Natural Disaters

By: Julin Gomez Jess Adame Jorge Tirado Daniel Rendn Aelyn Chong Andrea Lavenant

Definition
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g. flood, tornado, volcano eruption, earthquake, or landslide) that affects the environment, and leads to financial, environmental and/or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, and their resilience.

Earthquakes
An Earthquake is a sudden shake of the Earth's crust.The vibrations may vary in magnitude. The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the "focus". The point directly above the focus on the surface is called the"epicentre". Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes, that are actually the human disaster. As many of these could be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning and evacuation planning, the term unnatural disaster is not unwarranted. Earthquakes are caused by the discharge of accumulated along geologic faults.

Hailstorms
Hailstorms (AKA hailstones) are rain drops that have formed together into ice. A particularly damaging hailstorm hit Munich, Germany on August 31, 1986, felling thousands of trees and causing millions of dollars in insurance claims.

Tsunami
A tsunami is a massive wave of water which rolls into the shore area with a height of 15m +. Tsunami's are caused by displacement of large masses of water such as an underwater earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, or meteorite impact; most common being the earthquake. Tsunami's are caused when the sea floor deforms and vertically displaces the water on top. A tsunami is not a normal wave but much bigger. It looks more like an endlessly onrushing tide that forces it way around the obstacle. They are much more dangerous than big waves because they contain immense energy and propagate at high speeds.

AVALANCHES
An avalanche is a rapid flow of SNOW down a slope, from either natural triggers or human activity. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the descending snow. Powerful avalanches have the capability to entrain ice, rocks, trees, and other material on the slope

Tornadoes

A tornado is a destructive whirling wind accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud extending down from a cumulonimbus cloud. Tornadoes can spin at speeds up to 500 miles per hour and annihilate anything in its path in a matter of seconds.