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