Are humans to blame for exacerbating many natural disasters? (Ecology).

From: USA Today (Magazine) | Date: July 1, 2002| Author: Abramovitz, Janet N. | Copyright information

IN DECEMBER, 1999, almost 20,000,000 cubic yards of mud, trees, and boulders came barreling down from Venezuela's coastal mountain range onto the densely populated and heavily urbanized ribbon of land that hugs the Caribbean coast, killing around 30,000 people and causing about $2,000,000,000 in damages. Two years worth of rain had fallen in just two days, dislodging soil already saturated by two weeks of heavy La Nina rains. While floods and landslides are common in this area, the ...

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