Restless Planet: Facts about some natural disasters

This report presents the discussion of some of the deadliest natural disasters that have occurred in the last ten years. Natural disasters have been occurring ever since the earth’s beginning. In fact, earth itself was created as a result of a natural catastrophic event.

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Restless Planet: Facts about some natural disasters
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary:..........................................................................................................................3
Haiti Earthquake:................................................................................................................................4
Introduction:.....................................................................................................................................4
Facts of the disaster:......................................................................................................................4
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................5
East Africa's drought:.........................................................................................................................5
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Facts of the disaster.......................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Hurricane Harvey in the USA............................................................................................................6
Introduction......................................................................................................................................6
Facts of the disaster.......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
References:.........................................................................................................................................9

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Executive Summary
This report presents the discussion of some of the deadliest natural disasters that
have occurred in the last ten years. Natural disasters have been occurring ever since
the earth’s beginning. In fact, earth itself was created as a result of a natural
catastrophic event. In past few years number of major natural disasters have
occurred across the world and caused loss of not only the lives of the different living
creatures on earth but also to the economic development of the country in which
such disasters occurred.

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Haiti Earthquake
Introduction
Haiti Earthquake was one of the worst natural disasters that occurred in 2010. The
first shock of earthquake was reported to be of magnitude 7.0 Richter and soon after
the first shock two other shocks of magnitude of 5.9 and 5.5 Richter (Pallardy, 2018)
were experienced. The earthquake had initially hit the country on 12th January, 2010
at 4.53 p.m. on West Indian island of Hispaniola which is comprised of Haiti and
Dominican Republic countries and had also affected the area up to 25 km in
southwest of Haitian capital (Pallardy, 2018).
Facts of the disaster
The earthquake was felt across the countries like Haiti and Dominican Republic
along with the different parts such as Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. The heavily
populated area around Port-au-Prince that is situated at Gulf of Gonave was one of
the regions which were majorly affected. The movement of Caribbean tectonic plate
in the east directions coupled with strike-slip fault system of Enriquillo-Plantain
Garden (EPG) were regarded as the major reason for the Earthquake. However,
after thorough assessment, the rupturing of main component of the system was
identified as the prime cause of the earthquake. Due to the occurrence of Haiti
earthquake around 300000 people were severely injured. Apart from the injured
people around 250000 people lost their lives due to the occurrence of Haiti
earthquake (World Vision, 2010). Besides human life loses, the country also had to
face various economic loses as various infrastructural bodies were damaged heavily.
Around 4,000 schools were destroyed as a result of earthquake. To overcome the
repercussions of earthquake huge amount of funds (around $ 16 billion) were

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provided as the financial aid by the international agencies as well as private donors
(World Vision, 2010). In order to prevent the country face heavy implications of such
earthquake Haiti must have had adequate building codes to reduce the impact of
earthquake. The earthquake-proof buildings must have been created to minimise the
damage that an earthquake causes.
Conclusion
To avoid the occurrence of such disasters, the citizens of the country must be given
adequate knowledge as to how to counteract to such situations and also there must
be restrictions on construction of multi-storey buildings in the areas that are more
vulnerable to earthquakes.
East Africa's drought
Introduction
East Africa was deeply affected by the serious drought problem that occurred during
the period from July, 2011 to June, 2012 when the long rains occurred quite late and
even at an inadequate level due to which serious problem of drought was plunged in
country. It had led Africa to face worst food and water crisis in last 20 years. Due to
the water crisis, the crops could not be planted and harvested on time (Earth
Observatory Nasa, 2011).
Facts of the disaster
The major countries that were severely affected because of the drought problem
were Somalia (especially Southern Somalia), Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia (BBC
News, 2011). The harvest in Somalia which was one the majorly affected area
because of drought had harvested 50% below average (Earth Observatory Nasa,

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2011). The extended period of non-occurrence of rains in the East African countries
was the major reason of the drought. Due to the drought lives of over 10 million
people were threatened to a great extent as the problem of lack of water resources
was raised severely in the drought affected areas. Also, thousands of people had
lost their lives. As per the estimates of US governmental officials over 29000 children
of under the age of 5 years were died during the period of drought (Tisdall, 2012).
The citizens of Somalia were migrated to Kenya and Ethiopia which made the latter
cities extremely crowded that had ultimately led to unsanitary conditions as well as
malnutrition problems. The deaths of a considerable number of people could have
been avoided if the international community, donor government as well as
humanitarian agencies could have responded earlier and in the swifter manner
towards the clear warning signals of the disaster.
Conclusion
As water is most important natural resource and is the basic necessity of lives of all
the living beings it must be preserved and used with utmost care. During the periods
of excessive rains, the water must have had stored adequately so that it could be
used in the periods of no or low rainfalls.
Hurricane Harvey in the USA
Introduction
Harvey initiated on 17th August as a slow-motioned tropical storm in Gulf of Mexico
which had hit Texas on 25th August, 2017. It was reported as the greatest hurricane
to hit the country in the last 50 years (The Telegraph, 2017). It was recognised as
the category 4 hurricane. Harvey had threatened lives of millions of residents of

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Texas with approximately 130 mph winds, heavy rainfall as well as massive storm
that affected primarily the coastal areas of the country. Harvey is ranked as 2nd most
costly hurricane that hit U.S. since 1900 (World Vision, 2017).
Facts of the disaster
The hurricane made the landfall in Texas on 25th August, 2017 and continued till 3rd
September, 2017 (World Vision, 2017). Houston metropolitan area and Southeast
Texas were the majorly affected areas because of the Harvey storm. It continued to
dump heavy amount of rain on the eastern part of Texas, Louisiana as well as
Southern Arkansas (World Vision, 2017). Climate change made the Harvey
Hurricane more powerful and also it increased its deadly flooding. The global
warming was reported as one of the major factor that contributed to occurrence of
hurricane. At least 88 Texans have lost their lives by far as per the data released by
Department of State Health Services. Out of these numbers, 62 deaths were
reported on account of wind, rain and floods which resulted in drowning and falling of
trees on people. On the other side, 26 people are dead due to the disruption caused
(Texas Turbine, 2018). Harvey has caused around $ 125 billion of damage in total
(World Vision, 2017). The effect of global warming could be reduced by way of
minimising the pollution in the environment so as to prevent occurrence of such
hurricanes. The funds could be arranged in federal funds to provide for channelling
of waterways and for the elevation of homes that were affected severely because of
hurricane. Further, a reservoir could be built in Houston areas and some bayous
could be widened along with creation of building detention basin.

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Conclusion
To prevent the occurrence of deadly hurricanes in future it is highly important to
reduce the global warming in the ecosystem by way of minimising the different types
of pollution on the planet earth.

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References
BBC News. (2011). Horn of Africa sees 'worst drought in 60 years. Retrieved from:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13944550
Earth Observatory Nasa. (2011). Severe Drought Causes Famine in East Africa.
Retrieved from: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/51411/severe-
drought-causes-famine-in-east-africa
Pallardy, R. (2018). Haiti earthquake of 2010. Retrieved from:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Haiti-earthquake-of-2010
The Telegraph. (2017). The deadliest natural disasters of 2017. Retrieved from:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/stem-awards/design/deadliest-natural-
disasters/
The Texas Tribune. (2017). State says Harvey's death toll has reached 88. Retrieved
from: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/13/harveys-death-toll-reaches-93-
people/
Tisdall, S. (2012). East Africa's drought: the avoidable disaster. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/18/east-africa-drought-disaster-
report
World Vision. (2010). 2010 Haiti earthquake: Facts, FAQs, and how to help.
Retrieved from: https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2010-
haiti-earthquake-facts

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World Vision. (2017). 2017 Hurricane Harvey: Facts, FAQs, and how to help.
Retrieved from:
https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/hurricane-harvey-facts
Zarin, K. (2017). 10 Deadliest Natural Disasters of 21st Century. Retrieved from:
http://www.scienceve.com/10-deadliest-natural-disasters-of-21st-century/