Natural disasters have shaped the course of history in more ways than people can imagine. In his new book, “Wicked Weather: Natural Disasters that Changed History,” Rutgers—Newark Distinguished Service Professor and RCEI affiliate Alexander Gates examines how catastrophic natural events have influenced major historical events.
As a professor in Rutgers—Newark’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and former department chair, Gates has spent decades researching and teaching about natural disasters, particularly related to tectonics. Alongside teaching geology courses, he studies faults and tectonic activity. He also runs programs to help underrepresented minority students within STEM.
Gates’ recently released book explores around 20 cases where natural disasters helped shape political or social change. According to Gates, disasters alter the course of history depending on the place and time.
“There are many devastating earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters,” Gates said, “but it takes the right location and situation for them to change country or world history.”
The idea for the book stemmed from Gates’ previous research and writing. He is also the author of a textbook titled “Earth’s Fury” and a trade book titled “Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes.”
While conducting his research, Gates discovered that numerous disasters that happened in history were also related to highly influential social and political events. This inspired him to further study and understand the correlation between the two.
The book highlights examples of natural disasters that resulted in political change — for example, according to Gates, the U.S. won the Revolutionary War due to a hurricane and a China became a communist nation due to a flood. “Simon Bolivar helped numerous countries in South America achieve independence because of an earthquake,” Gates explained. “The tipping point for the French Revolution was caused by a volcanic eruption. Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan because of a typhoon. The Great Ming Dynasty in China fell because of a drought.”
For Gates, studying these events helps us both understand the past and contemporary issues, specifically their root causes. Gates said that sweeping changes occurred in these scenarios due to various factors like living conditions and government effort.
Preparedness can drastically reduce the negative effects of natural disasters. Gates showed the difference between an earthquake in Haiti versus one in California as a prime example. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 in San Francisco, California, in 1989 killed 63 people, while a 2010 earthquake in Haiti with a magnitude of 7.0 killed approximately 300,000 people. Gates attributes this disparity to the “effort and engineering” in place to prepare for natural disasters.
Today, Gates believes that the lessons from these historical disasters are more relevant than ever in relation to climate change. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and disastrous, making preparedness extremely important, he said. His takeaways about events from the past are clear in identifying patterns of the past and applying them to the present.
“Some disasters are so big that there is nothing we can do about it. An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. A supervolcano almost wiped out humans,” Gates said. “But after recent major disasters including COVID-19, it is clear that spending time and money on preparation for disasters is a wise decision.”
This article was originally published by The Daily Targum.
