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Flashcards in Natural Disaster Deck (5)
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1
Q

There are a myriad of types of natural hazards. The way I like to do it is I will categorize them so that they stay organized in your mind.

Despite the large number of natural hazards, there are SIX big categories.

  1. Geological disasters (201) - earth-related
  2. Hydrological disasters (202) - water-related
  3. Meteorological disasters (203) - atmosphererelated
  4. Wildfires (204) - fire-related
  5. Health disasters (205) - disease-related
  6. Space disasters (206) - space-related

Easy to remember, right? Now let’s dig in the nitty-gritty

GEOLOGICAL DISASTER - Earth-related.

Avalanches (207) - An avalanche is a mass of snow, often mixed with ice and debris which travels down mountain sides, destroying all in its path. If you are planning a trip to mountain skiing, be extremely cautious to avalanches.

Avalanches are triggered by different factors, ranging from temperature, overloading to vibration. It’s interesting that if you fire a gunshot on a snow mountain, the vibration from the gun might trigger avalanches. Be careful.

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2
Q

Landslides (208) - A landslide is similar to avalanches, except that it is dirt and rock from rock mountain falling on the slope. It’s quite common in some mountainous areas in Vietnam. There are different causes of landslides such as removal of vegetation (209), earthquakes, or some other human-induced factors (210).

Earthquake - This is, of course, not a new word for you

Volcanic eruptions - This is, of course, not a new word for you. All you need to remember is which category it belongs to. YES, you are right.

Geological disaster.

HYDROLOGICAL DISASTER - Water-related

Flooding - Flooding is the MOST common environmental hazard worldwide. This is due to the vast geographical distribution of river floodplains and low-lying coastal areas. It is largely classified as ‘an overflowing of water onto normally dry land’. There are many reasons why floods occur, these can be divided into categories of causes. These are flash floods (211), storm surge (212),** and dam and **levee failures (213).

Flash floods can be deadly due to the rapid rise in water levels and the high flow-velocities of the water (Saigon). There are factors which contribute to the occurrence of flash floods: rainfall intensity, duration, surface condition and topography (214). Urban areas are more susceptible to flash floods due to the lack of natural drainage systems and the high amounts of impervious surfaces (215).

Tsunamis (216) - A Tsunami is a series of huge waves that strike a coast. The waves are caused when massive amounts of water are displaced due to an undersea disturbance. The damage caused can range from little to massive devastation, as seen on December 26th 2004 when an earthquake measuring 9.3 occurred off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in which 300,000 people lost their lives due to the massive tsunamis that hit the surrounding land.

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3
Q

METEOROLOGICAL DISASTER - Atmosphere - related

Blizzard - severe snow storms with high winds and low visibility

Cyclone - big storms mostly coming from the ocean (as you see a lot on TV)

Drought - is a period of unexpected rainfall deficit which results in a shortage of water. The impacts of drought vary from lack of adequatedrinking water, loss of vegetation, loss of farmland, loss of livestock (217) and loss of life due to famine or dehydration.

Drought can also be affected by deforestation as vegetation help contain water in an area, when the vegetation is removed the soil does not retain water as well.

Tornadoes and heat waves (218) also belong to the meteorological disaster category.

WILDFIRE - Wildfire is the term used for an uncontrolled fire fuelled by natural vegetation (in the forest). In general, wildfires are caused by a mixture of factors such as high temperatures, drought conditions following a period of vegetation growth and a trigger which can be natural such as lightning or human influenced such as arson (a crime we learned in Chapter 1).

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livestock = farm animals

4
Q

HEALTH DISASTER - disease related.

Only six diseases are responsible for nearly 90% of infection-related deaths among people under 44 years of age. These are:

  1. AIDS
  2. Malaria - blood-related - caused by mosquitos.
  3. Tuberculosis - lung-related
  4. Measles - skin-related
  5. Diarrheal Diseases - diarrhea-related
  6. Respiratory Illness - breathing-related

AIDS is characterized by the failure of the immune system. Malaria is more prevalent in remote rural areas without clean drinking water or adequate health facilities.

SPACE DISASTER - space-related

Solar flare (219) happens when the sun is super active (periodically), releasing a huge amount of solar radiation that might destroy electrical equipment.

Basically, these are all the disasters or hazards you need to know. Only six categories.

  1. Water-related - flooding, tsunami
  2. Atmosphere-related - tornado, cyclone, blizzard, drought
  3. Fire-related - wildfire
  4. Earth-related - volcanic eruption, earthquake, avalanche, landslide.
  5. Health-related - AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, measles, diarrheal diseases, respiratory illness.
  6. Space-related - solar flare.
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5
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