Natural Disasters

Is COVID a natural disaster?

1. Based on the definition of a natural disaster being a "calamitous event causing loss of life, damage or hardship" While COVID-19 is not a geologic hazard, I do believe that COVID-19 is a biological hazard that has turned into a natural disaster. Natural disasters occur when hazards, in this case illness, meet vulnerability. We have seen this across in the world through various demographics such as socio-economic status, pre-existing medical conditions, age, gender and race. We can see that the pandemic is a hazard based on the fact that it threatens loss of life, damage or hardship. Some individuals contract the virus and are not impacted any further. However, the natural disaster develops through the more vulnerable populations across the world. Lower economic classes have struggled to get access to adequate health care to treat the virus which has caused more death and hardship when compared to wealthier groups of individuals. More populated areas have also seen more damage and hardship due to lack of resources, more rapid transmission and not enough space in hospitals. Additionally, different races, ages and genders all react very differently to the virus and have seen loss of life, damage and hardship over the past year.

What are three similarities between natural disasters and COVID?

1. both cause loss of life, financial hardship and health 2. cause shortage of supplies and need for government aid 3. causes movement of people or need for shelter

what are the 4 causes of tsunamis?

1. earthquake disrupts the sea floor 2. volcanic eruption 3. landslide associated with the collapse of land into the ocean 4. meteorite impact in the ocean

What are three differences between natural disasters and COVID?

1. natural disasters tend to be one event whereas COVID is ongoing 2. natural disasters tend to cause physical damage to our things whereas COVID causes it only to our health 3. natural disasters are often predictable, COVID is not

dead and affected in haiti

230,000-316,000 died 3 million impacted

what is the viscosity of RHYOLITE

50,000 HIGH thick and sticky

Northridge death and injured

60-70 people died 9000 injured

What is the current global population?

7.7 billion people will reach 8 billion between 2023 and 2024

what is the viscosity of BASALT

80 (very low)

What is the fastest growing country?

Africa with growth rates between 5-10%

what is a grey volcano

DEADLY very ashy (fragments of glass) found in the ring of fire RHYOLITE

what is a shield volcano

GINGANTIC basalt not dangerous HAWAII

Haiti Magnitude and duration

Mag 7.0 duration 30 seconds

What is a tectonic plate and how does it move?

The plates can be thought of like pieces of a cracked shell that rest on the hot, molten rock of Earth's mantle and fit snugly against one another. The heat from radioactive processes within the planet's interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other

we have understood hazard science and problems associated with disaster vulnerability for a long time and yet we continue to have devastating disasters. Why is this the case?

We continue to have devastating disasters because there is a disconnect between science and the people right now. While we know who the vulnerable populations are and what makes them vulnerable, we are not doing anything to make them any less vulnerable. The lack of collaboration between those experiencing the hardships during disasters and those who are trying to study and plan for the disasters is very present. It is important to go to those people and include them in these processes so that a common outcome can be achieved. This will create more resilient and better prepared communities for when disaster does happen.

Define hazard

a threat; a natural hazard capable of causing danger ex. tornado, earthquake

define resilience

ability to recover quickly and grow from it the people in Haiti are resilient

Northridge fault type

blind thrust fault

Define disaster

calamitous event causing loss of life, damage or hardship; the negative impacts of hazards disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability ex: Californian wildfires, hurricane katrina

define lava flow

costly not dangerous because so slow

Japan speed of growth

declining population

What are the three types of plate boundaries?

divergent convergent transform

signs of a tsunami

earthquake water retreats into the ocean water is rising, frothing or roaring

Explain the concept: earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do

earthquakes cause shaking but shaking won't kill you. it's the secondary factors that will (buildings falling, liquefaction, etc)

define resonance

eq waves go through buildings, the ground and the earth. if all of these line up, it makes really bad shaking

What is the disaster life cycle?

event response recovery mitigation preparedness

is Africa slowly or quickly growing

fast growth

what disaster impacts the most people

flooding

what is the most common disaster?

flooding

What were the lines of evidence with the 1700 earthquake from the really big one?

found sediment deposits and sea floor samples that suggested it the rings of the trees showed they died that year when the area sank under water sand deposits in Japan showed proof of tsunami

define risk

hazard x exposure x vulnerability OR cost x likelihood

does RHYOLITE have low or high viscosity and velocity

high velocity and high viscocity

define intensity

how the earthquake is felt by people in different areas

what characteristics impact risk

income, health, age, location, socioeconomic status

what is the elastic rebound theory?

it describes sudden fault movement and cause of shaking prior to an eq the fence is straight right before the earthquake the fence begins to being slowly but doesn't break when the eq happens it causes the fence to break and shift

why is the demographic transition model important?

it helps to figure out where the population of a country is at to better address economic and social policies in a country.

Why do the most powerful EQs occur in the ring of fire?

it is a ring of subduction zones where continental plates get stuck on oceanic plates

explain tsunami warning systems DART

it is a surface buoy that is connected to the sea floor and records pressure changes if it senses a pressure change it alerts a satellite that sends a message out to warning systems

define lahar

it's a mud flow not deadly, but very costly cause indirect death through famines flows 12-15mph typically fill valleys and rivers only dangerous if you don't know about it

what happened at Mt. Pelee?

lahars came from the eruption and then pyroclastic flows in town people were supposed to evacuate, but were forced by police to stay because of the election. 29,000 people died, only 2 survived

Describe the Tohoku earthquake

location: east coast of Japan pacific plate subjected below japan magnitude 9.1 800 aftershocks tsunami hit 10-100 minutes after the EQ wave height varied but 128ft at highest moved at 435 mpg caused a nuclear power plant to spill radioactive waste everywhere 15854 deaths 500,000 displaced most expensive disaster in history (429 billion) debris fires homelessness

what is a composite volcano

looks like a volcano (cone shaped) rhyolite ! large! VERY dangerous

Northridge Magnitude and duration

mag 6.7 duration 10-20 seconds

what is a red volcano?

magma fire fountains create lava flows BASALT not dangerous

what 3 factors control intensity

magnitude distance from hypocenter bedrock and soil

define pyroclastic flow

mix of gas and rocks typically from composite volcanoes the most deadly explode and flow SUPER fast. can't outrun them

Why does population matter with regard to natural disasters?

more people means more vulnerability and more exposure to natural disasters

what happened at Tambora?

most violent eruption in the earth's history it lowered global temperatures because the ash blocked the sun lots of harvest failures

what are the causes of earthquakes?

movement of faults is the most common cause testing of bombs underground oil/gas drilling fracking or pumping water back into the ground

what are the 3 types of convergent boundaries?

ocean-ocean ocean-continent continent-continent

what are nearly all volcanoes caused by

oceanic plates sliding beneath continental ones

what is a convergent boundary?

plates collide; the denser one slides below the less dense one destructive, most dangerous create ocean trenches and volcanoes pacific plate

what is a divergent boundary?

plates pull apart from one another bring magma to the surface to fill the gap can cause mountain ranges mostly on ocean floor in the southern hemisphere

what is a transform boundary?

plates slide past one another conservative nothing created or destroyed Haiti, san Andreas, Australia

define viscosity

resistance to the flow of magma (thickness!!) higher viscosity is thicker

how to survive a tsunami 101

run for the hills avoid rivers and bridges climb a building or tree like Spiderman find a raft and paddle like in the hunger games if already at sea take a nice boat ride to deep water don't go back for a beach day after it is over, it will happen again know how to evacuate the city locate your loved ones follow directions of the avengers

What countries are shrinking?

russia and partis of Europe are declining

What are surface waves?

seismic waves that travel along the Earth's surface and cause the most shaking for the longest time

what are the 3 main precursors to volcano eruptions?

seismicity (EQs) deformation snow melt water levels gas emissions small, throat clearing eruptions

• explain the difference between short-term and long-term prediction of earthquakes, including why short-term predictions are not feasible

short term predictions come seconds before it is going to happen. there isn't enough concrete information that cues us into what is going to happen in the short term. all warning signs would be in hindsight long term can be predicted as an estimate through past information that we know or through testing/floor samples, etc.

USA speed of pop growth

slow

what is a scoria cone

small basalt not dangerous short lived

what are the 4 stages of the demographic transition model?

stage 1: birth rates = death rates stage 2: death rates decrease, birth rates are still high at this point which creates rapid growth stage 3: birth rate decreases and gets closer to the death rate which slows growth stage 4: population is stabilized with a low birth rate and low death rate

why are people not prepared for the really big one?

the EQ happened so long ago and nothing has happened since, so it's been pushed aside for the time being

define magnitude

the amount of energy that is released by the earthquake (Richter scale)

define hypocenter

the earthquake happens there

define epicenter

the earthquake is felt there first it is the location above the hypocenter

define velocity

the expansion and release of gases causes violent eruptions due to H20, CO2, SO2

define acceleration

the ground goes from shaking to not shaking. the energy is being transmitted horizontally and increases gradually with shaking

what factors cause populations to increase or decrease

the number of births and deaths each year determines population size

Define plate tectonics?

the outermost layer of earth (lithosphere) is broken into tectonic plates that ride on the weak, malleable layer called the asthenosphere

What is the P wave?

the primary wave that is a little shaking

what is an S wave?

the secondary wave that typically comes before the surface waves. a little stronger than surface waves

define neotectonics

the study of active tectonics with GPS receivers that tell us what direction the plates are moving and how fast

define paleoseismology

the study of old earthquakes to help us understand and predict in the long term new ones aims to fill the gap in knowledge

define amplification

the type of rock in the ground determines shaking softer substances mean more shaking

what happens as a tsunami approaches shoreline?

the wave lengths get shorter as it gets closer to the shore which causes the swell

Eyjafjallajokull: what happened?

they had major and minor EQs or 3 months in 2010 the eruption sent ash 35,000 ft into the air which caused electrical storms, ice caps melted and caused flooding airports had to shut down because of how dense the ash was costly ($1.7 billion)

what is the difference between wind generated waves and tsunamis?

wind generated move 5-65 mph and have short wavelengths of 300-600ft tsunamis move at 500-600mph in the deep ocean and their wavelength is 60-300 miles long