Disaster

Strike disaster

Disaster  struck when the plane's engine failed shortly after take-off.

Avert disaster

An airliner came close to disaster while approaching Kennedy Airport yesterday.

Fortunately, the disaster was narrowly averted by the quick reactions of the pilot.

Head for disaster

The business was heading for financial disaster until a new manager arrived to save the situation.

Spell disaster

The discovery of foot and mouth disease in British cattle spelt disaster for many British farmers. Many went out of business as a result.

Court disaster

Drinking and driving is stupid and irresponsible. If you do it, you are simply courting disaster.

End in

The trip to the island ended in disaster when the small boat we were in hit a rock and sank in a matter of minutes.

Go back and underline the verb collocations.

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There's not much you can do about natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.

I'm not going to bore you with all the details. It's enough to say that the whole event was a total and utter disaster.

Many scientists believe that the destruction of the rain forests is an ecological disaster that threatens the future of life on Earth.

When the emergency services arrived at the scene of the accident, they soon realised that they had a major disaster on their hands.

On the morning of the final climb to the summit of Mt Everest, I woke with an overwhelming feeling of impending disaster. I was right. Two of our party of seven died that day.

Everyone knew before it happened that Chernobyl was a nuclear disaster waiting to happen.

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It was impossible to comprehend the full scale of  the disaster.

 Following the rail crash, the government has promised a full investigation into the disaster.

The reason for the disaster was engine failure, not human error.

Hospitals up to fifty miles from the site of  the disaster were inundated with casualties.

The recent wave of strikes has brought the country to the brink of economic disaster.

Letting Fernando organise the trip is a recipe for disaster. Everything is likely to go wrong.

The earthquake is just the latest in a long line of disasters that have hit the country recently.

The director accepted full responsibility for  the disaster and resigned on the spot.

 

Notes

• In ‘When the emergency services arrived at the scene of the accident, they soon realised that they had a major disaster on their hands.’ you could also say a 'full-scale disaster'.
• Note the following ways of saying something is a complete disaster:

The trip was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.

The whole project was an out-and-out disaster.

• If you say somebody is 'a walking disaster', you mean they are always having accidents:

He's broken his leg again! That boy is a walking disaster!

Everything happens to him.

• Note the expression in 2-6 - a disaster waiting to happen. It is similar in meaning to the expression in

‘Letting Fernando organise the trip is a recipe for disaster. Everything is likely to go wrong.’ - a recipe for disaster:

This plan to open offices in every major European city is a recipe for financial disaster.

• 'A disaster area' or 'disaster zone' is one where something awful has happened:

The government officially declared the town a disaster area after the typhoon destroyed most of the buildings.