In some cases, the foolishness of man may have been the cause.
When writing my article on the Top Ten U.S. Natural Disasters, I realized that ignorance or greed played a role in some of the worst disasters that occurred in America.
The city of Galveston is an island on the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. The city officials knew that Galveston needed a breakwater for protection. They didn’t build one and huge waves during the Galveston Hurricane submerged the city.
New Orleans was in need of reinforcing their levees. They didn’t do it and the levees easily broke when Hurricane Katrina hit and flooded 80% of the city.
The Johnstown flood was caused by man. Some big investors from New York City decided to enlarge the lake in order to create a resort for wealthy families. They had to make the South Fork Dam higher but they used weak material like mud, straw and rocks. In addition, they closed up the vents used for spillways. After a few days of heavy rain, the new part of the dam easily gave way.
The Dust Bowl in the 1930s could have been averted if farmers wouldn’t have plowed up all their land. They cut down trees and left very little of the natural grass that keeps the soil intact. A severe drought caused the topsoil to blow away.
In the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, many parts of the city were bulldozed. The debris was dumped into the bay and new buildings were constructed on top of this landfill. This soil was very unstable and when the next big earthquake hit San Francisco in 1989, these buildings in the Marina District crumbled.
Let’s hope that man has learned his lesson from these past mistakes.
