El Nino Natural Disaster

Black Saturday Bush fires
Where was it? (get exact information to use on your Google Map)
The black Saturday Bush fires occurred in the areas around Victoria. But the fire started at Gippsland Victoria and spread over 450,000 hectares.
What are the important weather statistics which make it a NATURAL disaster? (eg. If it is a cyclone, what was the wind speeds? How big was it? ect.)
• The important weather statistics for a fire to make it a natural disaster is-
• The speed the fire travelled at was 100km/h which was mainly caused by the wind and the deep bushland surrounding the towns. This was one main statistic which makes it a natural disaster.
• The fires came as Melbourne reached its hottest ever temperature of 46.4 degrees.
• The extremely hot temperatures were accompanied by very strong north westerly winds, which changed to strong south easterly winds in the late afternoon.
How did it effect communities? (people killed, damage, ect.)

This natural disaster had many effects on the communities like the loss of property, the number of deaths and power and phone network failures.The Bushfires Royal Commission gave a "conservative" estimate of the total cost of the Black Saturday bushfires of A$4.4 billion.
Loss of property
• The fires have destroyed at least 1,834 homes, with thousands more suffering damage.
• The fires have left an estimated 7,500 people homeless.

Deaths
• As at May 13 , 2009, 173 people are reported dead.
• Several million native animals are estimated to have died.

Power and phone network failures
The following power lines which supply Melbourne with electricity failed during the bushfires:
• Two power lines in the Latrobe valley, due to the Churchill fire
One power line to the north of Melbourne, due to the Kilmore fire
• An electricity spokesperson stated on the Radio 774 on February 7 that Melbourne was very close to losing its power as a result of these fires. If another power line had been impacted the entire grid would have been temporarily shut down.
• Phone networks failed in fire areas when the following infrastructure was destroyed by fire:
• poles and wires for landline phone networks.
• transmitter towers for mobile networks.
How have local, state, national government and emergencies react?

Responses to the Black Saturday bushfires included immediate community response, donations and later, international aid efforts, Government inquiries including a Royal Commission and recommendations and discussions from a wide variety of bodies, organisations, authorities and communities.
Government

The Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, accepted an offer from the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to dispatch members of the Australian Defence Force to provide assistance in that state. The Federal Government announced a $10 million package of emergency assistance, available from 9 February, providing $1,000 per adult and $400 per child for those who had been hospitalised with injuries or who had lost their homes.
Fire fighting

More than 4,000 firefighters from the Country Fire Authority which is primarily responsible for fires on private property and the Department of Sustainability and Environment which is primarily responsible for fires on public land worked to battle the fires.
Aid efforts

Many business’s helped by making donations to effected people and areas. Business’s and organisations like-
• The Victorian Government's Department of Human Services offered immediate assistance of up to $1,067 for affected people
• The bushfire appeal raised more than $372 million in total. The appeal by the Australian Red Cross raised over $315 million. The Red Cross Blood Service received 6,000 offers of blood donations on the morning of 9 February alone. The Salvation Army appeal raised $17.5 million
• Major banks National Australia Bank, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac each announced $1 million in donations for fire victims.
• BP donated $635,000 to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal, along with donations from employees to be matched from the BP Foundation.
Are there any ongoing or risidual effects of this natural disaster or has the community fully recovered?

There are still many ongoing effects from the Victorian bush fires as more than 50% of the damaged houses and buildings are yet to be repaired or rebuilt and many of the wildlife is still damaged but has regrown to a certain extent.

2.5,2.6,2.7

 

2.5 questions

1) Tropical cyclones are known as hurricanes or typhoons and are large storms that form a funnel of gushing wind.

2) Tropical cyclones occur usually on the coast of countries usually in between 5 degrees and 22 degrees north and south of the equator over oceans with a water temperature greater than 26.5 degrees.

3) Areas that are most at risk in Australia are north of Perth along he coast of western Australia and the Northern territory, most of the Queensland coastline and occasionally the far north coast of New South Wales.

4) 6 tropical cyclones are expected to cross the Australian coastline each year.

5) Other names for tropical cyclones are hurricanes and typhoons.

6) Tropical cyclones develop in the tropical regions of the world. Heat from the sun causes warm, moist air to rise into the atmosphere. As the air rises, a low pressure system forms and condensation occurs, which releases latent heat causing the air to rise further into the atmosphere. If the air pressure in the upper atmosphere is high, then the rising column of warm air will spiral outwards in the upper atmosphere and air will rush from the surface to replace it, forming a tropical cyclone.

7) The eye of a tropical cyclone is in the centre of the cyclone and it is usually clear and calm.

9) For a tropical cyclone to be downgraded to a tropical storm the rising air form clouds, which release heat, causing the air to rise further, leading to a tropical storm  

2.6 Questions

1. 25 December 1974

2. The police set up evacuation and medical centres

3. It is a federal government body that’s job is to coordinate emergencies

4. The evacuation was essential as three quarters of the cities homes had been destroyed

5. 75%

6. It has showed us what houses are needed to be built like to prepare them for the worst

7. It occurred in New Orleans. It killed over 1400 and flooded large areas of New Orleans

8. New Orleans is based at near sea level, which meant that a lot of the town was flooded.

9. The FEMA didn’t devote enough resources to the clean-up efforts at the time, dramatically affecting the area

10. NDO quickly responded to the situation, with someone there to monitor the clean-up operation the very same day, whereas FEMA wasn’t as efficient

2.7 questions

1. It crossed the Queensland coast between 6.20am and 7.20am in the town of Innisfail

2. This is because the this is where the wind is spinning, ripping up anything in its path

3. Public infrastructure is buildings that belong to the government and this made it hard to set up a evacuation or medical point for them to go to

4. AU$350 million

5. The banana industry lost a lot of crops, escalating to $298.4 million worth of produce being lost in that year

6. The SES and EMA produce brochures and run community workshops to ensure that people are well prepared

7. Government agencies, local councils, the SES, energy suppliers and other organisations actively work together to ensure a coordinated relief effort

8) The assistance that these groups offered to communities affected by cyclone Larry was personal and financial assistance to local residents, business owners and farmers

9) Major General Peter Cosgrove was appointed by the EMA the lead the overall response.

10) Flooding

11) The impact it would have had on capital cities was a huge rise in the price of bananas in stores  

12) a. it would have travelled about 2000km

b. 2000km/24hrs

c. the cause of the downgrade was the speed of the winds died down as it came closer to shore

d. 800km

2.8

1) a. i. 1014
ii 1010
iii. 1020
iv 1022
b. Adelaide
c. There is a cold front emerging from the west with showers occuring later in the day and continuing in the night.
d. i. high pressure system interacting with a low pressure system.
ii. ridge
iii. a big low pressure coming in.
e. hobart would have the stongest winds as there is a low pressure system coming from the south with the isobars closeer together meaning the winds will be stronger

2.2

1) A landslide is the movement of a mass of rock or sections of the Earth's crust under the force of gravity
2) The main causes of landslides are torrential rain, human contributions, earthquakes and undercutting of banks and cliffs from waves or rivers.
3) humans contribute to landslides by creating either man made hills that support houses and buildings
4) earthquakes are rapid and sudden movements of the Earth's crust caused by tectonic forces from within the Earth. It is measured using the rictor scale rating from 1-10
5) The main causes of earthquakes in Australia is the tectonic plates rubbing againts one an other.
6) every 15 months and it is not usual because we are on the midde of a tectonic plate and not on the edges.
7) !3 people killed, 120 people injured, 70 000 buildings damaged
8) A landslide is formed by weather and external factors while earthquakes are internal factors and are usually a lot bigger
9) A tsunami is when the movement of the ocean bottom which displaces water on the surface.
10) Earthquakes, landslide and volcano
11) A tsunami is formed when the tectonic plates move and pushes water to form large blocks of water moving away.
12) Three tsunami warnings signs are a shake from the ground which is a earthquake which usually causes tsunami's, a drop of sea level and a roar coming from the large gush of water.
13) A under sea earthquake rating 9.3 on the rictor scale which occured off the west coast of samatra where the Indo-Australian Plate is sliding under the Eurasian plate
14) 23
15) A tsuanmi changes in shallow water becuase as it gets shallower the water the wave slowed to 100km per hour and rised.
16) The united nations coordinated a warning system for the indian ocean
17) Ted Bryant studies natural hazards.
18) 10N 90E
b. india- 1 hr
Africa- 10hrs
Australia- 5hrs
tasmania-10hrs

2.1 Qll

a. There are many reasons as to why emergency services would benefit from GIS mapping of natural hazard areas. This mapping would enable the emergency services to pre-pare and plan for natural hazaerds so loss of life is minimal. There are 5 main ways which emergency services use GIS mapping to help them, they are:

• Easily calculate emergency response times 
• Be able to assess hot spots where emergency vehicles and teams must be on standby 
• Warn people of danger due to a  natural hazard area
• Map out dangerous areas were unexpected dangers lurk - flash flooding, earthquakes, bush fires etc
• Be able to set up a emergency rescue team ready to move out home owners and people who are in danger from the natural hazards.

b the information in 2.3 would help state governments in making tactical decision about to deal with situation in their state. An example of this would be, the NSW government would be able to pick areas of the state which would be effect. In this case Bush fires are the most prominat near area of Southern NSW. They can also make tactical decision. Where to put fire bans and also danger signs so people in the area could be better prepare if a major disaster broke out. They can also protect local wild life from fires and give people warning when Natural Hazards are coming

c. Insurance companies- There are many reasons as to why insurance companies would benefit from GIS mapping of natural hazard areas. This mapping would enable insurnace companies to prepare and set up plans for people living in most effected areas and also can help alot of people for certain hazards. They could also warn consumers about the certain natural hazards that could effect there area.