HAVOC: The Story of Natural Disasters

This is not a sensationalized, gory study of the effects of natural disasters. Rather, it is an instructive investigation into the causes of these phenomena, and, in the light of man's knowledge, a delineation of the precautions an intelligent public can take to inhibit total victimization. Eye-witness accounts of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, avalanches, volcanoes, earthquakes and tidal waves begin each chapter. Overcome by their immensity and dwarfed by man's ineffectiveness in the face of them, we go on to probe the available research on their origins, weather bureau information and similar historical evidence. The hurricanes of 1954 from Carol to Hazel, the flooding of the Missouri River in 1952, Mr. Kaller's famous and rare description of the heart of a tornado, the Austrian-Alpine avalanche, the volcante cruption of Peice, the Chilean and Assam earthquakes and scattered tidal waves provide the springboards of investigation. The text is geared for the layman and he is encouraged to consider careers in fields devoted to researching natural disasters.