In its annual “World Disasters Report”, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said natural disasters killed over 76,800 people in 2003, three times the number of victims in 2002. An earthquake that killed 31,000 people in the Iranian city of Bam, and a heat wave in Europe that killed 35,000, accounted for the higher toll. 11:42 AM
22.10.04
Scientists now believe that many tsunami attributed to movement of the crust during earthquakes are caused by large submarine landslides that have been triggered by the earthquakes. 1:52 PM
15.10.04
The safest place to experience a tsunami is at sea. Although tsunami waves can travel at more than 700 kilometres per hour, over deep oceans tsunami waves are very broad and low, so ships can ride over them safely. 1:35 PM
8.10.04
Caldera volcanoes
The largest volcanoes in New Zealand are not cone-shaped mountains. The most massive and powerful volcanic eruptions have come from calderas, huge basin-shaped volcanic depressions. New Zealand has a number of these huge calderas, including the basins now occupied by Lake Taupo and Lake Rotorua.
1:28 PM
1.10.04
Volcanic ash When a volcano erupts, it may blast out “volcanic ash” - fine material that is a mix of rock particles, crystals and shards of volcanic glass. The larger fragments fall out on the slopes of the volcano, but finer material can be carried hundreds of kilometres downwind. For example, ash from the 1995 eruption of Mount Ruapehu reached nearly to East Cape.
