Earthquakes

      Magnitude is the size of an earthquake, this is the measured amount of ground that has moved and amount of energy being released. Intensity however is in a specific place determining how strong the earthquake is. So a single earthquake will have an over all magnitude and then different levels of intensity depending on the location. 

      The Fiji area has earthquakes apparently very often. According to the IRIS link we were given this week, their last earthquake was on Feb. 16 and had a magnitude of 4.4. The earthquake before that was on the same day but went up to a 4.5. Before those two, there was an earthquake on the 8th of February and two more on the 6th.

To prepare for earthquakes and associated tsunami hazards, Fiji has an approach that includes the following

1. Hazard Assessment
2. Vulnerability Assessment
3. Disaster Mitigation Measures
4. Emergency Response Planning
5. Public Awareness and Policy Support
6. Dissemination of Findings

      They have very specific codes for buildings and land-usage to set a higher standard for construction. They raise public awareness through their Disaster Risk Reduction program. Children are taught in schools to go underneath a table or desk, hold their bags over their head if they are not under a desk, use their hands and sit down in a ball with their head between their knees if necessary, and how to use emergency tools. 

http://ds.iris.edu/seismon/eventlist/index.phtml?region=Australia_NZ&lon=174.95&lat=-17

http://www.pacificdisaster.net/pdnadmin/data/documents/9773.html

http://www.redcross.com.fj/disaster/

http://www.preventionweb.net/files/2951_SESIOutcomeallfinal.pdf

Plate Tectonics -Week 2

According to our text, a plate tectonic is defined as, “a geological processes that deform Earth’s lithosphere, producing land forms such as ocean basins, continents, and mountains” (p. 33). There are different types mentioned in our lesson this week. Divergent plates separate from each other and form new ocean floor. Convergent boundaries are the loss of ocean floor when one side dips below the other. When there is no formation or loss, it is called transform boundary and this is when the two side move next to each other in opposite directions. 

Located near the Australian tectonic plate is the island of Fiji. It is said that there is some of the most activity happening here on the convergent plate line. An article I found titled, Tonic Activity and Plate Boundaries Along the Northern Flank of the Fiji Platform, stated that the observational study of the plate shows that there is movement of anti clockwise rotation. When I read this I was a bit confused because I thought that the plate would only move up and down so there would be no rotation. If I am understanding this correctly though, and I might not be, the plate is not a straight line but actually a curved line. Therefore, rotation happens because the line itself curves.

On November 1, 2014, Fiji had a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Fortunately, it is said that there was not a great deal of damage and a resulting tsunami is not anticipated due to the earthquake. The quake was due to the convergent plate line and there is expected more earthquakes because of the location of the island in relation to the plate line.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01204551#page-1

http://www.earthscope.org/science/geo-events/m7.1-fiji

Post #1

       According to the summary given by Dr. Ana García-García, there are natural processes that occur in the world and will never be labeled as a hazard. To me this makes sense, a hazard is something that is considered dangerous and if there is no one near that can be affected by a natural process it can not be labeled as something that is putting people at risk. However, when there are people around the path of a natural process it then can have an affect on a person and be hazardous. 

       A natural hazard can then be further broken down into two categories that classify the magnitude of the hazard. First, a disaster is a hazard that “ten or more people die, a hundred or more people are affected, a declared state of emergency, or a requested international assistance has been made” (García-García). The other category of hazards is called a catastrophe. In a catastrophe, there is a much bigger disaster that consumes a large amount of money and time spent in order to restore the ares back into it’s original state or one similar. 

The first thing that ever came to my mind when I though of Fiji was an expensive bottle of water. Of course I knew it was an entire country and an island, I did not know much else other than it was beautiful. After some research, I found out that Fiji is located about 1,960 miles from Sydney, Australia in the southwest Pacific Ocean. There are 332 islands that make up the country of Fiji. It’s 849,000 (2010) islanders make up the population living on about 100 of the islands in Fiji. The final fact that I found particularly interesting, was that Fiji did not have it’s independence from Britain until just recently in 1970. (Fiji)

       I have decided that this semester I would take a closer look at the country of Fiji and relate what I have learned in class to the actual events that have happened here. In an article I found, one of the biggest natural processes that occurred in Fiji was in 1931 (Yeo). A hurricane and flood stole the life of approximately 225 people on the island. Because of this is well exceeds the ten people minimum for a natural disaster and took time and money to restore, I would think that this even would be labeled a catastrophe.

Fiji. (n.d.). Retrieved February 03, 2016, from http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/fj.htm#page

Yeo, S. W. and Blong, R. J. (2010), Fiji's worst natural disaster: the 1931 hurricane and flood. Disasters, 34: 657–683. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01163.x