...TSUNAMIS * A tsunami is a very long ocean wave generated by sudden displacement of the sea floor or of the oceanic mass * The displacement of an equivalent volume of water generates the tsunami * A tsunami is harmless until it approaches the coastline * The most prone areas are those associated with earthquakes and volcanoes (mainly subduction zones) * Compared to normal ocean waves which may be about 100m, the wavelengths of large tsunami waves can exceed 200km * Tsunamis travel very quickly relative to normal ocean waves * Particularly the case in open water where velocities increase with water depth * Distant: As a wave propagates across the ocean, there is time to warn people * Local: But in a subduction zone where the tsunami is generated, there is very little warning time (15-30 minutes) * In shallow water, the tsunami waves pile up as a result velocities and wavelengths decrease, but at the same time, amplitudes can increase enormously * Due to its long wavelength, it may take a long time for a tsunami wave to crest * Wave runup – depends on several factors water depth, sea floor profile, shape of the coastline * Leads to wave heights which are highly variable (hard thing to predict) * To reduce tsunami impacts, planting of trees can be very useful * Causes of tsunamis – ALL involve displacement of water * Earthquakes * Mainly vertical crustal movements * In general, the...
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...in 2004, with Sam on vacation away from home and Beth forcibly staying at university for a swim meet that she must attend. I believe that the author chose to write from these perspectives because both characters are greatly affected greatly by the main plot, though dealing with it in two different situations. Sam is experiencing the entire story from Phuket, Thailand, where they are hit with a tsunami. Beth was in New York at her dorm, first learning about the tsunami from her boyfriend, Tad. Both characters have different feelings about what has happened, and we, as the readers, get to hear both perspectives. 2. The story takes place on the one hand in Phuket, Thailand during Christmas break of 2004, and on the other side of the world in New York, where Beth's dorm and university are located. The difference that the setting makes is that if most of the characters were not located in Thailand where the tsunami happened, and majority of the story did not take place there, we would only be privy to secondary information of what was happening. Beth was only able to watch the huge tsunami unfold on television, being an unbelievable 27-hour flight away from the wave. Sam having been in Phuket even before the tidal wave hit was a primary witness in the events that occurred on that historic day. He could actually see the fear on peoples' faces as they watched the water withdraw further and further, leaving a wider beach, creating a massive wave that came in and took thousands of...
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...boundaries) we see a viscous material with high amounts of silica. This causes rare but violent eruptions which is explosive. Other primary hazards will include pyroclastic flows and ash clouds. A basic shield volcano (constructive boundary) has a more runny lava with frequent eruptions. The hazards associated with a basic shield volcano include slow lava flows (destroy crops) and lahars when it rains. There are also the secondary hazards posed by many volcanoes around the world such as landslides and tsunamis. Earthquakes can vary in size and magnitude (scale of strength) and can happen on any type of plate margin. For the earthquake to occur there needs to be stored tension in the plates that will suddenly ‘jolt’. The longer the tension is stored the more energy it creates, this leads to stronger earthquakes. Earthquakes can destroy buildings and is how most people die (collapsing on to them), however, earthquakes can also cause floods, landslides and tsunamis The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami affected many people with over...
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...H. Reid Miller Geo- 380 Bob Dziak Cascadian Tsunami "Barely had they set foot in the city in mourning the death of their benefactor, they feel the earth shake beneath their feet, the sea rises bubbling in the harbor, and breaks the vessels that are to anchor. Swirls of flames and ashes covered the streets and public places; houses collapsed, roofs are reversed on the foundations, and foundations disperse, and thirty thousand inhabitants of all ages and sexes were crushed under the ruins, said the sailor, whistling and swearing: ʽ There will be something to win here. - What can be the sufficient reason of this phenomenon? said Pangloss. - Here is the last day of the world!’ Cried Candide” (Voltaire, 1759 translated by Google translate) Some of the first descriptions of tsunamis are grim at best this excerpt came from Voltaire’s Candide a French satire published during Europe’s Age of Enlightenment. This gives a chilling view of Lisbon on All Saint’s Day (November first) in 1755. What had occurred is a 200 km offshore 8.5-9.0 magnitude earthquake that resulted in a large-scale tsunami and rampaging fires, effectively killing thousands of people. This is one of the deadliest tsunamis recorded in history, but how do tsunamis function and what do we know about their inner workings. Tsunamis since the early 1600s have been synonymous with some form recording of “shaking of the earth”. Very rarely do you see other forms of tectonic activity such as volcanic eruptions...
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...'The hazards presented by volcanic and seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people'. To what extent do you agree with this view? Hazards are anything that could cause damage to humans or buildings. Many volcanic and seismic events happen that cause hazards to humans. Often the world’s poorest people are hit the worst, however wealthier countries can also be adversely affected. The Kobe earthquake in Japan 1995 struck at 5.45am. Many people were asleep in bed, causing the hazard to be increased because the people were unaware. Although many Japanese buildings were of aseismic design, the roofs of their houses were designed to withstand typhoons and so were very heavy. When the earthquake struck many people were crushed in their sleep. Also every year on 1st September Japan has national earthquake preparedness day to remember the 140000 that died in the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 but this did not help many of the citizens of Kobe. The Kobe earthquake was also in December so many people had nowhere to go in the middle of the night in winter and the risk of hyperthermia was extremely high. People were not put into temporary accommodation for up to two weeks after the event because the Japanese government originally refused assistance from foreign countries to help with the aid effort. The secondary effects of the earthquake like the gas leaks and fires killed 3000 people and many businesses were lost in the port. The Kobe earthquake shows that sometimes...
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...Remembering Tsunami 2004: Phuket bounces back from disaster Asia | The Star Online Remembering Tsunami 2004: Phuket bounces back from disaster by stephen fein Just as popular: The Phi Phi Islands were badly devastated by the tsunami waves but recovered very quickly. Koh Phi Phi is pictured above, 10 years on. — Phuket Gazette/The Nation Tourism industry insiders who have monitored trends in the Phuket tourism industry over the past 10 years describe the recovery after the worst natural disaster to ever hit the region as ‘remarkable’. THAI tourism industry icon Wichit Na Ranong, managing director of the luxurious Indigo Pearl resort at Nai Yang Beach in Phuket, says, “I would say we had a very fast recovery after the tsunami. In fact, I think it may be the fastest recovery ever anywhere after a disaster of this kind. I think the industry had almost recovered after two years and was fully back to normal after three, with continuous progress after that.” Asked if there are still fears among tourists of another tsunami, he says, “Not at all. After just a few years, any such fears just faded from people’s minds.” A series of “tourism road shows” abroad and good cooperation among local and national authorities also helped assuage any such concerns, he says. Wichit says that it is still difficult to think back on some of the things he had witnessed after what he describes as a “tragic, tragic event”. Like most people in Phuket, he didn’t even know what a “tsunami” was until...
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...Nature Disasters; Earthquake, Volcano and Flood Name: Titania Proctor Institution: Park University Date: 07/10/2015 Nature Disasters Abstract A nature disaster is any catastrophic event that is caused by the natural processes of the earth. The severity of a disaster is measured in lives lost, economic loss, and the ability of the population to rebuild. All natural disasters cause loss in some way. Depending on the severity, lives can be lost in any number of disasters. Some disasters cause more loss of life than others, and population density affects the death count as well. Prediction of earthquake Long term forecasting founded on the knowledge of place where the earthquakes have taken place previously. In order to study the occurrence of earthquake, the knowledge of the current tectonic setting, geological records and the history records are analyzed critically to establish locations and occurrence intervals of earthquake. Pale seismology and seismic gaps are the most crucial aspect when carrying out analysis. Paleoseismology is the study of the earthquakes that have occurred before. Through the analysis of the offset in layers of sediment near the fault zones, it becomes very easy to predict the occurrence intervals of earthquakes. If it is established that earthquakes have interval recurrence of a hundred years, and there is no available records of earthquakes in the last 100 years, then a long- term forecast is done. Through the effect, effort can be undertaken...
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...‘Natural disasters are often not natural disasters, but in fact human disasters. Discuss this statement according to seismic events’ Seismic events are occurrences in which energy is briefly released in the Earth's crust, resulting in a series of seismic waves which move through the crust. In some cases, the energy can be intense enough that it is felt in the form of an earthquake, while in other seismic events, the energy is so mild that it can only be identified with specialized equipment. A human disaster is an event directly and principally caused by one or more identifiable deliberate or negligent human action. Whereas a natural disaster is a natural event such as a flood, earthquake, or hurricane that causes great damage or loss of life. A disaster is often considered a human disaster if it has been caused by human interference or activity that has made the threat of seismic events worse, by measurements such as amount of deaths or cost to an economy. In every day society humans take shortcuts in the process of construction or urban planning with the short term benefits of saving time and money. However sadly this means the standard of resistance buildings have against seismic events is not enough to withstand the pressures they bring, such as the ground moving or liquefaction. Generally in MEDC’s at risk of earthquakes buildings and the landscape is often built to be earthquake ‘proof’ but only up to a certain magnitude, meaning of a rare earthquake above the expected...
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...Jackson Flattery Period 1 2nd Quarter Research Report January 10, 2017 1964 Alaskan Earthquake 139 people are believed to have died: 15 died as a result of the earthquake itself, 106 died from the subsequent tsunami in Alaska, 5 died from the tsunami in Oregon, and 13 died from the tsunami in California. An earthquake is, a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action. The 1964 Alaskan earthquake included many details common to earthquakes and caused damage and destruction to property and lives that affected the region, but the area has recovered in its aftermath. It was a magnitude 9.2 earthquake but also caused a tsunami in Oregon and...
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...It all began when Mount Saint Helen's erupted in May 18,1980 . The volcano has had Four big eruptions over the last 500 years .Mount Saint Helen's was named by a commander named George Vancouver and officers in 1792. In 1835 scientist recognized Mount Saint Helen's as a volcanoe.In 1857 through the 1980 Mount Saint Helen's was inactive .In May 18,1980 ,8:35am Mount Saint Helen's erupted.Causing deaths of 57 people .All the damages caused by Mount Saint Helen's was worth 1.1 billion dollars.The 1980 Mount Saint Helen's was one of the most natural disasters to happen.More than 900,000 tons of ashes was all over around Washington state .After the eruption and days or maybe even years worth of cleaning.In October ,1 2004 scientist began to...
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...Right after christmas day also known as boxing day, a huge disaster happened. On of the worlds most deadliest tsunamis hit the indian ocean. This tsunami came to a shock because there was not many if any signs that a tsunami was coming. Even though this tsunami happened around 14 years ago it still has been affecting the places they were hit at. The hardest hit and most severely affected countries were India, Indonesia, because there was not many if any signs that a tsunami was coming. Even though this tsunami happened around 14 years ago it still has been affecting the places they were hit at. The hardest hit and most severely affected countries were India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia...
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...------------------------------------------------- 2003 INDIAN OCEAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI ------------------------------------------------- REPORT ------------------------------------------------- BY Ray Ha ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A OVERALL INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------- The Indian Ocean Earthquake happened in December 24th, 2004. The main ------------------------------------------------- places the ocean earthquake and tsunami stroke was the border of the India Ocean Plate and the Asian plate. This huge disaster came completely unexpected and caused GREAT suffer for Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Maldives and many more South Asian countries, in both population and economy. From the statistics due to January 10th, 2005, the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami had whirled away 156 thousand lives, most experts point out that this might be the most disastrous Tsunami that has ever happened in recent 200 years....
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...nuclear power plant resulted in loss of electricity, disabling of emergency generators and the disabling of the diesel generators that normally kept down the cooling system and it wasn’t quite successful in providing water and food supplies for people because it was contaminated. The International Atomic Energy said in a statement that “diesel generators that normally would have kept cooling systems running at Fukushima had been disabled by tsunami flooding”. Some people are still debating on whether or not they should accept any food product from Japan. Imports of raw beef from Japan, including premium Kobe beef, have been suspended since last April, because of concerns about foot and mouth disease, according to a spokesman for the United States Department of Agriculture. Poultry and egg imports are barred because the Agriculture Department has not determined that Japan has a sufficient inspection system for those products. Transportations services were shut down during this incident. People were trying to make their way out of this huge disaster but it was not successful. “I never experienced such a strong earthquake in my life,” said Toshiaki Takahashi, 49, an official at Sendai City Hall. “I thought it would stop, but it just kept shaking and shaking, and getting stronger.” This earthquake destroyed families property, disrupted their power, moved their homes, interrupted everyday interaction. When people are in real danger it is not that easy to get away. A lot of people...
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...Lessons Learned A triple disaster occurred on March 11, 2011 in japan. On this date Japan suffered not only an earthquake but a resulting tsunami and nuclear disaster that caused extremely unsafe conditions for Japan’s citizens. On the day of March 11, 2011 an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 struck Tohoku with great aggression which lead to an enormous Tsunami that devastated large areas of japan. Not only did the earthquake cause massive destruction to the island, it also caused a nuclear disaster that we still don't realize the effects that it caused. As a result of this disaster, japan has learned some very valuable lessons. One lesson that japan learned is make use of cloud computing. After japan’s tsunami, most of their data stored on servers was destroyed due to water damage. From recent speculation japan decided to take advantage of cloud computing so that if another disaster were to occur they would still have access to their data from a different location in the world. Another lesson Japan learned was that natural disaster can be very overbearing and they should not be underestimated and should be taken with precautions, Sea walls are meant to decrease damage not fully protect you. If japan’s citizens knew this fact they could have taken further actions to protect themselves and their family and friends. In the future japan can learn from these mistakes and takes actions and precautions faster so that lives can be saved. Another lesson learned is that there...
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...absence of limiting factors leads to high levels of primary productivity and the energy produced leads to high levels of biodiversity. Conversely, where limiting factors are strongly evident, e.g. in cold temperatures such as the Arctic, arid regions like deserts, darkness, etc. this will lead to low levels of biodiversity. The size of the area is another key factor, as the larger the continuous area the more species that can flourish in it. Hence the recent ‘size matters’ mantra, and the creation of huge transnational conservation areas such as the Peace Parks of Africa. Locally, there are numerous factors that may have an impact on biodiversity: • Disturbance from a natural disaster e.g. hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis on both land and ocean ecosystems, Asian tsunami 2004 – destroyed some mangrove forests • Quasi-natural disasters, e.g. wildfires (Victoria, Australia 2009), hunting, fishing, slash and burn farming • Eutrophication from high-tech agricultures Physical factors Human factors • Climate, e.g. temperature, rainfall, amount of light (limiting factors) • Latitude, altitude and gradient • Nutrients – vegetation and rate of nutrient recycling • Topography – age and size of the area being investigated • Island • Endemism • Climate change • Level of protection or management • Level of poverty • Exploitation of fauna and fauna: hunting, fishing, over-harvesting • Clearance – agriculture,...
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