Natural Disasters & Pollution

Natural disasters are bad enough by themselves. You only have to turn on the TV, or search the Internet to see the latest victims of a hurricane or an earthquake. But when you add the damage that pollution can cause on top of the initial and obvious effects of a natural disaster, the costs -- in lives lost, and in property and environmental damage -- can rise astronomically.

Hurricanes

When a hurricane strikes the coastline, the storm surge may cause flooding. Storm surge flooding carries pollution. Flooding during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Louisiana coastline and in the City of New Orleans caused water pollution when oil refineries were flooded, and oil was spilled into neighborhoods, according to the National Academy of Engineering. After Hurricane Sandy hit the eastern seaboard in 2012, many waterways were contaminated by raw sewage pollution from flooded water treatment plants, according to a New York Times article. One of the largest problems after Hurricane Ike in Texas was that the water treatment plants had no backup power, and so were not able to continue running during the storm, which led to sewage contamination, according to an impact report on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's website.

Earthquakes And Tsunamis

Earthquakes can cause ground, air, and water pollution, depending on where they strike. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China caused additional hardship when factories that collapsed in the quake spread pollution both on the ground and through the air, reported an environment correspondent for The Guardian. The 2004 Sumatra earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused saltwater contamination of drinking water supplies and millions of acres of farmland; salt water infiltration sterilizes farmland, and it is difficult and costly to make the land once again suitable for crops, according to an article published on the Environmental XPRT website. Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear power plant to fail, and radiation to leak into the ocean and escape into the atmosphere. Many evacuees have still not returned to their homes, and, as of January 2014, the Fukushima nuclear plant still poses a threat, according to status reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Floods

When a large river floods, many pollutants, such as farm waste, detergents, chemicals from processing plants, and fertilizers from crops, are swept downstream and deposited on land. These large deposits pollute drinking water and farmland. In addition, floodwaters deposit sediments, sand and moisture in homes and other buildings. This leads to mold production, and many forms of mold are hazardous to humans. In 2011, extreme flooding of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers transported 164,000 metric tons of nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico, creating a massive dead zone in the Gulf, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nutrient loading, or the addition of too much plant nutrients (nitrogen or phosphorus), causes algal blooms -- or an explosion of algae growth, followed by algal death and decay. The decay processes consumes the available free oxygen in the water and kills aquatic life.

Volcanoes

While volcanoes are beautiful to look at, and have formed some of the most beautiful islands on Earth, they cause air pollution when they erupt. The Kilauea Volcano on the Island of Hawaii causes volcanic smog and acid rain when it erupts, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Volcanic eruptions have also been shown to contribute to depletion of the Earth's protective ozone layer, and the fluorine-containing compounds from volcanic emissions that settle on land can harm or even kill animals who graze on contaminated vegetation, reports U.S. Geological Survey.

References

• EM-DAT: The International Disaster Database
• National Academy of Engineering: The Bridge: The Aftermath of Katrina:Toxic and Contaminant Concerns Generated by Hurricane Katrina
• New York Times: Sewage Flows After Storm Expose Flaws In System
• Federal Emergency Management Agency: Hurricane Ike Impact Report
• Environmental XPRT: Impact of Tsunami Disaster on the Water Environment
• WHO: Health Risk Assessment From the Nuclear Accident After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
• U.S. Geological Survey: Volcanic Air Pollution: A Hazard In Hawaii

Resources

• U.S. Geological Survey: Volcanic Gases and Their Effects
• Disaster Preparedness
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Natural Disasters and Emergency Preparedness