"A 38-year-old American interior designer based in London and her independent-minded 74-year-old architect mother; a British investment banker in New York to see his ex-wife and young children; a resident ER doctor who experienced Hurricane Sandy when she was a medical student; two young men, 21-year-old NYU students; their friends; and others are thrust together when a major hurricane descends upon New York City and wreaks unimaginable chaos and...

Fascinating stories of young people who have been caught up in hurricanes.

March 11, 2011: A huge tsunami triggered by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hits Japan, crippling the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, releasing radiation, and turning the residents of Futaba into "nuclear refugees." The devastation experienced by the town - dead livestock left to rot, crops abandoned, homes and businesses destroyed - was infinitely worse than anything reported by the newspapers. A year later, many refugees are still unable to return...

“The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California's Epic Cedar Fire” is both a poignant memoir and a veteran journalist's narrative nonfiction account of a catastrophic event that crippled postcard-perfect San Diego and dominated international headlines in October 2003. Author Sandra Millers Younger's miraculous saga of escape, ruin and renewal unifies a tapestry of experiences woven from more than 100 interviews with...

"The incredible wartime saga of the only American submariners to survive the sinking of their ship and evade enemy capture in WWII. On the night of August 13, 1944, the U.S. submarine Flier struck a mine in the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines as it steamed along the surface. All but fifteen of the more than eighty-strong crew went down with the vessel. Of those left floating in the dark, eight survived by swimming for seventeen hours before washing...

Two years ago a Tsunami ravaged the coast of Thailand and hundreds of thousands lost their lives. This story follows a group of people whose lives are irrevocably transformed in the aftermath including: a young couple searching for their child; a Thai survivor who loses his family and tries to prevent developers from seizing the land his village is built on; an Englishwoman whose husband and son are missing; an ambitious reporter; a relief worker;...

"Just hours after his wife and her entire family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami in Brisbane, American expat and former police officer Frank Mercy goes out to join his volunteer rescue unit and pulls a little boy from a submerged car, saving the child's life with only seconds to spare. In that moment, Frank's own life is transformed. Not quite knowing why, Frank sidesteps the law, when, instead of turning Ian over to the Red Cross, he takes the...

"A passionate student of Japanese poetry, theater, and art for much of her life, Gretel Ehrlich felt compelled to return to the earthquake-and-tsunami-devastated Tohoku coast to bear witness, listen to survivors, and experience their terror and exhilaration in villages and towns where all shelter and hope seemed lost. In an eloquent narrative that blends strong reportage, poetic observation, and deeply felt reflection, she takes us into the upside-down...

When a tsunami rages through their coastal town in India, 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita are left orphaned and homeless. As they struggle to reach the safe haven of the convent where they attend school, they are abducted by human traffickers and thrust into a hidden world of sexual violence and illicit commerce, where the most valuable prize is the innocence of a child. Halfway across the world, in Washington, D.C., attorney...

"Nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? Will our upbringing, our gender, our personality--anything we've ever learned, thought, or dreamed of--ultimately matter? Journalist Amanda Ripley set...