Natural Disasters and Severe Weathers Paper Example

Introduction

Severe weather and natural disasters are daily occurrences that happen across the world, earthquakes, tornados, wildfires, tsunamis, winter weathers; volcanoes are just some of the natural disasters that occur around the globe. The catastrophes and severe climates mostly are natural causes that are not triggered by human activities. Within minutes natural disasters destroy property, injure and kill people. People are left homeless and without means to a livelihood. Natural disasters have no warning and happen in a minute. The natural disaster tends to be severe as the days go by.

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Recently scientists and geologist are working round the clock to try and predict natural disasters and avert disaster before it happens. With the current technology available it is easier to predict major disasters before they happen but there are natural disasters that instead occur without any notice whosoever. Sometimes warning comes, but it is on short notice. Areas that are less disaster-prone tend to be more affected when natural disaster strike than regions that are used to natural disasters. Some significant accidents have happened across the world. This paper will focus on two significant events that have occurred. They include the Nepal Earthquake and Indonesia Tsunami.

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE 2015

It happened on the 25th of April 2012; the Earthquake was also known as Gorkha earthquake. It arrived in Kathmandu central Nepal. The effects of the earthquake were felt throughout east and central Nepal. The Ganges river in northern India, northwest Bangladesh, southern parts of the Tibet plates and western Bhutan were also affected by the aftershock of the earthquake. The earthquake and the aftershock were as a result of faulting which is a compression caused by a fracture within the mountain in the Indus-Yarlung suture zone. It is a t west region that is almost the same height as the Himalaya ranges. The pressure between the Eurasian tectonic plate and the Indo- Australian plate in the India section was released by the earthquake. The Indo-Australian plate subducts the Eurasian plate causing the quake.

Subduction in the Himalayas takes place at a rate of (4-5 cm) every year. The tectonic activity adds more than 0.4 inches (1 cm) to the height of the Himalayan Mountains every year. Himalayan region is considered one of the most seismically active across the world. However, large earthquakes have infrequently occurred in that region. Before the 2015 earthquake that had a more than 6.0 magnitude the other major earthquake that happened in the area occurred in 1988 with a 6.9 scale. The worst earthquake was one that occurred in 1934 with an 8.0 magnitude.

The magnitude of 2015 had a magnitude of 7.8 it happened at a local time in Nepal. The epicenter is estimated to be around 21miles east of Lamjug and 48 miles North West of Kathmandu. Its focus was 9.3miles underground. There were two aftershocks with 6.6 and 6.7 magnitudes that happened after an hour. Other small aftershocks occurred in the next days, with a significant aftershock happening on 12th may with a 7.3 scale.

The earthquake killed more than 9000 people with 22000 others suffering severe injuries. It was considered the worst earthquake in the history of Nepal. More than 600000 homes were destroyed, and other 288800 were damaged by the quake. The worst-hit areas were rural areas that made the access very difficult. The humanitarian organization did their best to respond to the disaster. The Nepal disaster was predicted only that the scientists did not know when it will happen. The reconstruction of the damaged is still ongoing until date.

The Nepal earthquake can happen again since the tectonic plates can subduct again. Faulting of mountains is inevitable and will happen again. What can be done is making sure that there are disaster management programs to help when such disaster strikes. The other solution will make sure that the buildings built are strong enough to withstand the earthquakes. Technological predictions of the failure can be helpful to be able to evacuate most people as possible from the worst hit areas. It is essential for people to care about natural disasters because apart from lives being destroyed, economies are destroyed therefore affecting peoples lives and a countries economy.

INDONESIA TSUNAMI 2004

Also known as the Tsunami Sumatra happened in 2004. It happened on the 26th December 2004. The earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred that hit the coast of Indonesia Sumatra island. The quake occurred for over seven hours a tsunami that was triggered by the quake triggered the entire Indian ocean. The effects of the wave were experienced as far as the coastal region in East Africa. The tsunami I worst hit Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and India.

The earthquake was a result of faulting at the seafloor of the Indian ocean the fault which was in Banda Aceh in Sumatra gave way suddenly on that particular day. The underwater earthquake which had over 9.1 magnitudes ripped the fault apart a distance of 1200 km. The ripping caused parts of the seabeds to be displaced upwards around 20 meters. The displacement opened another new rift that went around 10 meters deep. The sudden movement of the seabeds and the floor of the sea caused a release of incredible energy. The energy released was an equivalent of two atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima. When the seabed short upward it caused huge ripples across the ocean thereby causing the Tsunami.

The people around the epicenter could have had a little warning about the tsunami since they felt the massive earthquake. After the earthquake, there were four enormous waves hit the shores. The highest wave recorded was around 24 meters tall. In some areas, it was recorded that some were as high as 30 meters high.

The quake was the third most powerful quake ever to happen on the face of the earth. The tsunami lasted for seven hours killing people and destroying properties along the coastal areas of the Indian ocean. The areas hit had ever experienced the tsunami, and people lived carelessly along the shores. In some coasts, there was a multitude of people since it was during the festive season. In Indonesia coastline, over 168000 people were killed, In Thailand, over 6800 people died of which 2500 people were tourists. In the Maldives, 108 people died I Sri Lanka 53000 other people died. After seven hours the coast of East Africa was hit killing 400 people.

Such an incidence can happen again since the faults on the seafloor are still there faulting is inevitable and can happen again. The only thing is to come up with ways to avert and mitigate the disasters. Indonesia has installed the Indian Ocean tsunami warning system. Use of technology will help in predicting these disasters before they happen and save people lives and properties. Making sure that people do not live very near shoreline can ensure that more lives are saved in case something like that happens again...