• Question: Do we Natural Dissters? If so why?

    Asked by StarSnow to Mark, Keegan, Clay, Ana, Alex on 28 Apr 2016.
    • Photo: Alexander Taylor

      Alexander Taylor answered on 28 Apr 2016:


      Natural disasters can happen for many reasons. Earthquakes happen due to the movement of the tectonic plates, huge continent size slabs earth that are constantly bumping and grinding on each other in slow motion. Tornadoes and hurricanes happen when air of different temperatures and densities interact with one another and create high energy swirls of air and water.

      Natural disasters are devastating for the humans affected by them, but they are part of the same processes that make Earth livable and beautiful.

    • Photo: Clay Robinson

      Clay Robinson answered on 28 Apr 2016:


      Natural disasters are a part of living on this planet: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudflows (landslides), wildfires, and the like.
      Each of these has a natural cause because of forces that are at work in the earth (earthquakes and volcanoes), and in the atmosphere (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes), and on the land (mudflows and wildfires).
      Sometimes what humans do can make natural disasters worse, especially with floods, mudflows and wildfires.
      When we build in floodplains and on coastlands, the damage due to floods will be much worse because more people live in those areas. Building in these places also tends to cause more erosion.
      Mudflows are more common and cause more damage when people remove trees and other vegetation to build houses on the sides of steep hills or mountains. The vegetation changed the way the water moved through the soil and limited the frequency and severity of mudflows.
      We do not like fires because fires burn the structures we build: homes, businesses, schools, and other things. So we put out fires, even when they happen in forests and in rangeland. But when we put out fires, we stop a natural process. Fire is nature’s way of getting rid of dead plant materials on the land surface, and also of killing plants that are not native, or that move into an area and take over. When we put out fires, those other plants choke out the desirable trees and grasses, and the amount of dead plant materials on the land surface accumulates. Then when a fire happens, it is much larger, much hotter, and much more destructive than if we had allowed small fire to burn every few years.

    • Photo: Mark Ritchie

      Mark Ritchie answered on 29 Apr 2016:


      Natural disasters are where changes in weather or the earth’s crust meet where people live. They can cause massive damage and kill people, particularly where people and governments are not prepared to deal with them. However, in the big scheme of things, they represent an earth that’s constantly changing and renewing itself, which is critical for the long-term survival of people on earth.

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