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"If this were not Hell, where would Hell be?"

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"If this were not Hell, where would Hell be?"

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1. Write key ideas from the chapter.

2. Write any important vocabulary.

3. Find a primary source, a video, or something that adds to our understanding of the topic.

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-Hit September 1, 1923 at 11:58 AM in Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan

-7.9 magnitude earthquake on the subhorizonal fault under the cities

-Grills had been started for lunch and minutes after the earthquake hit, fires began to consume the city

-Fire tornados began to form due to the intense fires creating their own windstorms

-Almost complete destruction of the metropolitan area

-140,000 people died

-Korean people in the country were blamed for this disaster, many of them being tortured

-Japan was mid transitioning from an isolated, traditional culture to a player on the world stage

-After the earthquake, the cities were rebuilt with earthquakes and fires in mind, very little of the buildings of Tokyo or Yokohama are still made of wood todays

-The prime minister had died just a week before the earthquake and putting a new one in was still in process. As such, Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyoe was installed the day after the earthquake, the country needed a leader for this disaster

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Subhorizonal fault

-A fault where one plate slides under another

-Cities and towns on top of this fault are prone to earthquakes

Fire tornado

-Windstorm or whirl wind created by an intense fire made up of flame or ash

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The key ideas from this chapter mostly revolve around the culture of disasters and how we remember them. The flood of 1861-62 was the largest disaster in all of California's history and devastated more than half of the state's landmass. It destroyed California's mining and ranching industries, caused the state to go bankrupt, made the port of San Francisco freshwater for a few months, prevented any shipping due to the extreme outflow, and displaced nearly a third of all of California's residents. It created a 10,000-square-mile lake in the Central Valley, devastating the agricultural industry that existed at the time. Flooding in the city of Sacramento was so bad that California's state capital was temporarily moved to San Francisco, which was the only major city in California that was spared from the flooding (but still felt the economic impact). Despite all of that, this disaster is hardly remembered by anyone both in and outside of the state. This was not aided by the American Civil War, which was taking place at the time and overshadowed the devastation that was felt. The city of Sacramento is the only place that made any meaningful changes to their city afterward, and their defenses have not been put to the test since. This disaster was more costly and widespread than even the worst earthquakes and wildfires that we have on record in California, and yet, most of the region is just as vulnerable now as it was then. The flooding infrastructure that was built in the 20th century was built for small floods, and would not be able to handle a flood the size of the 1861-62 floods.

Important vocabulary:

Atmospheric rivers - Narrow plumes of atmospheric moisture that carry water from the tropics to the midlatitudes, can be several thousand miles long. These are what cause prolonged rain events in California.

Orographic lift - The rapid cooling effect that occurs when storm clouds rise to get over mountains, which results in rapid heavy precipitation.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RQMEgXV_Mg&pp=ygUTZ3JlYXQgZmxvb2Qgb2YgMTg2Mg%3D%3D

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Prologue:

At the time, Lisbon was the 4th most populous city in Europe. Portugal was devoutly Catholic under the rule of King Joseph. Many, if not all, institutions were controlled by either the Church or the Jesuits. This is reflected especially in the legal system and in education. Concurrently, Europe was experiencing the Enlightenment and saw the beginning of the shift away from religious authority to a more secular society. This happened almost everywhere except Portugal, where Catholicism and the Jesuits prevented the ideological shift.

The king, having very little interest in politics and ruling, appointed three secretaries of state for foreign, internal, and military affairs. One of the appointments was that of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, who was in charge of foreign affairs. Carvalho was received very well, both internally and internationally. He supported strong government investment in infrastructure and the economy. Most importantly, he was a strong supporter of secularization. Eventually, he became known as the de facto ruler of Portugal.

The Earthquake (1755):

On All Saints' Day in 1755, many Lisbon citizens were packed and crammed into churches. The churches were not only filled to the brim with people but also candles. Many others were home preparing food using fire-lit equipment. Upon the initial shock of the quake, several buildings began to crumble and candles began to tip and set fire to the city. Eventually, most of the city was ablaze. Those who escaped the collapsing buildings fled to the shore, where they were soon ambushed by the following Tsunami. In the end, as many as 50,000 deaths are estimated, with 85% of the city either burned or destroyed.

Aftermath:

The Lisbon earthquake, despite its tragedy, marked the first significant response of a central government to natural disasters and remains one of the best. The motto, coined by De Carvalho, was "Bury the dead, feed the living." De Carvalho quickly mobilized a response team and surrounded the city with guards, ensuring that surviving citizens did not flee and remained to help the reconstruction. Reconstruction started with clearing the rubble, followed by arranging food and shelter for the homeless, treating the wounded, forbidding exploitative pricing, and reestablishing schools and churches. However, the re-establishment of churches came with the expulsion of the Jesuits from power and the implementation of secularization. The king ordered for the city to be completely rebuilt. The new city was constructed under the influence of De Carvalho, seeing the innovation of building techniques to mitigate potential disaster in the future. The buildings were made using the Pombaline style, named after De Carvalho. This style was the first conscious architectural shift towards safer, more earthquake-resistant buildings. Buildings were made less of stone and more of flexible material, like wood.

Most importantly, De Carvalho moved toward a scientific explanation, rather than a religious one. The first earthquake logs were established and scientific surveys were conducted to better understand the cause of the earthquake. The notion of God's hand was slowly pushed out of general circulation. Still, many insisted that the quake was the result of a sinful life and a benevolent God. At the end of this reconstruction period, there became a greater conflict between the Catholics and Protestants.

Key Vocabulary/Concepts:

Earthquakes are caused by shifting tectonic plates. This one is specifically caused by Africa moving toward Europe.

Tsunamis are caused by the rapid shift of the ocean floor, causing a wave to push up.

Further Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVLGo_SgRfs

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The earthquake that changed history – BBC REEL

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Scenes Of Japan's Earthquake Disaster (1923)

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Scenes Of Japan's Earthquake Disaster (1923)

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This video shows old footage of Japan and Yokohama after the earthquake and fires. From an arial view, portions of the city are leveled to the ground, leaving behind piles of rubble. Very little of the city is seen that survived both the earthquake and the fires.

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Scenes Of Japan's Earthquake Disaster (1923)

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Key Ideas:

On June 8th, 1783, the Laki fissure of the volcano Grímsvötn in the Síða district of southern Iceland erupted.

Since the islands settlement from C 870-930 AD, Iceland had been systematically deforested and further exploited - this left the already flat island even more barren. People clustered in small “towns” near hot springs and volcanic vents as a way to stay warm and for access to drinking water given the lack of trees or other access to fresh water. This meant that when Laki did erupt, people were in the destinations immediate path.

June 8th was Pentecost, so most Icelanders were at church - many believed that it was the end of the world (in accordance with both Icelandic traditional mythology and Christian teachings)

The eruption lasted for 8 months, though the major events followed a predictable schedule: every 3(ish) weeks, earthquakes would open fissures causing lava to seep through. The lava seeps would destroy homes, crops, livestock, kill people and spewed trillions of tons of both sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride gas.

The gasses, specifically the highly concentrated fluoride, caused mass poisonings. The air would cause people’s teeth to dissolve and their bones to become brittle. It contaminated the meat (which starving people consumed) and further exacerbated the effects of the sickness.

The Icelandic people did what they could - eventually rallying behind a man named Jón Steinhegrímson. He was a pastor who ensured that everyone who dies was buried and kept meticulous records of the event. He even traveled to Reykjavik to seek aid, but help was slow coming. Denmark didn’t think it necessary to send aid until months later.

The effects of the eruptions were felt all over the world - with Europe (specifically England and France being the hardest hit). A sulfur rich haze covered the continent and caused mass illness, crop failure, and political unrest. The sulfur also blocked solar radiation, and the following winter was incredibly cold. Many did not survive, with the famine and unrest acting as major factors in the French Revolution.

Vocab:

Lakagígar (Laki): the name of the fissure, translates to “Craters of Laki”

Kirkjubæjarkalustur: “Church Farm Cloister”. The name of Steinhegrímson’s church where much of the local aid effort was coordinated

Móðuharðinin: the “mist of hardships” or “famine of the mists”, what the Icelandic people called the sulfur haze and its effects

Additional Information: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2015/06/08/this-1783-volcanic-eruption-changed-the-course-of-history/

https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/en/society/laki-fissure-eruption-1783-1784/#:~:text=This%20lava%20threatened%20many%20Icelanders,and%20other%20animals%20%5B5%5D.

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This 1783 Volcanic Eruption Changed The Course Of History

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The volcanic eruption at Laki in 1783 killed thousands and may have triggered the French Revolution.

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Key Ideas

-The Mississippi watershed is the third largest watershed in the world, covering 35 US states and a couple of Canadian provinces. It was the divide between the English and French and was a useful highway.

-Though it provided economic benefits and pop culture representation in media, the Mississippi is still a grand river that cannot be contained.

-By the mid-19th century, engineering as a professional field began to emerge, leading to a larger debate on how the Mississippi would be controlled, or not controlled.

-1926 saw much flooding in the Mississippi watershed with the Midwest losing many of its crops due to the mass amount of rain they received throughout the summer into early autumn.

-Record rain also led to record flooding on all major rivers that dumped into the Mississippi.

-Because of the amount of precipitation, by the spring of 1927, so much water was flowing that rivers began to back up, almost like the Mississippi River itself was acting as a dam holding the water from flowing, leading to higher pressures on levees built by both regional groups and the Amry Corps of Engineers.

-Since levees became an important lifeline to keep cities along the rivers dry, some people had resorted to sabotaging other levees to keep their towns safe.

-The desire to keep levees from breaching was so strong that many White landowners would send the Black tenants to help, with some Black men being held at gunpoint and forced to work the hard labor of patching broken levees.

- After repeated calls for help from several state governors, President Coolidge finally stepped in.

-The Red Cross was the main driver in aiding the communities affected by the major flooding.

-over half a million people were impacted by the flooding, more than any disaster in US history. Still, Coolidge refused to get involved and help.

-The massive failure of the levee-only approach led to the 1928 Flood Control Act, which added reservoirs and spillways to allow for water to spill onto nearby lands and not down the river.

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This video gives a brief overview of the flooding and its impact on the people and the future of levees and protections from flooding in the future.

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Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927: TRICENTENNIAL MOMENTS: