Geological Disasters and Society Lecture Notes (PDF)

Welcome to Geos 218 Geological Disasters & Society Joplin, MO Tornado (2011) – 158 dead Western Kentucky Tornadoes (2021) – 80 dead 1 Unit 1 (Part 1): Natural Hazards vs Natural Disasters Befo...

Welcome to Geos 218 Geological Disasters & Society Joplin, MO Tornado (2011) – 158 dead Western Kentucky Tornadoes (2021) – 80 dead 1 Unit 1 (Part 1): Natural Hazards vs Natural Disasters Before (4/80) After (6/80) Mt. St. Helens, WA 2 1  Natural Disasters versus Natural Hazards Natural disaster: catastrophic event causing major damage and loss of life. e.g. ‘04 Sumatra EQ, ‘22 Hurricane Ian, ‘21 W. Ky Tornadoes, ‘25 LA Fires Natural hazard: conditions with potential for large event that could cause damage and loss of life. e.g. San Andreas fault, Mt. St. Helens, Cascadia subduction zone, Gulf Coast (New Orleans, etc.) Natural hazards are inevitable but Natural disasters are not – Mitigation- planning, preparedness, construction codes 3 Human Fatalities from Natural Disasters Between 1900 & 1965, the largest numbers of deaths associated with natural disasters were due to flood or drought and the famine that can accompany either. Over the last 60 years, there have been no years with 1M deaths (not counting COVID) and earthquakes and hurricanes are the biggest killers. 4 2  Human Fatalities from Natural Disasters n Sawtooth-shaped curve caused by largest natural disasters n Biggest killers recently (in order): earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, severe weather, landslides, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes. n Most mega-killer disasters occur in densely populated belt through Asia, along Indian Ocean – number of fatalities is proportional to density of population n Death totals are often related to economic and political factors n Humans respond to disasters n donate/volunteer/etc. 5 Recent Fatalities by Type of Disaster / ke drought qua i rth m ea suna earthq uake t hurricane heat wave https://ourworldindata.org/natural-disaster 6 3  Recent Fatalities by Type of Disaster 1983-4 Famine in Ethiopia (drought) (450k) 1985 Mexico City EQ (M=8.1) (10k) Nevado del Ruiz Volcano (22k) 1988 Armenia EQ (M=6.9) (25k) 1991 Bangladesh Cyclone (150k) 1998 Hurricane Mitch (12k) 2001 Gujurat, India EQ (M=6.9) (20k) 2003 Bam, Iran EQ (M=6.6) (43k) Europea Heat Wave (75k) 2004 Indian Ocean EQ & Tsunami (245k) 2005 Pakistan EQ (M=7.6) (88k) Hurricane Katrina (