What is Disaster Management ?

Tornadoes can record winds of up to 300mph, which is twice as fast as hurricanes. On May 3, 1999, radar reported a tornado with wind speeds as fast as 302mph.

Since 1980, the U.S. has suffered 208 weather-related disasters where damages exceeded 1 billion dollars. In the first part of 2017, there have been five such weather and climate disasters across the United States.

The largest natural sinkhole ever witnessed occurred in May 1981 in Winter Park, Florida. The sinkhole grew to a width of 350 feet, and a depth of 75 feet, taking with it a 3-bedroom house, a car dealership, 5 Porsches, parts of two separate streets, and the town’s Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Of all natural disasters, earthquakes are both the most unpredictable and the most destructive. While scientists have a pretty good idea of where earthquakes will hit, there are still no scientific methods of predicting exactly when they will happen.

A storm is considered a topical depression when wind speeds are less than 39 mph. When the wind speed exceeds 39 mph, the tropical depression is upgraded to a tropical storm.  When wind speeds reach 74 mph (119kph), a tropical storm becomes a hurricane.

In 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan caused a deadly 23-foot tsunami in the country’s north. The tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three nuclear reactors in the Fukushima plant, triggering a nuclear accident.

No hurricane has ever crossed the equator because of a property of physics known as the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect is the force that creates the spin in the hurricane. Hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the South. The same effect also causes hurricanes to move away from the equator as they grow.

The Japanese earthquake also amplified the rotation speed of Earth, shortening the length of a day by 1.8 microseconds.

To make communication about storms easier, the World Meteorological Organization develops a list of names for tropical storms that are used in alphabetical order. If the storm becomes a hurricane, the name is retained. Names can be repeated after a period of 6 years, but names of especially severe storms like Katrina are retired.

In 1812, a series of earthquakes near Missouri caused the soil beneath the Mississippi river to rise and temporarily caused the river to flow backwards. Some Muskogee people thought that the cause was a river god called the Tie Snake, twisting under the ground.

Depending where in the world they’re located, hurricanes have different names. The name hurricane  is given to systems that develop over the Atlantic or the eastern Pacific Oceans. In the western North Pacific and Philippines, these systems are called “typhoons” while in the Indian and South Pacific Ocean, they are called “cyclones”.

As the two sides of the San Andreas Fault slip past one another, San Francisco moves towards Los Angeles at a rate of about 2 inches per year. In several million years, the two cities will meet.

Typhoon John formed during the 1994 Pacific hurricane season, and is both the longest-lasting and second-farthest traveling typhoon ever observed. It followed an 8,000-mile path and lasted 31 days in total. It was also one of the few number of tropical cyclones to ever be designated as both a hurricane and a typhoon.

Some Scientists believe that some animals are able to feel vibrations in the earth before an Earthquake. Dogs, birds and elephants have all been said to flee or retreat an area right before a disaster hits.

In 1859, the planet recorded the largest solar storm on record. A solar storm is caused by the outer layer of the Sun ejecting a massive quantity of charged particles, or radiation, towards the Earth. The Carrington Event, named for the British Astronomer Richard Carrington, caused geometric disturbances that damaged telegraph systems around the world. The storm passed within a few days, but were the event to occur today, it could disrupt telecommunications and cause trillions of dollars in damage.

In 1861, a massive 43-day storm put Southern California underwater for six months. Geologic research shows that epic storms of “biblical proportions” have occurred in the region roughly every 200 years for the last 2000 years, and researchers say that California may be due for another big one soon.

The Ice Storm of 1998 was one of the largest natural disasters in Canadian History. Quebec, Ontario, and some north-eastern staes were struck by the storm. Multiple layers of freezing rain caked everything with thick, heavy ice, causing tremendous damage. The storm was blamed for 35 deaths, and millions of people were without power for weeks.

The Banqiao dam was built on the Ru River in China in the 1950s as part of a program aimed at controlling the Huang He (Yellow River). It was constructed to withstand massive floods, expected to occur only once a millennium. Sadly, in 1975 Typhoon Nina hit with such intensity the dam collapsed causing unprecedented flooding and destruction downstream.

Another name for ice storms are Glaze Storms, because the landscape becomes covered with a smooth, transparent layer of ice called a glaze. The glaze is so heavy that it can split trees, down power lines, and shut down entire cities with damage.

The state of Florida sits on an unbroken bed of Limestone which makes sinkholes a common problem- especially in Central Florida. It’s called “sinkhole alley”, and 2/3 of sinkhole insurance claims come from this area.

As eapproach the shore, the ocean floor creates friction. This causes the waves to slow down and build up from behind, creating a more cohesive wall of water. The sea floor also forces the wall of water upwards from the depths, creating the wave’s incredible height.

The Great Blue Hole of Belize is a large underwater sinkhole near the center of Lighthouse Reef. It originally formed as a limestone cave during the last glacial period, but as the ocean began to rise, the cave system flooded and eventually collapsed. In 1971, Jacques Cousteau made the site famous by declaring it one of the top ten best diving site in the world.

The largest natural sinkhole ever witnessed occurred in May 1981 in Winter Park, Florida. The sinkhole grew to a width of 350 feet, and a depth of 75 feet, taking with it a 3-bedroom house, a car dealership, 5 Porsches, parts of two separate streets, and the town’s Olympic-sized swimming pool.

On the surface of the open ocean, a tsunami wave may be less than a foot tall, and are usually not noticed by sailors. This is because the wave is contained within the depths of the ocean.

A storm is considered a topical depression when wind speeds are less than 39 mph. When the wind speed exceeds 39 mph, the tropical depression is upgraded to a tropical storm. When wind speeds reach 74 mph (119kph), a tropical storm becomes a hurricane.