Disasters: natural and man-made catastrophes through the centuries

Smallpox: the parasitic horror

Great Chicago fire: October 8, 1871

Johnstown flood: May 31, 1889

San Francisco shaking: April 18, 1906

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire: March 25, 1911

Titanic: April 15, 1912

Blue skin and bloody sputum: pandemic flu of 1918

No water, no jobs, no relief: the Dust Bowl of the 1930s

Mammoth shakes and monster waves, destruction in 12 countries: December 26, 2004

Hurricane Katrina and the drowning of New Orleans: August 29, 2005.