From the Latin catastrŏphe (and this from a Greek word that means “destroy” or “bring down”), the term catastrophe refers to a fateful event that alters the regular order of things. The disaster can be natural, such as a tsunami, drought, or flood, or man-made, such as war.
One of the largest natural disasters in recent times was the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in 2004, which killed nearly 230,000 people. It said tsunami originated from an earthquake of 9.3 points on the scale of Richter, a number that makes the second largest earthquake since the invention of the seismograph.
However, we must not forget the existence of another series of catastrophes that have become regrettable milestones in our world history. This would be the case, for example, of the nuclear accident that took place on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located in Ukraine. A hydrogen explosion at said facility was the one that resulted in a total of 31 deaths, although since then, and as a consequence of that, it is estimated that more than 4,000 people have been victims of it.
In the same way, another catastrophe of a similar nature should not be overlooked. We are referring to the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that took place by the United States in both areas of Japan. Within the Second World War they were carried out, specifically in August 1945, which resulted in more than 200,000 victims.
Fires, earthquakes or attacks are other of the most important and tragic catastrophes that can take place. In this case, the last section includes three attacks that have marked the world population in recent years: the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City, where more than 3,000 people died, the attacks of September 11, 2001. -M 2004 in Madrid where 191 people died and the attacks of July 7, 2005 in London. In this latest catastrophe, 56 people died and another 700 were injured of varying severity.
According to DigoPaul, the concept of catastrophe is associated with that of disaster. These are events that negatively affect life and that sometimes produce permanent changes in society or the environment.
In this sense, a catastrophe is the sudden change in the state of a dynamic system, which takes place from the alteration of one of its parameters.
On the other hand, a catastrophe is something of poor quality, that makes a bad impression, that turns out badly or that is badly done. For example: “The concert was a catastrophe: nothing went as planned”, “My younger brother left the house a disaster”.
A catastrophe is also the last part of the dramatic poem, with an outcome that is often painful. In general, the catastrophe is the unfortunate outcome of any poem.