Earthquakes

Earthquakes refer to shaking of earth. There is continuous activity going on below the surface of the earth. There are several large plates (size of continents) below the surface of the earth, which move (at a very slow speed). As a part of this movement, sometimes, they collide against each other. And, after the collision, they might still continue to push each other. As they continually keep pushing each other, there is a pressure building up across these plates below the surface. And, then, at a certain time, one of the plates might slide over another. This causes an earthquake. Some earthquakes might be caused by activity above the surface. For example in a mountainous region, there might be a heavy landslide. Due to a huge mass of land falling, at the point of the fall, there could be a minor shaking of earth, due the impact of fall. However, usually, such earthquakes are not very major. Some of the earthquakes in recent times have been (not in any particular order): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. El Salvador; In 2001; Magnitude: 7.7 S. Peru; In 2001; Magnitude 7.9 Algeria; In 2003; Magnitude 6.8 Indonesia: In 2004; Magnitude 9.0 India; In 2001; Magnitude 8.1 China - Sichuan Province; In May 2008; Magnitued 8.1; More than 68,000 dead, and, 3,50,000 injured 7. The earthquake, measured initially at a magnitude of 6.9, struck at 6:10 p.m. in a remote part of the Himalayas at the eastern end of Nepal. It was felt across northern and eastern India, including in New Delhi, the capital, more than 700 miles to the west. The quake was followed by two strong aftershocks of magnitude 6.1 and 5.3, according to R. S. Dattatreyan of the Indian seismology office.

Volcanos
Volcanoes refer to eruption of hot molten lava from below the surface of the earth. As plates move away from each other, at certain places, the surface might get stretched and thinner. In such a situation, the hot molten lava and gaseous substances below this thinned surface could open up a fissure and come out. Typically, these eruptions are always accompanied by discharge of huge amount of gaseous substances, which are various compounds of high toxicity. All eruptions (gaseous or liquid) from a volcano is at high temperature, and, the mouth of a volcano might look like, as if its spewing fire. The area around Pacific Ocean is characterized by higher volcanic activity. In fact, the entire rim along the Pacific Ocean is called as the Ring Of Fire, because of volcanic activity along this zone. There are a lot of volcanic activities taking place on a continuous basis, across the globe, however, not all of these are serious enough to be termed as disasters. In fact, for most of these just a moderate level of precaution might be sufficient.

Some of the most damaging volcanic activities of the past have been: 1. 2. 3. 4. Mount Pinatubo in Phillipines (1991-96) Rabaul in Papua NewGuinea (1994) Lake Nyos in Cameroon (1986) Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia (1985) El Chichon in Mexico (1982)

5.

Some of the deadliest volcanoes based upon the book "Volcanic Hazards: A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions by Russell J. Blong (Academic Press, 1984)" are listed below. Click on the title to sort.

Place Tambora, Indonesia Krakatau, Indonesia Mount Pelee, Matinique Ruiz Colombia Unzen Japan Laki, Iceland Kelut, Indonesia Galunggung, Indonesia Vesuvius, Italy Vesuvius, Italy Papandayan, Indonesia El Chichon, Mexico Soufriere, St. Vincent Oshima, Japan Asama, Japan Taal, Philippines

year 1815 1843 1902 1985 1792 1783 1919 1882 1631 79 1772 1982 1902 1741 1783 1911

Number of deaths 92000 36417 29025 25000 14300 9350 5110 4011 3500 3360 2957 2942 2000 1680 1475 1377 1335

Lamington, Papua New Guinea 1951

Floods
Floods refer to huge amount of water reaching land in a short span of time, causing land surface to be submerged under water at places, where, land surface is usually not covered with water. Floods could be caused due to natural causes, or, human activities, or, a combination of both. Floods are caused by discharge of huge volume of water in a short span of time, at a rate, such that the water can not be carried away from the scene of discharge. Some of the possible reasons for such huge discharge of water could be: A. very heavy rainfall (say: due to cyclones, typhoons etc.) in a short span of time. It should be noted that the amount of rainfall itself is not a sufficient cause, the duration within which the rainfall is receive is equally important contributor B. breach in levy, dams etc C. very high tidal waves (sometimes in the aftermath of a seismic activity, e.g. earthquakes) etc. also called tsunamis Usually, flooding impacts a large area, wherein entire district or states might be flooded. However, sometimes, flooding is very local, i.e. limited to just one city, or, parts of it. Most often, the localized flooding is caused due to human activities, rather than natural phenomenon. A natural phenomenon might seem like the immediate trigger, but, in reality, this is caused by human activity. There are some places, which get flooded almost every year. One such example is Bangladesh. Some of the other places which had incidents of bad flooding in the recent past include:

Florida, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina (2005) Myanmar (2008) Portions of Coastal India get flooded almost each year

Tornadoes, Typhoons, Cyclones

These are winds of high-speed, many times accompanied by heavy rainfall. These cause structural damage, snapped overhead wires, and, possibility of floods. Because of damage to structure and overhead wires, utility services could be disrupted. Heavy rainfall could cause flooding also. Many times, these could last for a few days. In such cases, any restoration and relief activities can not even start till these few days when the activities start subsiding. The only thing good about these kinds of natural disasters is that they can be predicted to a reasonable degree - thanks to the advancement of metrological sciences. And, in most cases, its possible to get a warning of up to several days. Usually, it is possible to take at least some preventive measures - during these few days of warning. In most cases, the preventive measure would include:

Moving into places which are safer, e.g. buildings which are structurally sound, and, are not prone to flooding Not venturing out to sea etc for sports, fishing etc.

However, in spite of these warnings, damage to property can not be mitigated much, as, immovable structures can not be relocated. Another important thing about these kinds of strong winds and rainfall is that they dont appear totally at will. There are well-defined geographical areas, which tend to see incidents of typhoons and cyclones. This means that, people inhabiting these areas could take some fundamental care, while, building homes etc. These are:

Sturdy home, with very strong foundation and structure. Typically, most people build basements. These basements provide good shelter, and, storage space for food and water to last for a few days for the entire household. Proper embankments to prevent flooding etc.

Storage of cement-bags and plastic sheets to prepare additional embankments against flooding, if required.

The people who suffer the most are poor people, because:

they dont have the means to build very strong houses, and hence, these houses get blown off/damaged they dont have the means to buy and store food and provisions for several days, causing them to take risks of venturing out during heavy winds/rainfalls to make some money In coastal areas of poor country, fishermen have been known to venture out to sea, even during cyclones etc.

Tsunami
The sudden vertical rise of the seabed by several metres during the earthquake displaced massive volumes of water, resulting in a tsunami that struck the coasts of the Indian Ocean. A tsunami which causes damage far away from its source is sometimes called a teletsunami and is much more likely to be produced by vertical motion of the seabed than by horizontal motion. The tsunami, like all others, behaved very differently in deep water than in shallow water. In deep ocean water, tsunami waves form only a small hump, barely noticeable and harmless, which generally travels at a very high speed of 500 to 1,000 km/h (310 to 620 mph); in shallow water near coastlines, a tsunami slows down to only tens of kilometres per hour, but in doing so forms large destructive waves. Scientists investigating the damage in Aceh found evidence that the wave reached a height of 24 metres (80 ft) when coming ashore along large stretches of the coastline, rising to 30 metres (100 ft) in some areas when travelling inland.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (98 ft) high. It was one of

the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest hit, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimetre (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. Its epicentre was between Simeulue and mainland Indonesia. The plight of the many affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than $14 billion (2004 U.S. dollars) in humanitarian aid.