You could include the disasters in China that happened in 1959 and 1976, one was flooding and the other was an earthquake.
As far as a know, over 2 million people were killed.
The difference between then and now is in the quantity and quality of communications from around the globe.
Any big destructive event can be made real to us very quickly in the 21st century. The wasn't the case in the 20th century.
TheStar.com - Cyclone in 1970 ignored by media
There are different ways to contact the spirits, "white noise" is one of them.
Usually, reserved for very yappy souls.
TheStar.com - Here's your very own EVP primer: "What is Electronic Voice Phenomenon?: It's how the dead talk to us through ordinary electronic recording devices. At least according to the American Association for EVP."
Environmental disasters aren't new to mankind, but intense CNN, BBC, CBC reporting of them is new.
In Ontario, the worse we see are occasional blizzards or rain storms with little loss of life.
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Tsunami among world's worst disasters: "2004 Asian quake disaster - toll so far exceeds 110,000
2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran - official casualty figure is 26,271
1976 Earthquake in Tangshan, China, kills 242,000
1970 Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000
1923 Tokyo earthquake kills 140,000
1887 China's Yellow River breaks its banks in Huayan Kou killing 900,000
1896 Tsunami kills 27,000 in Japan
1815 Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island kills 90,000
1556 Earthquake in China's Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces kills an estimated 830,000 "
Some great shots of a tsunami hitting the shore. Incredibly, people seemed hypotized by it.
Wizbang: "incredible 12MB amateur video of the tsunami hitting a seaside restaurant."