Bizarre natural disasters

In April 1815, Mt Tambora in Indonesia erupted. It is the most powerful volcanic eruption in known history. Tens of thousands of people died in South East Asia and a huge ash cloud was thrown into the upper layers of the atmosphere. (1) ................................ This caused the weather to be dramatically different the following year. In India, there were droughts and floods which changed the ecology of the Bay of Bengal. This caused the spread of a new kind of cholera which killed millions. In Europe, months of rain and cold weather continued until summertime. (2) ................................ In the United States, there were heavy snowfalls in some states in June. This killed crops and seriously affected the economy. In the end, 1816 was named the ‘Year Without a Summer’.

(3) ................................ In December 1952, there was a thick layer of smog that stayed on London for four days. (4) ................................ The high-pressure air and the position of London prevented the smog from being blown away by the wind. The smog was so thick that visibility was only a few metres in some areas, and public transport came to a halt. A lot of animals in farms died as a result of the smog. A study that was published a few weeks after the smog showed that between 4,000 and 12,000 people might have died because of the bad air quality during those four days.