Tag Archives: natural hazard

Carlamere Lesson 8

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The Nathan map is very informative; it clearly indicates the areas throughout the world that are at risk to experience a natural hazard if corrective environmental policies are not introduced. The three natural hazards that surround my hometown located in New Jersey are; change in tropical cyclone activity, which in the western hemisphere this type of storm is called a hurricane. The second hazard is an increase in heavy rain and the third is a threat of sea level rise.   Additionally, there is a chance of the frequency of hailstorms and tornados. The next possible weather condition change relates to temperature, there is a chance of increasing tropical induced storms called El Nino; furthermore, more La Nina storms are likely to occur. Over the last couple of decades, I have seen the effects of a couple of the aforementioned natural hazards, which is a concern for what the future holds if something is not done.

I chose a level two biohazard the event happened on March 13, 2016, in Beijing, China. Yellow fever infected three people; this is the first case of yellow fever reported in Beijing. Yellow fever is a viral disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes and is found mostly in tropical areas. The general symptoms of this disease include fever and chills (RSOE EDIS Staff 2016). It is highly unlikely for yellow fever to occur in New Jersey because we do not have the climate to host the virus. The yellow fever outbreak in China is very small, but it could grow quickly if this type of outbreak occurred in my hometown it would be a big deal. If this outbreak did happen in New Jersey there probably would be considered a very dangerous for the people of the community mainly because we have not been exposed to this before and have not built up immunity to the virus. To reduce the possibility for yellow fever impacting my town there should be mosquito repellent spraying and any water that is not circulated should be removed.

The biggest natural hazard that continually affects the southern part of New Jersey is hurricanes. Most recently hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey in the fall of 2012. The storm started in the Caribbean as a tropical depression, turned into a tropical storm and by the time Sandy hit New Jersey it was 485 miles long. The aftermath was horrifying streets were flooded; trees and power lines were torn down leaving people thousands of people homeless or without power. During the storm New York City reported a seawater surge of 15 feet and the New York Harbor surf recorded a wave of 32 feet (Sharp 2011). Although Sandy devastated the east coast, we rebuilt; however, based on the information from this week’s lesson there will be more severe storms in the coming decades. The projected increase due to climate change, the increasing temperature of the ocean will lead to increased storms and natural hazards.

There are three steps to reduce our vulnerability to natural hazards; the first is to be aware and stay informed of the events happening around town. A part of preparedness is to have a plan for the different types of hazards that can take place in your community. The second step is to know what should be done immediately after the natural hazard occurs. Once you find a safe place evaluate your surrounds and then aid the victims. The final step is to rebuild. The best people to perform these actions are the professional, but if professional help is not available anybody except for the elderly and children should lead a hand. If I ever find myself in the mist of a natural hazard I would first make sure my family is safe and then help my neighbors and community (Pennsylvania State University 2016). I think if we are able to stay calm and use common sense all of us can survive a natural hazard.

Resources

Pennsylvania State University. Reducing Vulnerability to Natural Hazards. 2016.https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog030/node/374

RSOE EDIS Staff. RSOE EDIS. 2016 http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/database/index.php?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=BH-20160313

Sharp, Tim. Live Science. November 27, 2011. http://www.livescience.com/24380-hurricane-sandy-status-data.html.

 

 

 

 

Module 8- Maura McGonigal

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I will be assessing my hometown for natural hazard events. My hometown is Peters Township Pennsylvania, which is a suburb approximately forty minutes south of Pittsburgh. Using the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards, I determined that my hometown is at risk for tornadoes and extratropical storms or winter storms. Peters Township is at low risk for earthquakes and wildfires. According to the map, Peters Township is somewhere between zone 2 and zone 3 for tornado risk. Peters Township is in the zone 3 for the extratropical storms. These maps are a good source for determining general areas where different natural hazards are common. However, the maps make it difficult to determine the exact boarders and locations of various areas.

 

Using the Hungarian National Association of Radio Distress Signaling and Infocommunications’ (RSOE) Emergency and Disaster Information Service (EDIS), I discovered an Environmental Pollution incident in the state of Louisiana. Specifically, the incident occurred in the Bayou Teche waterway near Morgan City. The incident occurred on March 29th at approximately eight in the morning. The threat level is reported as “medium.” The website does not reveal details about the type of environmental pollution, but my hometown is at risk for environmental pollution events. My hometown is in an industrial area that also has farming as well as hydraulic fracturing infrastructure. All of these systems can result in environmental pollution. However, the incident in Louisiana resulted in contamination of a major waterway where as my hometown does not have a major waterway. Morgan City is a smaller scale than Peters Township. Peters Township has approximately twice the population of Morgan City. If an environmental incident occurred in Peters Township the contamination may be more contained than in the Bayou Teche waterway. The contamination in the Bayou Teche waterway will likely spread the contamination to a larger scale and have a larger impact on the environment. Often times with environmental contamination, children and pregnant women are the most vulnerable to the pollutants. Insuring that schools and homes are free of contamination is absolutely vital to protect these vulnerable populations.

 

According to USA.com, tornadoes are the main natural hazard threat in western Pennsylvania1. Western Pennsylvania also has a large record of floods and hail1. From my personal experience, I have seen flooding, hail storms, and a microburst in Peters Township. I live on a protected wetland and throughout the past 15 years, the creek that runs through my front yard has flooded on multiple accounts. I also witnessed a microburst in which over fifty trees in my yard were uprooted and broken. My personal experience is in agreement with USA.com and the Nathan World map, in that Peters Township in susceptible to tornadoes, winter storms, as well as some flooding and hailstorms.

 

In order to reduce the vulnerability to tornadoes and winter storms in Peters Township, households should maintain supplies in case of an incident. All households should have food and water in case of a natural hazard event. Households should also have a plan in place in the event of a tornado. Specifically, children should be taught to go to a secure room without windows, typically a basement or bathroom. Schools should also implement tornado drills in which the students go to a designated area away from windows. The students should also be taught how to protect their head while in the designated area incase of flying debris. Parents and teachers should implement these emergency plans to decrease vulnerability. I can make sure to follow my own advice and keep emergency supplies stocked and implement an emergency plan in the event of a natural hazard event.

 

  1. “Pittsburgh, PA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes,” USA.com, 29March2016, http://www.usa.com/pittsburgh-pa-natural-disasters- extremes.htm.

Natural Hazard

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1) My city of Seoul, South Korea is located in the east part of the Asia. To be more specific for the people who may not know, it’s the country right next to Japan and the country below China. According to the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards, the biggest threats that we face is the tropical cyclones and the sea level rise. We are mostly threatened by the tropical cyclone beneath the country which is labeled as zone 4 and 5 but most of the country’s land is classified as zone 3 and 2 which may also need to be cautious about it. For the sea level rise, it’s beneath the country but the arrows indicate it strikes the country. Using the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards was somehow difficult to effectively and clearly read the map but it was simple enough to read if my city and country could be threatened by natural hazards.

2) The event I chose was the biological hazard that occurred on March 18th, 2016 in an area of Guinea, Africa. This event was specified as the biological hazard because of the Ebola Virus Diseases. In my opinion, I don’t think it is possible for my hometown to experience the same type of biological hazards, Ebola Virus. This is because when the Ebola virus occurred and alarmed several countries like the United States, our country did not worry about the disease spreading towards our country. What is more, there are very less number of people from Africa who visits our country or Korean citizens visiting Africa unless it’s a volunteer matter. Therefore, when this event occurred the Korean volunteer workers or the visitors to Africa were tested and alarmed by the government to them. Also, when Ebola was alarmed, the government ordered a very high security in the airport to check the disease. However, I think if the disease spread throughout my city and country, our government wouldn’t have been prepared for event as we haven’t faced or experienced such big epidemics. The even only concerned 4 people but was considered a 4/4 level Biohazard. Africa has a much larger scale than my hometown, however I think if the virus spread in my hometown, it would have been worse because we are a small city with a massive number of population. Human contact and spread would have been much faster than the event. I think there would be a less severity of the disaster in my hometown because of the age and the hospital or health system. According to the module, the older you are the higher risk of hazards you face. I think my hometown has younger population compared to Africa. Also, we have better health and hospital system compared to the area of the event occurred. It would have saved more people or have had faster action to prevent it to spread so fast. An idea that would reduce my city’s vulnerability could be fast government’s action of alarming the citizens and having free tests available to the citizens at the near by hospital.

3) Seoul is located in South Korea. South Korea is located at the east part of the Asia. I believe my city and country does not have many threats on natural hazards. Therefore, I want to talk about the recent disastrous diseases or epidemics we faced. The disease was called MERS and was first found in Korea around mid May 2015. It is an abbreviation for Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemic and is a newly emerged beta coronavirus that was first founded in Saudi Arabia which spread gradually around the Middle East. The MERS was first founded in Korea when a single Korean traveler to the Middle East who believed he sought treatment after returning home. He was diagnosed after couple of days but the virus already spread among health care workers and patients in several hospitals. As a result, 186 laboratory-confirmed infections and 186 patients were recovered and been discharged but 36 patients have died. I think this was one of the worst epidemic in South Korea and I know how bad and scary it was because I was living few blocks away from the hospital that could treat the MERS and where MERS infected patients was found. The whole country was alarmed to not go out often and to wear mask, cough with handkerchief and to carry around sanitizers. There was shorten supplies of sanitizers and masks around the whole city, especially the city Seoul and were making citizens to worry much worse. I think diseases spread faster than any could have thought because the government avoided formally declaring the diseases to the country.

Citations:

Normile, Dennis. “South Korea May Not Be Declared MERS-free until September.” South Korea May Not Be Declared MERS-free until September. AAAS, 31 July 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/07/south-korea-may-not-be-declared-mers-free-until-september>.

“2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak in South Korea.”Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Middle_East_respiratory_syndrome_outbreak_in_South_Korea>.

4) In my opinion, the major way to reduce the vulnerability to natural hazards in Seoul would be faster communication and warnings of hazards or epidemics from the Korean government and the pre-event preparedness that was mentioned in the Module. I thought that the government should communicate the citizen of Korea in a faster and accurate pace. Like I mentioned above in question 3, the country lost 36 lives because the government did not warn the country earlier when they knew the MERS was occurring inside, did not mention the hospitals that the MERS patient contacted with and did not spread an accurate information about the disease and preparation to the citizens. If this would have happened, it would have saved more lives. Therefore, I think faster communications and warnings with an accurate information would help my city and country to reduce vulnerability. Moreover, I think the education system should promote more campaigns and teach students from a young age about natural hazards that may struck the country. Schools can prepare more education to children. As an early childhood major and future teacher, I think I should prepare more lessons to children about safety and drills incase of natural hazards.