I had a new game running. Had been playing about 10 days.
There was plenty of food the first tree was producing food but depleting, and the scientist was almost a master, the original farmer was an adept scientist as well as an adept farmer, a Child Chief and one other child. And a villager arriving by canoe. 9 villagers. Indeed I already had 3 Master Builders and had just cleared the leaves on the Roster of the Dead and the lab was set up and a few potions made.
And the other 2 trees were sprouting.
I paused every night and opened it get the Magic food and to collect some collectibles and played for about half an hour a day.
Mainly to allow my food resources to grow once the tree stopped producing and until I had got my lift repaired to complete the orchard. Which I had done but the original tree was almost clear.

The next day when I opened the game, on paused, I was greeted with a pile of bones in the auditorium, and no food in the container, and a message saying a disaster had befallen my villagers. All their food and their health had been lost and as a result they had all died. And it was still on pause. Definitely.

So if I had been playing would it have just happened "poof" just like that?
Or would I have been able to save some?
I have had messages before saying that the weather had caused food loss before or villagers becoming ill from the weather, but never a total wipeout.

(Well apart from when I first began I did, but I was not pausing the game. I soon learnt!)