Saturday, December 22, 2012

quicko: cyclone tracy

Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin late Christmas Eve 1974 and was arguably the greatest natural disasters to hit Australia in modern history, particularly in terms of damage.

According to Wikipedia:

"Tracy killed 71 people, caused A$837 million in damage (1974 dollars) and destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of houses.[4][5] Tracy left more than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people.[6] Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to the city. After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more modern materials and updated building techniques. Bruce Stannard of The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy was a "disaster of the first magnitude ... without parallel in Australia's history."[7]"

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