On Christmas Eve 1974, Darwin pubs were bursting with festive people joking that 'cyclones never hit Darwin'. Cyclone Tracy was expected to be another 'near miss'. But in the early hours of Christmas Day the slow-moving tropical cyclone tore the city apart, with sustained winds of 200 kilometres per hour, and Darwin became another victim of nature.
Cyclone Tracy is only one of the many extreme weather events that Australia has been subjected to. 'Australia's Natural Disasters' tells many stories of the devastation nature has wreaked on our wild country. From the agonies of droughts and floods to the shock occurrence of earthquakes and bushfires, Australia is a country famed as much for its ferocious natural hazards as it is for its rich environment. Freak weather has caused plane crashes and shipwrecks and even been blamed for the disappearance of a Prime Minister.
Technological advances and warning systems developed in the wake of disasters have tremendously improved weather prediction capabilities, averting or at least minimising many disasters. New regulations based on lessons of the past also contribute to better management of natural phenomena.
