Category: Natural Disasters
Tornado forming: Book of Odds Talks with Storm Chaser Joshua Wurman
The odds a person will be killed by a tornado in a year are 1 in 4,513,000. It’s not at all likely you will be killed by a tornado. Or as Dr. Joshua Wurman puts it: “Suicide by tornado would be very inefficient.” Wurman is so confident he will survive an up-close encounter with a…
Tornadoes: How Deadly Are They?
The deadliest tornado in history was invisible. In 1925, the Tri-State Tornado ravaged a mile-wide path for 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana at 60 miles per hour—twice the forward speed of the average tornado. It lacked the classic funnel cloud, but the damage was catastrophic: nearly 2,000 people were injured, property losses totaled…
Earthquake Odds: A Global Perspective
A 4.4 magnitude earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area this morning, striking at 4:04 am. No immediate injuries were reported. This quake follows a 6.6 magnitude quake that hit Tokyo on March 14. This latest series of quakes started with Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake (magnitude 7.0) on January 12. Then an 8.8 monster rocked Chile on February 27,…