- Personally, I do not find the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards very effective for this specific task because it is more regional and is better for countries or states. However, if we are specifically looking for a town or city, the map becomes harder to read. That being said, giving my best estimate to where my hometown, Bellefonte, PA, is located I would say that the Map is pretty accurate about its hazards. Bellefonte is not very hazardous, we never see tornadoes or earthquakes. The most aggressive things that have happened naturally have been light flooding and winter storm accidents very similar to State College, PA to those of you who are familiar with the area.
- On March 5th there was biological hazard that was reported in Tuscan, Italy. It was a warning of a meningococcal meningitis outbreak and was rated 3 out of 4 as a hazard because it is spread through bacteria and viruses that can cause severe to fatal disease in humans. This is something that could easily happen anywhere, even in my hometown. Like any outbreak of disease, everyone could catch the disease because as humans we tend to share our diseases by just touching the same items like doors. In this situation the vulnerability would definitely differ for people who work in hospitals who would be most likely to be exposed to something like this opposed to somebody who worked in a hotel.
- One of the natural hazards I could think of in Bellefonte was a sinkhole that happens in the parking lot of my high school. After looking up issues with the sinkhole I quickly learned that sinkholes were a common thing within Centre County and found this map at http://www.gis.dcnr.state.pa.us/maps/index.html?geology=true. The map shows where sinkholes can be located throughout Pennsylvania. The green dots can be found in the Centre County region and indicate that there is a sinkhole there.
- To reduce vulnerability to natural hazards in Bellefonte we need to be aware of the hazards that we would most likely take place in our town such as sinkholes that can cause injuries to anyone who is near one. We can put warning signs near any potential sinkholes to reduce any of these issues. The PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources would be responsible for performing these tasks to protect it citizens.
2 thoughts on “Natural Hazards”
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Here is a link to my work; https://wp.me/p3RCAy-cZr. Wow sinkholes, what an interesting quark. So did the sinkhole take any cars or bicycles? I have seen photo images of them before I think in South America. Meningitis is also definitely that needs to be quickly stopped and prevented in areas that can host such potential infections to persons. Thank you for your thoughts and input.
Brian
Hi akg5212 (I cannot seem to find your name on this page); however, my name is Samantha,, and I took the time to read your blog post about this week’s module. I 100% agree that the Nathan map was extremely difficult to read and breaking it down into smaller segments/regions would be beneficial for the viewers. I had no idea that there was a sinkhole in Bellefonte, let alone throughout Centre County. As a common visitor to those areas, I will definitely bee keeping my eyes open on my next few ventures. Are warning signs enough to be sure that locals and travelers are able to handle the situation if they were to come across such natural disasters? Perhaps something along the line of a community event or organizational meeting would be the best bet. Nice post!
Feel free to check out my post using this link: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/04/01/learning-activity-vulnerability-reduction-2/