WHAT ARE NATURAL DISASTERS?
Natural disaster or natural catastrophe refers to the enormous losses of materials and human
lives caused by natural events or phenomena, such as earthquakes, floods, tsunamis,
landslides, among others. From the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st,
the The number of deaths from natural disasters fell from 500,000 per year to 50,000, on
average.
According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), disasters are not
natural, but are the result of omissions and lack of prevention, and disasters occur due to
human action. in your enviroment. For example: a hurricane in the middle of the ocean is not a
disaster, unless a ship passes through there.note.
Natural disasters (such as rain, earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis, among others) become
disasters when they exceed a normal limit, generally measured through a parameter. This
varies depending on the type of phenomenon, and may be the moment magnitude scale, the
Richter scale, the Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes, etc. The effects of a disaster can be
amplified due to poor planning of human settlements, lack of safety measures, emergency
plans and man-made warning systems become a bit diffuse. On the other hand, some disasters
are caused solely by human activities. Some of these are: environmental pollution, irrational
exploitation of renewable natural resources such as forests and non-renewable soil such as
minerals; Also, the construction of homes and buildings in high-risk areas.
Human activity in areas with a high probability of disasters is known as high risk. High risk areas
without appropriate instrumentation or measures to respond to the disaster or reduce its
negative effects are known as high vulnerability areas. In order to improve the institutional
capacity to reduce the collective risk of disasters, these can trigger other events that will
reduce the possibility of surviving this due to deficiencies in planning and safety measures and
also create an emergency plan.
TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS?
TSUNAMI
A tsunami, sunami (from the Japanese 津
[tsu], 'port' or 'bay', and 波 [nami], 'wave')
or maremoto (from the Latin mare, 'sea',
and motus, 'movement' ) is a complex
event that involves a group of waves in a body of water of great energy and of variable size
that occurs when a large mass of water is displaced vertically by some extraordinary
phenomenon, for example, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, detonations submarine nuclear
explosions, landslides, meteorite impacts, etc. Unlike normal ocean waves produced by wind,
or tides, which are generated by the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon, a tsunami is
generated by the displacement of water. Tsunamis with disproportionately high waves are
called megatsunamis
In its path it will drag cars, boats, trees, animals, rocks, debris and all kinds of dangerous
objects. In the open sea, far from the coast, the wave heights of a tsunami are small. It is when
they reach the coast that they reach large sizes and are destructive.
EARTHQUAKE
An earthquake (from Latin terraemōtus,
from terra, 'earth', and motus, 'movement'),
also called earthquake, seismo (from French
seisme, derived from Greek σεισμός
[seismós]), earth tremor or movement
telluric, is the sudden and temporary shaking of the earth's crust. The most common are
produced by geological fault activity. They can also occur due to other causes, such as: friction
on the edge of tectonic plates, volcanic processes, impacts of asteroids or any large celestial
object, or they can even be produced by humans when carrying out underground nuclear
detonations.
The effects of an earthquake result in ground shaking, fires, seismic sea waves and landslides,
as well as the interruption of vital services, panic and psychological shock.
FLOOD
A flood is the occupation by water of areas
that are usually free of it,1 due to the
overflowing of
rivers, torrents or boulevards, due to
torrential rains, melting ice, due to rising
tides above the usual level, due to tidal waves, hurricanes. among others.
In coastal areas, the attacks of the sea have served to shape the coasts and create swampy
areas such as lagoons and lagoons that, after their anthropogenic occupation, have become
vulnerable areas.
While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation
and snowmelt, these changes in size are unlikely to be considered significant unless they flood
property or drown domestic animals.
Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural floodplains of
rivers. While damage caused by river flooding can be eliminated by moving away from rivers
and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked next to rivers because
the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers facilitate travel and access. to commerce
and industry.
FOREST FIRES
A fire is an uncontrolled occurrence of fire that
can affect or burn something that is not
intended to burn. It can affect structures and
living beings.
The exposure of living beings to a fire can cause very serious damage up to death, generally
due to smoke inhalation or fainting caused by intoxication and later severe burns.
For a fire to start, three components must occur together: fuel, oxygen and heat or activation
energy, which is called the fire triangle.
Trees and biodiversity of flora and fauna disappear. – Soil is lost due to erosion. – Harm is done
to nature and to ourselves.
SPACE PHENOMENA
Impacts of cosmic origin are caused by the
collision of large meteorites with the Earth
and are sometimes followed by mass
extinctions. The magnitude of the disaster is
inversely proportional to the frequency with which they occur, because small impacts are
much more numerous than large ones.
A solar storm is a violent explosion in the Sun's atmosphere with energy equivalent to millions
of hydrogen bombs. Solar storms take place in the solar corona and chromosphere, heating
gas to tens of millions of degrees and accelerating electrons, protons and heavy ions to near
light speeds. They produce electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths of the spectrum, from
radio signals to gamma rays. Emissions from solar storms are dangerous to orbiting satellites,
space missions, communication systems and the power grid.
FAMINE
Famine is a situation that occurs when a country
or geographical area does not have enough food
and resources to provide food to the population,
raising the mortality rate due to hunger and
malnutrition.
Food shortages are one of the main causes of hunger in the world. The United Nations (UN)
estimates that between 720 and 811 million people suffered from hunger in 2020. Food
insecurity that will increase due to the lasting effects of the pandemic caused by Covid-19.
The consequence of this problem is, generally, death from starvation of the people who suffer
from it, which is preceded by serious malnutrition.
RASHES
A volcanic eruption is a geological
phenomenon characterized by the
violent emission on the Earth's surface,
by a volcano, of lava and/or tephra
accompanied by volcanic gases.
Excluded from this definition are geysers, which emit hot water, and mud volcanoes, whose
matter is largely organic. When a volcanic eruption causes material damage and death, among
the human species and also in other animal or plant species, which happens in the majority of
cases of terrestrial volcanoes, this natural phenomenon constitutes, in the short or medium
term, a natural disaster. that has a local or global impact and that can alter animal and human
habits, climate, topography, etc.
Recent research shows that volcanic eruptions have a significant impact on global climate and
should be considered as essential catalytic phenomena to explain ecological changes and
historical upheavals of human societies.
There are people who have died from volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions can cause
additional health threats, such as flooding, mudslides, power outages, contamination of
drinking water, and forest fires.
STORM
A storm or tempest is a meteorological
phenomenon associated with the vertical
development of cloudiness accompanied by
electrical discharges or lightning and,
usually, precipitation and intense gusts of
wind on the surface. Electrical discharges can be cloud-cloud, cloud-ground and cloud-
ionosphere.
Although scientifically a storm is defined as a cloud capable of producing audible thunder or
lightning, storms are also generally called violent atmospheric phenomena that, on the surface
of the Earth, are associated with rain, ice, hail, electricity, snow or strong winds, which can
transport suspended particles such as sand storms or even small objects or living beings.
All thunderstorms produce lightning, which causes more deaths each year than tornadoes and
hurricanes. Heavy rain from thunderstorms can cause flash flooding and powerful winds that
can damage homes and down trees and poles, causing widespread power outages.
DROUGHT
Drought is a temporary climatological anomaly in
which the availability of water is below what is
normal for a geographic area. The water is not enough to supply the needs of the plants,
animals and humans that live in that place.
The main cause of all drought is the lack of rain or precipitation. This phenomenon is called
meteorological drought and if it persists, it results in a hydrological drought characterized by
the inequality between the natural availability of water and the natural demands for water. In
extreme cases it can reach aridity.
If the phenomenon is linked to the level of water demand existing in the area for human and
industrial use, we speak of water scarcity.
Severe drought conditions can negatively affect air quality. During droughts, there is an
increased risk of wildfires and dust storms. Particulate matter suspended in the air from these
events can irritate the bronchial passages and lungs.
HEAT WAVE
A heat wave is a sustained event of
extremely high temperature for a given
region. The heat wave is measured in
relation to the average temperature
considered for the area. There is no standardized definition of a heat wave.
The meteorological agencies of each country have their own definitions regarding what they
consider a heat wave. As a consequence of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change has warned about an increase in heat waves globally. This increase has
multiple consequences for human health and food and energy security.
Exposure to heat can cause edema, syncope, cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke that
can lead to death. Additionally, extreme heat can cause severe dehydration, stroke, and
contribute to blood clots.
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