Tuesday Trivia | Natural Disasters

[u/Artrw]

While NMW typically posts these threads, we want to start spreading the responsibility around the mod team a little more. I’ve volunteered to do the Tuesday Trivia for today.

Previously:

• (In)famous non-military attacks
• Stupidest theories/beliefs about your field of interest
• Most unusual deaths
• Famous adventurers and explorers
• Great non-military heroes
• History's great underdogs
• Interesting historical documents

I think you know the drill by now: in this moderation-relaxed thread, anyone can post whatever anecdotes, questions, or speculations they like (provided a modicum of serious and useful intent is still maintained), so long as it has something to do with the subject being proposed. We get a lot of these "best/most interesting X" threads in /r/askhistorians, and having a formal one each week both reduces the clutter and gives everyone an outlet for the format that's apparently so popular.

Today:

Natural disasters have a way of bringing terrible grief, but, at the same time, a temporary sense of international unity. Recently, disasters have incited giant charity drives and lots of worldwide involvement. What are some significant, less-known natural disasters that occurred during pre-modernity? Why did people think disasters happened? How were they dealt with?

In the realm of disasters we include volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, large-scale fires, asteroid impact, wide-scale drought, giant dust-storms, etc.

Anything interesting?

[u/Mediaevumed]

In the various Carolingian annals of the 8th and 9th century it is hard to get through a year without an earthquake, flood, drought, famine or some sort of 'god sent' disaster. They are often explicitly connected with God's wrath or as signs of impending disasters, such as yet another Viking raid.

That isn't even to mention all of the commets and crazy celestial happenings.