, the height of the waves reaching 10 meters. The number of victims was about 6 thousand people, and the majority of people died from the tsunami. The huge waves caused severe damage around the world, killing 138 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines. The damage in 1960 prices was about half a billion dollars.

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale occurred east of the island of Honshu. This earthquake is considered the most powerful in the entire known history of Japan.

The tremors caused a powerful tsunami (up to 7 meters in height), which killed about 16 thousand people. Moreover, an earthquake and a tsunami were the cause of the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. The total damage from the disaster is estimated at $14.5-$36.6 billion.

North Sumatra, Indonesia, 2004 – magnitude 9.1-9.3

An undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 caused a tsunami that was considered the deadliest natural disaster in modern history. The magnitude of the earthquake was, according to various estimates, from 9.1 to 9.3. This is the third most powerful earthquake on record.

The epicenter of the earthquake was not far from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake triggered one of the most destructive tsunamis in history. The height of the waves exceeded 15 meters, they reached the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, southern India, Thailand and several other countries.

The tsunami almost completely destroyed coastal infrastructure in the east of Sri Lanka and the northwestern coast of Indonesia. According to various estimates, from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people died. Damage from the tsunami amounted to about $10 billion.

Tsunami (Japanese) - marine gravity waves of very long length, resulting from the upward or downward displacement of extended sections of the bottom during strong underwater and coastal earthquakes and, occasionally, as a result of volcanic eruptions and other tectonic processes. Due to the low compressibility of water and the rapid process of deformation of sections of the bottom, the column of water resting on them also shifts without having time to spread, as a result of which some elevation or depression is formed on the surface of the ocean. The resulting disturbance turns into oscillatory movements of the water column - tsunami waves propagating at high speed (from 50 to 1000 km/h). The distance between adjacent wave crests varies from 5 to 1500 km. The height of waves in the area of ​​their occurrence varies between 0.01-5 m. Near the coast it can reach 10 m, and in areas with unfavorable relief (wedge-shaped bays, river valleys, etc.) - over 50 m.

About 1000 cases of tsunamis are known, more than 100 of them with catastrophic consequences, causing complete destruction, washing away of structures and soil and vegetation cover. 80% of tsunamis occur on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean, including the western slope of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. Based on the patterns of tsunami occurrence and propagation, the coast is divided into zones according to the degree of threat. Measures for partial protection from tsunamis: creation of artificial coastal structures (breakwaters, piers and embankments), planting forest strips along the ocean shores

Flood is a significant flooding of an area with water as a result of a rise in the water level in a river, lake or sea, caused by various reasons. Flooding on a river occurs from a sharp increase in the amount of water due to the melting of snow or glaciers located in its basin, as well as as a result of heavy rainfall. Flooding is often caused by an increase in the water level in the river due to blockage of the riverbed with ice during ice drift (jam) or due to clogging of the riverbed under a stationary ice cover with accumulations of inland ice and the formation of an ice plug (jag). Floods often occur under the influence of winds, driving water from the sea and causing an increase in the level due to the retention of water brought by the river at the mouth.

St. Petersburg flood, 1824, about 200−600 dead. On November 19, 1824, a flood occurred in St. Petersburg, which killed hundreds of human lives and destroyed many houses. Then the water level in the Neva River and its canals rose 4.14 - 4.21 meters above the normal level (ordinary).

Flood in China, 1931, about 145 thousand - 4 million dead. From 1928 to 1930, China suffered from severe drought. But at the end of the winter of 1930, strong snowstorms began, and in the spring there were incessant heavy rains and a thaw, which caused the water level in the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers to rise significantly. For example, in the Yangtze River, the water rose by 70 cm in July alone. As a result, the river overflowed its banks and soon reached the city of Nanjing, which was then the capital of China. Many people drowned and died from waterborne infectious diseases such as cholera and typhus. There are known cases of cannibalism and infanticide among desperate residents. According to Chinese sources, about 145 thousand people died as a result of the flood, while Western sources claim that the death toll was between 3.7 million and 4 million.

Landslides are the sliding movement of rock masses down a slope under the influence of gravity. Landslides occur in any part of a slope or slope due to an imbalance of rocks caused by: an increase in the steepness of the slope as a result of erosion by water; weakening of the strength of rocks due to weathering or waterlogging by precipitation and groundwater; exposure to seismic shocks; construction and economic activities carried out without taking into account the geological conditions of the area (destruction of slopes by road excavations, excessive watering of gardens and vegetable gardens located on slopes, etc.). Most often, landslides occur on slopes composed of alternating water-resistant (clayey) and aquiferous rocks (for example, sand-gravel, fractured limestone). The development of a landslide is facilitated by such occurrence when the layers are inclined towards the slope or are crossed by cracks in the same direction. In highly moist clayey rocks, landslides take the form of a stream.

2005 Southern California landslide. Fallen upon Southern California Heavy downpours and the resulting floods, mud flows and landslides claimed the lives of more than 20 people.

South Korea – August 2011

59 people died. 10 are listed as missing.

Heavy rainfall observed to be the heaviest in recent memory.

Volcanoes (named after the fire god Vulcan), geological formations that arise above channels and cracks in earth's crust, along which lavas, hot gases and rock fragments erupt onto the earth's surface from deep magmatic sources. Typically, volcanoes represent individual mountains composed of products of eruptions.

Volcanoes are divided into active, dormant and extinct. The first include: those that are currently erupting constantly or periodically; about the eruptions of which there is historical data; there is no information about eruptions, but which release hot gases and water (solfatar stage). Dormant volcanoes include those whose eruptions are unknown, but they have retained their shape and local earthquakes occur beneath them. Extinct volcanoes are severely destroyed and eroded without any manifestations of volcanic activity.

Eruptions can be long-term (over several years, decades and centuries) and short-term (measured in hours).

An eruption usually begins with increased emissions of gases, first along with dark, cold lava fragments, and then with hot ones. These emissions are in some cases accompanied by an outpouring of lava. The height of the rise of gases, water vapor, saturated with ash and lava fragments, depending on the strength of the explosions, ranges from 1 to 5 km (during the Bezymianny eruption in Kamchatka in 1956 it reached 45 km). The ejected material is transported over distances from several to tens of thousands of km. The volume of ejected debris sometimes reaches several km3.

During some eruptions, the concentration of volcanic ash in the atmosphere is so high that darkness occurs, similar to darkness in a closed room. This took place in 1956 in the village of Klyuchi, located 40 km from V. Bezymyanny.

The products of volcanic eruptions are gaseous (volcanic gases), liquid (lava) and solid (volcanic rocks).

Modern volcanoes are located along young mountain ranges or along large faults (grabens) over hundreds and thousands of km in tectonically mobile areas (see table). Almost two-thirds of volcanoes are concentrated on islands and shores of the Pacific Ocean (Pacific volcanic belt). Among other regions, the Atlantic Ocean region stands out in terms of the number of active volcanoes.

Vesuvius, 79 AD

During the eruption, Vesuvius threw a deadly cloud of ash and smoke to a height of 20.5 km, and also spewed about 1.5 million tons of molten rock and crushed pumice every second. In this case, a huge amount of thermal energy was released, which was many times greater than the amount released during the explosion atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

Tornadoes are catastrophic atmospheric vortices that have the shape of a funnel with a diameter of 10 to 1 km. In this whirlwind, the wind speed can reach an incredible value - 300 m/s (which is more than 1000 km/h).

The forward movement speed of a tornado is 40 km/h, which means that you cannot escape from it, you can only get away by car. Fleeing from a tornado, however, is also problematic in this case, since its route is completely irregular and unpredictable.

A tornado is somewhat reminiscent of a cyclone, for example, in its circular vortex movement of air or in the fact that low pressure is observed in the center of the funnel.

In the deserts of the United States, there are two types of vortex winds - classic tornadoes and the so-called “desert devils”. Tornadoes are associated with thunderclouds, whereas inverted desert devil funnels have no association with cloud formations.

The process by which a tornado occurs is not entirely clear. Obviously, they are formed at moments of unstable air stratification, when the heating of the earth's surface leads to heating of the lower layer of air. Above this layer there is a layer of colder air; this situation is unstable. Warm air rushes upward, while the cold air in a whirlwind, like a trunk, descends down to the earth's surface. This often occurs over small elevated areas within flat terrain.

There is a scale, similar to those used to determine the intensity of earthquakes or the strength of winds, by which the strength of a tornado is determined.

Violent tornadoes leave a swath of devastated land in their wake. Roofs are torn off houses, trees are torn out of the ground, people and cars are lifted into the air. When the path of a tornado runs through a densely populated area, the number of victims reaches a significant level. Thus, on April 11, 1965, 37 tornadoes occurred over the territory of the Midwest of the United States, which caused the death of 270 people. Tornadoes are most frequently observed in the United States of America.

Statistics on the number of tornado victims are inaccurate. Over the past 50 years, they have killed up to 30 people annually in the United States alone.

Tornado protection is problematic. They appear unexpectedly. It is impossible to determine their trajectory. Telephone warnings from city to city can help. The best and, apparently, only protection against a tornado is to take shelter in the basement or in a solid building.

Oklahoma 2013. As scientists said, the speed of EF5-type vortices is more than 322 kilometers per hour (89 meters per second). The tornado was two kilometers wide and lasted 40 minutes. According to meteorologists, less than one percent of all tornadoes in the United States reach such strength, that is, about ten tornadoes per year. Previously, experts tentatively estimated the strength of the tornado in Oklahoma to be one point lower, that is, four points out of five on the improved Fujita scale.

About 24 died. 237 people were injured.

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 riverbeds 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 top part soil, which prevents the occurrence of mudflows. 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, together 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 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. In this case, dust and sand rise into the air and at the same time dust settles on large territory. 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 - 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, liquid and solids with high temperature. 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 atmospheric vortex, arising in a thundercloud and spreading 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. Largest quantity Tornadoes are 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 of which there are 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

Hurricane or Tropical Cyclone is a type of weather system low pressure, which occurs over a warm sea surface and is accompanied by powerful thunderstorms, heavy rainfall and storm-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 most strong hurricanes capable of causing not only extreme downpours, but also big waves on the surface of the sea, storm tides 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 continued into South-East Asia since mid-July 2001, causing landslides and floods 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. Abundance 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. First scientific description 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, 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. Total the 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 An earthquake of magnitude 8.2 is believed to have occurred 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.

Legends different nations world tell about some ancient disaster, which has befallen our planet. It was accompanied by terrible floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions; the lands were depopulated, and part of the land sank to the bottom of the sea...

An avalanche of environmental, social and man-made disasters fell upon us with the beginning of the 21st century. Daily messages from all corners of the planet inform about new natural disasters: eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes and forest fires. But not harbingers is this global catastrophe Earth, because it seems that the next event will be even more destructive and will claim even more lives.

Nature of our planet, united in four elements, as if warning a person: stop! Come to your senses! Otherwise, you will organize a terrible judgment for yourself with your own hands...

Fire

Volcanic eruptions. Earth engulfed in volcanic fire belts. There are four belts in total. The largest is the Pacific Ring of Fire, which has 526 volcanoes. Of these, 328 erupted in historically foreseeable time.

Fires. So catastrophic in its consequences natural disaster, like a fire (forest, peat, grass and domestic), causes enormous damage to the economy Earth, claiming hundreds of human lives. According to World Organization healthcare, every year hundreds of deaths are caused by the effects on human health of smoke from forest and peat fires. Smoke also causes road accidents.

Earth

Earthquakes. Tremors and vibrations of the planet's surface caused by tectonic processes occur annually throughout Earth, their number reaches a million, but most are so insignificant that they go unnoticed. occur on the planet approximately once every two weeks.

Sliding firmament. It just so happened that the man called himself the owner nature. But sometimes it seems that she only tolerates such self-appointment, at a certain moment making it clear who is boss. Her anger is sometimes terrible. Landslides, mudflows and avalanches - the sliding of soil, the descent of snow masses or streams of water carrying fragments of rocks and clay - these sweep away everything in their path.

Water

Tsunami. The nightmare of all residents of the ocean coast - a giant tsunami wave - arises as a result of an underwater earthquake. The shock causes a fault on the bottom of the sea, along which significant sections of the bottom rise or fall, which leads to the growth of a many-kilometer column of water. A tsunami appears, carrying billions of tons of water. Colossal energy drives it to a distance of up to 10-15 thousand km. The waves follow each other at intervals of about 10 minutes, spreading at the speed of a jet plane. In the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean, their speed reaches 1000 km/h.

Floods. The angry flow of water can destroy entire cities, leaving no one a chance to survive. The reason most often is a sharp rise in water to a critical level after prolonged rainfall.

Droughts. Well, who among us doesn’t love the sun? Its gentle rays lift the spirits and bring the world back to life after hibernation... But it happens that the abundant sun causes the death of crops, animals and people, and provokes fires. Drought is one of the most dangerous natural disasters.

Air

Typhoon or hurricane. Atmosphere Earth It is never calm; its air masses are in constant motion. Under the influence of solar radiation, topography and the daily rotation of the planet, inhomogeneities arise in the air ocean. Regions low blood pressure are called cyclones, and higher ones are called anticyclones. It is in cyclones that strong winds originate. The largest of them reach thousands of kilometers in diameter and are clearly visible from space thanks to the clouds that fill them. Essentially, these are vortices where air moves in a spiral from the edges to the center. Such vortices, constantly existing in the atmosphere, but born in the tropics - the Atlantic and the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean and reaching wind speeds of over 30 m/s, are called hurricanes. Most often, hurricanes originate over heated areas of tropical oceans, but they can also occur in high latitudes near the poles Earth. Similar phenomena in the western Pacific Ocean north of the equator are called typhoons (from the Chinese "taifeng", which means "big wind"). The fastest vortices that arise in thunderclouds are tornadoes.

Tornado, or tornado. An air funnel that stretches from a thundercloud to the ground is one of the most powerful and destructive phenomena - natural disasters. Tornadoes (also known as tornadoes) occur in the warm sector of a cyclone, when warm air currents collide under the influence of a strong side wind. Quite unexpectedly, the beginning of this natural disaster can be ordinary rain. The temperature drops sharply, a whirlwind appears from behind the rain clouds and rushes at great speed. It rolls with a deafening roar, sucking in everything that gets in its way: people, cars, houses, trees. The power of a tornado is destructive and the consequences are terrible.

Climate change. Global Climate change is giving neither meteorologists nor ordinary mortals a break. Forecasters continue to record temperature records, while constantly making mistakes in their forecasts even for the coming days. The current warming is a natural outcome of the Little Ice Age of the 14th-19th centuries.

Who's to blame for natural disasters?

Much of the warming observed over the past 50-70 years is caused by human activities, primarily the release of gases that cause Greenhouse effect. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising. This leads to natural disasters: hotter summer, more Cold winter, floods, hurricanes, droughts, extinction of entire species of flora and fauna. But isn't it getting ready? nature take revenge on a person with global catastrophe of the Earth?

Based on materials from the magazine "World of Secrets and Mysteries", No. 4, 2012

This year, the word “abnormal” is heard in almost every weather forecast: some regions are suffocating in fires due to abnormal heat, others are choking from rain, and rivers threaten to overflow their banks even in the Moscow region. What's happening on the planet? Scientists are putting forward new explanations for the increasing frequency of cataclysms and unanimously declare: it will get worse. But why?!

Chronicle: what do I care about snow, what do I like about heat...

The climate began to present us with surprises at the beginning of March. After a relatively calm winter, an early spring unexpectedly arrived - in fact, three weeks faster than the calendar.

March turned out to be unusually warm and sunny throughout almost all of European territory countries. However, then winter unexpectedly returned - with snow, ice and the whole arsenal of climate disasters. March gave way to a cool April, and then an unusually cold and rainy May. According to the Hydrometeorological Center, record cold and frosts were observed throughout the entire area from Barents Sea to Cherny and from the western border to the Urals until June, and average monthly temperature V Central Russia turned out to be 2 degrees below normal.

At that time, the “May blizzard” hit Kaliningrad; in Syktyvkar, Kostroma and Pskov regions, people posted on the Internet photos of almost New Year’s landscapes: green grass, sticky leaves on trees, barely blooming flowers - and all this under the snow. IN Leningrad region the temperature dropped to -8 °C at night. In Moscow, May turned out to be the frostiest in the 21st century, and Victory Day was the most “oaky” in the entire history of the holiday. At the same time, beyond the Urals, the whole spring, on the contrary, turned out to be warmer than before.

June snowfall in Murmansk. Photo: www.globallookpress.com / instagram.com/narodnoe_tv/

But, alas, all this was just a prologue to the rampant elements. On May 29, a powerful hurricane hit Moscow with gusts of up to 30 m per second, which has never happened in the entire history of meteorological observations. This storm was the deadliest in Belokamennaya since the tornado of 1904: 18 people were killed and more than 170 were injured.

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At the end of May - beginning of June, destructive tornadoes and tornadoes swept through Tatarstan, Altai, the Urals - in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, in Bashkiria (in Tatarstan - with freezing rain). Summer snow fell in Moscow and St. Petersburg on June 2. Several regions located thousands of kilometers apart from each other were immediately hit by the elements: in Siberia, the Volga region and the North Caucasus. Hurricanes and prolonged downpours were observed in Barnaul, Togliatti, Kurgan region, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, etc. Heavy rains and flooding in the Stavropol region became the worst in the last half century. In the capital, June 15 turned out to be the coldest of this century - only +9.4 °C. Four months - March, April, May and June - were marked in the capital by exceeding monthly precipitation norms by more than 160-180%. But this record was broken on June 30, when 85% of the monthly norm fell in Moscow. This has not happened for 95 years - since 1923. Meanwhile, the “real world” came to Murmansk and Severomorsk northern summer“On June 21, the temperature dropped sharply to 0 °C, and snowdrifts grew on the streets.

Residents of central Russia can envy those who live in Southern Siberia: in Krasnoyarsk, Abakan, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, heat records set in May were continued in mid-June. It reached +34...+37 °C. And recently in the steppe regions of Crimea the temperature reached +42...+43 °C in the shade. There has been terrible heat for a month now in a number of European countries, even worse in Central Asia- in Tashkent, for example, during the day it reaches +49 °C.

In July, the number of weather anomalies and climate disasters did not decrease. In the first three days of July, Moscow received half of the monthly precipitation norm - 47 mm. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has already warned that new natural disasters should be expected again in the near future. And scientists came up with new terms: “the weather is feverish”, “the climate is in hysterics.”

Version No. 1: It’s getting colder due to warming

There are many hypotheses that try to explain the cause of abnormal climate events. Among them there are both scientific ones and those that are born in conversations on a bench at the entrance. But they are no less interesting.

According to meteorologists, global warming is to blame. Because of it, the climate has become unstable and unbalanced. But why does warming lead to cooling?

Global warming is occurring faster at the poles than in mid-latitudes and even more so at the equator. Because of this, the temperature difference between the equator and the poles is becoming smaller. And the mechanism of atmospheric circulation is designed in such a way that the greater this temperature difference, the more intense the air masses move from west to east. It is this kind of west-east transfer that the residents of Russia are accustomed to. Cyclones coming to us from Europe then move towards the Ural Mountains.

“Due to a decrease in the temperature difference between the poles and the equator, this transfer, which is familiar to us, has slowed down, but transfers along the meridians have begun to be observed more and more often - air masses move from the north, then from the south,” explains Director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman Vilfand. - It is the repeatability of meridional processes that leads to more intense cold snaps. In general, extreme events occur more often, with very low and very high temperatures observed. Paradox: during the warming period, the intensity of cold snaps becomes greater than it was before global change climate. Our wonderful scientist, Academician Alexander Obukhov, said: “During the period of climate warming, the weather becomes nervous.” That is, there is less uniform weather. Such processes occur throughout the planet, but they are most noticeable in temperate latitudes.”

So, frequent invasions of cold Arctic air into the territory of Central Russia are caused by the fact that the Arctic itself is becoming warmer. And global warming also leads to the fact that some air masses are blocked by others for a long time. When in 2010, residents of the European part of Russia were suffocating for weeks from the smoke of peat fires, the drought and heat were caused precisely by a blocking anticyclone. But this can also happen with cold air masses, which apparently happened in May of this year.

“In addition, in May-June there was increased cyclonic activity in the North Atlantic,” says Head of the Climatology Laboratory of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Semyonov. “Such an anomaly could be associated with strong changes in ocean temperature.”

Roman Vilfand warns: similar weather anomalies in our country are possible in the next 10 years.

Version No. 2: Scientists spoil the weather

When Europe sweltered in 2010, many were quick to blame the cataclysm on physicists conducting research at the Large Hadron Collider. This world's largest particle accelerator is located on the border of France and Switzerland. Suspicions that “scientists are spoiling our weather” are still heard, although the LHC has been shut down for repairs since the end of 2016.

Another scientific complex suspected of influencing the climate is located in Alaska. This is the American HAARP - a project to study the ionosphere and auroras. There have been rumors that it is capable of manipulating weather on a planetary scale since its launch in 1997. Conspiracy theorists blame HAARP for earthquakes, droughts, hurricanes and floods. By the way, similar installations exist in Norway, Russia (in the Nizhny Novgorod region), and Ukraine.

WITH weather anomalies They also connected with the launch of the Chinese satellite Mo Tzu, which was supposed to conduct an experiment on quantum teleportation. After the first successful sessions on the satellite, equipment malfunctions began. According to experts, they caused a sharp increase in the level of negative air ions, which could affect the climate.

Version No. 3: The sun goes out

Astronomers are alarmed: they have discovered a noticeable decrease in solar activity. In recent years, the level of magnetic activity of our star has decreased to record levels, which indicates fundamental changes in its depths, as well as the disastrous consequences of these processes for humanity. Scientists from Birmingham (UK) came to these conclusions.

Until recently, our star was in a state of great maximum, that is, increased activity. But in 2008 a new cycle began, which turned out to be surprisingly weak. Astronomers fear that the Sun has begun to fade.

One of the signs of the activity of a star is the presence of spots on its surface. And this year there are catastrophically few of them! The number of sunspots is gradually decreasing. The images show that the thickness of the layer where they are born is decreasing. In addition, the rotation of the star in its circumpolar regions has slowed down.

According to scientists, a period of abnormal calm of the C-sun can lead to long-term cooling on our planet. It is also possible that the weather quirks currently observed are harbingers of a more menacing cataclysm.

Version No. 4: climate weapons

Climate weapons are prohibited international conventions, but this does not mean that work on it is not underway. And in some classifiers, weapons that can be called climatic are officially present. When a hurricane hit Moscow on May 29, resulting in casualties and tearing off part of the roof from the Senate Palace in the Kremlin, the people began to grumble: surely the West had used a secret technology that influenced the weather in Russia.

“Technologies similar to climate weapons are used when the clouds clear up for the holiday. By the way, this method of influencing the weather was developed specifically for military purposes, says military scientist Andrei Shalygin. - And now there are many companies in the world that offer their services for “weather regulation.” That is, experiments are being carried out on the climate that no one controls! What does this mean? Yes, you can spray reagents around one city for a holiday, and this will change the weather in it, but in another region, a thousand kilometers away, this will backfire. There are many different ways to provoke natural phenomena. For example, you can spray chemical components onto two cyclones moving towards each other. And these components will react when combined, and then a much more powerful hurricane will hit the area. This way you can provoke not only hurricanes, but also rainstorms, mudflows, floods, tornadoes, etc.”

They say that the Pentagon is paying increased attention to work in the field of climate change (the same HAARP complex in Alaska is under the control of the US military department). According to some reports, the Americans even planned to fight terrorists from ISIS (an organization banned in Russia. - Ed.), causing persistent hot winds in the territory of their residence, directed streams of hot wind with clouds of sand.

pros climate weapons are obvious: how to prove that this or that natural disaster was caused artificially? And it can cause colossal damage - affecting yields and agricultural production, and therefore provoking an economic recession in the country and dissatisfaction with the authorities. To shake the political situation and kindle the fire of revolution is the job of political strategists.

The HAARP ionospheric research complex in Alaska is controlled by the US military department. Photo: Public Domain

Version No. 5: The Gulf Stream does not heat

AiF has written about this hypothesis before. Moreover, he gave a forecast that in the coming years it will begin to work and this will lead to cooling in Europe.

We are talking about stopping the warm ocean current Gulf Stream, which warms old light. And thanks to the North Atlantic Current, which is its continuation, Murmansk remains an ice-free port.

The mechanism for stopping the Gulf Stream looks like this. As it moves north, this powerful current meets the cold Labrador Current, which “dives” under it, pushing it towards Europe. This happens because the water in the Labrador Current is saltier and heavier. The picture looks like a two-level interchange - two powerful flows happily diverge.

Now let's see what happens as a result of global warming. Enormous masses of ice are melting in the Arctic - primarily the giant Greenland glacier. And ice, as you know, is frozen fresh (not salty!) water. Plus, the flow of Siberian rivers, which also carry fresh water into the ocean, is increasing. As a result, the salinity of water in the North Arctic Ocean goes down. And since fresh water lighter than salty water, it stops sinking and stops the warm Gulf Stream. In addition, the Labrador Current, also diluted with fresh water, becomes less dense and no longer “dives” under the Gulf Stream, but simply crashes into it. The two-level interchange turns into a banal intersection.

By the way, Europe has experienced many ice ages in its history. The last of them, known as the Little Glacial, began in the 14th century. and, according to researchers, was caused precisely by the slowdown of the Gulf Stream.

Natural disasters have been described in the distant past, such as the one described in the Bible " global flood" Floods happen quite often and can really take a toll global character. For example, a flood in 1931 on the Yangtze River in China flooded an area of ​​300 thousand km², and in some areas the water remained for four months.

The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah described in the Bible, according to scientists, resembles a natural phenomenon- earthquake. Researchers of Atlantis are inclined to believe that the island was also flooded as a result of an earthquake. During the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried under a layer of ash. The resulting tsunami can be a consequence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1833 was accompanied by an earthquake. As a result, a tidal wave was formed that reached the shores of the islands of Java and Sumatra. The death toll was about 300 thousand people.
Natural disasters claim about 50 thousand human lives every year. Since 1970, statistics have been updated with new data. During the earthquake in America in 1988, according to various estimates, from 25 to 50 thousand people died. Nine out of ten natural disasters belong to four types. Floods account for 40%, tropical cyclones - 20%, earthquakes and droughts - 15%. Tropical cyclones take the leading place in the number of victims. Floods cause great material damage. According to R. Cates, the annual damage caused by natural disasters to the global economy is about 30 billion US dollars.

Natural disasters are natural processes that have destructive power, causing injuries and death.
To study natural disasters, it is necessary to know the nature of each of them. Natural disasters in the form tropical cyclone carry the danger of extreme action of all its elements: rain, wind, waves, storm surges. Storm surges are the most destructive.
In 1970, a tropical cyclone in the northern Bay of Bengal caused sea levels to rise by six meters. This led to flooding. As a result of the devastating hurricane and the resulting flooding, about 300 thousand people died, and agriculture suffered $63 million in damage. 60% of the population, mostly fishermen, were killed, and 65% of fishing vessels were destroyed. The consequences of the disaster affected the supply of protein food to the entire region.

Tropical cyclones are a seasonal phenomenon. On average, up to 110 incipient hurricanes are tracked by satellites per year over the Atlantic. But only 10-11 of them will grow to gigantic sizes. It is necessary to predict the onset of a tropical cyclone in time to protect people. Hurricanes are first identified and then tracked by satellites. If a hurricane threat is detected, its path and speed are predicted. The speed and direction of a tropical cyclone can be determined at a distance of 300 kilometers by radar. It is important to identify the area of ​​coastline where storm surge may begin, as well as the signs of a tornado. Weather services keep the public informed of the location and characteristics of the cyclone.
Floods are natural disasters that result in inundation of coastal areas. The initial stage of a flood begins with the river overflowing and water overflowing its banks. Flooding is the most common natural phenomenon. Floods can occur on permanent and temporary watercourses, but even where there have never been rivers or lakes, for example in areas where heavy rainfall occurs.
Floods affect densely populated areas of the Earth: China, India, Bangladesh. Floods in China occur in the valleys of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. Despite centuries of experience and hundreds of dams, the population of these areas are still victims of floods. Severe floods in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the 20th century led to 60 million people suffering from famine. During the flood in 1911, 100 thousand people died.

Floods still pose a big threat today. After heavy rainfall in 1952, the English resort town of Lynmouth was flooded. The flood destroyed buildings, flooded streets, and uprooted trees. A large number of people holidaying in Lynmouth were cut off from solid ground. The next day, the dam broke and 34 people died.

There is an inverse relationship between property damage due to flooding and the number of victims. Countries that have something to lose have all the means to prevent or mitigate the effects of flooding. Conversely, pre-industrial countries suffer more property damage, but do not have the necessary means to prevent a disaster and save people. Flooding may result in outbreaks of infectious diseases. To combat flooding, dams and dams are built, reservoirs are built to collect flood waters, and river beds are deepened.
Earthquakes are natural disasters caused by the sudden release of energy from the earth's interior in the form of shock waves and vibrations. An earthquake is dangerous due to direct and secondary effects. Direct manifestations, due to seismic waves and tectonic movements, cause soil displacement. Secondary effects cause subsidence and soil compaction. As a result of secondary effects, cracks form on the earth's surface, tsunamis, avalanches, and fires. A powerful earthquake is always accompanied by a large number human casualties and material losses. According to statistics, greatest number Those affected by this disaster were in China, the USSR, Japan, and Italy. Approximately 14 thousand people die from earthquakes every year. Destruction zones from the epicenter of an earthquake can be several tens or hundreds of kilometers away. For example, the epicenter of the earthquake that occurred in Mexico in 1985 was in Pacific Ocean, near the city of Acapulco. But despite this, it was so powerful that a significant part of the country was affected, especially the capital of Mexico, Mexico City. On the Richter scale, the force of the tremors reached 7.8. Located 300 kilometers from the epicenter, about 250 buildings were destroyed in Mexico City and 20 thousand people were injured. The devastation zone during the earthquake in Guatemala extended 60 kilometers from the epicenter. The ancient capital of Antigua was completely destroyed, 23 thousand people died, 95% of populated areas were destroyed.

Predicting natural disasters is very difficult. On this moment scientists can predict powerful seismic tremors, but cannot indicate exact time. But there have been cases when scientists were able to accurately predict an earthquake. IN Chinese province In Liaoning in 1974, local residents noticed signs of tectonic activity. The area was under constant monitoring by geologists, who, after the first tremors on February 1, 1975, were able to predict the possibility of a devastating earthquake. The authorities took measures to evacuate the population, and four days later an earthquake began, resulting in damage to 90% of the buildings. According to expert forecasts, the number of victims could reach 3 million people, but thanks to the measures taken, large casualties were avoided.

Up to 2 billion people continue to live in earthquake-prone areas. A radical measure to preserve the life and health of people is resettlement from seismically active zones.
Volcanic eruptions are natural disasters that have caused the death of 200 thousand people over 500 years. Until now, millions of people live in close proximity to volcanoes. On the island of Martinique in 1902, during a volcanic eruption, the city of Saint-Pierre, which was located 8 kilometers from the Mont Pelee volcano, was destroyed. The death toll was about 28 thousand people. This is almost the entire population of the city of Saint-Pierre. The activity of this volcano was already noted in 1851, but then there were no casualties or destruction. Experts predicted 12 days before the start of the eruption that this eruption would be similar to the previous one, so none of the residents attached great importance to the beginning of the approaching disaster.

In 1985, the Ruiz volcano in Colombia “awakened”. This volcanic eruption resulted in a huge number of casualties and property damage. The city of Amero, which was located 40 kilometers from Ruiz, suffered the most. Molten lava and gases melted the ice and snow on the top of the mountain, thereby causing a mudslide that completely destroyed the city. 15 thousand people, residents of the city of Amero, died. 20 thousand hectares of agricultural plantations, roads were destroyed, and others were destroyed settlements. The total number of deaths was 25 thousand people, about 200 thousand were injured.
Natural disasters in the form of volcanic activity cause as much damage as in previous centuries. However, scientists were able to establish the size of the zones of influence of volcanoes. The lava flow spreads over a distance of up to 30 kilometers when major eruptions. Acidic and hot gases pose a threat within a radius of several kilometers. Acid rain, which spread over a distance of 400-500 kilometers, cause burns in people, poisoning of vegetation and soil.

Natural disasters must be studied in order to develop a system of measures to protect human health and prevent mass casualties. Great value has an engineering-geographical zoning of natural disaster zones.