Disasters

Fire Season was officially closed but try to tell the wind and the fire that! Where we live in Southern California, we are not in danger of the fires but we are socked in with the aftermath. Our valley is covered in smoke. The smoke is so bad that they have cancelled school for the rest of the week. You don’t dare open a window because you will soon become inundated with the smell of smoke.

All this fire and the damage it is causing reminded me of the natural disasters our ancestors faced. Gendisasters, at http://www.gendisasters.com/, is a great website for checking on all kinds of disasters that affected our ancestors. At this website you can find histories and pictures of both natural and man made disasters such as fires, earthquakes, floods, tornados, hurricanes, train and ship wrecks and explosions. For a list of the top 10 deadliest U. S. disasters check out Kimberly Powell’s About .com site at http://genealogy.about.com/od/historic_disasters/tp/deadliest_us.htm. Cyndi’s List also has links to websites detailing natural and man made disasters at http://www.cyndislist.com/disasters.htm.

The implications of disasters are many. Obviously, there is the destruction of both human life and property. Long range implications can include stress, loss of records and historic buildings, loss of community, etc. Please remember those in danger here in California, both the victims of the fire and the firefighters.