The United Kingdom Natural Hazards

       “…as a result of increasing human population and poor land-use choices, what were once disasters are now catastrophes.” (Keller, Edward A., DeVecchio, Duane E., Natural Hazards, 3). This semester I have learned more about this planet and natural disasters than I have ever thought I would want to know. Everything from tectonics, tsunamis, volcanoes, mass wasting, earthquakes, extreme weather, cyclones, coastal hazards, climate change, flooding, wildfires, droughts, and impacts and extinctions. I benefited from this class and my future knowledge of the world around me, most specifically if I were ever move to the United Kingdom I would be prepared for any natural disaster nature threw at me. Every week studying each different natural event that the U.K. could be affected from has shown me that the worst that could happen to the country are tsunamis and floods. Because of this, I would build my house in Worcestershire, England. Due to outdated and archaic engineering of flood prevention and protection, the community of Worcestershire is planning a flood relief project to begin this summer and is expected to protect some 300 homes and businessses and hope to inspire others to look at better ways for flood prevention. The town is also pretty far away from any coast line that would be flooded from the possibility of 10 foot plus high waves created off the coast. 

        “Natural ways of preventing flooding such as planting trees have no government funding despite ministers repeatedly backing the idea, according to a freedom of information request by Friends of the Earth.” (Carrington, Damion, UK government not funding natural flood prevention methods, The Guardian.) Because the U.K. has more of a coastal climate and has its fair share of flat valleys and bogs, floods would greatly impact the economies of the country. The winter of 2013-2014 was the wettest winter on record for the UK, and between November 2015 and January 2016 the UK recorded the highest ever rainfall for that period, causing some of the most extreme and severe floods in the past 100 years. Some say climate change is directly responsible for these recent events because a warmer climate can hold more moisture, but extensive research show evidence of man made climate change and other research shows other findings. The country of the United Kingdom is a massive island that as well needs protecting for its coast line towns and communities, rising sea levels have been rising at a rate of 1.5mm a year and long term, preventative measures have been suggested. Experts are stepping away from past solutions like rock armour and sea walls and work with natural coastal protections, like the extensive wetlands and beach systems that already act like a barrier from sea levels and severe storms. 

       Even though only two known tsunamis have been recorded in the history of the U.K. I believe out of all the disasters we have looked into this is the worst event that could devastate the country more than any other. In 1755 a earthquake created a 10 foot high wave that hit the southern most part of the British Isles and again in 1929 a meteotsunami created a 12 to 20 foot tsunami that crashed into some beaches on the southern coast of the U.K. These two events were created by two separate incidences, one by a volcano, which the U.K. has non active and one by atmospheric phenomena. Although, news of a landslide from a volcano in the Canary Islands could cause a tsunami that would create a 30 foot wave to hit the southern coast of Britain. Scientists believe it could happen in the next few years to the next 20. ”The looming tsunami would travel faster than a jet aircraft, and would devastate much of southern Britain as well as the eastern seaboard of America, reports Plymouth Herald.” (Haworth, Jessica, UK facing tsunami threat from unstable Canary Island as three-metre waves could devastate British coastal towns, Mirror.) So, even though volcanoes are the reason for the disasters to hit the U.K., Tsunamis and flooding are the main threat. Based on my research these are all problems that are of the utmost importance to the officials in control of the country. The U.K. has the best people engineering tools like a acoustic-gravity wave that can disrupt a tsunami wave, diminishing its size and force causing less damage on impact. Along with the British geological survey team keeping track of earthquakes off the coast that are most likely the number one suspect of a tsunami reaching the beaches of Britain. 

       All together, from earthquakes to volcanoes, I would have to say the United Kingdom is overall a pretty safe place to live. Sure there coastlands can be destructive, but other than a minor tremor or a sinkhole collapsing under your feet, living inland seems pretty safe. With up to date technology and ever scanning surveys of natural occurrences I can see why this country has been around for such a long time and has been able to build itself up to one of the global power houses of today.

Resources

Carrington, Damian. "UK government not funding natural flood prevention methods." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 21 Nov. 2016. Web. 25 May 2017.

Kadri, Usama. "Tsunami prevention." News. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May. 2017.

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.

Haworth, Jessica. "UK Facing Tsunami Threat as Three-metre Waves Could Hit British Coastal Towns." Mirror. N.p., 07 Dec. 2016. Web. 25 May 2017.

Patient, Douglas. "Killer tsunami to hit UK: Disaster expert warns monster wave 'several metres high' coming." Dailystar.co.uk. Daily Star, 27 Nov. 2016. Web. 25 May. 2017.

The United Kingdom Coastal Erosion

"Coastal areas are dynamic environments that vary in their topography, climate, and organisms. In these areas, continental and oceanic processes converge to produce landscapes that are capable of rapid change." (Edward A., Keller, Duane E., DeVecchio, Natural Hazards, 366). According to a May 2012 note from the British Geological Survey, an estimated 113,000 residential properties, 9000 commercial properties and 5000 acres of agricultural land are within areas at risk of coastal erosion across England and Wales. A value of 7.7 billion euro of potential damage and loss. Specific examples are towns like Hallsands, Devon where 1600 tons of the sand and gravel that made up the beach was removed daily for the extension of the Royal Dockyard. After 7 years an estimated 97% of the former beach volume had been removed, 10 years later a large set of waves 12 meters high hit the shore that ended up destroying the near by town. The village of Happisburgh, Norfolk was once some distance away from the coastline, but because coastal erosion some 250 meters were lost over a 250 year period making it one of the highest coastal erosion rates in the U.K.. Holderness coast, East Riding of Yorkshire is eroding at a rate of 1 to 2 meters a year and ongoing monitoring by the British Geological Survey of the coastline and beaches are undertaken to better understand and aid the effects. "The BGS retains significant erosion datasets for location throughout the UK and possesses the capability to respond to coastal erosion events using a variety of techniques. These include dGPS survey terrestrial LiDAR scanning, in-field digital data capture and sediment analysis as well as desk based examination of historic coastal erosion rates from from resources such as arial photographs and historic maps and other published sources." (The British Geological Survey, UK Geohazard Note, 2012).

Resources

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.

The United Kingdom. British Geological Survey. Natural Environment Research Council. UK Geohazard Note. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Severe Weather in the United Kingdom

"Severe weather refers to events such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, mountain windstorms, heat waves and dust storms." (Keller, Edward A., DeVecchio, Duane E., Natural Hazards, 300). The United Kingdom may be safe from volcanoes and earthquakes, but in the last 100 years the worst weather the country has faced are heat waves, thunderstorms, blizzards, tornadoes and hurricanes. Since the country is pretty much a huge island, the coast lines can produce treacherous hurricanes and flatter landscapes can build up large amounts of water throughout the country. During winter, thunderstorms and blizzards create millions of dollars annually in damage to both the cities and towns that fill up the United Kingdoms population. Heat waves cause the most damage in the countries history, in the past 40 years 3 specific heat waves caused an excess of around 5000 deaths. "Scientists at the University of Bern found that not only was last year an exceptionally hot summer, but that in the past 10 years Europe has experienced the hottest summers since 1500 AD." (Sample, Ian, 2003 heatwave a record waiting to be broken, 2004) In 2003, effects from the heatwave caused a drought that killed crops, excessive fires scorched the lands and water reserves were all but dried up. 2000 people died from the heat alone, where temperatures reached a high of 101 degrees and similar heatwaves occurred in 1974 and again in 2015. Throughout the colder months, water seems to pour from the sky nonstop. In the past ten years alone floods have devastated the United Kingdom from winter storms and blizzards. In December of 2006, a tornado touched down in London only killing one person, but causing 10 million in damages. In October 2013, Hurricane force winds caused the deaths of 17 people and 500 million in damages, the highest recorded windspeed was 120mph. As one can see, the United Kingdom battles the forces of nature in there own way and just as much as other nations around the world. Due to advances in technology and the history of the country, forecasting and predicting severe weather in the future is becoming better and better. The people of the U.K. are well aware of the conditions their country can present and mitigation prepares the country for future events.

       Sample, Ian. "2003 heatwave a record waiting to be broken." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 05 Mar. 2004. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

       "List of natural disasters in Great Britain and Ireland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2017. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

       Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural hazards: earth's processes as hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.

Earthquakes

"...no earthquake in the UK area in historical times has exceeded a value of around 5.7 Mw." (Musson, Roger, The case for large (M >7) earthquakes felt in the UK in historical times) This is a quote then from a 2008 report looking into the United Kingdoms history of earthquakes. In reference, the highest magnitude earthquake ever recorded was 9.5 in Valdivia, Chile in 1960. 

The U.K. isn't known for its earthquakes, but that doesn't stop The British Geological Survey, which is a natural environment research council that has set up 100 seismograph stations across the U.K. They track about 100 earthquakes a year, 20% of which are actually felt by people. According to detection statistics, the U.K. may expect an earthquake with a magnitude of 3 every year, within 4 every 10 years and within 5 every 100 years. Although the United Kingdom hasn't felt a large earthquake in decades, preparation is always a consideration towards of an ever increasing population that could easily be affected if a large quake devastated a large inland city.

"Modern London has about 40 times as many people living in it and while a comparable earthquake would certainly not cause a disaster on an international scale, the level of shaking would come as an unpleasant shock in a country that tends to think of itself as immune from earthquakes." (British Geological Survey) Constant focus is spent on learning the locations and sizes of the seismic waves sent through the British Isles to prepare for the possibility of a third large scale quake on a more populated modern society. The best source of information for geologist in the U.K. to prevent disaster and prepare for this natural hazard is using the data they are currently collecting, the ever increasing progress of earthquake prevention technology and taking the events throughout history to prepare for the possibility of another high magnitude quake. Only through study and educating will the U.K. be ready for what is considered by many a non earthquake country, a mistake Haitians made in January 2010.

Sources

Are yesterday's earthquakes tomorrow's disasters? | British Geological Survey (BGS). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.quakes.bgs.ac.uk/research/yesterdaysearthquakes.html

Musson, R. (2009, January 6). The case for large (M >7) earthquakes felt in the UK in historical times - NERC Open Research Archive. Retrieved from http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/5356/

U.K. Safe and Sound

The United Kingdom doesn't have a long history of earthquakes, or any at all, because the the U.K. sits in the middle of the Eurasion Tectonic Plate.

Although, this country does have 50-60 earthquakes a year, the worst they get are only enough to crack windows or ruin a game of Jinga. This is because the faults below are are so far down and covered with such hard rock that they go unnoticed.

The worst earthquakes in the countries history include the more recent 1931 Dodger Bank Earthquake where a 6.1 quake hit off of the countries northern coastline toppling chimneys and older structures. One of the worst earthquake was the 1884 Colchester Quake that hit more towards the mainland and damaged around 1250 buildings and killed 4 to 5 people. Although, in 1580 what is known as the Dover Straights Earthquake measured closer to a magnitude of 6, but most of the information recorded involved individual testimonies and unsubstantiated data.

So, even though the country is safe and sound from earthquakes; floods, snow and heat are the worst this country has to deal with which is enough for any country to worry about.

Sources:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_in_Great_Britain_and_Ireland

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580014/Under-pressure-Why-we-get-earthquakes-in-Britain.html

Differences Between Hazards, Disasters and Catastrophes

A hazard can be considered natural like, a tornado, a earthquake, a tsunamis or a wild fire that can turn disastrous. These are events that happen in nature and can harm human life if their paths cross each other. A disaster is an event that completely disrupts communities and brings on economical and environmental aftereffects because of natural hazards. For example, recently on January 22, 2017, 62 tornadoes touched down from Texas to Georgia killing 19 people and a state of emergency has been issued throughout. Hurricane Katrina is considered the largest financial catastrophe in the U.S. causing at least $100 billion in damages and an estimated 1,800 fatalities. A catastrophe is is a disaster so large that maintenance can cost billions of dollars and years of recovery. The differences between disasters and catastrophes may be in scale, but learning to respect nature and its hazards is best for preparing for the worst outcomes.