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Earthquake
What they are:
An earthquake is a shaking of the earth's surface caused by a sudden burst of energy. These bursts can vary in severity.
Levels of severity:
There is level Two, these are usually not felt and happen about 1,000,000 per year. The energy equivalent is 33 pounds of explosives.
Level three (Minor), they are felt but don't cause any damage and happen about 100,000 times a year. The energy equivalent is 1,000 pounds of explosives.
Level four (Light), will cause a noticeable amount of shaking, and there are about 10,000 of these every year. The energy equivalent is 33,000 pounds of explosives.
Level five (Moderate), this will cause some property damage and it happens about 1,500 times per year. The energy equivalent is 1,000,000 pounds of explosives.
Level six (Strong), will cause a decent amount of property damage and there are about 120 of these a year. This is the energy equivalent of 33,000,000 pounds of explosives.
Level seven (Major), this will cause billions in damage and may cause some loss of life and these happen about 18 times each year. The energy equivalent of 1 billion pounds of explosives.
Level eight (Great), this will cause large amounts of damage and can cause lots of loss of life, these happen about once a year. The energy equivalent is 33 billion pounds of explosives.
Level nine (Great), this will cause near total destruction and massive amounts of loss of life, these happen about once every ten years. The energy equivalent is 1 trillion pounds of explosives.
What Causes Earthquakes:
Earthquakes are caused by sudden movements along flats these movements can cause seismic waves that will propagate through the earth and these cause the ground to shake.
Flood
What are floods:
Floods are a sudden overflow of water onto a normally dry land these can cause large amounts in damage and variety in severity.
Different levels
Action stage:
Rivers at this stage the water has just slightly exceeded the top of the banks this stage will not flood houses and other man made structures.
Coastlines will have slightly elevated tides and little flooding on low-lying beaches.
Minor Flood Stage:
Rivers will have minor flooding the water levels will be slightly above the flood level stage. The roads can be slightly flooded and lawns will be flooded. Also, water may be under higher elevation houses.
Coastline water can run far up the beach and many lifeguard structures will be destroyed.
Moderate Flood Stage:
Flooding of many buildings may happen and some roads may be shut down. Evacuations may be necessary
Coastlines can be flooded out, docks and other coastal structures will be destroyed.
Major Flood Stage:
Rivers will cause life-threatening flooding and major amounts of flooding and huge evacuation will be needed.
Coastlines can have huge amounts of flooding, which will cause huge amounts of damage to any structures close to an ocean, which will be destroyed. And any cities under sea level can be severely damaged and possibly destroyed.
Record Flood Stage:
Rivers at this stage are exceeding any levels that they had before in that location this does not mean that this will cause major flooding just that the river is higher than it has ever been before.
Flooding of coastlines at this stage is usually from tropical cyclones or coastal storms. These can be caused by earthquakes, strong thunderstorms, or tsunamis. This will have a huge amount of damage far into the inland.
What causes flooding:
Floods can be caused by prolonged rain over several days, intense rainfall over a short period, a blockage in the river, or many other things.
Wildfire
What are wildfires:
Wildfires are fires that have burnt out of control in a natural area these can be a forest, grassland, or prairie.
Level one:
This has minimal fire activity and there are a lot of available forces.
Level two:
There are huge amounts of fires around the countries, this will require resources from all around.
Level three:
This is a state that will require national recognition and requires a decent amount of the country's firefighting forces.
Level four:
More than half of the country's wildlands are on fire and they are all competing for all of the country's firefighting forces.
Level five:
At this level, firefighting resources are scarce and are spread throughout the country fighting large amounts of wildfires.
What Causes Wildfires:
Wildfires can be caused by a number of forces some of them are dry vegetation, hot conditions, and an ignition source.
Works Cited
“Flood stage.” Wikipedia, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_stage. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“people looking at destroyed buildings.” pexels. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“The Richter Scale: How the size of an earthquake is determined.” 6 KWQC, 2023, https://www.kwqc.com/2023/11/15/richter-scale-how-size-an-earthquake-is- determined/. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“Understanding How Wildfires Start: Natural and Human Causes.” Dryad Networks, 14 May 2024, https://www.dryad.net/post/how-do-wildfires-start. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“Weather.gov > Morristown, TN > Flood and flash flood definitions.” National Weather Service, https://www.weather.gov/mrx/flood_and_flash. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“Weather.gov > Safety > Flood Related Hazards.” National Weather Service, https://www.weather.gov/safety/flood-hazards. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“What causes earthquakes?” British Geological Survey, https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/earth-hazards/earthquakes/what-causes-earthquakes/. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“what causes earthquakes?” British geological survey. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“What you need to know about how wildfires spread.” Washington Post, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/07/28/wildfires-spread-faq-west-explained/. Accessed 15 December 2024.
“Wildfires.” Ready.gov, 9 May 2024, https://www.ready.gov/kids/disaster-facts/wildfires. Accessed 15 December 2024.
Daniel Jacobsen
Columnist Daniel Jacobsen is a junior at Poudre High School in his first year working with the Poudre Press. He is involved in robotics, trap and skeet, and is taking a few AP classes and many other year-long classes in his free time at the school. Come back every other week for a look into nature and environmentalism with his weekly column.