The Little Book of the End of the World (4 page)

The Door to Hell

In the centre of Turkmenistan lies the imaginatively titled Door to Hell, a terrifying natural feature that is as much a creation of humanity as it is a reminder of the dangerous forces beneath our feet.

In the 1970s, the gas-rich Darvaza region was close to being exploited by Soviet scientists who were ready to use the area’s gas supply for fuel. However, during excavation, a sinkhole developed, swallowing the ground and much of the equipment. The project began to leak dangerous methane into the atmosphere, affecting nearby towns. Faced with the decision between expensive repair work and a speedy solution to the imminent environmental crisis, it was decided to set fire to the gas field, burning up both the fuel and the methane and eliminating the problem.

Forty years later, the hole continues to burn, the wide chasm forming a fiery pit that has excited the imagination of many artists. The Door to Hell isn’t quite the End of the World, but it sure does look like it.

Earth

The phrase ‘solid ground’ may be frequently used, but the earth beneath our feet is anything but. As continents and tectonic plates shift in a complicated dance, the civilisations that grow on top of them become unwitting partners which might end up taking a fall if and when the dance floor gets crowded.

There are several different phenomena that can affect the ground beneath our feet, and more than a handful of communities have met their end by landslides, avalanches, sinkholes and earthquakes. Many of these are caused by a combination of elements, with landslides and sinkholes typically caused by water and earth working together in one destructive event.

Landslides vary from a heavy flow of water that will carry earth, trees and buildings along with them, to a light flow of sand and soil particles that have been set off by rains or building work. The most recent large-scale disaster involving a landslide occurred in 2011 in Rio de Janeiro where a series of floods and subsequent mudslides caused at least 900 deaths.

Sinkholes are formed in a similar way, with water causing subterranean layers of earth to erode, causing the topmost layer to collapse. This can be common in urban areas, where building works have further undermined lower layers of earth and rubble, leaving only man-made structures to support concrete streets and sometimes whole buildings.

Earthquakes are caused by the release of energy as tectonic plates shift or collide: they’re a regular occurrence, with half a million earthquakes of varying intensity occuring each year. Some are barely felt, while others cause large-scale destruction.

While the nature of earthquakes, and the way they are measured, means they can be predicted and detected around the world, it’s unlikely that an earthquake would ever occur of the magnitude and scale that it would bring about an apocalyptic threat to humanity.

But that’s not to say that the smaller ones should be ignored.

1755: Lisbon

While most earthquakes and volcanic activity centre on the Pacific Ocean and its neighbouring countries, one of the most deadly earthquakes in recorded history actually took place in the Atlantic Ocean and had devastating effects on the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

The Lisbon earthquake struck on the morning of 1 November, and is believed to have measured around 8.5 on the Richter scale. The earthquake itself wasn’t the sole harbinger of destruction to the city: the quake caused fires and a massive tsunami that washed over the coast.

Up to 100,000 people were killed as a result of the earthquake, with most of the city’s structures destroyed.

1906: San Francisco

On 18 April 1906, an earthquake measuring 7.8 struck San Francisco. Estimates suggest that nearly 3,000 people were killed in the quake, but given the city’s high immigrant population, many of whom were illegal and not officially recorded, there is no official figure for the death toll.

The earthquake destroyed most of San Francisco, with tremors felt along the Pacific Coast and as far inland as Nevada.

2011: Japan

As if to prove that earthquakes can sometimes be a precursor to much greater destruction, on 11 March 2011, an earthquake struck 70km off the coast of Japan. While Japan is a country used to earthquakes, with an infrastructure designed to withstand most minor quakes, this quake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale and constituted one of the greatest disasters to ever strike the country: over 15,000 people died, and nearly a million buildings were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake or the subsequent flooding.

The 2011 Japanese earthquake is just one example of a megathrust earthquake, with seismologists expecting that there could be another one very soon – this is casually referred to as The Big One by inhabitants of the Western USA and Japan. Megathrust earthquakes typically rank over 8.0 on the Richter scale and are localised to the Pacific Ocean, based on the constant activity between the Philippine Sea Plate and North American Plate.

However, despite the dangers presented by the 2011 earthquake, most of the headlines focused on the damage caused to the Fukushima nuclear plant.

As the earthquake struck, the Fukushima nuclear power plant entered shutdown, in accordance with the plant’s safety protocols. However, the following tsunami created problems for the plant, flooding most of the complex and disabling the diesel generators that were providing the plant’s safety systems, including coolant for the reactor. This led to a number of small explosions, releasing nuclear material into both the water supply and the air.

All eyes were on Fukushima, expecting an imminent nuclear disaster that never came: the Japanese government claimed that there were no adverse effects after the Fukushima disaster. However, in 2013 it was revealed that the plant is continuing to leak radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.

Wind

And finally, we have the last of the classical elements: the mighty wind. While air is always present, we usually have to wait for some act of ultimate devastation to be reminded of its destructive power.

Like water, earth and fire, wind is not a solely destructive force: it can be used to generate electricity or dry clothes. But its unpredictable nature makes the wind even more dangerous than the other elements.

The greatest act of the angry wind is the hurricane, also known as the tropical storm, typhoon or cyclone – the phrasing usually depends on what area you’re living in. This type of storm is caused by evaporating water from the ocean’s surface which rapidly cools and forms clouds. The quick heating and cooling of this water builds up significant amounts of energy which combines with an initial low pressure to form a tropical storm.

2005: Hurricane Katrina

On 23 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina began to form in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, making landfall on 25 August. The hurricane swept through Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, later changing course and joining with another storm front to affect areas as far north as Quebec.

Hurricane Katrina caused nearly 2,000 deaths and several billion dollars of structural damage.

The hurricane’s effects are still felt in the city of New Orleans, where over 80 per cent of the city was flooded, destroying homes and businesses. The city still hasn’t fully recovered. Hurricane Katrina remains one of the most costly natural disasters to ever strike the United States, both in terms of property damage and lives lost.

PART 2

RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

The Earth beneath our feet is out to get us, with the universe throwing all sorts of obstacles in our way, like a comic-book supervillain.

It should come as no surprise that most of our myths and legends about the beginning and end of the world revolve around these treacherous forces.

The earliest religions are built around these natural forces, with cultures giving names and identities to the actions of the Earth that they didn’t understand. These became the early pagan gods, developing personalities that brought them into conflict with each other. The gods became the heart of long and complicated stories that incorporated the wealth of human experience and tried to explain the mysteries of the world around us.

Despite the fact that these mythologies and religions flourished independently around the globe, there are surprisingly common elements to all, terrifying similarities between the forces that we once believed would destroy us and the methods in which we thought the end would come.

3

CLASSICAL RELIGIONS AND THE FAMILIES OF GODS

Most of the religions that are widely practised in the twenty-first century are built on a monotheistic structure, the belief in one god or ‘supreme being’; that god is responsible for our creation, for the creation of the world around us and, ultimately, whatever end we might meet.

The classical world had some pretty similar beliefs, but there was no single god: instead, we were given a family, or pantheon of gods. Each element of the world was attributed to a different god or spirit, all with complex interpersonal relationships. Under these gods, thunderstorms weren’t just an act of god but an epic battle for supremacy in the heavens, with flooding and other destructive acts sent as divine punishment for humanity.

The presence of the gods made sense of an illogical world, explaining the cyclical nature of the Earth, its days and its seasons. But the gods also helped to make sense of life itself: heroes and kings were created as the gods intervened in their lives, favouring them over all others; families were destroyed as their prideful actions sought to rival the glory of the gods; and, as we’ve already discussed, cities like Helike were destroyed when their inhabitants angered the gods.

Science has explained most of these events and phenomena to us, but the stories about these ancient gods still linger and inspire the imagination.

GREECE AND ROME

The Greek gods have proven the most fertile mythology that is still visited today, and rightly so, given the effect of Greek culture on classical Europe. The Greek gods are typically treated as one distinct group, but there are still different local beliefs that change a name or a small relationship. The names and locations are slightly different, but the stories ultimately remain the same. Most of these Greek stories spread to the Roman Empire, with several tales explaining just how and why these gods are at once the same and different.

In all of these Greek and Roman traditions, Apollo is a common figure, a sun god riding his chariot across the sky and looking down on all that he and the other gods had created. Apollo brought warmth and light, and was worshipped as a god of truth and medicine, but there was a small catch to his benevolence: if ever Apollo was wronged or challenged, he would not ride across the sky, plunging the world into eternal darkness.

The Greek gods were also used to describe the seasons, with specific reference to the harvest months – this element of the story is entrenched in adulterous elements that put modern soaps to shame. Hades, god of death and the underworld, wooed Persephone, daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest. When Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her to his realm, Demeter was heartbroken and refused to fulfil her duties. To maintain the natural order, Zeus declared that Persephone would spend three months with Hades before returning to Olympus to spend time with the other gods. Those three months coincided with the cold winters, while Persephone’s return began the growth of crops in spring.

The story of Persephone bears startling similarities to that of Helen of Troy and the subsequent Trojan War, an episode of Greek military history that occurred around 1200
BC
. The Trojan War forms a bridge between many real-world stories and fantastical narratives of the gods, with many using the Trojan War as a starting point for other tales that discuss the gods’ interference in the lives of real-life figures. Many of these stories focus on human politics and pride.

In fact, god-like pride was such a sin to the classical Greeks that they had their own word for it:
hubris
. The hubris of several Greek heroes led them to offend the gods and the gods subsequently cursed their families; although this was a recurring theme throughout Greek mythology, the effects of this lesson can still be felt in modern religions and their emphasis on humility.