Hazards of Souderton- Samantha Luchansky

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  1. My town, Souderton Pa, is situated in zone zero for earthquakes. If and earthquake occurs it will be MM  V or below. It does not appear to be in a region that’s green, so little to no fear of hurricanes. Pa is close to the increases in heavy rain icon on the map (pg 3) but it’s hard to tell exactly where the borders of Pa, and for that matter Souderton. No fear of volcanic eruptions either. Looking at pg 4, Souderton appears to be in zone 3 for hailstorms, zone 1 for extratropical storms (81-120 km/hr peak wind speeds), zone 2-3 for tornados, so that’s a bit high and something to be prepared for, and zone 1 for wild fires. Page 5 of the Nathan World Map indicates that Souderton is between fewer storms and warmer weather area for el nino, it’s in more storms for la nina, about 0.1-0.3 mean temperature, and 0-15 for precipitation. The Nathan Map was not well suited for determining natural hazards. It was good for a quick overview but hard to distinguish where my area of focus was, especially on page 5, under the mess of colors and drawings on top of the world map. It was not very specific.
  2. I clicked on an extreme weather alert in Gatwick, England. My hometown can experience extreme weather, with high winds, rainfall, thunderstorms, tornados, and hail. Extreme weather does not hit too often but it can. I think that the event is relatively similar to an event that could occur in my hometown. It’s in relatively the same area horizontally on the map. Hasn’t caused in injures, deaths, or serious problems. Gatwick appears to be a small town in England like Souderton is a small town in Pa. Some of the poorer people in my town may have more weather damage than others, there house may have more leaks. If winds are bad their siding my come off if their house is in good shape. Siding could come off from families with more money depending on how the wind hits their house and how protected it is. If trees fall, due to wind and rain that could be an issue. My towns vulernability could be reduced by having a weather alerts sent out and put on the local new channels preparing people. A system in place to help repair leaks in ceiling for those who may not have the money to afford to due so otherwise. An emergency line to call if a tree looks like it’s shaking/close to falling so possibly team could go out and secure the tree to avoid it from crashing into someone’s house or car.
  3. I googled natural hazard risks for Souderton Pa and found a sight that give more specific information that the Nathan Map did for my hometown. Souderton has the same average risk for experiencing an earthquake as any other point in Pa. Souderton’s earthquake index is 0.26 while Pa is 0.17 and the US as a whole is 1.81. Souderton has a higher risk of tornado (148.81) than the Pa average (109.77) and US as a whole at (136.45). The risk of volcanic eruption is 0.0 for Souderton and Pa and 0.0023 for the US. The site was very helpful with giving numerical data about the risks for my hometown. It also had tables for recorded data on earthquakes, tornados, thunderstorms, floods, droughts, etc. in and near a couple miles of Souderton. (USA.com)

    Reference:
    “Souderton, PA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes.” – USA.com™. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://www.usa.com/souderton-pa-natural-disasters-extremes.htm>.

  4. Contacting the local city counsel and government to discuss natural hazard and education along with programs and aid services to help the area would reduce the vulnerability of souderton. I can contact my old journalism teacher who has contact information and would be able to help me organize a platform and who to talk to in order to get programs and information out to the town. She would also have one of there current journalism students write and article on what I was trying to do which would also help get information out about natural hazards that affect our area. The best people to perform these actions would be city/town officials, parents, kids, and anyone willing to lend a hand and help out because they care. Volunteers are always a welcome and much needed resource in getting things achieved.

2 thoughts on “Hazards of Souderton- Samantha Luchansky”

  1. Hello Samantha,

    Your blog caught my eye because our hometowns are not that far from each other. All of our climate hazards are similar. The one thing I discovered about our area is that we have a great risk for tornadoes. I never knew that before. I used the same source to find the tornado index. I like your idea of getting the local counsel to discuss disaster recovery plans and educate the public on the subject. Check out my blog at: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-cP7

  2. We have similar metrics for our hometowns, except for tornados. I’m surprised at how high the chance of a tornado occurring is for your town. It was significantly higher than mine (Scranton, PA). In response to question 2, recently in my hometown we have experienced some high wind speeds. Just last night the power nearly went out from the wind! Your answer to question 4 is also similar to mine, in that you also say (indirectly) that being prepared before a disaster occurs is a good way to reduce your towns vulnerability to a disaster.

    You can read my post at: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/29/natural-disasters-tim-granata/

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