Examples of human destruction of natural resources and their consequences. (3)

1934, 1 1 In the early morning of May, an unprecedented black storm occurred in the grassland area of the western United States. The storm blew for three days and nights, forming a huge black storm belt with a length of 2400 kilometers from east to west, a width of 1440 kilometers from north to south and a height of 3400 meters. Where the storm passed, streams were cut off, wells dried up, fields cracked, crops withered, livestock died of thirst, and thousands of people were displaced. This is nature's historic punishment for human civilization. As developers continue to reclaim land resources and cut down forests, soil wind erosion is serious, and continuous drought has aggravated the phenomenon of land desertification. Under the action of high-altitude airflow, dust rolled up and thick dust rose into the sky, forming a huge gray-black storm belt. The New York Times published a special report on the front page of that day. The attack of the black storm had a serious impact on the agricultural and livestock production in the United States, causing the wheat that had already suffered from drought to wither and die in a large area, causing the fluctuation of the grain market in the United States at that time and impacting the economic development. At the same time, the black storm plundered all the way, scraped off the fertile soil surface, exposed the barren sandy soil layer, changed the soil structure in the disaster-stricken areas, and seriously restricted the future development of agricultural production in the disaster-stricken areas.

Two: Avalanches in Peru

Peru is located in the west of South America, with an endless coastline of more than 3,000 kilometers. It is also a mountainous country, and the mountainous area accounts for half of the total area of the country. The famous Vascalan Peak in the Andes has a steep slope. The mountains are covered with snow all year round, and "white death" often comes here. 65438+May 3 1, 1970, a big avalanche happened here, which completely destroyed Yungayi City under the Vaskalan Peak, killing 20,000 residents and affecting an area of 23 square kilometers. At this time, in cold areas, many people have fallen asleep.

Suddenly, there was a thunderous sound in the distance. Then the earth, like a ship in the waves, suddenly lost control and trembled wildly. Then, from a distance, the sound of the sky falling apart. It was deafening and awakened people from their deep sleep. Those who are reading, entertaining and working at night are stunned by the sudden noise. People don't know what happened, and the house collapsed with a crunch.

At this time, people realized that the earthquake disaster was coming.

Those who haven't fled the house are all crushed in the collapsed rubble. It was cold and dark outside, and no one could see anyone except the rumbling crash.

Suddenly, another thunderous noise came from far to near, coming from the direction of Vaskalan Peak. After a while, the mountains and the earth cracked, snowflakes danced and the wind blew in my face.

It turned out that a large-scale avalanche triggered by the earthquake broke out.

The earthquake cracked, loosened and shattered the rocks on the top of the mountain, and the earthquake wave shattered the snow and ice on the mountain. In an instant, snow, ice and gravel are like huge waterfalls, pouring down close to the cliff and falling 900 meters at the speed of free fall.

In Yungayi, which was just hit by an earthquake, people were in shock, and then they were swept by Aurorus. Most people were crushed to death under the snow and ice, and many people suffocated in fast-moving Aurorus.

This is by far the biggest and most tragic avalanche disaster in the world.

Three: catastrophic floods in Bangladesh

1987 In July, Bangladesh experienced the biggest flood in history. The sudden natural disasters caused by heavy rains and strong winds in the past few days have left unprepared residents at a loss. In just two months, 47 of 64 counties in Bangladesh were hit by floods and rainstorms, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths, 25,000 livestock drowned, more than 2 million tons of grain destroyed, 20,000 kilometers of roads and 772 bridges and culverts washed away, tens of millions of houses collapsed and a large number of crops were damaged. The number of people affected reached 20 million. Bangladesh is located in the north of the Bay of Bengal, which belongs to the southeast of the Ganges Plain and borders the East Kochi Mountains in the west. There are 230 rivers in the territory, and the flood of rivers causes great losses to Bangladesh every year. In addition, it is located in the monsoon region, and the southwest monsoon blowing from the Indian Ocean rushes to the low pressure region with warm and saturated water vapor. It is blocked by the mountain, and it will rain soon. This makes it impossible for Bangladesh, which is flat and low-lying, to escape the flood.

The flood has aggravated people's poverty, and the United Nations has launched two food supply plans. It costs $20 million a year to implement only one plan.

Such a huge loss has not attracted the attention of the government. Nature has its irresistible force, but through effective preventive measures, its harm can be minimized. In September, 1987, anis Islam Mahmoud, Bangladeshi minister of irrigation, water conservancy development and flood control, said afterwards, "If we had reached an agreement with India and Nepal on the effective utilization of water resources in this area, that is, increasing river flow in winter and controlling floods in rainy season, we could have reduced the severity of the floods that occurred here in July and August." If his words had been done earlier, tens of millions of people would not have been homeless.

Floods not only bring poverty and hunger to people, but also breed a lot of bacteria. Various diseases are prevalent in epidemic areas, about 800,000 people are infected with dysentery, and nearly1000 people die. This has undoubtedly made the life of the Bangladeshi people worse.

How to get rid of the heavy disaster caused by floods and how to alleviate the crisis in this poor country in South Asia has become a major problem for the Bangladeshi government to solve, and it has also attracted the attention of the whole world.

Four: India's "black demon" plague

Rats not only steal food, but also bring the greatest harm to human beings by spreading germs. There have been many epidemics and three global plagues in human history, with the death toll exceeding 1 100 million and many towns extinct. According to literature statistics, the number of people who died of plague exceeded the sum of all those who died of war in history. No wonder people call this disease a "black monster". 1September 1994 and 10/October, India suffered a deadly plague. On the second day after Shen Quan Festival, surat Hospital accepted 30 patients with similar situation. At first, the doctor didn't know that the patient was suffering from plague. However, people died one after another, and when the news of the plague epidemic in Radul near Maharashtra came, they realized that disaster was coming. For a time, railway stations and bus stations were crowded with thousands of refugees. 300,000 surat citizens fled in all directions in India, and at the same time brought the plague and this fear to all parts of the country.

In less than two weeks, this terrible plague has spread to seven Indian states and New Delhi administrative region. The arrival of the plague is undoubtedly a blow to the unprepared Indian authorities. The Indian Ministry of Health has to seek support from the World Health Organization and other countries to solve the urgent needs.

The epidemic of plague caused people's extreme panic. This fear, like a big fire, quickly spread all over the world. Many countries have suspended contact with India. For India, the economic losses are incalculable. According to statistics, the cost of treating and preventing plague is as high as tens of billions of dollars.

People can't help asking, why is the plague that has disappeared for many years popular in India again? Experts agree that the outbreak of plague is caused by extremely dirty environment. It is said that surat is the dirtiest city in India, with slums, markets, streets and alleys, piles of garbage and stinking. During the plague epidemic, as much as 1400 tons of garbage was cleared every day. The rubbish that can be seen everywhere has become a breeding ground for rats.

Killing rats should be the common mission of all mankind. Countries have set up specialized organizations such as rodent control companies, and the United Nations has also set up corresponding rodent control institutions. The whole earth is fighting a hard battle with rats. Although mankind has not yet found a way to completely eliminate rodent infestation, we all firmly believe that the continuous development of science will definitely defeat rodent infestation.

Toxic gases at the bottom of Lake Cameroon

Pameta Plateau is a beautiful and intoxicating place.

On the evening of August 26, people were sleeping, and suddenly a loud noise pierced the sky. Many people were deprived of their precious lives before they knew what had happened. That night, Nios Volcano Lake, a volcanic lake on the Pameta Plateau, located in the northwest of Cameroon, Africa, 400 kilometers away from the capital Yaoundé, suddenly spewed a lot of toxic gases from the bottom of the lake. Like a flood, it poured down from the north slope of the mountain and attacked several villages in the valley. ...

The next morning, on the beautiful hillside of Cameroon Plateau, the crystal blue Nios River suddenly turned red, like a festering and angry red eye. The grass is full of dead livestock and wild animals. The houses, churches and barns in the village near Lake Nyos are all intact, but no one walks in the street. Walking into the house to find out, a shocking scene came into view, with dead people inside. What a sad sight it is! Among the dead were men, women, children and even babies.

From the mouth of the survivors, people know the tragic story. With the sound of flying last night, a ghostly cylindrical steam spewed out of the lake. The whole lake suddenly boiled. The waves hit the shore of the lake, plunged into the sky more than 80 meters, and then poured into the valley below like a column of clouds. At this time, a strong wind roared from the lake, pushing this cloud of smoke to the neighboring town, with a suffocating stench.

According to incomplete statistics, at least 1740 people died of poison gas and a large number of livestock died in this disaster. Gamnio village is the closest to the volcanic lake and the most seriously affected. Of the 650 residents in the village, only 6 survived.

This poisoning incident immediately attracted great attention from all countries. Nyos Volcano Lake is also famous in the world. Japan, Britain, the United States, France, Italy and other countries quickly sent emergency rescue teams and experts to measure the composition of toxic gases emitted by Lake Nyos. Who is the murderer? Experts are trying to find the answer.

After a period of hard work, we finally found the composition of the toxic gas emitted by Lake Nios. Experts agree that the gas emitted is mainly carbon dioxide, and the smell comes from hydrogen sulfide. When people conquer and demand from nature, they are also mercilessly retaliated by nature. Poisonous gas at the bottom of the lake, a natural and sudden disaster, has made mankind taste the bitter fruit.

Six: the great smog in London

London, England, known as the "fog capital" of the world, is often shrouded in dense fog at the turn of the spring and autumn, like a mysterious veil. According to statistics, foggy days in London can be as high as seventy or eighty times a year, and there is a "foggy day" on average for five days. Whenever the fog comes, the diffuse fog not only affects traffic and causes accidents, but also directly harms people's health and even threatens people's lives.

Compared with the situation of 1952, London today is a clean city. At that time, there were coal-fired power plants in London, and there were many factories not far from the city center. Most families burn coal to keep warm. Steam locomotives powered by coal pulled the train into the capital. There is little control over the exhaust gas produced by cars and trucks.

1952 65438+On February 4th, 2002, the world's worst "smog" event occurred in London: the dense fog lasted for nearly a week, and a large amount of smoke and gas emitted by factories and families piled up at low altitude, and the whole city was shrouded in dense fog and fell into a gloomy state. During this period, more than 4700 people died of respiratory diseases; More than 8000 people died after the fog dispersed. This is the "fog disaster" that shocked the world.

On the morning of February 3rd,1952,65438+London Meteorological Observatory reported that there was a gas peak passing by at night, and the temperature at noon could reach 5.6℃ and the relative humidity was about 70%. For the local people, this is a rare good day-a lovely winter day.

On this day, a wind blew from the North Sea all over England, blowing the dense fog from the chimneys of factories and urban families in central England out of the clouds, and the air became very fresh and pleasant.

However, no one would have thought that disaster was coming quietly.

At night, London is on the southeast edge of a huge high-pressure cyclone, and the strong north wind blows clockwise around this anticyclone. The next day, 65438+February 4, the center of this cyclone has reached several hundred kilometers west of London, and moved to the southeast along the usual path. The wind speed decreased in the morning, and clouds almost covered the whole sky. At noon, dark clouds covered all the sun, and the sky over London was overcast. The thermometer of the Meteorological Observatory showed 3.3℃, and the relative humidity rose to 82%.

On February 5, 65438, something unusual happened. The anemometer at the London Meteorological Observatory measured a very strange result-the wind speed reading was completely static. According to the estimation of experts at that time, the wind speed at this time did not exceed 3 kilometers per hour.

London is in a dead wind, and a lot of smoke and dust have accumulated in the air, which will last for a long time. The wind is too weak to take away all kinds of harmful smoke and dust discharged from factories and families. As a result, a lot of smoke and dust fell from the air, and the beautiful Thames Valley was shrouded in smoke. A little apprentice working on a boat, the attack of smoke made him burst into tears; Smoke entered the house through the door and got into the residents' homes in Greenwich District, which made people miserable. ...

Fog clouds suspended over the city for five days and gradually became dirtier and more poisonous. The amount of smog in the air in central London has almost increased by 10 times.

Smoking makes thousands of victims suffer from bronchitis, asthma and other diseases that affect the lungs. Finally, by the time the smog cleared at 12 and 10, it was estimated that 4,000 people had died, mostly elderly people.

Today, the main cause of smog is the exhaust pollution from motor vehicles. In big cities such as Los Angeles and Mexico City, smoke has been suspended in the air. Using unleaded gasoline and installing catalytic converters for locomotive exhaust will help reduce the risk of health damage caused by this pollution. However, this is still a serious problem to be solved.

Seven: the mysterious disaster in Bermuda

Among the mysterious maritime events of this century, the most famous and puzzling are a series of plane and ship disappearances in Bermuda Triangle. It is said that hundreds of planes and ships have mysteriously disappeared in this sea area since 1945. There are so many disappearances that the world can't believe that they are all accidental. The so-called Bermuda Triangle refers to a triangular sea area from Bermuda in the north, Puerto Rico in the south and Florida in the west, with an area of about/kloc-0.00 million square kilometers. Because of the disappearance and overlapping of this sea surface, the world calls it "the black hole of the earth" and "the devil's triangle". 19711021A transport plane "Super Constellation" full of frozen beef flew over a probe ship working at sea. The crew watched it fly for about a minute. Suddenly, the plane seemed to be sucked by the sea and plunged into the sea. After that, the crew didn't see anything, neither oil nor bodies or aircraft wreckage. The only thing that can confirm the disappearance of the plane is a large piece of bloody beef floating on the sea.

The disappearance of the Super Constellation plane is just one of many disappearances in this mysterious sea area. According to statistics, from 1840 to 1945, more than 100 planes were missing in this sea area. There are more ships disappearing here.

This place, known as the "sea cemetery" by the world, is the Bermuda Triangle that has attracted the attention of many scientists all over the world.

The disappearance of the "super constellation", like countless other disappearances, can be summarized in one sentence-no clue. Any ships, planes and people who disappear in the Bermuda Triangle will never find any survivors or any wreckage. This is the so-called mystery.

All those who try to make a logical explanation for the disappearance of Bermuda Triangle encounter inevitable contradictions. So someone put forward the "supernatural" theory, trying to uncover the mystery of this century. Some researchers associate the disaster in Bermuda Triangle with aliens and flying saucers. Their argument is that there is an alien submarine UFO base here. Because people have observed countless UFO phenomena here for many years. These missing planes and ships were taken away by the UFO crew. At a scientific conference held in Bonn, the famous astronaut Dr. Yafred Sturubin revealed their research on the technology and ancient records of the space age. He believes that the truth of the disappearance of Bermuda Triangle plane and ship has come to light, and a meteorite 400 years ago is doing strange things.

1979, a joint investigation team organized by American and French scientists discovered a huge underwater pyramid at the bottom of Bermuda. According to the photos taken by Charles Beriz, honorary curator of Miami Museum, we can see that this underwater pyramid is bigger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt. There are two black holes on the tower, and the sea water passes through at high speed.

The discovery of underwater pyramids makes the mystery of Bermuda Triangle more mysterious. Is it man-made or natural? What does it have to do with the successive shipwrecks in Bermuda? These all need further discussion. Bermuda, the black hole, has not bottomed out yet.

Eight: Tunguska Big Bang

Tunguska, located near Lake Baikal in Siberia, the former Soviet Union. Eighty years ago, there was an extremely violent explosion here, and its destructive power was equivalent to the power of 500 atomic bombs and several hydrogen bombs.

1in the early morning of June 30, 908, a rare disaster befell the nomadic people in the remote forest areas of Siberia. Semenoff, who narrowly escaped this disaster, recalled: "At that time, there was a fire in the sky, and in an instant, a huge fireball almost covered half the sky. After a loud noise, the wind came ... "The shock wave produced by the explosion has spread to earthquake observation stations in Central Europe, Potsdam, Germany and Cambridge, England, and even Washington and Java have the same records.

At that time, the Russian czar ruled in chaos and could not organize an investigation. People generally call this explosion "Tunguska Big Bang". After the October Revolution, 192 1 year, the Soviet regime sent physicist Culic to visit Tunguska. They claimed that the explosion was caused by a huge meteorite. But they never found the crater where the meteorite fell, nor did they find the meteorite. Only dozens of shallow pits were found. Therefore, the "meteorite theory" was only speculation at that time, lacking evidence. Coolidge led a team to Tunguska twice for aerial survey, and found that the damage area caused by the explosion reached more than 20,000 square kilometers. At the same time, people also found many strange phenomena, such as the trees in the explosion center did not all fall, but the leaves were burnt; The growth rate of trees in the explosion area is accelerated; The width of annual rings increased from 0.4-2 mm to more than 5 mm; The reindeer in the explosion area all suffered from a strange skin disease, such as jujube furuncle. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, coolidge joined the army and gave his precious life in the anti-fascist war. The investigation of the Tunguska Big Bang in the former Soviet Union was also forced to stop. After World War II, the former Soviet physicist Kasayev visited Japan and arrived in Hiroshima in February 1945, four months before the United States dropped the atomic bomb. Looking at the ruins of Hiroshima, Kasayev suddenly remembered Tunguska, and there are obviously many similarities between the two:

The center of the explosion was destroyed and the trees stood upright without falling down.

The death of people and animals in the explosion was caused by nuclear radiation burns.

The mushroom cloud produced by the explosion has the same shape, but that of Tunguska is much larger.

In particular, the photos of dead trees and charred branches taken by Tunguska look very similar to the situation in Hiroshima. Therefore, Kasayev had a bold idea; He believes that the Tunguska Big Bang was a nuclear explosion caused by the failure of a nuclear-powered spacecraft driven by aliens during landing.

As soon as this theory came out, it immediately aroused strong repercussions in the scientific community of the former Soviet Union. Both supporters and opponents lack kindness. Mr Rotov and others further speculated that the spacecraft came to this area to get fresh water from Lake Baikal. It has also been pointed out that the leprosy of reindeer in Tunguska area is very similar to the dermatosis caused by radiation of local cattle after the nuclear test in New Mexico 1945, and the rapid growth of trees and the genetic variation of plants and insects in Tunguska area are also the same as those after the nuclear test in the Pacific islands of the United States.

In 1950s and 1960s, the front yard sent expeditions to Tunguska area for many times. No matter those who thought it was a nuclear explosion or those who insisted on the "meteorite theory", they all claimed that the investigation had found evidence favorable to them, and neither side could convince anyone. For the case that the central crater is not found, some people think that the comet fell, so only dust explosion can be produced, not the central crater.

In 1973, some American scientists put forward new views on this. They believe that the explosion was caused by a cosmic black hole. A small black hole caused an explosion when it was running over the Pacific Ocean between Iceland and Newfoundland. But little is known about the nature and characteristics of black holes. The existence of "small black holes" is still in doubt. Therefore, this view also lacks sufficient evidence. Until today, the mystery of the Tunguska Big Bang has not been solved.

Nine: Tsunami in Chile

It is said that Chile is the "last piece of mud" after God created the world. Perhaps it is for this reason that the crust here is always not so calm. According to the theory of modern plate structure, Chile is a subduction zone where the Pacific plate collides with the South American plate, and it is located in the volcanic activity zone around the Pacific Ocean. Because of its special geological structure, it is located on the extremely unstable surface. Since ancient times, volcanoes have erupted continuously, earthquakes have occurred one after another, and tsunamis have occurred frequently.

From the early morning of May 2 1, a strong earthquake, which is rare in the world earthquake history, suddenly occurred on the seabed near puerto montt, Chile. It is rare that the magnitude is high, the duration is long and the scope is wide. There were 225 earthquakes of different magnitudes last month. There are 10 times above level 7, including 3 times at level 8.

When the earthquake occurred on May 2 1 day, the vibration was still slight, and the earth only trembled slightly. Different from the past, it happens continuously. Then the magnitude is higher and higher, and the vibration is more and more intense. In the panic, people staggered to the outside.

However, the continuous shock for two consecutive days has paralyzed people in disapproval. Because the earthquake lasted for a long time and the damage was not great, people were not as scared as they were at first, and some even moved into broken houses. Of course, many people are worried that a bigger earthquake is coming.

Sure enough, on May 22nd, around 0/9, the sudden earthquake was loud and deafening. Seismic waves rumble, like thousands of tanks, and like hundreds of planes passing through the air, whizzing past the bottom of puerto montt. Soon the earth trembled violently. After a while, cracks appeared in the land; After a while, a part of the land suddenly rose again, like a giant turning over. In an instant, the ocean rolled violently, the canyon howled in pain, the coastal rocks cracked and the rubble piled up on the beach. ...

This earthquake is the highest and strongest in the world, with a magnitude of 8.9 and an intensity of 1 1 degree, with an impact area of 800 kilometers. After the earthquake, tsunamis followed. Tsunami waves swept across the Pacific coast at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour, destroying cities such as Concepció n, Tal Cabano and Chilian in Chile, leaving more than 2 million people homeless.

Ten: Tangshan earthquake

1July 28th, 976, at 3: 42 Beijing time in China, an earthquake 400 times stronger than the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Japan, occurred at 1 18.2 degrees east longitude and 39.6 degrees north latitude. A few days later, the approved earthquake magnitude: Mst7.8 was announced again.

Tangshan, an industrial city with a population of one million, was in ruins in this sudden earthquake. The death toll was as high as 240,000.

The 40-degree north latitude line is called the "ominous terror line". There have been countless major earthquakes here, such as San Francisco, Lisbon, Portugal and Japan. This earthquake, this demon once again raided 39.6 degrees north latitude-Tangshan became its victim.

Water first warned mankind.

Since late July, the reefs that have been exposed to the sea in Beidaihe have been swallowed up by seawater; In the waters near Tangshan, such as Caijiabao, the blue sea water has turned muddy yellow. A snorkeling person in Qinhuangdao saw a bright light band underwater, like an uneasy fire dragon.

Late at night on July 27, nature, who woke up one step earlier than human beings, issued the final disaster call!

Farmers watching melons in Changli County suddenly saw the sky more than 200 meters high bright, the ground was white, and watermelon leaves and vines were clearly visible, just like dawn.

At about 3: 42, there were several strong blue flashes over Tangshan. The wind roared on the ground, the thunder rumbled and the earth shook wildly. A few seconds later, Tangshan was broken, and there was a dead silence. Gray dust and fog enveloped Tangshan, and the whole Tangshan was silent.

In just a few seconds, more than 650,000 houses in Tangshan urban and rural areas collapsed and were seriously damaged. Most Tangshan people suffered this catastrophe in their sleep.

Among many miraculous survivors, a woman escaped from her hotel in just 2 seconds, and the hotel broke in two and collapsed. Fearing that there would be a bigger earthquake, most Tangshan people moved to tents built on roads outside the city as temporary shelters.

I can only answer so much! Ha ha!