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Every day disaster strikes somewhere in the world. Some disasters have always been with us: earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes and floods are as common as they were in the past. Others, like the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl, are the result of our own technology. This book looks at both types of disaster, and at what we can learn from them.

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

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285 people want to read

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Mary McIntosh

40 books4 followers

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Shaimaa شيماء.
574 reviews365 followers
November 16, 2025
الكتاب بيتكلم عن مجموعة من افظع الكوارث اللي مرت بالإنسان..
كوارث طبيعية وكوارث نتيجة عن أخطاء بشرية..
زلازل، براكين، أعاصير، فيضانات
كاترينا، تسونامي
تيتانيك، تشيرنوبل..
الكوارث بتخلي الإنسان يعرف إنه مخلوق ضعيف، لا يملك شيئا من أمر نفسه..

اللهم عافنا واعف عنا
Profile Image for Moonstoey.
388 reviews25 followers
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November 24, 2024
Nawet mi się nie chce tego oceniać… ale to moja pierwsza w życiu książka przeczytana po angielsku i jestem tym faktem tak zachwycona, że aż ją tutaj dodam 😂
Profile Image for Mary  Maria.
64 reviews1 follower
August 8, 2017
the human last can't control only think "disaster" ...this book to simple description all the disasters and plagues in the world ....the bad part when it describes the Famille and child .....the victims on general
43 reviews
January 21, 2023
One from the best book i have ever read it is full of facts and historical events and it will make you show sympathy for the people who experienced this situation and it will make the adrenaline flow through your whole body
6 reviews
December 3, 2018
I like books like that.
Main topics in the book described in a right way:
- Natural disasters
- Human error
- Disease
5 reviews
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October 16, 2009
Book Tittle: Disaster!
Author: Mary McIntosh
Number of Pages: 46

Question 1

The book tells the story about the bigest disasters through the world history. Some of them were caused by nature and other by humans. In the last twenty five years many people in my country have dead by nature force and other by the the wickedness of some people. In Colombia in this 25 years there have been two greats natural tragedies: Nevado del Ruiz volcano eruption and Armenia earthquake.

In 1985 the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted. The eruption of lava melted the large ice cap of the mountain and produced floods and mudslides and this lava and rocks fell into a river that ultimately covered a town called Armero. The town disappeared completly and the eruption killed over 25.000 people.

In 1999 a great earthqueake measuring 6.4 on the Richer scale shooke the Armenia city. Over 1000 people died and almost 60% of the city was destroyed. Many towns around Armenia disappeared.

Many other peopla have died during these last 25 years due to violence. When Pablo Escobar was alive, he made bring out many bombs that he put on planes, buildings and important avenues in some main cities of Colombia.

Question 2

One of the stories from the book is about Kobe Earthquake. In 1995 a very big eathquake shook the Kobe city in sauth Japan, and the book tells a brief storie about a girl who was under the remains of her house and called her mother. People could hear her but some hours later her screams stopped because the rescuers did not arrive in time. This story remind me Omaira Gonzalez, one of the thousand of victims of the Nevado del Ruiz eruption. This girl was trapped up to her neck in water, concrete, and other remains for three days. It was impossible to rescue her and many people blamed the authorities for not help her. During the 3 days, many journalists accompanied her to try to keep her alive and she sent messages to her mother through the cameras. Omaria died due to gangrene.
Profile Image for Kinza Rasheed.
5 reviews
May 9, 2016
I just completed reading 'Disaster' by the Mary McIntosh. The book was full of excitement and thrill. The stories of disaster are full of curiosity. The way the author describes the feelings of fear, pain, loss & death. The book tells the story about biggest disasters through world history. Some of them were caused by nature and other by humans.

On 28 July 1976, a great earthquake measuring 8.2 on Ritcher scale shook the city of China, Tangshan. It lasted only 15 seconds but those 15 seconds were enough to kill thousands of people who were sleeping peacefully in their beds. Just a few hours later, there was another earthquake. This one measured 7.1 on the Ritcher scale. In those short moments, the city of Tangshan was completely destroyed.

On 26 December 2004, there were another disaster named 'tsunami'. The Asian tsunami was caused by an earthquake measuring 9.3 on Ritcher scale. Just before 8'o clock on the morning of 26 December, the earthquake sent waves through the Indian Ocean. The waves were 20 meters high and they travelled at speed of 800 kilometers per hour. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, and more than a million lost their homes.

Once a time in London in the year of 1666, The fire that starts from a kitchen, destroyed 87 churches, but it also burnt down about 13,000 wooden houses, which were neither safe nor healthy. It finally stop the diseases, caused by rats, which had killed so many people.

There are only several things that is written in this book. There are two kinds of disaster which are caused by nature or human. And human error is the worst disaster on the earth. Disaster shook people. But this book only introduce disasters, don't introduce the way of precaution.

Well, I would like to recommend it to all readers!
27 reviews2 followers
May 23, 2013
May 15
Oxford Level4
30min

Earthquakes
7word summary
earthquakes,danger,victim,sad,treasure,lost,nothing
Discussion Question
If the big earthquake happen suddenly, firstly what will you do?
In my case, I will hide under the desk.

Hurricane Katrina
7word summary
Katrina,storm,big,flood,victim,lost,house
Discussion Question
Have you ever heard the accident?
Yes, when I was a high school student, I heard that.

We have to prepare in order to protect myself.

Oxford Level4
min25

The Asian Tsunami
7word summary
Tsunami,destroy,everything,but,support,food
Discussion Question
Do you know Sumatra earthquake and tsunami?
And where is Sumatra?
Yes, I do. Sumatra is in Indnesia.
Tsunami like Tohoku is very dangerous, but we can't stop natural disaster.

The Great Fire of London
7word summary
rats,disease,fire,house,rats,disappear,good!?
Discussion Question
Have you ever seen fire at live?
I have never seen that, it is awful.
I think what rats disappeared is good but what houses disappeared
is bad. It is difficult question.
28 reviews1 follower
November 18, 2012
- OXFORD UNIVERSITY EXPRESS LEVEL4
- Time: 11/18=90 minutes
- 7 words summary= vesuvius, Earthquakes, Tsunami, Hurricane, human, fire, Titanic
- Discussion Question
1. Do you prepare for great earthquekes?
A. No I don't. I have to do it because the Tokai great earthquake will happen.
2. Did you go to Tohoku to help people whp live there?
A. No I didn't. I want go there, but I didn't a chance to go there.

This book was vwry good! I can learn about disaster. Everyone should read this book.

27 reviews2 followers
May 8, 2013
Oxford Level4
30min

Can we survive?
7word summary
Earth,environment,bad,100,human race,survive?
Discussion Question
How do you try to make the Earth good condition?

The Titanic
7word summary
ship,strong,iceberg,broken,people,die,unsinkable
Discussion Question
If you leave the last message to your family, what will you write?

Chernobyl
7word summary
power plant,exblode,victims,radiation,suffer,danger,zone
Discussion Question
How do you consider about that incident?
22 reviews1 follower
May 31, 2013
MARY McINTOSH

OXFORD BOOKWORMS

STAGE4

5/28=30min 5/29=20min 5/30=20min 5/31=10min

7 words summary
earthquakes-Tsunami-frightened-Hurricane-helicopter-resque-victims

Discussion question
Q: On March,11 when the earthquake happened what were you doing?

A: Actually, I was studying for center exam at library with my friends.

As you know, we can't expect serious disaster, but some animals can notice it and behave strangely.
537 reviews
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May 26, 2011
It is good to learn the word "complacency." I think now we must use "beyond imagination." This book shows us lots of disasters that I think now repeat those type of happening, including the Kobe earthquake, Chernobyl, and the Exxon Valdez, and floods and storm and so on.
Profile Image for Fran Cespedes.
1 review
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May 9, 2016
is a very interesting book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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