Last
week, I touched on my adventures in my first six months in Munich.
Unfortunately, the past several months have also brought about some tragic events
as well.
I
lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 12 years—three times longer than
anywhere else I’ve lived. Seeing the ongoing wildfires devastate areas that
feel like home is heartbreaking.
In
college, I did a summer semester in Barbados and Puerto Rico. Watching the
wonderful people of Puerto Rico agonize over the most basic necessities in the
wake of Hurricane Maria is also distressing.
A
friend in California asked about similar disasters over here. Until his
question, and reports that Hurricane Ophelia was headed for Ireland, I hadn’t
thought much about natural disasters in Europe at large--or Germany in
particular--outside of fires and flooding.
So,
I decided to check it out.
Germany
is one of the largest countries in Europe, yet it’s only 8/10 the size of just
1 of the 50 U.S. states. Still, it has a pretty diverse disaster ecosystem.
Blizzards
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| Climbers clear snow from the FC Bayern stadium in Munich |
Germany
is no stranger to snowstorms, but in recent years things have been kicking it
up a notch.
December 2010 was the 4th coldest in Germany in 120
years, and dumped record snowfall on the country.
In 2013, an unexpected storm
buried parts of Germany and nearby countries to the south under 35 cm (nearly
14 in) of snow on the first day.
In January this year, the storm known as Axel
caused heavy flooding in the north and heavy snow in the south. And when we moved
to Munich in April, it was 25°C (80°F) our first weekend, and snowing two weeks
later. Who knows what this winter will bring?
Cyclones/Hurricanes/Typhoons
One
thing I’ve noticed is that instead of always categorizing natural events over here, many times they're just called “Storm” X.
Like
Storm Andrea in 2012, which damaged part of Munich’s English Garden. Or Storm
Niklas in 2015, said to be one of the strongest storms in recent history, with winds peaking at 152 km/hr (93 mph). The storm brought flooding, stranded thousands of air and train passengers, and killed seven people.
Drought
Germany
is also no stranger to drought. The most severe to date is said to have been in 1959-60, while a drought during the 1970s was the longest.
Other major drought periods include part of the 1990s, 2003, and 2015. The one silver lining to the most recent droughts is they have unearthed archaeological finds--former villages, war remnants, etc.
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| Earthquake activity in and bordering Germany |
Earthquakes
In
terms of plate tectonics, Germany sits in the middle of the Eurasian shelf, so
most earthquakes that strike are low magnitude.
That being said, the most
recent high-magnitude quake occurred in Roermond in 1992, weighing in at 5.9, with aftershocks continuing for 6 weeks.
The worst earthquake in central European history was in 1356 in Basel, Switzerland, which sits on the border with France and Germany. It measured somewhere around 6.6 and is estimated to have killed unknown thousands in all three countries.
Floods
Fire
and flood are certainly two tools that have helped shape European history.
Nearly every city I’ve visited in Germany so far has a flood story (or two).
The worst in the country’s history took place in December 1287 in East
Frisia. At least 30 villages were lost and 50-80,000 people in Germany and the Netherlands died in the so-called St.
Lucia’s Flood.
Hailstorms
In
July 1984, a storm unleashed tennis-ball-sized hail over Munich. It was the
largest loss event in German insurance history. Cars that weren’t repaired
after the storm were said to be of “Munich design.”
Tornadoes
300
tornados reportedly hit Europe every year, which is a lot, but less than a
third of the U.S. annual average. Still, in 2015, Germany had an “outbreak” of
tornados across the country. And one was reported in Hamburg this year shortly
before we moved down here.
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| Eifel lakes formed from volcanoes |
Volcanoes
Germany
might not pop up first on your list of places with volcanoes, but the Eifel
region in the mid-western part of the country is full of them. They’re
considered inactive, but not extinct.
Wildfires
Sadly,
like most places, few forest fires in Germany are caused by natural causes
(i.e., lightning). The largest known forest fire in Germany happened in 1975 on
the Lüneburg Heath in Saxony. About 29 square miles burned, and 5 firefighters
lost their lives.
Looking
at all of these events made me realize how much of a bubble I lived in. Not
just in the U.S., where our outward-looking scope tends to be a bit narrow and self-serving.
I've also been in a bubble over here about some things, especially when my
lack of fluency has made it easy to disassociate myself from radio or TV.
So,
this week I downloaded a German location-based app that provides alerts from
government agencies. This way I can stay on top of what’s happening in my area. And I've vowed to make my periodic skimming of local news a bit more regular (and a bit more substantive).
I've also taken steps to up my volunteer game--not necessarily in disaster relief, but in some form of humanitarian aid.
In
the meantime, my thoughts and best wishes are with the survivors of this year’s recent disasters, particularly in Florida, Texas, California, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto
Rico.
And
on this side of the world, survivors in France (forest fires), Greece
(earthquake), Italy (earthquake), Portugal
(forest fires), Russia (hurricane), Spain (forest fires), Switzerland
(landslide), Turkey (earthquake), and the U.K. (hurricane).
Whether
or not the increased intensity and frequency of these events is due to climate change
is a topic for another discussion. But with Mother Nature working so hard against us, we do need to put aside some of the pettiness and apathy and work together for the
good of all of us.
