Discover the Power of Earth’s Forces
 
Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters

May 22 – September 12, 2010

The earth sustains us, protects us, and makes life possible; but it also humbles us with its dramatic power. Created by The Field Museum, Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters explores natural disasters through stunning displays, state-of-the-art animations, poignant, large-scale images, and cultural artifacts that reveal the dynamic relationship we have with the Earth.

Visitors are in for a memorable and powerful experience. They can witness what it’s like to stand inside a roaring tornado; trigger an underwater earthquake and simulate a tsunami; create a virtual volcano; touch and examine real rock and lava specimens that tell of past geologic events; discover how people adapt to living at risk; and be inspired by the resiliency of disaster survivors.

This hands-on exhibit allows visitors to interact with four types of disasters and see the effects first-hand. Visitors can learn about the more than 100,000 earthquakes that occur across the globe each year through an interactive display that allows them to manipulate real-time earthquake data, such as location, time, magnitude, and depth. To delve deeper into the forces behind tsunamis, Nature Unleashed lets visitors trigger a virtual underwater earthquake to see how a tsunami develops and spreads around the globe. One of the highlights of the exhibit is an engaging interactive display that lets visitors control levels of gas and silica in a volcano’s magma to create their own virtual volcanic eruption.

The exhibition stresses that storms, volcanoes and other forces of nature are completely natural phenomena. Whether they’re disasters or not depends on the choices we make. Nature Unleashed examines how we can prepare for, and in some cases minimize, the impact of nature’s fury.

The exhibition organized and developed by The Field Museum, will be on display at The Durham Museum May 22 through September 6, 2010.