Hayden

How Natural disasters affect us?

Natural disasters affect us in deadly ways. Natural disasters are caused by the nature which
affects people and the environment. The worst part is that these disasters cant be avoided.
Every year over 500 natural disasters occur around the world, causing 250 million people to
feel excruciating pain and suffering.
There are many types of natural disasters like these below; volcanic eruptions, avalanches
and tsunamis.
Volcanic eruptions:
Volcanic eruptions occur on volcanoes which can look like regular mountains. Volcanic
eruptions occur when pressure pushes magma from the magma chamber (which is located
beneath the volcano. Once it reaches the crater located at the top, an explosion occurs and
hot lava spews into the air as well as hot molten rocks that fly up to 12 kilometres high. The
temperature of the lava can be between 700-1300 degrees Celsius and can be extremely
deadly and they can last for weeks. Volcanic eruptions can also trigger other deadly natural
disasters such as bushfires, tsunamis, floods and even
more earthquakes.










On the 24
th
of August 74 A.D a devastating
volcanic eruption struck a small Italian town
called Pompeii. Pompeii was one of several
towns located at the base of Mt Vesuvius. In
recent studies it is now known that there
Lava Flows, Ash Clouds and pyroclastic flows are three
events that can occur during an eruption.
The lavaflow is magma that comes from the earth core
where it then gets pushed into the magma chamber and
gets released in the form of volcanic eruptions. (After the
eruption the volcano will produce more magma and the
cycle continues).
An ash cloud is produced when rock is melted and
combined with smoke to be formed into gas that spreads
into the air. It can spread up to 25 kilometres.
The pyroclastic flow is another part of volcanic eruptions where masses of rock run
down volcanoes rapidly because of gravity
and can reach the temperature of
100 degrees Celsius.
Pompeii eruption
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were several earthquakes leading up to this enormous eruption. More than 20,000 people
died and were buried in the ash. The lava spread up to 10 kilometres and its believed the
lava temperature reached 700 degrees which killed people almost instantly! It was one of
the most deadly volcanic eruptions ever recorded! Although volcanoes look like regular
mountains, they are extremely deadly and should be heavily avoided!
Avalanches
An avalanche normally occurs on snowy mountains when the slope of the mountain breaks,
and the snow or ice tumbles down. As many people have seen avalanches dont occur
because of clapping; ways of waking them occur can be because of skiing or snowboarding
as well as heavy weight on top of the slope which can crack. 90% of the time they are
caused by people. Avalanches can reach 130 kilometres within 5 seconds which is extremely
deadly. They are most common 24 after a storm as the rain weakens the slope (ice) which
makes it more delicate. Over 150 people are killed in avalanches every year; people are
mainly dead because of suffocation and hypothermia.
Avalanches begin in what is known as the starting
zone. It is the upper part of the avalanche where
the first little parts of the avalanche start to fall.
The track is basically where the avalanche travels;
it is usually downhill and treeless or has a very
small amount that often gets destroyed in the
avalanche. The run out zone located at the
bottom of the avalanche is where all the debris
accumulates at the bottom of the slope.


On the 7
th
of April 2012, in Pakistan an
avalanche occurred right next to a military base.
140 people were killed including 129 military
soldiers and 11 civilians. The Military base was
one the most important in Pakistan as it was a
vital supply base for troops travelling in remote
areas. It is estimated that troops were trapped
under 21 metres of snow. Only 131 bodies have
been found and there are currently 9 still
missing.

Pakistan Avalanche
Parts of an avalanche
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Tsunamis
Tsunamis are natural disasters that mainly occur when an underwater disturbance occurs,
such as underwater volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or landslides. Tsunamis are enormous
waves that destroy many coastland cities and peoples livelihoods. Every year tsunamis kill
on average 7,916 people which is the worst natural disaster death toll! Tsunami waves can
travel as fast as 900 kilometres which is as fast as a plane. The waves can also reach the
height of 40 metres. They are extremely deadly as some tsunamis can come undetected and
can happen extremely fast. Tsunamis can also travel in different directions which makes it
harder to detect where the tsunamis are going.
The main cause of a tsunami is an earthquake but for
it to cause a tsunami the earthquake has to at least
measure 6.0 on the Richter scale. Another cause for a
tsunami is an underwater volcanic eruption, yet it is
only the first step. Next the lava causes a landslide
which causes the tsunami.

On the 26
th
of December 2004 the
worlds worst tsunami hit an
Indian city called Sumatra. The
cause of a tsunami was an
earthquake in the Indian Ocean
which was, at that time was the
biggest earthquake in 40 years.
Waves reached the height of 30
metres. It had killed the most
people in tsunamis history at a
whopping 283,100 people! Many
charities were started because of
this tragic event. This tsunami will never be forgotten.

Natural disasters are extremely deadly and cant be stopped. You should check weather
updates or be aware of any natural disaster activity so that it doesnt affect you. Make sure
you know if there coming as you will suffer severe consequences.

Underwater volcanic eruption
Indian Ocean Tsunami
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Glossary:
Civilians: Person that is not in armed forces or police services.
Debris: Scattered pieces of rubbish or remains.
Hypothermia: Condition when you have a very low body temperature.
Lava: Hot liquid from melted rock that gets accumulated from a volcanic eruption.
Livelihoods: Securing much needed things in lives (e.g houses)
Magnitude: Size or extent.
Richter scale: A scale used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake.
Suffocation: Death by running out of oxygen to breathe.
Troops: Soldiers or armed forces.

This term one of our tasks is to create an explanation explaining three natural disasters. I
chose to research and write about volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and avalanches. I learnt how
to put pictures in my text and put label beneath. I found this fun and interesting to read
about different disasters as I didnt know much about them.