9781422280560

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Catastrophes

time. For instance, a bad storm might result in you losing power at your house, and you may not be able to do many of the activities you normally would until the power returns. If there is a risk of flood or wildfire near your home, you may need to evacuate , which will involve leaving most of your stuff behind. You may not be able to go to school, and you may not see your friends until the crisis has passed. Catastrophes often have psychological effects as well as physical ones. Child psychologists report that the psychological damage of anthropogenic disasters tends to be worse than that from natural

Human-Made Natural Disasters? In the past, there was a clear distinction between catastrophes caused by humans and “natural” disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes. But in the future, the distinction between human-made and natural may become less clear. In 2015 a team of scientists from 20 different countries examined 28 destructive weather events from the previous year, from blizzards to heatwaves, and found that climate change played some role in half of them. As the temperatures rise both over land and in water, weather events are expected to become both less predictable and more severe. In some regions this may mean more intense hurricanes, while in other places drought may become a regular way of life. Storms are expected to dump even more water than in the past, while the winds inside cyclones will be even more fierce. Meanwhile, rising sea levels, which are caused