1 Natural Disasters and their Energy Sources

Patrick L. Abbott NATURAL DISASTERS McGraw Hill Higher Education

Human Fatalities in Natural Disasters In 2001 ca. 35 000 people lost their lives to natural disasters Official statistics usually understate the number of deaths Densely populated regions more victims! Asia 86 % of the fatalities! The worse disasters occurred in belt running from China to Bangladesh and Iran to Turkey. Increase in suicides!

Fig. 1.4

Deaths due to natural disasters, 1980-2001

Table 1.2

the biggest killers: hurricanes and earthquakes floods and severe weather killed more people than volcanoes and landslides

Table 1.3

Only 3 disasters were not caused by natural events (Chernobyl, dam failure in India and boat collision in Philippines)

 Economic Losses from Natural Disasters Destruction of peoples properties, buildings, bridges, road, power plants etc. Influence the global economy Losses in productivity, lost wages Insured Portion of Economic Losses: the most expensive disasters are storms Different locations of the worst dollar-loss disasters (USA, Europe, Japan) and the most fatal events! Wealthy countries are better insured!

 Natural Hazards: potential danger of natural disaster (river banks, coasts, slopes of volcanoes) risk evaluation! design of prevention to reduce the threat of future deaths migration important factor why people return to a devastated site and rebuild it? Example: Popocatepetl Volcano (5 452 m) located between Mexico City and Puebla in Mexico: very active volcano (822, 1519)

Fig. 1.6

100 000 people live at the base of the volcano, millions of people live in the danger zone (40 km). Reasons: rich volcanic soils, lots of sunshine and rains

 Magnitude, Frequency, and Return Period 9 Earth is not a stable body 9 events not spaced evenly 9 inverse relation between frequency and magnitude of a process 9 return period recurrence interval: the number of years between same-sized events 9 statistical analysis of natural disaster fatalities

Energy sources of disasters

the Earth is an active planet fueled by varied energy sources disaster occur when the Earths natural processes concentrate energy and then release it natural disasters occur where humans get in the way of Earths energy driven processes as population grows more people live in dangerous places

 Primary Energy Sources of Disasters The impact of extraterrestrial bodies (Asteroids and Comets) Origin of the Sun and planets Impact Origin of the Moon made from the Earths rocky mantle

Gravity (Newton, 1642-1727) attraction between objects cannot be modified by humans proportional to the masses and inverse to the square of the distance between bodies important factors: friction, heat tidal energy caused by gravitational attraction between the Sun and the Moon erosion, glaciers, rain, snow

Internal Sources of Energy (flows toward the surface) Release of energy in volcanic eruptions and earthquakes short time (conduction and convection) The formation of continents, oceans and atmosphere long time (drift and collision) The Earth differentiation and the core formation Impact Energy and Gravitational Energy produce heat Radioactive Elements

Higher heat production in early Earth

External Sources of Energy:

The Sun as a source of energy: radio to gamma radiation, important for the Earth visible range (43% of the radiation), IR (49%) and UV (7%). Ca. 30 % of the Sun energy is directly reflected back to the space albedo 47 % of energy is absorbed as heat by the air, sea and land of the Sun energy is responsible for the evaporation of water into the atmosphere Water as a exceptional substance which stores energy: high heat capacity, high heat conduction, expands when it freezes!

The flow of energy on Earth from the Sun, tides, Earths interior

Forces of Construction Versus Destruction

the rock cycle - driven by the internal and external energy: melting, crystallization erosion, weathering construction destruction

W. W. Norton
Mass-transfer cycle