Power of nature in full force: A week of natural disasters

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  A crane is toppled by high winds at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing at least 107 pilgrims. Reuters

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  Floodwaters swamp a Japanese graveyard after the Kinugawa river broke its banks. Issei Kato / Reuters

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  Soldiers from the Japanese self-defence force escort an elderly woman after flooding forced her from her home in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture. Issei Kato / Reuters

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  A woman and child examine a vehicle swept away during a flash flood in Hilldale, Utah. Authorities say several people have died in flash flooding that swept away vehicles in a polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border. Michael Chow / The Arizona Republic via AP

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  An aerial view of a giant sinkhole in Russia’s Perm region, near Solikamsk. The crater appeared in November and continues to grow, swallowing more houses. EPA

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  Firefighters in northern California create a firebreak near a home in Middletown. Two of the western state’s fastest-burning wildfires in decades overtook several towns, killing at least one person and destroying hundreds of homes, vehicles and businesses. Elaine Thompson / AP Photo

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  A burned vehicle on Evergreen Drive as firefighters continue to battle the Valley fire in the town of Cobb, California. Mark Ralston / AFP Photo

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  A forest fire rages in the Auqui hill north of Quito, capital of Ecuador. Forest blazes killed three firefighters. AFP

A series of natural disasters that have struck around the world over the past week provide a strong reminder of the unrivaled power of the four elements.

The ancient Greeks believed there were four elements – fire, air, water and earth.

By these, everything in the natural world was determined.

They also gave us the word elemental, which can be defined as something that has the power of nature.

Science has long since refined the number of elements, but nature’s elementary forces readily remind us of its power.

The past seven days have shown nature at its most elemental, and in the most classical sense.

In Saudi Arabia, strong winds and a storm contributed to the toppling of a construction crane at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca. It killed at least 107 people, mostly pilgrims.

Half a world away, California declared a state of emergency as forest fires raged across more than 40,000 hectares in the north of the Golden State, destroying at least 400 homes.

More than 23,000 people were moved from their homes in conditions made worse by four years of extreme drought.

More forest fires encircled the Ecuadorean capital Quito this week, killing three firefighters and enveloping the city in smoke.

Flooding forced about 2.8 million people to leave their homes in central Japan. Several weeks of heavy rain had caused several rivers to break their banks, with floodwaters strong enough to carry off entire houses.

In the US state of Utah, flash floods caused the deaths of at least 18 people, the result of heavy rains that sent a wall of water into the homes of 7,700 people, including members of a polygamous sect.

An 8.3-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile led to a tsunami warning across the Pacific, with 4.5-metre waves causing floods. Buildings swayed as the earth shook in the city of Valparaiso.

And in Russia, footage shot by drone showed the extent of a vast sinkhole that has opened near Solikamsk.

The crater first appeared in November, possibly as the result of water in underground workings. From 30 metres, it has grown to 125 metres, with the earth continuing to crumble as it swallows more houses with no sign of stopping.

Earth, water, fire and air. Perhaps the ancients were on to something after all.