Colombian Landslide Emergency

 A "landslide" occured in Medellin Colombia in the poor hillside neighborhood Bello. I put the word "landslide" in quotation marks because one article calls this mass wastage even a landslide while another calls in a mudslide. So I really don't know what went on on this hill in Medellin. But for all intents and purposes, I am going to call it a landslide. This landslide has killed 45 identified people and almost 100 are still missing. Of all those identified as dead, half were children, showing the vulnerability factor of children. Meanwhile the rains still continue and so far over 200 people have died due to these rains and over 1 million are homeless. The President of Colombia has declared a state of emergency, which opens up possibilities for humanitarian aid from around the world. But I believe this situation will play out much like that of Pakistan where countries will be afraid to Colombia due to corruption and the large narcotraffiking. The President is also urging other hillside residents of Medellin to evacuate after this horrible event after people pointed out other dangerous areas, which would be hillsides. I though this was kind of funny that they did not see this sooner, especially since Medellin is a large city with tons of poor slums on hillsides, so I expect landslides to not be a new occurance. Then the President says he plans to give the money to build new homes for these people in the same spot, which is obviously a bad choice.

Links:
Landslide article:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/09/c_13641069.htm

Mudslide article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703921204576006080570921602.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Evacuation article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11944125

Tornado Simulator in Japan

I came across this article while searching for envirnomental hazards. Apparently Japanese scientists are in the process of making a tornado simulator, in efforts to mitigate disaster. According to the hindustan times website, the simulator is 5 meters around and 2.5 meters tall. It can create winds strong enough to create an F3 tornado. These scientists plan on building model houses to test structural integrity. I think that this an interesting mitigation effort, and I wonder if the U.S. has ever applied any similar efforts since we have more tornados. Also I think it is interesting how much effort Japanese scientists are putting into tornado mitigation research considering the fact that earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanos are just, if not more, frequent. However, the articles do hint that tornadoes are becoming more of a problem in Japan. Also this may have something to do with the fact that the low frequency of events tends to mean that they produce a higher magnitude. While the frequency of tornadoes in Japan is not low by any means, it is certainly lower than that of the U.S. So tornadoes in Japan might be more dangerous than they are in the southern portions of the U.S.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0622/Tornadoes-in-Wisconsin-Montana-spur-early-warning-system

Articles about the tornado simulator in Japan:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Artificial-tornadoes-being-created-in-Japan/Article1-634599.aspx
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_artificial-tornadoes-developed-to-test-japanese-homes_1478015

Weather in the Northeastern U.S.

A top story from weather.com today talks about the bad weather in the Northeast. The story says the storm moved from the South and midwest. The south had experienced thunderstorms and tornadoes while the midwest experienced moderate winds. This storm will cause rain and moderate winds in the Northeast. I think the example of tornados in the South is a good example of the mixing of northern cold, dry air with warm, moist air from the south. As we discussed in class, this causes tornadoes. The movement of the storm is an example of how wind and air pressure moves "weather". This storm and its movement exhibits the lifting mechanism of frontal lifting I believe because it is a fairly fast moving front associated with severe weather.

Current Winds from weather.com

Link to the weather.com article:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/windy-soaking-start-december_2010-11-30

Climate Change Summit in Cancun

The Climate Change Summit starts today in Cancun, Mexico. At this summit representatives from almost 200 countries come together to discuss global warming and how to lessen it effects. The articles I read on the Summit were very realistic, talking about past failures and how the main powers in the world, like Indian, China, and the US, are no longer implementing climate control policies. Much talk is going to be about getting poorer countries to limit deforestation. I find this funny because since the US, China and India have more money, you would think it would be easier for them to try and limit climate change and the greenhouse effect because of the resources at their disposal. Also a lot of the deforestation happens due to the richer countries involvement, like transporting oil and creating plantation lands. Another angle taken by some is the need to assimilate to the climate change. So pretty much these articles are saying that some people have given up trying and are now accepting the inevitable. But I suppose this is a plan of action that these nations have to consider because nothing that they have tried to implement or use has worked so far.

Mexican news story on the Climate Change Summit:


Articles on the Cancun Summit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/8165784/Cancun-climate-change-summit-deaths-from-floods-and-drought-double.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/nov/29/cancun-climate-change-copenhagen

Suriname Mine Collapses

Today in Suriname, 7 miners were killed when the gold mine they were working in collapsed.  It is said that these miners were mining at this mine without permission and were not employed by the company. I wonder how much less dangerous this type of mining is when you have permission to mine there, like if they use special safety equipment or something. Also most of the news articles put an emphasis on the fact that these men were mining illegally, which makes it seem like people view this as less tragic and like it was not that big of a deal. While it is true that those men should not have been there in the first place, the fact that the mine collapsed and they died shows that maybe the mines were not that safe in the first place. Also, if you have a gold mine, wouldn't you probably have some type of security to keep illegal miners off of your property? I would think so, especially since this company, Surgold, is mining in this area with the U.S. companies Newmont Mining Corp. and Alcoa Inc.

There is also alot of emphasis placed on the fact that these men were decendants of former african slaves that ran away and formed all african colonies called Maroons.  The area where the mine is located is home to many Maroon decendents and American Indians. I think this is going to show as well how they are left to try and make a living while others drain the land of its resources.

Those killed in the mining accident.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/7-Killed-in-Suriname-Gold-Mine-Collapse-109853559.html

Links:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/7-Killed-in-Suriname-Gold-Mine-Collapse-109853559.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40304186/ns/world_news-americas/

Seattle Mass Wastage Mitigation

I just read this news article on landslides in Seattle, Washington. According to the article there is a lot of precipitation in November and December in Washington, and this local news article gives pointers on how to avoid landslides from happening on your property. While this article gives good tips, from planting vegetation to using a catch basin, it mentions that there are 18,000 homes in Seattle alone that are in landslide-prone areas. I think that it is funny that the article does not mention that these landslide disasters from the past and future could be, or could have been avoided with better zoning. In addition, the picture the article shows is of a huge house, obviously owned by a wealthy person, sitting on the edge of a steep slope.  This just goes to show how the most desired property to build on is often not the safest property, but people continue to build on these dangerous places, such as slopes, coasts or lake fronts, because of their aesthetic value. However, it is reassuring that the local news is trying to better prepare these people for disaster events that have a high chance of occurring.

It is also interesting that the article uses the term "landslides" when many different mass wastage events could occur. However, it would be confusing and different to the public to call them "mass wastage events" instead of "landslides". 

Above: the house from the article

The article from The Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013441916_landslide16m.html

Other similar articles:
http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/11/15/news/landslide-season-looms-west-seattle

http://westseattleblog.com/2010/11/west-seattle-weather-watch-on-a-slope-be-landslide-aware

Vietnam Floods

Floods have deen present through out central Vietnam since Tuesday following days of heavy rain, making this a region flood that begun slowly and will end slowly. Because of this thousands of people were able to be evacuated. So far only about nineteen people have died in this flood, which also sticks with the characteristic of few deaths associated with region flooding. However, this flood is not the first to hit this area recently. Since the beginning of October 167 people have been killed in this area. This is suprising seeing as Vietnam is extremely flood-prone due to large amounts of rice paddies, low lying coasts, and 70 percent of the population at risk for flooding. I would have thought that the people would have better mitigation efforts and emergency plans. However, taken into account is the fact that this area of Vietnam is rather poor, so the people or government may not have all the resources they need to better mitigate this disaster. It appears as of now, that Vietnam is experiencing less deaths due to flooding than they were in October, whether that has to do with the people being more aware of the hazards, the intensity of the disaster or something else I am not sure.

Areas most affected in October

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SNAA-8BB9L9?OpenDocument

Photo from 11-17-10

http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Flood-in-central-Vietnam-causes-huge-losses/201011/121476.vov

Links:

Stories on the flood from 11-17-10:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111707394.html

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/11/17/11-dead-in-Vietnam-floods/UPI-48091290000551/

Story on one of the previous floods 11-03-10:
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2010-11-03/679193439826.html

Story on one of the previous floods 10-22-10:
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Death-toll-from-Vietnam-floods-hits-75/701125/