Blog Final

Blog Final: Earthquakes

For my country Mexico, all natural hazards have left a great impact. However, the one I will be focusing on for my final blog post is earthquakes. Looking at all the natural hazards and their effects, earthquakes seem to have been the most problematic. Mexico is one of the most seismologically active regions on earth due to its placement on the tectonic map. Mexico sits on top of not one or two but three of the earth’s tectonic plates.Therefore, the motion of these plates causes earthquakes and volcanic activity. Seismic activity in Mexico has been very active. Seismic waves are a form of elastic energy that has been stored under faults. When the fault breaks, these waves are released and radiate outwards in all directions (Keller, DeVecchio, Natural Hazards).  The motion that these waves develop are commonly what we perceive as an earthquake.The subduction of the Cocos plate accounts for the frequency of earthquakes near Mexico's southern coast. As the rocks constituting the ocean floor are forced down, they melt, and the molten material is forced up through weaknesses in the surface rock. I am addressing this as a priority because the impact of an earthquake can be very negative and costly. In order to promote earthquake awareness it is crucial to inform and educate society on earthquake preparedness. As mentioned in our textbook, “education is an important component of preparedness at the community level.” (92). Efforts such as videos, pamphlets, workshops, etc.. could all be implemented in Mexico to decrease the fatality rate. Another reason I chose to be focusing on earthquakes is because as we all know, earthquakes cause other natural hazards as well, such as liquefaction, fires, and even landslides. So in a sense, it is like dealing with a bunch of natural hazards as opposed to just one.

Recommendations I have to addressing this hazard is having a top of the line earthquake system in place all throughout the country. Placing seismometers and transmitters all throughout the plates would greatly help with earthquake safety. This will then eventually help with the short-term prediction and long-term prediction of earthquakes as well. As stated in our textbook, steps must be taken by countries, states, communities, and individuals to adjust to the earthquake hazard (90). Pointing out different facilities throughout my country for civilians to utilize in case a earthquake does break out is important as well. Knowing what to do, and where to go in times like this is extremely important. Creating evacuation plans and thoroughly going over them with your family is another key step to ensure safety. When an earthquake does occur, cell phones won’t be working, roads may be blocked, stores will be closed and this all needs to be though out during the evacuation plan. To be able to respond rapidly to disasters, Mexico recently launched a new US $315 million catastrophe bond, called MultiCat Mexico 2012. This is a flexible financial tool that provides quick insurance against earthquakes and catastrophes. MultiCat Mexico 2012 was the third catastrophe bond that Mexico issued, and the second one under the World Bank Multicat Program. Thanks to Mexico's solid reputation in that catastrophe bond market and a growing investor base, this new bond achieved very competitive terms.

The place I would target help first would be Mexico City. Mexico City suffers mainly from earthquakes coming from the "Placa de Cocos" or "Cocos Plate". As mentioned previously, these plates are in constant friction with the Pacific plate. The reason for this is mostly due to the fact that Mexico City developed primarily on top of a former valley that was mainly a lake and a swamp. Many old buildings were built on top of this unstable land, including most of Mexico City. Modern buildings are made by piercing through this muddy terrain until they find solid bedrock, to build the foundations from there up. Each year more than 90 temblors above the magnitude 4.0 are recorded in this zone. That is why earthquakes in Mexico City are far more dangerous than in other places in the country. Now if I was to construct a house, I would probably be best off building it away from the Mexican coast and closer up north near the border by Texas. As seen in the diagram below, earthquake hazard is extremely low in this area. As we move along the coast, we see dark red indicating a very high risk for earthquakes.

Sources:

1. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0320/Mexico-earthquake-How-quake-prone-is-the-region
2. http://earthquaketrack.com/p/mexico/recent
3. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/11/20/strategy-to-prevent-and-manage-disaster-risks-Mexico

Week 13: Coastal Hazards in Mexico

Storms, tsunamis and other natural hazards can ravage coastal communities. The costs of this damage are increasing because of the huge and growing investments in the coastal zone. Human communities and coastal ecosystems are at even greater risk as hurricanes become more frequent and intense as an effect of global warming,especially along the Gulf of Mexico. Historically, the coastal population's vulnerability to hazards has typically been managed through structural or engineered approaches.

Coastal Hazards are quickly becoming a dangerous threat along the Gulf of Mexico.

Wetlands scattered throughout the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico are quickly eroding and becoming inhospitable literally and economically to the current residents as the freshwater depositories become inundated by saltwater due to wetland degradation. This area of ‘marginal-sea type coastline’ is quickly slipping away, destroying the likelihood of communities depending on usable beaches, freshwater and saltwater seafood environments.

 The current plan as many have stated  is that avoiding events like the Deepwater Horizon, cutting down on structural interference on rivers, wetlands, and swamps, and supplementing of sand along beaches and sand dunes to help combat inundation will be a good course of mitigation.

References:

http://www.marineplanning.org/Case_Studies/USA_GulfOfMexicoHazards.html

http://geol105naturalhazards.voices.wooster.edu/coastal-hazards-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

Week 10 Extreme Weather

The country I will be focusing on is the United States and the natural hazard will be thunderstorms.

A severe thunderstorm is defined as a thunderstorm that includes a tornado, and/or winds of at least 58 mph, and/or hail of at least 1 inch in diameter. All thunderstorms, whether or not they're officially defined as severe, contain lightning.

Something quite interesting that I found while doing some research was that there were severe storms and a few tornadoes forecast to take place across portions of the southern Plains and Southeast over several days. The Storm Prediction Center placed areas from Kansas to Alabama under a risk for severe storms on Friday (3/24/17) and Saturday (3/25/17). The risk of violent storms on Friday will extend all the way from central Kansas and western Missouri to northeastern Texas and western Louisiana, according to AccuWeather. On Saturday (3/25), the worst of the severe weather was in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

So far this year, severe weather has been much worse than usual in the U.S. As of Wednesday (3/22/17), there have been a total of 369 reports of tornadoes across the country, about double the average, according to the prediction center. Reports of hail and wind are also twice the average.

This picture is from The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center's twitter account: 

Sources:

https://twitter.com/NWSSPC

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2017/03/23/severe-storms-tornadoes-southern-us/99537944/

Week 8- Mass Wasting

What is mass wasting you may ask?

Well, mass wasting is defined as any type of downslope movement of earth materials. In essence, a rapid downslope movement of rock or soil as a more or less coherent mass.



Today I will be focusing on a particular mass wasting even that occurred in Tiahuitoltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Tiahuitoltepec is home to more than 10,000 people and when this town was receiving to much rainfall, it caused many natural hazards. For example, mass wasting was occurring because of massive deforestation. This led to mudslides, which caused mass wasting.

Sadly, this town is prone to mudslides during hurricane season. However some thing I found quite interesting was the fact that the government, had no intention to help Tiahuitoltepec knowing they were prone to mudslides, and even had locals living on steep hills! A mudslide began on September 13, 2010, causing the walls of nearby houses to crack as the earth began to move. Electricity and phone service was down, leaving locals worried and scared, even road ways were covered with debris or had washed away. During this time, officials advised Tiahuitoltepec president to evacuate the town. With the fact that government officials didn't even provide assistance to help them evacuate, the Tiahuitoltepec locals remained in place. Eventually, magnitude of the mudslide forced locals out.

Here are some pictures of the flood:

 

Now to prevent further disasters such as this one, Mexico has implemented an impressive database and visualization tool to map out the risks in the country.

References:

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/06/25/mexico-and-the-world-bank-together-to-reduce-the-impact-of-natural-disasters

https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/mexico-oaxacas-mudslide-disaster-caused-by-deforestation-and-corruption/

Week 5- Volcanoes

To my surprise, there is a very active volcano in Colima, Mexico. Colima volcano, also known as "Volcan de Fuego",  is one of the most active in North America and one of the potentially most dangerous ones.  Despite its' name, only a fraction of the volcano is located in the state of Colima, majority of it lies over the border in the neighboring state of Jalisco, toward the western end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. It has had more than 30 periods of eruptions since 1585, including several significant eruptions in the late 1990's. Scientific monitoring of the volcano began 20 years ago. Eruptions have occurred in 1991, 1998-1999, and from 2001 to present day. Largest eruption occurred on May 25th, 2005. An ash cloud rose to more than 3 kilometers over the volcano, and a satellite monitor showed that the cloud spread for more than 100 kilometers west of the volcano.

There have been many incidents of eruptions from this volcano. Sadly, on November 5, 2014, the volcano erupted again! An ash column was sent 5 km into the air, covering towns as far as 25 km away in ash. However, no evacuation took place. On July 10 2015, there was another eruption. The most recent volcanic eruption occured a little over a moth ago, on January 15th 2017. The eruption spewed volcanic ash 4m into the air.

The volcano is currently being monitored by the Colima Volcano Observatory at the University of Colima, Mexico. A team interprets, analyzes, and communicates everything that happens. Last year, a webcam was installed close to the volcano so they can see the activity in real time.

Here are some pictures:

 
 


References:

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/colima/news.html

http://www.webcamsdemexico.com/webcam-volcan-de-colima.html

Week 3 Post: Earthquakes

Seismic activity in Mexico has been very active. Seismic waves are a form of elastic energy that has been stored under faults. When the fault breaks, these waves are released and radiate outwards in all directions (Keller, DeVechio, Natural Hazards).  The motion that these waves develop are commonly what we perceive as an earthquake. 

Mexico has had:

2 earthquakes in the past 24 hours

15 earthquakes in the past 7 days

66 earthquakes in the past month

1533 earthquakes in the last year 

Wow! 

 

With such vulnerability to natural dissaters, Mexico has been forced to to prepare and take precautions in order to protect its citizens. 

To be able to respond rapidly to disasters, Mexico recently launched a new US $315 million catastrophe bond, called MultiCat Mexico 2012. This is a flexible financial tool that provides quick insurance against earthquakes and catastrophes. 

MultiCat Mexico 2012 was the third catastrophe bond that Mexico issued, and the second one under the World Bank Multicat Program. Thanks to Mexic's solid reputation in that catastrophe bond market and a growing investor base, this new bond achieved very competitive terms. 

Once a disaster hits and Mexico has the money to respond, the next step is to use it effectively. The country has been focusing on building and improving a transparent and effective system to allocate resources for reconstruction and emergency response. 

Mexico has made progress on prevention and risk reduction, which includes safe building codes and works on roads to improve resiliency when confronted with a potential catastrophe, but clearly there is still work ahead. 

Sources:

http://earthquaketrack.com/p/mexico/recent

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/11/20/strategy-to-prevent-and-manage-disaster-risks-Mexico

Mexico on the Plate Tectonic Map

In this week's chapter, we were introduced to plate tectonics and the internal structure of Earth.

The term tectonics, refers to large-scale geologic processes that deform Earth's lithosphere, producing landforms such as ocean basins, continents, and mountains (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). 

The lithosphere is broken into larger pieces called tectonic plates (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). 

Mexico is located on one of Earth's subduction zones. The ocean floor of the Cocos Plate is forcing its' way down "subducting" beneath the edge of the North American Plate.

    

The North American Plate is classified as convergent (subduction) boundary. Convergent boundaries occur where plates move toward each other (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). In this case,  Mexico's convergent plate is oceanic-continental. The higher-density plate subducts into the mantle beneath the leading edge of the continental plate (Natural Hazards, Keller, DeVecchio). 

Subduction zones are prone to large earthquakes since the two-plates grind up against each other. , the lower plates pulls the upper plate down with it, building up stress. When the stress builds to the breaking point, the upper plate breaks free and springs back into place. This then results in earthquakes and even at times tsunamis. Subduction zones also often have a chain of volcanoes, called a volcanic arch. A volcanic arch is produced when the oceanic crust of the subducting plate reaches a high enough temperature and pressure to go through a process called metamorphism, releasing water which triggers melting of the mantle (tectonics.caltech.edu) Other natural hazards can include volcanic eruptions, flooding, mass wasting, and subsidence.