...Geo challenge #2 What impact might a serious natural disaster, such as an earthquake, tsunami, or flood, have on an urban centre? Serious natural disasters can have many negative effects on urban centres. To start, the buildings are left in wreckage. Buildings that have poor structure are damaged and often collapse. Residential areas are at risk of being flooded, leaving potential ruin amongst homes and businesses. These impacts aren't it though, they're just immediate effects during the disaster. There are other concerns that occur during rebuilding, and land reclamation. Congested living conditions, lack of sanitation, clean water, and garbage disposal are all possibilities which contribute to serious illness.People will also have to leave...
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...One of the most recurring natural disasters are tsunamis. A tsunami is an array of waves which are caused by the displacement of a large volume of water. The water is usually from oceans or lakes and do not resemble normal sea waves, because their wavelengths are very long. Tsunami is a Japanese word, which means harbour wave. One of the most well known tsunamis was located in parts of Southern Asia and Indonesia, on the 26th of December, 2004. It is commonly known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and was listed as one of the most deadliest natural disasters recorded in...
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...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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...‘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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...seismic waves recorded on a seismograph and the distance of the seismograph from the earthquake. These are put into a formula which converts them to a magnitude, which is a measure of the energy released by the earthquake. For every unit increase in magnitude, there is roughly a thirty-fold increase in the energy released. For instance, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake releases approximately 30 times more energy than a magnitude 5.0 earthquake, while a magnitude 7.0 earthquake releases approximately 900 times (30x30) more energy than a magnitude 5.0. A magnitude 8.6 earthquake releases energy equivalent to about 10 000 atomic bombs of the type developed in World War II. Fortunately, smaller earthquakes occur much more frequently than large ones and most cause little or no damage. Earthquake magnitude was traditionally measured on the Richter scale. It is often now calculated from seismic moment, which is proportional to the fault area multiplied by the average displacement on the fault. The focus of an earthquake is the point where it originated within the Earth. The earthquake epicentre is the point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus. INSTRUMENT USED IN DETECTING EARTHQUAKE. An earthquake, one of the most dreaded natural disasters, is technically a seismic event that generates seismic waves causing the ground to vibrate. How does an earthquake occur? An earthquake occurs as a result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust creating seismic waves. We all...
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...Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Manuals and Guides 52 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission TSUNAMI RISK ASSESSMENT ANDMITIGATION FOR THE INDIAN OCEAN KNOWING YOUR TSUNAMI RISK – AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT June 2009 UNESCO 1 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Manuals and Guides 52 knowing your tsunami risk – and what to do about it Tsunami risk assessment and mitigation for the Indian Ocean; The designation employed and the presentation of material throughout the publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO in particular concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or the delineation of its frontiers or boundaries. The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this manual and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Designer: Eric Loddé For bibliographic purposes, this document should be cited as follows: Tsunami risk assessment and mitigation for the Indian Ocean; knowing your tsunami risk – and what to do about it IOC Manual and Guides No. 52, Paris: UNESCO, 2007 (English). Printed by UNESCO (IOC/2009/MG/52) © UNESCO IOC 2009 Tsunami risk assessment and mitigation for the Indian Ocean; knowing your tsunami risk – and what to do about it 3 Table of contents Acknowledgement ...........................................
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...Not Everything is Within our Control The afternoon knows what the morning never expected. – Swedish (Swedish, "Nature Sayings and Nature Quotes | Wise Old Sayings") It is an irrevocable fact that we are not in control of everything that happens. We would like to believe that we are and we do everything in our power to get as close to full control as possible, but the truth of the matter is that as the starting quote say’s “ The afternoon always knows what the morning never expected”. There are many things in our lives that are out of our control, like other people’s feelings and unforeseen unmanageable circumstance, for me this inability to always be in control is a difficult concept. You see, I am an ex-professional athlete in a high-risk sport, motocross. In motocross we like to believe that as we train and prepare we gain control of all situations and when things go north this preparation will allow us to control the uncontrollable. The difficult truth to accept is that although preparation diminished unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances, it doesn’t eliminate them and when something goes wrong. It goes really wrong. I, like many people will never come to accept that we can’t control certain circumstances and will continue to prepare ourselves and to train ourselves in hopes of controlling the uncontrolled. As crazy as this may seem however, it is people like us that develop equipment, strategies, movements and technology to get us closer to control. It is...
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...‘Technology is the best way to reduce the impact of an earthquake’ to what extent do you agree with this view? (40 marks) An earthquake is a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action. Impacts of an earthquake can include short-term impacts such as fatalities, or long-term impacts such as income lost through lack of tourism. Technology can be used to predict the likelihood of an earthquake occurring in a particular area, for example by detecting plate movement, and this can reduce the impacts of an earthquake in return. This essay will discuss whether technology is the best way to reduce the impact of an earthquake or not. Technology can predict earthquakes through a seismometer. A seismometer is used to pick up the vibrations in the Earth’s crust and this can help predict earthquakes as an increase in vibrations may indicate a possible earthquake. Through the use of this technology, people living in earthquake zones are able to evacuate the area, which reduces the likelihood of fatalities from the earthquake and the falling debris caused by it. There are also other ways in which earthquakes can be predicted such as using laser beams to detect plate movement, monitoring the levels of radon gas that is being released from cracks in the crust and monitoring changes in ground levels. In February 1975 in the city of Haicheng in China, scientists identified changes in the ground...
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...the free encyclopedia This article is about the natural seismic phenomenon. For other uses, see Earthquake (disambiguation). [pic] An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, temblor or seismic activity) is the result of a sudden release of energy in theEarth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are measured with a seismometer; a device which also records is known as aseismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacing the ground. When a large earthquakeepicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event — whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans — that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus orhypocenter. The term epicenter refers to the point at ground level directly above the...
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...INTRODUCTION Business environment is very important and plays significant roles for sustainability of airline business. In the global and modern world, business environment also become more complicated and more challenging to the airlines. It is important for airline manager to know because it will help the airline to plan and prepare for any changes that threatens the survival of airline business. The 21st century comes with so many changes, new technologies invented, circular of income of a country increase with better economy situation, air travel demand increasing very high which are given the airlines benefit to do business. Apparently, the 21st century not only bring benefit, but also bringing new risks for airline business such as fuel price volatility, natural catastrophic that had never been experienced before and others. The risks if not be taken with cares and smart strategies will threaten the sustainability of airlines. This writing try to identify issues arising and new risks that affecting airline business. Identifying significant issues and risks is very crucial for airline management to make planning, scheduling, price setting for flight tickets, demand forecasting, traffic movement, and the most important is managing capacity. Therefore, knowing impact of issues and new risks in airline business is very crucial. Survival of airline business is important for the global economy, airlines play important role as major contribution for Growth Domestic...
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...| MANAGEMENT | COURSE : Diploma in Business Administration | CODE : MGTG2001\V0Rea7LECTURER : MR. Tham Poh Weng | MEMBERS : Ngui Meei Yann Chan Wei Jie Choo Yan Ling Leong Hui Ling Lin Bin Hui | | | | | Objective By analyzing TEPCO as the organization which facing a crisis recently, given us a chance to Study their strengths and weakness and how we are going to assist them in the most effective way. Table of Contents Objective 1 Introduction 3 Corporate Summary 3 Crisis Background 4 Oct Year 2004 & July 2007 4 Mar 2011 – Current 4 Impact from the Crisis 6 Analyse the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (TEPCO) 7 SWOT Analysis 7 Strength 7 Weakness 8 Opportunities 9 Threat 10 Criteria in Success 12 Conclusion 13 Resources: 14 Introduction Corporate Summary Figure 1.1.1 – Company logo Tokyo Electricity Power Company (TEPCO) is an electricity utility and was established in 1st May 1951. TEPCO is the fourth power company in Asia, operation 17 nuclear reactors and supplying one-third of Japan’s electricity. The first nuclear unit at Fukushima Dai-Chi (Fukushima) nuclear power plant began operational generation on 26th March 1971. During 1980s and 1990s, the widespread use of air-conditional and IT/OA appliances caused a gap between day and night electricity demands. In order to reduce surplus generation...
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...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 to minimize seismic risk. (Davis, L. 2008). Seismic gaps It is a zone along an active area that is tectonic with no recent occurrence of an earthquake, also known as elastic strain...
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...earthquakes) Disaster – When a hazard seriously affects humans Risk – Likelihood that humans will be seriously affected by a hazard Vulnerability – How susceptible a population is to the damage caused by a hazard. Disaster Risk Equation Risk (R) – Hazards (H) * Vulnerability (V) / Capacity to Cope (C) Risk increases if: * Frequency or severity of hazards increase * People vulnerability increase * Capacity to cope decreases (Capacity to cope is the ability to deal with the consequences of a hazard) e.g. people in remote areas are further from help in central areas, so have lower capacity to cope) * Global Warming – greatest global hazard * Recent increase in average global temp – climate change * Causes other types of climate change * Context hazard – global in scale (affects all parts of environment) – potential to trigger other hazards or make them worse * Chronic Hazard (Long term) * People who aren’t causing the problem are mostly affected * Difficult to find solutions * Hydro-meteorological hazards becoming more frequent * Increasing hydro-meteorological hazards due to global warming * Number of disasters increasing due to: Human Factors * Rapid population growth and urbanisation – increases number of vulnerable people, especially in poor countries * Increasing world poverty – poor people more vulnerable to hazards * Exploitation of resources – deforestation and loss of wetlands –...
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...Joseph N. Frederick III PSC 1121C Spring 2011 Geophysics Geophysics can be broken down into several groups that deal with physical science and the earth. It is a field and profession that combines geology, mathematics, and physics all in an effort for people across the world to understand the ways of the world and exactly what it takes for certain seemingly unnatural events to happen. Geophysics covers a range of ideas from gravity, heat flow, seismic waves that cause vibrations through the Earth’s layers, radioactivity both geothermal and geochronological, electricity, electromagnetic waves and magnetism, fluid dynamics, and even condensed matter physics. So as we see, geophysics is indeed a very broad subject, yet when looked at under specific lights, we see that geophysics is no more than a name, a container, for all matters Earthly related. Most of these topics will most definitely be covered in this essay and if not talked about in depth, definitely mentioned seeing as how all of these ideas are valuable to everyone worldwide in getting to know and understand the way our home planet works in relation to ourselves and the space we occupy in the universe. (Beroza, Nelson, and Ilich, "The Department of Geophysics"). History The first traces of anything geophysically related first appear in regions inside of China during the Qin dynasty somewhere between two hundred twenty-one and two hundred six B.C. when Chinese fortunetellers used lodestones to create their fortune...
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...Ryan Bustinza Global Warming Global warming is defined as the rise in average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century. The average temperature of the Earth has increased about 1 and a half degrees, with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980. In general, many scientists believe that the primary causes are greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are produced by many human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, and deforestation. The findings of these scientists are recognized by all major industrialized nations. Negative effects of global warming have already been noticed throughout the environment. Sea level rising, changes in climate extremes, and the decline of artic ice which could also lead to a glacier retreat. In addition, ecological systems are also at risk of global warming. Ecosystems could start to be affected, along with the extinction of species, and an increased ocean acidity. The idea of global warming was first proposed by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish Scientist, who in 1896 stated that combustion of fossil fuel may eventually result in global warming. Along with this theory he also proposed that there was a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature. Arrhenius, along with Thomas Chamberlin, calculated that human activities could warm the earth by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. But, the discoveries of Arrhenius and Chamberlin were forgotten for a...
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