Using the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards it is somewhat difficult to effectively read the maps and identify the natural hazards that affect my hometown on Long Island. But from what I can determine, my hometown is in Zone 4 in regards to peak wind speeds for tropical cyclones and it is also near one of the typical track directions of a tropical cyclone. My hometown is also in Zone 3 in terms hailstorms and in terms of anomalies during La Niña, my hometown is in an area where there tends to be more storm activity. It is clear to see that my hometown is more affected by tropical cyclone activity than other natural hazards.

A current disaster happening somewhere else in the world is a volcano eruption that occurred in Alaska. The Pavlof Volcano began erupting on Sunday afternoon and sent an ash cloud up to 20,000 feet in the air. My hometown could not experience this same type of disaster. As I live on the east coast of the US, there aren’t any volcanoes in my area so this disaster could not happen in my hometown. Considering the amount of ash that this volcano can send into the air, this disaster could do some damage if it occurred in my hometown. My hometown is somewhat densely populated so many people would be affected, in addition to the ocean nearby and the wildlife in the area. Although this disaster actually occurs in an area with a very low population and doesn’t have a large impact in that area, it would have a large affect in my hometown. In my town, different people have different levels of vulnerability because of their wealth. Some people in my hometown have significantly more money and although they would have more property damages, they would be able to afford to fix these damages.

A natural disaster that can occur in my town is a hurricane or super storm and the storm surges and flooding that can follow. In the past few years, Hurricane Sandy was the most damaging natural disaster that has occurred in awhile. Included in these hurricanes or super storms are storm surges. With these, the water levels rise significantly and can cause damage to property and can harm people as well. Since Long Island can receive the repercussions of a hurricane, depending on the hurricane’s track, storm surges are a major problem that can cause lots of damage to property and coasts along the island. Depending on how severe these hurricanes can be, large areas of Long Island can be flooded to the point where people are not able to travel or even to the point where a strong enough hurricane can completely submerge towns. In addition, the north and south forks of Long Island could be entirely under water, if the hurricane reaches to be a category 3 hurricane.

Source:

Mandia, Scott A. “Long Island Storm Surge Maps.” Long Island Storm Surge Maps. Accessed March 28, 2016. http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/storm_surge_maps.html.

Drawing on concepts from this module, there are some actions that can be done to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards in my town. The citizens of my town can learn about the natural disasters that can occur and how to prepare for them. I think that one reason that some natural hazards are so disastrous is that people are not somewhat prepared for the natural disasters that can happen in the area that they live. I think the best people to perform these actions are the citizens of my town so that they can learn the procedures on what to do when an emergency is announced. In addition, I think that there should be experts in the field of natural disasters to educate people on how to prepare themselves. For myself, I can also learn more about how to prepare myself and learn what to do in the case that another hurricane occurs close to my hometown.