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The Illustrated History of Natural Disasters

Jan Kozák

● Vladimír Cermák

The Illustrated History

of Natural Disasters

Jan Kozák

Geophysical Institute

Czech Academy of Sciences

Prague

Czech Republic

kozak@ig.cas.cz

Vladimír ˇ ermák

Geophysical Institute

Czech Academy of Sciences

Prague

Czech Republic

cermak@ig.cas.cz

ISBN 978-90-481-3324-6

e-ISBN 978-90-481-3325-3

DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3325-3

Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010920318

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microﬁ lming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the

Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied speciﬁ cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a

computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Foreword

This book tells the story of the Earth itself, explaining the interplay of its gradual geologica-

levolution, presented as a generally slow and safe process, with the sudden manifestations of

natural hazards, which involve disasters that affect the environment and lead to huge material

damage and human losses. The natural forces at play, whether they are violent explosions

ofvolcanic eruptions or almost imperceptible deformations of subsurface rock strata, ﬁ nallyre-

sulting in devastating earthquakes, all control the existence and destiny of a certain part of the

global population. The development of man’s existence down through history has depended

upon his understanding of the world in which he lives, and upon his ability to turn to his own

best use the materials that were there for the taking. However, he has had not only to furnish

himself with food, water, building materials, and energy to protect himself against occasional

natural adversities. Protecting himself from them meant comprehending their causes, and the

essential core of his understanding was in recording and depicting them.

This book is written for anyone interested in the Earth in general, and in natural disasters in

particular, presenting a unique collection of historical illustrations of volcanic eruptions and

earthquake events and their repercussions. The book represents a golden mean between scien-

tiﬁ c and popular works. Its general arrangement makes it understandable and attractive for a

wide range of mid-level as well as high-level educated readers interested in the earth sciences,

ranging from college students to specialists. The impressive variety of historic illustrations

depicting catastrophic natural disasters and their impact on human life and civilization through-

out the centuries may, in addition to its educational value, also please anyone interested in art

and history.

The content and arrangement of the book are essentially based on a carefully selected set

of large-scale images – reproductions from originals of rare engravings, belonging to the pri-

vate collection of one of the authors. The individual smaller and full-page reproductions (both

color and black-and-white) present manifold (historical) views on various natural disasters,

generally arranged in chronological order, e.g. Basel 1356, Azores 1592, Tokyo 1650, Etna

1669, Val di Noto 1693, Constantinople 1762, Lisbon 1755, Calabria 1783, Naples 1805,

Charleston 1886, San Francisco 1868 and 1906, and many more. The illustrations are accom-

panied by descriptive texts that outline the geophysical and historical background, brieﬂ y

explaining where, when, and why such disasters occur. Additional texts then inform the reader

about the origin of the individual engravings and describe concrete stories behind some of the

events.

The pictorial part of the book is introduced by a brief explanatory text informing the reader

about the historical development of modern views on the dynamic manifestations of the Earth,

its structure, and the description of the internal forces that spark catastrophic events. We have

not simpliﬁ ed the arguments or the scientiﬁ c observations, but have tried to present them in an

easy to understand manner without unnecessary technical jargon. In the historical review, we

have only mentioned the names of those whom we consider to have made the most signiﬁ cant

contributions to the development of earth sciences.

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