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Disaster Books
Disaster books are a literary genre involving detailed descriptions of major historical disasters, often based on the historical records or personal testimonies of survivors. Since reportage of both natural disasters and man-made disasters is commonplace, authors tend to be journalists who develop their news reports into books. While usually well written, they can lose sight of the causes, especially in man-made catastrophes where poor engineering, human error or negligence have combined to cause failure. On the other hand, authors who have been directly involved in an accident can reveal facts which have not been widely known, and provide insight into the problem. Examples An example of modern vintage is the publication of ''The High Girders'' in 1956 by the journalist John Prebble concerning Tay Bridge Disaster of December 28, 1879, one of the worst ever disasters on the rail network in Britain. It is a well composed book and written with good documentary accuracy, the author hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desjardins Canal
The Desjardins Canal, named after its promoter Pierre Desjardins, was built to give Dundas, Ontario, easier access to Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes system of North America. Although a technological achievement and a short term commercial success, the canal was soon eclipsed by the railway, and Dundas by neighbouring Hamilton. History Context Following the US Revolutionary War the British government felt an urgent need to populate the interior of the province of Upper Canada. The immediate concern was to find a refuge for Loyalists forced from their previous homes in the United States. After the early settlement of Kingston and the lower St. Lawrence River, and the establishment of Butler's Rangers and others in the Niagara peninsula, the possibility also existed for Loyalist communities at the head of Lake Ontario. Another priority was the need to accelerate the settlement of the unoccupied areas in western Upper Canada to provide a buffer zone between that province and the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperbole
Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and creates strong impressions. As a figure of speech, it is usually not meant to be taken literally. Etymology 'Hyperbole' is derived from the grc, ''huperbolḗ'' by way of Latin. The word is composed from ''hupér'' 'above, beyond' and ''bállō'' 'throw'. Unlike most English words beginning with ''hyper-'', it is stressed on the second syllable. The first known use is in the 15th century. 'Hype' is a shortened version. Usage Hyperbole is often used for emphasis or effect. In casual speech, it functions as an intensifier: saying "the bag weighed a ton" simply means that the bag was extremely heavy. The rhetorical device may be used for serious or ironic or comic effects. Understanding hyperbole and its use in context can help un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disaster Films
A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as a pandemic. A subgenre of action films, these films usually feature some degree of build-up, the disaster itself, and sometimes the aftermath, usually from the point of view of specific individual characters or their families or portraying the survival tactics of different people. These films often feature large casts of actors and multiple plot lines, focusing on the characters' attempts to avert, escape or cope with the disaster and its aftermath. The genre came to particular prominence during the 1970s with the release of high-profile films such as ''Airport'' (1970), followed in quick succession by '' The Poseidon Adventure'' (1972), ''Earthquake'' (1974) and ''The Towering Inferno'' (1974). The casts are generally made up of famil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disaster
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are routinely divided into either " natural disasters" caused by natural hazards or "human-instigated disasters" caused from anthropogenic hazards. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, human-made and human-accelerated disasters is difficult to draw. Examples of natural hazards include avalanches, flooding, cold waves and heat waves, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, lightning, tsunamis, volcanic activity, wildfires, and winter precipitation. Examples of anthropogenic hazards include criminality, civil disorder, terrorism, war, industrial hazards, engineering hazards, power outages, fire, hazards caused by transportation, and environmental hazards. Developing countries suffer the greatest costs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RMS Empress Of Ireland
RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' was a British-built ocean liner that sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian Collier (ship), collier in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Although the ship was equipped with watertight compartments and, in the aftermath of the Sinking of the RMS Titanic, ''Titanic'' disaster two years earlier, carried more than enough Lifeboat (shipboard), lifeboats for all aboard, she foundered in only 14 minutes. Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,012 died, making it the worst peacetime maritime disaster in Canadian history.Cd. 7609, p. 25. Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering built ''Empress of Ireland'' and her sister ship, , at Govan on the River Clyde, Clyde in Scotland. The liners were commissioned by Canadian Pacific Steamships or ''CPR'' for the Transatlantic crossing, North Atlantic route between Liverpool and Quebec City. The transcontinental ''CPR'' and its fleet of ocean liners constitu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1913 Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado
The tornado outbreak sequence of March 1913 was a devastating series of tornado outbreaks that affected the northern Great Plains, the Southern United States, and sections of the upper Midwest over a two-day-long period between March 21–23, 1913. Composed of two outbreaks, the sequence first began with a tornado outbreak that commenced in Mississippi early on March 21. Several significant tornadoes occurred, one of which killed seven people in one family and another destroyed much of Lower Peach Tree, Alabama, with 27 deaths all in that town. The tornado at Lower Peach Tree is estimated to have been equivalent to a violent F4 tornado on the Fujita scale, based upon damage accounts. The tornadoes occurred between 0630–1030 UTC, or pre-dawn local time, perhaps accounting for the high number of fatalities—a common trend in tornadoes in the Dixie Alley.Robinson, "Natural Disasters", ''Encyclopedia'', p. 584 In all, tornadoes in Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama killed 48 peop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Dayton Flood
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 resulted from flooding by the Great Miami River reaching Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area, causing the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history. In response, the General Assembly passed the Vonderheide Act to enable the formation of conservancy districts. The Miami Conservancy District, which included Dayton and the surrounding area, became one of the first major flood control districts in Ohio and the United States. The Dayton flood of March 1913 was caused by a series of severe winter rainstorms that hit the Midwest in late March. Within three days, of rain fell throughout the Great Miami River watershed on already saturated soil, resulting in more than 90 percent runoff. The river and its tributaries overflowed. The existing levees failed, and downtown Dayton was flooded up to deep. This flood is still the flood of record for the Great Miami River watershed. The volume of water that passed through the river channel during this storm eq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Devastating fires soon broke out in San Francisco and lasted for several days. More than 3,000 people died, and over 80% of the city was destroyed. The events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest earthquakes in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high on the lists of American disasters. Tectonic setting The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that forms part of the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The strike-slip fault is characterized by ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iroquois Theater Fire
The Iroquois Theatre fire occurred on December 30, 1903, at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, resulting in at least 602 deaths. Theater The Iroquois Theatre was located at 24–28 West Randolph Street, between State Street and Dearborn Street, in Chicago, Illinois. The syndicate that bankrolled its construction chose the location specifically to attract women on day trips from out of town who, it was thought, would be more comfortable attending a theater near the police-patrolled Loop shopping district. The theater opened on November 23, 1903, after numerous delays due to labor unrest and, according to one writer, the unexplained inability of architect Benjamin Marshall to complete required drawings on time. Upon opening the theater was lauded by drama critics; Walter K. Hill wrote in the ''New York Clipper'' (a predecessor of ''Variety'') that the Iroquois was "the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1900 Galveston Hurricane
The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, is the deadliest natural disaster in United States history and the third-deadliest Atlantic hurricane, only behind the Great Hurricane of 1780 and Hurricane Mitch overall. The hurricane left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the United States; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge inundated the coastline and the island city with 8 to 12 ft (2.4 to 3.7 m) of water. In addition to the number killed, the storm destroyed about 7,000 buildings of all uses in Galveston, which included 3,636 demolished homes; every dwelling in the city suffered some degree of damage. The hurricane left approximately 10,000 people in the city homeless, out of a total population of fewer than 38,000. The dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1899 New Richmond Tornado
The 1899 New Richmond tornado was an estimated F5 tornado which formed on the early evening of Monday, June 12, 1899 and tore a 45-mile path of destruction through the St. Croix, Polk and Barron counties in west-central Wisconsin. It caused 117 fatalities, twice as many injured, and hundreds homeless. The worst devastation brought by the tornado was at the city of New Richmond, Wisconsin, which took a direct hit from the storm (in which brings the name of such). Over half the town was left in ruins by the tornado, which also caused minor damage to the surrounding communities in the area. More than $300,000 (USD) ($ in ) in damage was reported. The Tornado Project#8: The New Richmond Tornado. Retrieved on 2007-06-27. As of 2019, it ranks as the ninth deadliest tornado in United States history, as well as the deadliest ever recorded in Wisconsin. Event description June 12, 1899, was the day of the Gollmar Brothers Circus, which drew hundreds of visitors in addition to the town's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
