Final Hazards report for El Salvador.

 In this week’s blog were have the task of conducting our final assessment on our chosen countries top two Natural Hazards. Over the course of the semester I have learned that El Salvador is a very small country in Central America, which is over populated with roughly 6.42 million inhabitants. That is a lot when you consider that the country only has about 8,000 square miles of land. Furthermore, they are also prone to many Natural Hazards and Disasters like: Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions, Tropical Storms, Hurricanes, Floods, Coastal Erosion and Landslides just to name a few. Further, some of these disasters are very damaging and become catastrophic in nature; causing a mass death toll, destroying infrastructures and accumulating to millions of dollars in damage. Consequently, creating a huge emotional and financial burden on the country and its people.

         While analyzing the impact that Natural disasters have on El Salvador, I had to take into account the destruction and the financial strain that they generate. The country which does not lay on a specific tectonic plate but actually is surrounded by a complex system of plates that override one another is the cause for so much seismic activity. Additionally, the fact that it has about 20 different Volcanoes just adds to the possibilities of future natural disasters or potential catastrophes. They are both a conjunction between the Caribbean plate overriding the Coco’s plate and vice versa. On the other hand Tropical storms have been the cause of thousands of deaths. Which lead me to deciding that the top two Natural Hazards for El Salvador are Earthquakes and tropical storms. The major cause of Tropical storms in the region is due to the fact that they sit in an area that is prone to tropical weather, in addition to being exposed to the Hurricane season on the western hemisphere. This ultimately, produces low air pressure systems that in return trigger Tropical weather.

          In regards to where I would classify the most dangerous or at risk areas in El Salvador is based on the hazard. For example, Earthquakes are very prevalent in the country and are known to cause a huge death toll on the people living in areas near Volcanoes. Additionally, there are about 20 Volcanoes on the country but only two have been active in the last 50 years. Furthermore, both the Izalco and the San Miguel Volcanoes are located on the eastern flank on the country. Primarily, this is where I would place my suggestion to offer the residents of municipalities such as the ones in San Miguel to move away from this high risk area. Also, providing them with new housing more inland. Likewise, Tropical Storms have also caused major flash floods and mudslides. In this case I would also advise the residents that they need to relocate inland and away from the shores that are disintegrating gradually. Furthermore, I would not only create new housing for them but would also tackle the fact that the country has lost about 90 percent of its forest; this alone aids the rain in its destruction because there are not trees to protect the soil form runoffs.  

          In El Salvador there are a lot of people as noted above. This in return causes overcrowding in places that are the most vulnerable like: hillsides, coastal areas, flood plains and urban areas close to said areas. These areas would be San Salvador, San Miguel, Usulatan, Sonsonate, Ahuachapan, Santa Ana and La Union. Further, I came to the conclusion that to build a home that is the least prone to Earthquakes and Tropical Storms I would have to get away from overpopulated cities and the coastal shores. Consequently, the best geographical region to build a home would be in the Southwestern part of the country in a place called Cuscatlan. Which has a rough estimate of 33 thousand residents. Which is not bad when taking into account the six plus million people that live in the region. 

 

  

              

 http://www.theguardian.com/journalismcompetition/el-salvador-disaster-planning

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/el-salvador.html

http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/11/el-salvador-restores-biodiversity-in-the-face-of-climate-change/

https://www.cordaid.org/media/publications/El_Salvador_risk_mapping20120130_ETG.pdf

http://population.mongabay.com/population/el-salvador/3587362/antiguo-cuscatlan

 

El Salvador's Coastal Hazards.

 

In this week’s post we are learning about Coastal Hazards in our chosen countries. El Salvador shares the same collision coasts as the rest of the western hemisphere. They are covered with mountains and occur on the leading edge of active plate margins where two plates are colliding. Furthermore, the country is also in danger of erosion and also from sediment run-off from up-river deforestation. The city of Jiquilisco and La Libertad were actually battered by large swells that formed May 8^th 2015 from a Hurricane force low pressure system. The coastal communities that rely on tourism as a way of life were left to salvage what they could. According to the country’s Civil Protection Department they evacuated about 1,000 people and 300 and 117 homes and businesses were destroyed by the high intensity waves.

In response to increasing climate change and the world wide rise in ocean temperatures. The people of El Salvador are calling on their officials to not only help recover what was lost but prevent future disasters like the one above. While, the country does have disaster relief in place such as the: Civil Protection Department, The Red Cross, FUNDRED and El Salvador’s Surf Foundation that will help restore the livelihood to these two communities; they do little in regards of preventing. Some residents are asking political officials to install buoy readings as well as satellite modelling. In addition, to an emergency evacuation plan and effective communication between authorities and community leaders. However, the residents also need to take into consideration the fact that if they rebuild on the same strip of coast were the disaster just occurred; it will be just a matter of time until it happens again. One easy prevention that they can take is to move their homes and businesses further back from the high tide line and also receive assistance and education on building sound infrastructures that will protect against the force of the waves.

Works Cited:

  http://ecoviva.org/large-swells-cause-damage-on-el-salvadors-coast/

http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/11/el-salvador-restores-biodiversity-in-the-face-of-climate-change/

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/02/201122017470922665.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extreme Weather.

This week we are researching extreme weather conditions chosen in our countries which could range from blizzards, heatwaves, tornados, thunderstorms, droughts, sand storms and flooding to name a few. As for El Salvador, it has a tropical climate that allows it to enjoy wet and dry seasons throughout the year. The pacific lowlands are usually hotter and mountain areas are a little cooler. One example, is the fact that temperatures vary form 70 degrees F to 96 degrees F and their warm season usually last from January through May. This dry pattern effects crops around the country; making it necessary to have consistent irrigation systems in place to mitigate the damage. On the other hand the cold season starts form August to October and the temperatures actually sit around the same temperatures. Over the course of the year the country experiences three different types of precipitation which are: Thunderstorms, moderate rain and light rain. Snow is usually out of the question for El Salvador. Additionally, the humidity levels are very high for the country, especially around the February when the dry air can reach up to 100 percent humidity levels.  

Works Cited:

 https://weatherspark.com/averages/32651/San-Salvador-La-Paz-El-Salvador

http://countrystudies.us/el-salvador/19.htm

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/El-Salvador-CLIMATE.html

Mass Wasting.

This week we studied the effects that mass wasting has on the earths land as well as our chosen country. While it is true that landslides are caused by gravities ability to manipulate soil and rocks such as the slope of a specific area. That is typically true for El Salvador because it has 20 different volcanoes in the country that sit at high elevations and could very well be a hazard to multiple communities. I was able to find a couple of articles that covered Hurricane Ida in 2009. The Hurricane triggered debris from the San Vicente volcano to hit and destroy part of the city of Verapaz. The death toll of 16 residents and 47 reported missing was one of the largest mass wasting's that the country has ever seen. Furthermore, the most catastrophic landslide that the country has ever seen was in the city of Las Colinas in Santa Tecla, El Salvador. It was triggered by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, that only lasted 30 seconds.  The reported death toll was close to 1,000 residents with almost the same missing. Here is an aerial picture of the debris that covered the neighborhood of Las Colinas.

 

Thankfully, the Salvadorian government has acknowledged that they are very susceptible to mass wasting in the region and have taken safety measures to prevent against future natural hazards. The country has implemented a Community-based disaster risk management program in place to be able to mitigate future events. Specifically, the project MARLAH is aimed at raising awareness, assessing the hazard at hand, installing early warning systems, creating vulnerability and hazard maps and developing emergency plans. Overall, I think that this is a great way to prevent future loss of life.

Works Cited:

 http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2009/11/09/el-salvador-landslide-disaster/

http://landslides.usgs.gov/research/other/centralamerica.php

  http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/01/quak-j16.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252139103_Community-Based_Disaster_Risk_Management_A_Case_Study_of_Landslide_Disaster_Preparedness_Preparation_and_Mitigation_in_Tacuba_El_Salvador

Volcanic Activity In El Salvador

El Salvador has 20 volcanoes in that have been active before but that are now mostly dormant. There are two volcanoes that have had recent activity and that are potentially dangerous. The two volcanoes are the Izalco (Strato volcano) and the San Miguel volcanoes which is also a strato volcano. These volcanoes belong to the circum-pacific ring of fire and are results of the oblique subduction of the oceanic Coco’s plate under the Caribbean tectonic plate. The Izalco volcano is the youngest of the 20 volcanoes found in the country and formed in 1770. This volcano is similar to the Stromboli volcano found in Italy because its frequent Strombolian eruptions that provide a natural night time beacon for ships. The last time that it erupted was in 1966 when it begun to spill lava from the south-east flank and it traveled about 1.2 kilometers in length. Equally, the San Miguel volcano is located in the eastern part of the country and is a symmetrical stratovolcano. It rises 7,000 ft. and 2130 meters above sea level and the volcanoes summit is deprived of any vegetation because of the frequent eruptions but the flanks are covered with coffee plantation. The most recent eruption occurred in 2002, when gas and steam emission with some ashes covering the sky were observed in the area, reaching a few 100 meters above the summit crater.

 

  

 

 

As far as El Salvador’s preparedness for any volcanic activity  goes they have actually implemented a National civil protection system and have an orange as well a yellow alert system for the department of San Miguel’s volcano and its surrounding communities in the past few years. The Salvadoran Red Cross has about 60 branches in the country that are trained in emergency and disaster preparedness relief. In addition they also have a stock of relief items to be able to provide immediate relief to the people that need it. Overall, my country’s government has taken safe measures to teach people about the importance of volcanic awareness and hopefully with all of these precautions they will be able to prevent future structural loss and more importantly human loss.    

Works Cited:

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/el-salvador.html

http://reliefweb.int/report/el-salvador/el-salvador-volcanic-eruption-emergency-plan-action-epoa-dref-operation-mdrsv006

 

Week Three: Earhtquakes.

The country I am researching is El Salvador. My country does not lay on one specific tectonic plate but it does have a complex system of plates overriding that are the main cause for it being close to one of the most seismic zones in the world (Article1). This is the reason that this country experiences so many earthquakes. The map below illustrates the impact that the seismic activity has on this country.





  As noted above the fact that the Caribbean plate is overriding the Coco's which both create subduction zones that produce numerous Earthquakes. The Caribbean plate creates Shallow intraplate earthquakes in the earth’s crust, when it is overriding the Cocos plate. On the other hand the Cocos plate produces intraplate earthquakes but at a deeper level in the earth when the plates is sub ducting under the Caribbean plate (Article2).  The largest earthquake in the country’s history sequence actually occurred in 2001 which was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. Since then the country has recognized that they are in a vulnerable area and are susceptible to natural hazards and earthquakes. They have actually taken measures to make sure that the safety of their people are a top priority. For example, the implementation of disaster risk management development plan to make sure that they have the necessary funds available to render aid to the people effected. Another example is the implementation of public risk and mitigation to teach the people about safety against natural disasters (Article3). Furthermore, the increase in seismic, hydrological meteorological monitoring stations from 95 to 267. Ultimately, this will help them curve future human casualties and infrastructure loss as well as make them stronger as a whole.

Works Cited:

1.       http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Earthquake2001ElSalvador.html

2.      http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/2001/2001_02_13.php

3.      http://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2015/09/22/better-disaster-risk-management-for-el-salvador.print

Earth and plate tectonics.

Week Two: Earth and Plate Tectonics.

     In this week’s reading we learned how the minerals in the earth’s crust effect different tectonic plates that are ultimately responsible for some of the most devastating natural hazards. The country that I am researching is El Salvador. This week I was able to learn that it inside the Carribean Plate but it is actually closer to the Coco’s plate. El Salvador is in a transform boundary and that means that the plates move side by side and past each other (pg. 32 Keller). This does not destroy or create the earth’s crust but is the major reason for all of their earthquakes (pg.36 Keller). Furthermore, the fact that they are located in the ring of fire is also a main contributor to their natural hazards.

Works Cited: Keller, A. Edwards, Blodgett, H. Robert. Earths Process as Hazards, and Catastrophes. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson, 2012. Print.

First Feed.

After reading the summary about natural hazards, disasters and catastrophes . I was able to understand that a natural hazard is cause by internal events in the earths core and that produce a life threatening situation for human life. Some examples of this are volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The major difference between a hazard and disaster or catastrophe, is the difference in the casualty ratio per event. This means that if there are no deaths a hazardous event can occur multiple times and stay as  just an event that could have been dangerous. A disaster is labeled as such when it: causes ten or more deaths, is a threat to 100 or more people or is declared a state of emergency. The final example is a catastrophe which is categorized as a massive disaster that requires large amounts of financial assistant to recover and spans over a length of multiple years. The country I chose is not very big but it has experienced multiple natural hazards. For example, they experienced a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in 2001 that killed 315 people and at least 3,399 other people were injured. Furthermore, the damage on the homes were reported to be about 45,000 in total.