Museum of Natural History's 'Nature's Fury' exhibit tackles natural disasters

A new American Museum of Natural History exhibition looks to quell human fears of hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and earthquakes.

"Nature's Fury: The Science of Natural Disasters" explains how science can reduce the risk of death and property damage by forecasting these natural events.

The exhibition uses wall-size visuals and sound to capture the magnitude of flooding waters, towering tornadoes that rumble through at breakneck speeds, and hot volcanic-lava flows that engulf communities. The interactive exhibit explains today's dynamic planet changes, whether natural or human-made.

A large tabletop map simulator and voiceover tracks Hurricane Sandy as it moved north toward the tristate region before becoming a superstorm.

Its storm water surge is portrayed with a flash of white light that covers the LED map, which turns into blue light to demarcate the waterfront towns and villages on Long Island and New York City neighborhoods that were deluged.

"Wow," said Cole Mednic, 10, of PS 146 in Brooklyn. "You can see how it affected everyone." Cole pointed to his Red Hook neighborhood, which was hard hit.

"I feel like I am reliving it, but I'm not scared," said Luis Gillen, 10, who also lives in Red Hook. "We can learn about what happened to other people in other communities."

Their fifth-grade teacher, Amanda Romani, said the students are learning about climate change and the exhibition empowers them "to see what happens during natural disasters and by being educated, they will make better decisions."

"We are not sticking our heads in the sand," said curator Edmond Mathez of the museum's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. "I hope people will come away from this exhibit realizing nature is very complex.

"We can't prevent natural disasters, but we can at least understand the risks," Mathez said. "Through the process of observation we can examine the cycles of natural disasters and give fore warnings to help people evacuate, for example."

Mathez said the exhibition also explains how science helps engineers design infrastructure to minimize property damage from earthquakes and superstorms.

Other exhibits include the 2007 tornado that destroyed 95 percent of Greensburg, Kansas. The twister barreled through the small town with 200-mph winds, killing 13 people. Artifacts of the devastation -- a mangled classroom chair and a battered stop sign -- hang from the ceiling.

"People are interested in natural disasters," said Mathez, who hopes the exhibition will spur students to love science when they see fault lines in rock slabs to explain how earthquakes happen and a vial of volcanic ash that was among the 520 million tons released in the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.