Instructors can assign a specific historical event, suggestions include:

Volcanoes:

Mount St. Helens, 1980

Krakatoa, Indonesia, 1883

Pompeii, Italy, 79 AD

Tsunamis:

Honshu, Japan, 1876

Sumatra, 2004

Earthquakes:

San Francisco, CA, 1906

Northridge, CA, 1994