Natural Disasters

Prof. Stephen A. Nelson

Homework I. Natural Disaster Information on the Internet

1. Using the Web Browser of your choice go to the Google Search Engine: http://www.google.com). Once in Google, do a search for asteroid and comet impact hazards, by typing in the the following words:

asteroid  comet  hazards

Make sure to include the spaces.

Google should return a list of sites that contain these words. One of the sites should be the NASA Ames Research Center Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards Page.

On this page notice that there are links to various pages that give further information. For example: a catalog of all known Near Earth Objects (NEOs), reports concerning the possibility of impacts (Government Studies), and a multimedia gallery.  The Spaceguard Survey Report (Under Government Studies/NASA Studies) is particularly useful. Note that you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer in order to read the Spaceguard Survey.  See the EENS 204 homepage for information on obtaining the Acrobat Reader.  Browse through this site and answer the following questions:

1. What are the chances of the Earth colliding with an asteroid or comet with a diameter greater than 1 km? (1 point)
   
   
2. Why would collision with such an object produce more than just a local effect? (1 point)
   
   
3. Have there been any historic examples of a collision with an NEO? If so, when and where? (Note that historic in this context refers to human recorded history) (2 points)
   
   
4. Is there any evidence that a large NEO collided with the Earth at any time in its history? If so, when and where was this impact event, and what were the consequences for the inhabitants of the planet at the time? (hint: look in the multimedia gallery). (2 points)

2. Some Web sites offer News sources and archives that can be searched. Two of these are Yahoo News - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/  and http://www.cnn.com/   On the Yahoo site, near the top of the page and next to the box that says Search, type the word "earthquake" in the search box.  Yahoo News will then come up with results, among them will be news on earthquakes from the archive of the last  30 days.  For the CNN site, click on the GO button in the upper left corner, next to search.  Again, enter the word "earthquake" in the search box.  Answer the following questions.

1. Have any earthquakes that occurred in the last month that (as reported on in the Yahoo News and the CNN site) caused loss of life or property? If so, give the location, date(s),  number of casualties, and estimated damage, if available, for each of these earthquakes. (Note that there are usually more than one article that reports on any given event, make sure you look at the most recently updated information for the event). (2 points)
   
   
2. Next, search on the word "asteroid".  Have any asteroids come close to the Earth in the last 2 years?  If so, how big was the asteroid and how close did it come?  What damages could have occurred if such an asteroid had actually hit the Earth? (Note that the CNN site is probably best for answering this question). (2 points)
   

3. Some other sources of current up to the minute news are as follows:

ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com

CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com

CNN News: http://cnn.com/

USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/

MSNBC: http://msnbc.com/

Google News: http://news.google.com/

Disaster Relief: http://www.DisasterRelief.org/ - see World at a Glance or Earthwatch

Earth Week: http://www.earthweek.com/

These sources will be helpful when you need to follow a natural disaster that occurs during the course. For now, log on to each one of these sites and see if there is any news on any natural disasters that have occurred since the beginning of this course. If you find any, be sure to keep track of them in your disaster log. Note that some of these services allow you to personalize the information you can get when you log on to the site (this only works if you always use the same computer to log on, as the personalized information is stored on your computer).  For example, I have personalized the Google news site by using the "News Alert" feature to send me information on any natural disasters that occur, using key words such as "natural disasters", "landslide", "earthquake", "flood", etc.  Thus, a service such as this is useful for keeping track of information for your disaster log. 

For this question, provide the same information you provided in question 2 for each disaster that has occurred since the beginning of the course (January 17, 2004). (3 points)

 

4. An internet site that provides extensive information about disasters, both past and present is the Disaster Relief Site  - http://www.disasterrelief.org/ . Visit this site and answer the following questions.  (Hint:  Click on the "All Stories" button and then page down to bottom where it says "Customized Story List".  Here, you can search for stories on a particular topic and even limit the search to a range of dates).  

    

   1. 1999 was a particularly deadly year from the perspective of earthquakes.  What is the average number of deaths  per year from earthquakes, and how many deaths occurred during 1999? (Hint: Try searching for the words earthquakes 1999 and check the box to search for all words). (2 points)
      
      
   2. What were the three most deadly earthquakes in 1999? Give the location, size, and number of deaths for each.(3 points)
      
      
   3. The year 2003 was also a very deadly year for earthquakes.  By looking for earthquake related stories on this site for the year 2003, determine how many deaths occurred from earthquakes worldwide in the year 2003. (2 points)  
      
      
5. Use the search engine of your choice (I recommend http://www.google.com) to locate pages on the NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) website concerning the following topics.  Answer the questions that each topic.
   
   1. Look in the News Stories Archive, and find a news story about last century's (1900 - 1999) top weather, water, and climate events.  Give a list of what NOAA considers the ten worst events in both the U.S. and the World.(4 points)
      
      
   2. Find a report about Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters from 1980 to 2003, and answer the following questions:
      
      
      1. What state has the highest number of weather related disasters that cost over $1 Billion during this time period?  What reasons can you suggest that might explain why this state is subject to so many damaging events? (2 points)
         
         
      2. What region has the highest number of weather related disasters that cost over $1 Billion during this time period. What reasons can you suggest that might explain why this region is subject to so many damaging events? (2 points)
         
         
      3. What state(s) appear(s) to be the safest when it comes to costly weather related disasters? (1 point)
         
         
      4. What is the single most costly weather event to have hit the United States during this time period? (1 point)