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Unit 4: Danger Zones

            Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods, and drought. These are some of the natural disasters that has always been part of our everyday life in many parts of the world. But thanks to global warming, the human impact and some much more, these have been increasing and damaging our planet with the pass of the years. In this unit we will learn about these natural hazards and how we should act to decrease the so many risks that comes with them.

Natural hazards have the tendency to occur frequently in certain parts of the world. Most earthquakes and volcanos happen at or near plate boundaries, meanwhile cyclones form in the tropical. Puerto Rico is indeed victim of both earthquakes and cyclones, cyclones being the number one natural disaster that affects us the most every year, specially this past year with the pass of hurricane Maria. Many of the world’s greatest dangerous areas are also places with thick human populations, explaining why most of the countries or cities affected are dense in habitants.

            For many years scientists have been researching ways to predict natural disasters, but still haven’t been able to successfully make reliable predictions. Experts and even governments have concluded that since nature can’t be unfailingly predicted, we should stick out with anticipation and preparation instead. Is a common knowledge from most scientists that the risk of this climate and nature catastrophes are indeed part of the side effects of global warming, the consequences causing a significant impact. An example of this is Australia. Australia has been affected by the lack of water and rain to the point where it has destroyed bunches of orchards, livestock, and many of the nation’s rise farms. The same but also opposite goes in Bangladesh, where two-thirds of this country is less than five meters above sea level. With these types of drastic changes happening in our planet, climatologists say that about one-fifth percent could be under water due to the rising sea levels. Not only the sea levels have changed but also the increase of hurricanes hitting land, as also the result of human behavior. Still, scientists can’t come with a way of predicting these catastrophes no matter how much they study them.

            One of what could be one of the biggest catastrophes of the United States suffers the same destination. No matter how much research scientists and geologist have done to it since 1970, they still don’t have the enough information to predict the destructive massive eruption of one of the biggest volcanoes in the world. This supervolcano is under the most famous and oldest park in the United States, Yellowstone. Even though no supervolcano has erupted in recorded human history, scientist believe that during the 2.1 million years Yellowstone has been sitting over this supervolcano, the park has experienced three super eruptions. After each of these, the whole planet has been victim of the effects, and this is the biggest worry of all the people that has been studying it.

            In conclusion, most of the natural hazards in the world are hard or almost impossible to predict, but they still have a solution. We need to help the planet and stop it from getting worst thanks to the global warming, especially since no one or nothing else is causing it but ourselves.