Week 12: Popocatepetl, Mexico Volcano, Spews Ash

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/popocatepetl-mexico-volcano_n_1506461.html?ref=natural-disasters

Mexican volcano Popocatepetl spews an ash cloud that suspended flights at the Peubla International Airport southeast of Mexico City on Tuesday and Thursday last week.   The government of the state of Peubla ordered the closing of the airport and said they would review the situation around midday.  Mount Popocatepetl has been on red alert for around a month.  The 5,450 meter volcano lies 80 km from Mexico City.  I think that it's good the government is being so cautious about this volcano.  I'm glad the people in Mexico City are on high alert for the eruption, and hopefully lives can be saved because of their governments planning.  

Week 11: Japan tsunami debris moves towards the U.S and Canada

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/01/tsunami-japan-debris-us-canada

Wreckage from Japans tsunami last year is going to start reaching the shores of North America a lot sooner that originally expected.  This debris is reaching shore a lot sooner than expected.  The lighter things like oil drums and buoys reached the shores in November and December while the rest is expected to arrive by may.  The problem is 95% of the debris will never reach the shore, but get swept up in what is called the North Pacific garbage patch.  I think ships should get sent out to the garbage patch to clean up.  I don't even want to think about how much garbage is floating around in our oceans, but I think we need to do all we can to clean it up.

Cool things found! (not part of blog) : Container with Harley Davidson motorcycle and golf clubs, 160ft fishing boat, and a football found in Alaska which was traced back to its owner.

Week 10: Housing solution for the next natural disaster? House in a box maybe?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/housing-solution-for-the-next-natural-disaster-house-in-a-box-maybe/2012/04/19/gIQATW9mTT_story.html

In New Orleans, the area hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina, has come up with a housing solutions for houses blown away by hurricanes, or hit by tornados. This box house has solar panels on its roof so it can be powered without the regular electric grid. It can be shipped in pieces, and is environmentally friendly. These houses are meant to be shipped in after a disaster then left as permanent housing that can withstand future disasters. I think these houses are a great idea. I think the government should make a project out of them to try and make them readily available for poorer nations that are under the pressures of natural disasters.

Week 9: Mexico hit by two strong earthquakes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/12/mexico-two-strong-earthquakes

Two earthquakes hit Mexico late Wednesday and early Thursday. The first, a 6.5 hit the western state of Michoacan and the second, a 6.9 hit just off of Baja Calafornia. So far there has been no reports of damage or casualties from either quake and no tsunami warning was issued. These were the fourth quakes in Mexico in the past month and they hit on the same day a 8.9 earthquake hit in Indonesia. I think it was extremely lucky no one was hurt. I also think that Mexico should start to prepare itself for a possible tsunami because the last earthquake was dangerously close to the water.

Week 8: Pakistan avalanche: rescuers recover soldiers' bodies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/07/pakistan-avalanche-rescuers-search-soldiers

An avalanche in Pakistan buried up 150 Pakistani soldiers in eighty feet of snow. At least thirty soldiers died in the avalanche. The Siachen region is claimed by both Pakistan and India and have thousands of soldiers stationed on the mountain. Usually avalanches don't reach the army base. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the freezing area in the past sixty years. I think that the two countries need to cease fire and make sure their soldiers are at least safe from more avalanches. I think there's no need for the soldiers to die in an avalanche.

Week 7: Japanese experts warn of earthquakes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/01/japan-earthquake-tsunami-wave-risk

If another earthquake greater than 9.0 was to happen in Nankai off the Japanese island of Honshu most of the Japanese Pacific Coast would be hit by a tsunami 34 meters tall. In 2003, the maximum height for a tsunami was 20 meters. The nuclear plant damaged last March was built to withstand a 6 meter wave. The Hamoaka nuclear plant is building an 18 meter wall around the plant. This plant was closed last year because there's a 90% chance in the next thirty years an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 would trigger a 21 meter tsunami hitting the plant. I'm glad the Japanese government is doing something to protect their nuclear plants but I'm worried it still isn't enough.

Week 6: Japan mourns tsunami dead; grapples with it's aftermath

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/11/199908.html

Sunday March 11th, moments of silence, prayers, and anti-nuclear rallies marked the one year anniversary of the tsunami in Japan. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami killing 16,000, leaving 3,300 missing, 326,000 homeless, and 80,000 evacuees from around the nuclear plant. There is a 20km no-go zone around the nuclear plant but residents of the old town Okuma were allowed back for a few hours to honor the dead. The disaster has triggered discussions about Japan's government and nuclear plants inability to deal with the disaster. I think nuclear plants and governments should have better ways to protect and secure such dangerous health concerns so nothing like Japan ever happens again.

Week 5: Tornado alerts follow flooding in southern states

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10788247-tornado-alerts-follow-flooding-in-southern-states

Meteorologists are predicting tornados in Mississippi and Louisiana after storms left a foot of water in Louisiana. Flash floods occurred in Eastern Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana among other southern states. Meteorologist Chris Dolce says " a significant flood threat is unfolding across the south-central states". Motorists are told not to drive on flooded streets for 2/3 of flood related deaths occur in vehicles. Bridges, roadways, and campgrounds have been closed across the central southern states. In Oklahoma, thunder was registering on the seismic scale. The northern states and Canada have recorded higher temperatures. I think that this warm weather is going to cause a lot more natural disasters this year, as already shown in the central-southern states.

Week 4: Family of 5 killed by tornado

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120305/NEWS02/303050045/New-Pekin-Family-5-killed-by-tornado-buried-private-ceremony?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7Cp

The family of five was buried Monday after the tornado on Friday ripped through their mobile home in New Pekin Indiana. The family, two parents ages twenty-one and twenty and their three children ages two, fifteen months, and two months were among the thirty-four dead in Kentucky and Indiana. The families fifteen month old daughter was the only survivor of the tornado but she too passed on Sunday when she was taken off life support after severe brain injuries. I think especially in places where tornado's are common anyone who does not have an adequate place to find protection should have access to one. All trailer parks should have a place for people to go during a tornado to avoid anymore tragedies.

Week 3: City Rising From New Zealand's Deadly Earthquake

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-21/city-rising-from-new-zealand-s-deadly-earthquake-spells-end-for-low-rates.html

A year after New Zealand's worst earthquake in eighty years the city of Christchurch is just starting to rebuild it's high rise buildings. There was over 5700 aftershocks from the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hampered cleanup and reconstruction. The rebuilding of the cities is going to cause higher interest rates in New Zealand. In the earthquake the 130 year old stone cathedral was destroyed along with 200 other heritage buildings that were either destroyed or damaged. Despite the large project of rebuilding the city, the government is trying to complete the NZ3 billon dollar project by 2014.

Week 2: Avalanches Kill Three in Washington State Ski Resort

Three people were killed of the eight that were reported missing after an avalanche near a popular ski resort in Washington State. Across the West there has been about thirteen avalanche related deaths this year. Experts say that this year has been especially bad for avalanches because of a weak base layer of snow. Avalanche deaths are more common in the backcountry than ski resorts. I think that avalanches are extremely dangerous and that if a warning for an avalanche is in effect, skiers should not go out. Many deaths could have been prevented if people weren't out on the slopes durning the warnings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/19/avalanche-washington-state-kills-three

Week 1: World Bank Frets Over Urban Flooding in Asia

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/world-bank-frets-over-urban-flood.html?ref=hp

Flooding is the most common Natural Disaster. New statistics show that developing countries of Asia are particularly vulnerable to flooding. In the last thirty years, the seven most destructive floods have occurred in Asia. The main reason these floods in Asia are so destructive are because lately people have been moving from rural areas to big cities located on the coast or by rivers which are prone to flooding. It's extremely difficult to prevent floods because they happen because of many different causes. Using these reports the World Bank will decide how much to support the developmental programs designed to prevent, predict, and clean up after these floods. I think that the most important issue should be to stop the migration of people to these danger areas and try to relocate people to low danger areas.