Module 08 – Ralph Diaz

My hometown, Hagerstown, Maryland, is only subject to strong winter storms and small impacts from tornadoes and hailstorms, according to the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards. This map can get the job done, but it is not ideal for its job. The map consists of multiple maps with few markers to see where states begin and end. This makes it difficult to see exactly where Hagerstown is on the map. In addition, looking at multiple maps simultaneously makes comparing areas take much longer. My last complaint is that the pdf of these maps are so low resolution that you cannot zoom in to better tell where a city or position on the map is with respect to the natural hazard freequency on the map.
One of the current hazards occurring around the world is environmental pollution in Florida. My hometown is very succeptible to pollution, though it is not likely to be exposed to any significant affects from pollution in the near future. This is because there is no likely source for pollution near my hometown. My hometown is succeptable to pollution dispite this fact because one of the key aspects of pollution is that it can be caused by nearly any source. The pollution event if florida is likely due to some pollutant in the oceans. This would make the pollution event very large in scope. The severity of this disaster is listed as being fairly small, so if this were to happen to my hometown, it would likely have a very small impact on my hometown. The best way to minimize any impact to my hometown from pollution is to have emergency procedures in place. If a waterborne pollutant occurred, we could have a certain amount of stored water and means to quarantine this affected water. Coming up with countermeasures such as this is the best way to avoid being impacted from pollution.
My hometown is fairly protected against natural disasters. Being of a higher latitude, tropical natural hazards affect us on a smaller scale. Within my lifetime, my hometown has not had significant damage from tornadoes, hurricanes, or hale, though we can be affected by all of these things. During El Nino, we are impacted with warmer weather, causing a milder winter, but our precipitation levels remain somewhat constant. For all of these facts, I used my own experience and knowledge I have obtained from my Meteorology 003 class I am taking right now.
Minimizing the risk from these natural disasters is largely done by preparing for them. Building safety codes help to reduce impacts from tornadoes, the winds of hurricanes, and earthquakes. Flooding and pollution is best handled by public education concerning how to respond to these issues. most of these things are already in place in my hometown. Building codes have been in effect for more than 50 years. These were issued by the government of the state of Maryland. Public education is done regularly by news channels and weather channels. Hagerstown has many of the things needed to be safe in the event of an emergency.

One thought on “Module 08 – Ralph Diaz

  1. Hello Ralph,

    Your hometown is quite similar to mine. We do not experience many natural hazards, but are susceptible to the same ones. We have not been effected by the strong winds in my lifetime except for a power outage I can remember as a child. This was caused by powerful hurricane winds knocking over a power line. I also had the same problem that the images on Nathans map were not of a high enough resolution to zoom in and precisely locate my hometown. The biological hazard was interesting too, and you offer good preventative measures. If you’d Like to read my blog post you can here: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-dAs

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