1. When looking at the NATHAN world map of Natural Hazards I noticed that Pennsylvania doesn’t experience many situations of Natural Hazards. We can get an increase in heavy rains associated with a hurricane that follows the Atlantic Coast.

When looking more closely at the NATHAN map it is very hard to increase the image.  It does a great job at showing the global perspective, but if you want to zoom in closer there is no action that allows for that.  Which makes it hard to get a closer look at specific locations.

2. When I was looking at the RSOE and EDIS I noticed that New Zealand has three events happening simultaneously today. Upon further inspection I found that there are three earthquakes that have taken place today all under 3.3 magnitude, with the highest magnitude being 3.2, which is taking place 27.34 miles from Kaikoura.  The positive coming from this is the fact that it’s shallow depth and the people won’t even feel any ground movement.  Now I couldn’t find the “Description” tab located at the top of the page.  I don’t know if there has ever been an earthquake near Wellsboro, PA but there have been 4 earthquakes in the past year with one being a 2.7 magnitude in Downingtown.  So it is possible for an earthquake to happen in Wellsboro.  If such an event were to happen I don’t think the people would be well prepared for it, but with the National Guard base outside town we would have help quickly from them.

If there were an earthquake like the one happening in New Zealand of a 3.3, and the description page on RSOE says the people cannot feel any ground movement, then I am not worried about the impact it will have on our small town of Wellsboro.  I’m guessing the people won’t feel any ground movement in Wellsboro if the same earthquake were to happen there.   However the earthquake in New Zealand is happening far from any town or city, so worst case scenario in Wellsboro would be power outage that could last several days with downed trees on powerlines.

If this event were to happen in or near a trailer park, where all the houses are closely aligned together and are built with less than ideal materials, the damage would be more severe.  That whole neighborhood could be wiped out, all the houses could be split in half or sunk into the loose dirt or gravel.  Several lives could be lost during the earthquake.  However if this were to happen downtown Wellsboro where the houses are very sturdy and very large, the damage would be significantly less.  I would guess that some driveways would be cracked, and some houses might have broken windows or shifted foundations.

3. Wellsboro is a very mountainous area, with rolling hills and deep valleys. The chance for Wellsboro to have an earthquake over 3.5 magnitude is 0.01, and there are no volcanoes anywhere near Wellsboro.  However Wellsboro does have a rather high chance of getting tornadoes, with an index of 52.21, but it’s still well below the state index of 109.77.   Since 1950 to 2010 there have been 1,131 extreme thunderstorm wind events, 266 flood events, and 376 hail events.  Wellsboro is most exposed to any severe winter weather events, and flooding.  Flooding I would say would be the most extreme because we all live in valleys and all towns are on flood plains.  The last major Tornado was in 1983 with a magnitude of 2 which lasted for 9.8 miles and was 30 yards wide.  This event didn’t have any fatalities or injuries, however there was 2.5 million in property damage.

Wellsboro, PA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2016, from http://www.usa.com/wellsboro-pa-natural-disasters-extremes.htm

4. To reduce the vulnerability of these said natural disasters I think having town meetings where they inform the public about the potential flooding and tornado events, and precautions they can take to better themselves should the need arise. This will increase the awareness of the community and keep them on guard against these disasters.  The groups that could perform the cleanup after said natural disasters would be the DCNR and the National Guard both of which have a strong hold on the community.  The best thing I can do is to be prepared with water and other nonperishables during a flood or tornado event.  Then after the event I could try my best to clear the roads of downed trees in my small community.