1755 copper engraving depicting in ruins and in flames after the. A overwhelms the ships in the harbor.A natural disaster is a major resulting from of the; examples are, and other geologic processes. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some economic damage in its wake, the severity of which depends on the affected population's (ability to recover) and also on the infrastructure available.An adverse event will not rise to the level of a disaster if it occurs in an area without population.
In a vulnerable area, however, such as, an earthquake can have disastrous consequences and leave lasting damage, which can require years to repair. See also:An is the result of a sudden release of energy in the 's that creates. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by vibration, shaking, and sometimes displacement of the ground. Earthquakes are caused by slippage within geological. The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the seismic focus. The point directly above the focus on the surface is called the epicenter.
Economic and Financial Impacts of Natural Disasters: an Assessment of Their Effects and Options for Mitigation. Reallocation is the primary fiscal response to disaster. Disasters have little impact on trends in total aid flows. Public policy implications A full reassessment of the economic and financial impact of a major disaster should be made 18.
Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger such as building collapse, fires, (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning and planning.Sinkholes. Artist's impression of the volcanic eruptions that formed the in India.can cause widespread destruction and consequent disaster in several ways. The effects include the itself that may cause harm following the explosion of the volcano or falling rocks.
Secondly, may be produced during the eruption of a volcano, and so as it leaves the volcano the lava destroys many buildings, plants and animals due to its extreme heat. Thirdly, generally meaning the cooled ash, may form a cloud, and settle thickly in nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete-like material. In sufficient quantities, ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but even small quantities will harm humans if inhaled. Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass, it causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines. The main killer of humans in the immediate surroundings of a volcanic eruption is the, which consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air above the volcano and rushes down the slopes when the eruption no longer supports the lifting of the gases. It is believed that was destroyed by a pyroclastic flow.
A is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 was caused by a lahar, as was the 1985 in which the town of Armero was buried and an estimated 23,000 people were killed.Volcanoes rated at 8 (the highest level) on the are known as. According to the, 75,000 to 80,000 years ago a supervolcanic eruption at what is now in reduced the human population to 10,000 or even 1,000 breeding pairs, creating a bottleneck in human evolution, and killed three-quarters of all plant life in the northern hemisphere. However, there is considerable debate regarding the veracity of this theory. The main danger from a supervolcano is the immense cloud of ash, which has a disastrous global effect on climate and temperature for many years.Hydrological disasters.
See also:A is an overflow of water that 'submerges' land. The EU defines a flood as a temporary covering the land with water which is usually not covered by water. In the sense of 'flowing water', the word may also be applied to the inflow of the. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a or, which overflows, causing some of the water to escape its usual boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless the water covers land used by man, like a village, city or other inhabited area, roads, expanses of farmland, etc.Tsunami. See also:A tsunami (plural: tsunamis or tsunami; from Japanese: 津波, lit. 'harbour wave'; English pronunciation: /tsuːˈnɑːmi/), also known as a seismic sea wave or as a tidal wave, is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake.
Tsunamis can be caused by undersea earthquakes such as the, or by landslides such as the, or by volcanic eruptions such as the. On March 11, 2011, a and spread through the Pacific Ocean.Limnic eruptions. Main article:A occurs when a gas, usually, suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause in the lake as the rising gas displaces water.
Scientists believe, activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption. To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded. In 1984, in, a limnic eruption in caused the deaths of 37 nearby residents, and at nearby in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800 people by.Meteorological disasters. Main article: Cyclonic storms, and are different names for the same phenomenon, which is a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. The determining factor on which term is used is based on where they originate.
In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term 'hurricane' is used; in the Northwest Pacific it is referred to as a 'typhoon' and 'cyclones' occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.The deadliest hurricane ever was the; the deadliest Atlantic hurricane was the which devastated Martinique, St. Eustatius and Barbados. Another notable hurricane is, which devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005.Blizzards. Main article:Blizzards are severe characterized by heavy snow and strong winds. When high winds stir up snow that has already fallen, it is known as a. Blizzards can impact local economic activities, especially in regions where snowfall is rare. The affected the United States, when many tons of wheat crops were destroyed, and in Asia, and the were also significant events.
The originated in the Gulf of Mexico and traveled north, causing damage in 26 states as well as Canada and leading to more than 300 deaths. Main article:A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap or cold spell) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a 24-hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture, industry, commerce, and social activities. The precise criterion for a cold wave is determined by the rate at which the temperature falls, and the minimum to which it falls.
This minimum temperature is dependent on the geographical region and time of year.Heat waves. See also:A heat wave is a period of unusually and excessively hot weather.
The worst heat wave in recent history was the. A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia, created conditions which fuelled the massive in 2009. Experienced three days in a row of temperatures exceeding 40 °C (104 °F) with some regional areas sweltering through much higher temperatures.
The bushfires, collectively known as 'Black Saturday', were partly the act of arsonists. The resulted in severe heat waves, which killed over 2,000 people.
It resulted in hundreds of wildfires which caused widespread air pollution, and burned thousands of square miles of forest. See also:Drought is the unusual dryness of soil caused by levels of rainfall significantly below average over a prolonged period. Hot dry winds, shortage of water, high temperatures and consequent evaporation of moisture from the ground can also contribute to conditions of drought.
Droughts result in crop failure and shortages of water.Well-known historical include the 1997–2009 in Australia led to a water supply crisis across much of the country. As a result, many desalination plants were built for the first time. In 2011, the State of lived under a drought emergency declaration for the entire calendar year and severe economic losses. The drought caused the fires.Thunderstorms. Main article:Severe storms, dust clouds, and volcanic eruptions can generate. Apart from the damage typically associated with storms, such as winds, hail, and flooding, the lightning itself can damage buildings, ignite fires and kill by direct contact. Especially deadly lightning incidents include a 2007 strike in Ushari Dara, a remote mountain village in northwestern, that killed 30 people, the crash of which killed 91 people, and a fuel explosion in Dronka, caused by lightning in 1994 which killed 469.
Most lightning deaths occur in the poor countries of America and Asia, where lightning is common and housing provides little protection. See also:A is a violent and dangerous rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a, or the base of a in rare cases. It is also referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word is used in meteorology in a wider sense, to refer to any closed circulation. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible, whose narrow end touches the Earth and is often encircled by a cloud of. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating.
The tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (perhaps more than 100 km). Main article:Asteroids that impact the Earth have led to several major extinction events, including one which created the 64.9 million years ago and which is associated with the demise of the dinosaurs. Scientists estimate that the likelihood of death for a living human from a global impact event is comparable to the probability of death from an airliner crash.No human death has been definitively attributed to an impact event, but the in which over 10,000 people may have died has been linked to a. Even asteroids and comets that burn up in the atmosphere can cause significant destruction on the ground due to the explosion: notable air bursts include the in June 1908, which devastated large areas of Siberian countryside, and the on 15 February 2013, which caused widespread property damage in the city of and injured 1,491.Solar flare. Main article:A solar flare is a phenomenon where the Sun suddenly releases a great amount of, much more than normal.
Solar flares are unlikely to cause any direct injury, but can destroy electrical equipment. The potential of solar storms to cause disaster was seen during the 1859, which disrupted the telegraph network, and the which Quebec. Some major known solar flares include the X20 event on August 16, 1989, and a similar flare on April 2, 2001. The most powerful flare ever recorded occurred on November 4, 2003 (estimated at between X40 and X45). Protection by international lawInternational law, for example defines the, requires that 'States shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including and, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including the occurrence of natural disaster.'
And further is formed by Resolution 44/182. People displaced due to natural disasters are currently protected under international law (Guiding Principles of International Displacement, Campala Convention of 2009). LocationAccording to the UN, Asia-Pacific is the world's most disaster prone region. According to ReliefWeb, a person in Asia-Pacific is five times more likely to be hit by a natural disaster than someone living in other regions. Disproportionate impact on women Direct impactDue to the social, political and cultural context of many places throughout the world, women are often disproportionately affected by disaster. In settings where women and children are likely to remain at home, natural disasters, such as earthquakes, can result in greater morbidity and mortality among women.
For example, during the 1993 earthquake in Maharastra, India, more women died than men as they were more likely to be in the home, due to their role as caregivers. In the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, more women died than men, partly due to the fact that fewer women knew how to swim. Gender-based and sexual violenceDuring and after a natural disaster, women are at increased risk of being affected by and are increasingly vulnerable to sexual violence. Disrupted police enforcement, lax regulations, and displacement all contribute to increased risk of gender based violence and sexual assault. As food, water, and shelter becomes scarce, women may be forced into sexual relations as a bargain for providing essential resources. Furthermore, health care during times of disaster often focuses on life saving & critical care. However, as a result, many health care workers are not adequately trained to respond to sexual violence, screen for appropriate complications and treating non-life/limb threatening emergencies.
As a result, women who have been affected by sexual violence are at a significantly increased risk of sexually transmitted infections, unique physical injuries and long term psychological consequences. All of these long-term health outcomes can prevent successful reintegration into society after the disaster recovery period. Reproductive and sexual healthDuring and after natural disasters, routine health behaviors become interrupted. Women who were taking contraceptives may forget or may no longer have access to these medications. In addition, health care systems may have broken down as a result of the disaster, further reducing access to contraceptives. Unprotected intercourse during this time can lead to increased rates of childbirth, unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Methods used to prevent STIs (such as condom use) are often forgotten or not accessible during times surrounding a disaster.
Lack of health care infrastructure and medical shortages hinder the ability to treat individuals once they acquire an STI. In addition, health efforts to prevent, monitor or treat HIV/AIDS are often disrupted, leading to increased rates of HIV complications and increased transmission of the virus through the population. Maternal healthPregnant women are one of the groups disproportionately affected by natural disasters. Inadequate nutrition, little access to clean water, lack of health-care services and psychological stress in the aftermath of the disaster can lead to a significant increase in maternal morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, shortage of healthcare resources during this time can convert even routine obstetric complications into emergencies. During and after a disaster, women's prenatal, peri-natal and postpartum care can become disrupted. After disasters, there is often a significant increase in the number of women who receive late or no prenatal care.
Among women affected by natural disaster, there are significantly higher rates of low birth weight infants, preterm infants and infants with low head circumference. Separation of mothers and babies as a result of poor infrastructure and displacement practices can interfere with breastfeeding and cause significant emotional stress for mom and baby. It can also lead to negative long-term health outcome mother and especially babies. In addition, it can be particularly difficult to find clean water for sterilizing bottles for breast milk or pre-made formula. These factors can further hinder breastfeeding practices and adequate infant nutrition, resulting in long term health consequences for the baby.Political consequences.
Everyone is desperate for food and water. There's no food, water, or gasoline. The government is missing.— Lian Gogali Aid worker following.Natural disasters can also affect political relations with countries and vice versa. Violent conflicts within states can exacerbate the impact of natural disasters by weakening the ability of states, communities and individuals to provide disaster relief.
Natural disasters can also worsen ongoing conflicts within states by weakening the capacity of states to fight rebels. In developed countries like the US, studies find that incumbents lose votes when the electorate perceives them as responsible for a poor disaster response. In Chinese and Japanese history, it has been routine for or capital cities and palaces of emperors to be changed after a major natural disaster, chiefly for political reasons such as association with hardships by the populace and fear of upheaveal.
In East Asian government chronicles, such fears were recorded in a low profile way as an unlucky name or place requiring change.) Disasters and responses can dictate political careers; the once popular President of Philippines, following a weak and confused response to which killed over 6,000 people and survivors were largely left to fend for themselves, this widely accepted sentiment carried over and the President never recovered his popularity, his hand picked successor lost the subsequent election to a rival party in a landslide vote. Post-disaster mishandling can spread despair as bad news travels fast and far, and contribute to the appeal of electing a strongman out of sheer desperation.Recent historyBetween 1995 and 2015, according to the UN's disaster-monitoring system, the greatest number of natural disasters occurred in America, China and India.In 2012, there were 905 natural disasters worldwide, 93% of which were weather-related disasters.
Overall costs were US$170 billion and insured losses $70 billion. 2012 was a moderate year. 45% were meteorological (storms), 36% were hydrological (floods), 12% were climatological (heat waves, cold waves, droughts, wildfires) and 7% were geophysical events (earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). Between 1980 and 2011 geophysical events accounted for 14% of all natural catastrophes.Studies on natural events require complete historical records and strategies related to obtaining and storing reliable records, allowing for both critical interpretation and validation of the sources. Under this point of view the irreplaceable role of traditional repositories (archives) can be supplemented by the use of such web sources as eBay. Hilhorst ( eds.) (2003). Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People.
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Archived from on August 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-27. Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Terminski, Bogumil, Towards Recognition and Protection of Forced Environmental Migrants in the Public International Law: Refugee or IDPs Umbrella (December 1, 2011). Policy Studies Organization (PSO) Summit, December 2011. Asia-Pacific World’s Most Disaster-Prone Region. ^ Nour, Nawal N.
Reviews in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 4 (1): 22–27. ^ Harville, E; Xiong, X; Buekens, P (2010). Obstet Gynecol Surv. 65 (11): 713–28. ^ Preparing for disasters: perspectives on women. Committee Opinion No.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol 2010; 115:1339–42. Philip Nel and Marjolein Righarts, 2008, 'National Disasters and the Risk of Violent Civil Conflict', International Studies Quarterly, 52 (1): 159–185. Dawn Brancati, 2007. 'Political Aftershocks: The Impact of Earthquakes on Intrastate Conflict', Journal of Conflict Resolution 51 (5): 715–743. JT Gasper, A Reeves, 2011, 'Make It Rain?
Retrospection and the Attentive Electorate in the Context of Natural Disasters', American Journal of Political Science 55 (2), 340–355. 29 Aug 2017. May 29, 2013. Gizzi F.T. (2009).The electronic trading site eBay as a useful tool for obtaining historical data on natural events.
Computers & Geosciences, 35(9), 1950–1957, doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2008.12.016External linksWikiquote has quotations related to:. World Bank. Retrieved 2006-11-05. US news site focused on disaster-related news. Archived from on 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2006-11-05.
Includes country profiles, disaster profiles and a disaster list. And website initiative. from.
Appendix AEnvironmental Impacts of Natural DisastersIt is recognized that many significant nonmarket effects result from natural disasters, including environmental impacts. Background PrinciplesThree principles apply to the assessment of the costs and benefits of extreme geophysical events to the nation's ecological systems.
First, although the more tangible, quantifiable damages of extreme events to infrastructure and economies may be difficult to calculate precisely, the costs to and benefits for natural ecosystems—even from such apparently straightforward impacts as numbers of fish killed or trees destroyed—are even less tangible and may be nearly impossible to quantify precisely. Moreover, even if the physical effects can be measured, the monetary values of those impacts cannot be stated with precision.Second, existing ecological systems have already adapted in many respects to the forces created by extreme events, such as floods or droughts. This process is lengthy, extending over thousands of years and involving the evolution of species and complex physical systems.
The effects of geophysical extremes often are not undesirable. For example, major natural disturbances, such as fires or floods, rejuvenate old forests. The critical factors are the frequency, intensity, and extent of natural disturbances.
If disturbances occur too frequently and over large areas, then only pioneering, short-lived, and opportunistic species survive. If disturbances occur too infrequently, then slower-growing, superior competitors for light, water, and nutrients replace the pioneers. Maximum diversity is maintained by an intermediate level of disturbance, so that patches of pioneers and superior competitors alike occur within the landscape. All of this suggests that attempts to eliminate natural disturbances (rather than attempts to mitigate their adverse impacts) can be counterproductive and in some cases, as in the 1927 and 1993 floods on the Mississippi River and the Yellowstone fires in 1988, can make a disaster worse.Third, precisely because many disasters are indeed 'natural,' they often produce mixed outcomes for the environment: benefits to some parts of the natural system and losses to others.
For example, some thinning of tree branches caused by high winds or ice accumulations from winter storms can allow for subsequent stronger tree development, and studies of the 1993 flood in the Midwest revealed major ecological benefits in the immersed floodplains. To the average human observer, floodplain forests appear to change scarcely at all from year to year, and therefore the death of trees during or after a major flood seems. 2The severe damage from the 1927 flood on the lower Mississippi River and in 1993 in the Upper Mississippi basin could have been substantially reduced if levees bordering the river had neither failed nor been overtopped, and if other forms of mitigation had been adopted. Meanwhile, the Yellowstone fires that occurred during the 1988 drought were worsened because of 'let-it-burn' and other forest management practices and because fire prediction models at the time were outmoded and inadequate for such an extreme event (Riebsame et al., 1991). However, the diversity of vegetation on the floodplain is a product of disturbances, such as major fires, droughts, and floods that occur very infrequently in terms of a human life span. Without droughts, floodplains would not get dry enough to burn, and fire-intolerant species would crowd out the wet prairies and trees. Even the most extreme geophysical events are thus not necessarily damaging to ecosystems, and in some circumstances can bring great benefits.
Furthermore, the effects take months and years after the disturbance to assess, suggesting that immediate ecological or environmental accountings are prone to error.Finally, as was outlined in the report, it is useful to assess the impacts of natural disasters by type of disasters. Because of their great spatial extent and longevity, major floods and droughts generally create the greatest environmental impacts, whereas earthquakes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and winter storms cover less territory and their effects on the ecosystem are less pervasive and long-lasting. Below, we briefly review some case studies to illustrate the diverse environmental impacts of different categories of disasters, and the difficulties in precisely quantifying and monetizing these impacts. FloodsMajor floods create myriad effects on river-floodplain ecosystems. During periods of low flow, typically in midsummer, the rivers occupy channels. During rainy seasons, rivers spill into their floodplains, recharging the surrounding wetlands, forests, and lakes with fresh supplies of water, nutrients, and sediments.
During great floods, floodplains do not merely store water, but become part of the flowing river itself, conveying water slowly downstream through the forests and marshes. Plant and animal species have adapted over time to exploit, tolerate, or escape seasonal floodpulses and exceptional great floods. Flood of 1993.
Though the record flood of 1993 in the Upper Midwest was an economic disaster, it was a boon to many plants and animals that lived in and along the Missouri and Upper Mississippi Rivers. Even the few species that appear to have been harmed by the flood, such as some trees, may benefit in the long term. Any harm that did occur may have been more the result of human factors rather than the flood itself, including failure of human-made levees, excessive loading of rivers and the Gulf of Mexico with herbicides and agricultural fertilizers, widespread dispersal of introduced pests, and the excessive drawdown of the Mississippi River after the flood.It is not surprising that the flood of 1993 had both positive and negative effects on the river-floodplain ecosystems. Many mobile organisms have adapted to exploit such seasonal floods. For example, the flood benefited fish that spawned on the inundated floodplain, and wading birds in turn exploited the huge crop of young fish.
In contrast, long-lived, stationary organisms, such as trees, were severely stressed or died as a result of the exceptionally long period of inundation. And yet the outcome for trees was not all bad. Many seedlings cannot germinate or grow in the shade of mature trees, so old forests were rejuvenated when mature trees died because of the 1993 flood.Every component of the river-floodplain ecosystem, from the bottom to the top of the food chain, responded to the exceptional flood of 1993. At the shallow margins of the flood, nutrients were apparently released from newly flooded soils, stimulating phytoplankton. Aquatic insects likewise concentrated in the shallow water, perhaps consuming either the plankton or the remains of flooded terrestrial vegetation.
Submergent aquatic plants grew in areas where the flood did not persist too long so they could reach sunlight. Where the flood rose higher and lasted longer, submersed aquatic plants virtually disappeared. About 52 species of fishes, representing 15 families, spawned on the floodplain during the flood (Maher, 1995).
The abundant juvenile fish became food for larger fish and fish-eating birds, such as herons and egrets. The flood also took a heavy toll on trees, the longest-living organisms in the floodplain.The 1993 flood caused a serious economic and environmental pest, the zebra mussel, to wash from the Upper Illinois River downstream into the lower Illinois and the Mississippi. In the process, zebra mussel larvae were carried far back into the floodplain and upstream into tributaries that were backed up by the mainstream rivers. Another potential pest was introduced when a fish farm on a tributary of the Mississippi flooded and Asian black carp escaped. The carp is able to consume endangered native mussels and clams and competes with the native fish and ducks that already consume zebra mussels.The flood moved tremendous amounts of water to the Gulf of Mexico.
Through erosion and flooding of agricultural soils throughout the Midwest, the floodwaters picked up vast quantities of various chemicals, including some from flooded industries along the rivers. Substantial quantities of these agricultural (and other) chemicals were transported into the streams and rivers, either as. Dissolved matter or in suspension, and into the floodplains. This polluted water infiltrated floodplains and contaminated ground water aquifers.There was an immense discharge of freshwater to the Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 1993. The delivery of this water and its dissolved and suspended materials affected the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico. Discharges of herbicides and nitrates to the Gulf of Mexico were substantially higher in 1993 than in prior years, stimulating plankton blooms. When the plankton died and sank, the decaying organic matter used up oxygen in the bottom layer of water, lowering oxygen levels over an area of 6,000 square miles (the so-called 'dead zone') and threatening valuable fisheries.
The total amount of atrazine delivered to the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River from April to August 1993 was 1.2 million pounds, up about 25 percent from loads delivered during 1992. One million tons of nitrate-nitrogen were discharged to the Gulf of Mexico from April to August 1993, a value 37 percent larger than loads for 1992 (Goolsby et al., 1993).In summary, the flood of 1993 exacerbated two preexisting environmental problems related to human activity. First, it facilitated the spread of a serious economic and environmental pest, the European zebra mussel, that accidentally had previously been introduced to the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes drainage by transoceanic ships (and facilitated other introduced pests, such as the Asian tiger mosquito).
Second, nutrient loading of the Gulf of Mexico was substantially increased by the flood, and the summer 'dead zone' in the Gulf consequently expanded, with potential detrimental impacts on the largest fishery in the United States. At the same time, the 1993 flood also vividly demonstrates the complexity and uncertainty over the range of positive and negative impacts upon floodplain ecosystems, as well as the overwhelming task of trying to distill precise figures for the full costs and benefits of an extreme geophysical event.
DroughtsUnlike floods, droughts generally damage ecological systems and yield few offsetting benefits. In fact, the most subtle and enduring impacts of droughts occur in the environment.
The cumulative stress on wetlands, wildlife, forests, ground water, and soils cannot be measured accurately, and many effects occur slowly and over a period of years, making them extremely difficult to quantify.The problems generated by droughts begin with changes in the quantity and quality of water available in the hydrologic system. Drought damages both plant and animal species by depriving them of food and water, increasing their susceptibility to disease, and increasing their vulnerability to predation. As with floods, droughts produce a loss of biodiversity, and often increase erosion of dried soils when rain eventually comes. Droughts also degrade water quality, shifting salt concentration, pH levels and dissolved oxygen, while increasing. Water temperatures.
Even air quality is diminished because of increased dust and pollutants. Droughts also lead to more wildfires, while adversely changing salinity levels in coastal estuaries and reducing the flushing of pollutants.Drought of 1988. The best documentation of environmental damages from a drought came from studies of the 1988 drought, which affected large portions of the United States. This event caused enormous reductions in streamflows in two major drought-affected regions.
Plans to divert additional water from the Great Lakes to enhance the record low flows of the Upper Mississippi River system were halted by environmental concerns over the potential impacts of lowered water levels on the lakes (Changnon, 1989). Many streams were unable to handle industrial discharges and agricultural pollution, greatly limiting water quality and the use of water. Water supplies dropped to seriously low levels in the southeast United States, where many uses of river waters, including hydropower generation and navigation on major rivers, had to be curtailed. Saltwater intrusion up the Mississippi River beyond New Orleans was so severe that underwater sills were built to halt the intrusion.The 1988 drought led to 68,000 wildfires that burned 5.1 million acres of federal forest land. Fire-fighting costs alone amounted to $300 million. The best-known fires were those in Yellowstone National Park, which captured national attention. The dry conditions in areas adjacent to the fires greatly reduced the number of tree seedlings, with mortality of 40 percent of the trees planted in the 10 years prior to 1988, including 150 million pine seedlings.
The drought led to increased insect attacks on commercial forests, and 5.7 billion board feet of lumber were lost because of pine bark beetles. The total loss to U.S. Forests was estimated at $5 billion (Riebsame et al., 1991).The 1988 drought also caused sizable but unmeasured losses of fish, waterfowl, and wildlife. High water temperatures in bays along the East Coast caused an increase in oyster diseases, resulting in an 1988 harvest of 375 million bushels, the lowest on record for Chesapeake Bay (Avery, 1988; Changnon et al., 1996).Finally, the high temperatures associated with the 1988 drought had profound effects on human health.
Several thousands of deaths were attributed directly or indirectly related to the high temperatures. Many of these deaths occurred in the large urban areas of the central and eastern United States. Municipal governments responded by establishing cooling centers. Not surprisingly, a comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of the 1988 drought concluded that there were 'no winners' in the ecosystems (Riebsame et al., 1991).
Hurricanes and Tropical StormsHurricanes and tropical storms create environmental damages within paths that vary from 50 to 150 miles in width. The environmental consequences largely consist of damages to trees and underbrush in the storm path. At the same time, the long-term ecosystem damages of these storms are uncertain. To be sure, during coastal storms in particular there is often significant erosion of shores and beaches.
In the long run, however, nature generally has adapted to these events, so the extent of negative impacts of these events is not clear. Severe Local StormsSevere local thunderstorms—such as a major tornado striking Wichita or a thunderstorm producing large hailstorms in Dallas—are often labeled as natural disasters due to the attendant looses of life and economic losses, but in general these events are localized. They are not events that create serious, large-scale damages to the natural ecosystem. Nonetheless, it is possible that the cumulative environmental impacts of severe storms over a period as short as a year can be significant. Broad areas can suffer from numerous forest fires triggered by cloud-to-ground lightning. High winds and hail cause localized damages to plants and forests, although the total losses are considered to be relatively minor on a regional or national scale.Heavy rains that lead to flash floods also can be environmentally damaging, at least locally.
They increase soil erosion rates, and if they occur in mountainous areas the resulting flood can create massive damages to ecosystems in narrow mountain valleys. EarthquakesAlthough the dominant losses from earthquakes are to structures and potentially to humans, these events can also result in adverse environmental consequences. Examples include flora and fauna damaged by the shocks and shifts in land surfaces, as well as alterations in local hydrologic systems.
For example, the famed New Madrid earthquake in the central United States in the 19th century changed the course of the Mississippi River and created a cutoff lake. In the most affected areas, trees, shrubs, land cover, and habitats can also be destroyed. There are currently no estimates of the environmental or ecosystem losses from earthquakes (although the national, long-term impact is probably not great). High WindsStrong and persistent synoptic scale (nonstorm) high winds can sweep over large areas and cause damage to trees and plants. High winds can also help promote large-scale fires, typically in dry western areas. Recent wind-driven fire catastrophes in California accounted for insured property losses of $1.5 billion in October 1992, rated as the third largest fire loss in the nation's history (III, 1993).
Major brushfires enhanced by strong winds occurred in California in October 1993 and again in November 1993, together causing $815 million in insured property losses (III, 1995). These huge, wind-driven fires consumed all underbrush, ground cover, and trees over hundreds of square miles, but there is no known report documenting the value of these losses to the natural or landscape environments.High winds and waves caused by severe extratropical cyclones damage beaches and shoreline ecosystems.
This is a problem mainly along the East Coast when strong 'Nor'easters' strike along shores ranging from 500 to 1,000 miles in length and in the Great Lakes, where winter storms create waves that severely erode beaches. However, these shoreline effects also can be viewed as an inherent part of nature to which coastal ecosystems have adapted. SummaryAlthough natural disasters are by definition undesirable for humans, they often carry several ecological benefits. Floods are a prime example of the mixed economic and environmental effects. At the other extreme, droughts not only produce economic damage, but virtually all of their environmental impacts are also undesirable.There are only limited quantitative data of the environmental costs of natural disasters.
Relatively little effort by the private sector, academics and scientists, or the government has gone into this activity. Nonetheless, such studies as have been conducted reveal that numerous environmental problems caused by natural disasters often have significant consequences for ecosystems, and eventually people, societies, and economies. Thus, even though these environmental impacts may not readily translate into monetized losses (or gains) their importance strongly suggests they should be considered by governments, academia, and the private sector in the study and design of hazard mitigation and land use policies. ReferencesAvery, M. Heat Death Toll in 1988. Washington, D.C.: Center for Environmental Physiology.Barry, J.M.
New York: Simon and Schuster.Bhowmik, N. Physical effects: A changed landscape. 101–131 in The Great Flood of 1993. Changnon, ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Changnon, S.A.
Lessons from the flood. 300–319 in The Great Flood of 1993. Changnon, ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Changnon, S.A. The 1988 drought, barges and diversion.
Bulletin American Meteorological Society 70:1092–1104.Changnon, S.A. How a severe winter impacts individuals. Bulletin American Meteorological Society 60:110–114.Changnon, S.A. Changnon, 1978. Winter storms and the record-breaking winter in Illinois. Weatherwise 31:218–225.Changnon, S.A. Measuring drought impacts: The Illinois case.
Water Resource Bulletin 25:27–42.Changnon, S. Kunkel, and B. Impacts and responses to the 1995 heat wave: a call to action.
Bulletin American Meteorological Society 77:1497–1506.Goolsby, D. Battaglin, and E.
Occurrence and Transport of Agricultural Chemicals in the Mississippi River Basin, July Through August 1993. Circular 1120–C, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Colo.Insurance Information Institute (III). The Fact Book 1995: Property/Casualty Insurance Facts. New York: III.Insurance Information Institute (III). The Fact Book 1993: Property/Casualty Insurance Facts. New York: III.Maher, R.J.
Observations of fish community structure and reproductive success in flooded terrestrial habitats during an extreme flood event. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. TRMP Technical Report 95-T, National Biological Survey, Onalaska, Wisc.Pielke, R.A., Jr. Hurricane Andrew in South Florida: Mesoscale Weather and Societal Responses.
Boulder, Colo.: National Center for Atmospherics Research.Pilkey, O.H. The Corps and the Shore. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.Riebsame, W.E., S.A. Changnon, and T.R. Drought and Natural Resources Management in the United States: Impacts and Implications of the 1987–89 Drought.
Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Sparks, R.E. Ecosystem effects: positive and negative outcomes.
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