Fall 2018: Natural Hazards and Disasters

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Natural Hazards and Disasters

Courses: OEAS 250N (CRN 17463); class 3 credits; and OEAS 250N (CRN 17470), lab 1 credit
Course title: Natural Hazards and Disasters
Instructor: Dr. Hans-Peter Plag
Term: Fall 2018, August 28 - December 12, 2018
Time: Tuesdays, 4:20 PM - 7:00 PM (class)
  Tuesdays, 7:10 PM - 8:00 PM (lab)
Location: SRC 1000
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00 PM and on request.

Midterm preparation and Develop Case Study 2 (Geohazards)

Lab 6 Slides.

Midterm exam preparation

In the midterm, all questions will relate to three specific hazardous events. Specific examples of an extraterrestrial hazard, an earthquake, and a volcanic eruption will be discussed. The events are :

  • Extraterrestrial: Carrington Event in 1859
  • Earthquake: April and May 2015, Nepal
  • Volcanic Eruption: 2010 Iceland

The Midterm exam will ask questions related to the hazards, the resulting disasters and the processes that determined the extent of the disasters. Questions in the Midterm exam will relate to:

  • the hazard: general description of the type, the specific event;
  • the disaster: extent of damage and lives lost;
  • cascading impacts;
  • the specific reasons for the extent of the disaster;
  • particulars of the risk management cycle, in particular: risk assessment prior to the event, early warning; impact mitigation, and recovery;
  • potential impacts of similar events in the future.

The Lab slides provide some details on the hazards, and the reading list below provides material to study.

Study Case 2

The second study case will focus on a geohazard of your choice, that occurred in the past. Geohazards include earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic eruptions, ground instabilities, and sink holes. Details on the study case requirements and format are available here and also on the Lab slides.

Lab Reading List

Extraterrestrial Hazards

Wikipedia, 2018. Solar Storm of 1859. html

Phillips, T., 2014. Near Miss: The Solar Superstorm of July 2012. NASA. html.

Lovett, R. A., 2011. What If the Biggest Solar Storm on Record Happened Today? National Geographic News, html.

Lloyd's, 2013. Solar storm Risk to the north American electric grid. Technical Report produced by Lloyd’s. pdf or pdf.

Earthquakes

Rafferty, J. P., 2016. Nepal earthquake of 2015. Encyclopaedia Britannica, html.

Wikipedia, 2017. April 2015 Nepal Earthquake. html

Wikipedia, 2017. May 2015 Nepal Earthquake. html

Wyss, M., 2005. Human losses expected in Himalayan earthquakes. Nat. Hazards, 34, 305-314.

Wyss, M., 2017. Four loss estimates for the Gorkha M7.8 earthquake, 25 April 2015, before and after it occurred. Natural Hazards, Special Issue, doi:10.1007/s11069-016-2648-7.

Volcanic Eruptions

Wikipedia, 2017. 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. html.

Wikipedia, 2017. Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption. html.

Wikipedia, 2017. Volcanic ash and aviation safety. html

Loughlin, S., n.d. Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Iceland | April/May 2010. British Geological Survey. html.

Sears, T. M.; Thomas, G. E.; Carboni, E.; Smith, A. J. A.; Grainger, R. G. (2013). "SO2 as a possible proxy for volcanic ash in aviation hazard avoidance". Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 18: 1–12. doi:10.1002/jgrd.50505

Shindell, D, 2009. NASA GISS: Science Briefs: Super-Eruptions, Climate and Human Survival. html, doi:10.1029/2008JD011652.

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