1. Earthquakes: Ninety percent of earthquakes occur around the Pacific Rim, which is known as the ‘Ring of Fire′. In 1995, a struck the city of Kobe in Japan. A large number of people were killed when homes, office blocks and highways collapsed.
Tidal waves: Tidal waves are the result of an abrupt shift in the underwater movement of the Earth. In the 1960s, a huge hit Anchorage, Alaska. The tidal wave traveled from Alaska to California!
Typhoons: When a tropical storm reaches 120 kilometers per hour, it is called a in North and South America, a cyclone in Australia, and a typhoon in Asia. The word ‘typhoon′ comes from Chinese: tai means ‘big′ and feng means ‘wind′, so the word ‘typhoon′ means ‘big wind′.
Volcanoes: We can usually predict when a volcano will erupt. Mount Pinatubo, which is a volcano in the Philippines, erupted in 1991. It was the world′s largest in more than 50 years. Hundreds of people died, but thousands were saved because scientists had warned them about the eruption.
Tornadoes: Tornadoes are funnel-shaped storms which pass overland below a . They can suck up anything that is in their path. In Italy in 1981, a tornado lifted a baby, who was asleep in its baby carriage, into the air and put it down safely 100 meters away!