Disaster Canada

Disaster Canada travels across the country from its rough beginnings to the present, exploring the history of its most devestating catastrophes. Some are caused by powerful natural phenomena and erratic weather patterns. Others can be put down to tragic human error: a miscalculation in the strength of steel and suddenly 86 men are crushed beneath the twisted remains of the Quebec Bridge; a miscommunication between two vessels in Halifax Harbour and 2,000 die, 9,000 are maimed and 25,000 are left homeless within minutes; a handful or erroneous assumptions and 77 hungry sealers freeze to death on an ice floe within walking distance of their ship. In this book, stories and dramatic photographs expose the human core: our will to survive, our heroism, and our capacity to face the worst. Beneath the the shock of headlines comes the rich story of Canada's sometimes painful growth, a nation that time after time has pulled together in crisis.