the difference between the old Emergency Broadcast System and the Emergency Alert System?
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), created in 1964 to warn the country of a national emergency such as nuclear attack, became the Emergency Alert Service (EAS) in 1997. The old EBS system relied on one primary radio station in each region to receive an emergency message and then broadcast it to the public and other media outlets. The new system, which also includes cable television, operates via computer and can be automatically and immediately broadcast to the public. It also allows additional local governmental agencies the opportunity to broadcast emergency messages. Future plans for the EAS include radios and televisions that will automatically turn on when an alert is announced.
What is the leading cause of disaster-related deaths in the United States?
Lightning is the leading cause of disaster-related deaths in America. From 1940 to 1981, about 7,700 people died from lightning strikes, 5,300 from tornadoes, 4,500 from floods, and 2,000 from hurricanes. So, it’s best to avoid open spaces, elevated groundwater, tall, metal objects, and metal fences during an electrical storm. In an analysis of eight years of data from 2006 to 2013 by experts at the National Weather Service of the NOAA, fishermen accounted for three times the number of deaths from lightning strikes than golfers. About 261 people were killed by lightning during this period, roughly three per year.
What is the best way to help after a disaster?
Disaster relief agencies such as the Red Cross are in vital need of money after a disaster to purchase necessary items for victims or provide financial support to them. Go online or call your local chapter of the Red Cross to find out how to help. Donating food or clothing is burdensome on the agencies in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, as personnel are not available to sort, clean, or distribute donated goods.
How did a map help stop the spread of cholera?
During an 1854 cholera outbreak in London, a physician named John Snow mapped the distribution of cholera deaths. His map showed that there was a high concentration of deaths in an area surrounding one specific water pump (water had to be hand-pumped and carried in buckets at the time). When the handle was taken off of the water pump, the number of cholera deaths plummeted. When it was determined that cholera could be spread through water, future epidemics were curbed. This was the beginning of medical geography.
What are incidence maps?
Researchers at such institutions as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) use incidence maps, which plot where and how people have been infected or exposed to such potentially harmful viruses as influenza, Ebola virus, West Nile virus, and HIV in order to understand the rate of transmission as related to geography. An incidence map may help scientists figure out the origin of a disease and where and how quickly it is spreading. Global incidence maps are of increasing importance in the fight against potentially harmful biological disasters.
How does medical geography help control the spread of diseases?
Medical geographers and epidemiologists (scientists who study diseases and epidemics) use mapping to monitor the spread of diseases and locate the source of a disease. For example, by mapping a group of inordinately high numbers of cancer patients in a city, we may find that all live close to a factory that has been releasing cancer-causing toxins into the groundwater. By identifying the source and spread of a disease, the disease can often be combated. Organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention use maps to describe the outbreak of such diseases as Ebola and to determine quarantine areas and where to focus treatment efforts.
Which natural disasters doesn’t southern California experience?
Urban southern California is plagued by many natural disasters, including earthquakes, wildfires, floods, landslides, and tornadoes. Thankfully, they rarely receive snowstorms or hurricanes.
What causes wildfires to occur?
Approximately 10% of all wildfires are caused by lightning that ignites material and forms a wildfire. Experts at the U.S. Park Service assert that the remaining 90% of all wildfires are started by human activity, like campfires, the burning of trash, discarded cigarettes, and arson.
How can I learn more about disasters in my town?
Each community should have its own disaster plan that includes a history of past disasters (those that have happened in the past are likely to occur in the future) along with plans for dealing with future disasters. You should be able to consult this plan to learn how your community would cope with disaster and to find out the locations of evacuation routes and shelters. Many communities place important disaster-planning information online for easy reference.
How are volcanoes formed?
Volcanoes are the result of magma rising or being pushed to the surface of the Earth. Hot liquid magma, which is located under the surface of the Earth, rises through cracks and weak sections of rock. The mountain surrounding a volcano is formed by lava (called magma until it arrives at the Earth’s surface) that cools and hardens, making the volcano taller, wider, or both.
What is the difference between magma and lava?
Magma is hot, liquefied rock that lies underneath the surface of the Earth. When magma erupts or flows from a volcano onto the Earth’s surface, it becomes lava. There is no difference in substance; only the name changes.
What is the Ring of Fire?
If you were to look at a map of the world’s major earthquakes and volcanoes, you would notice a pattern circling the Pacific Ocean. This dense accumulation of earthquakes and volcanoes is known as the Ring of Fire. The ring is due to plate tectonics and the merger of the Pacific Plate with other surrounding plates, which creates faults and seismic activity (especially Alaska, Japan, Oceania, and coastal North and South America), along with volcanic mountain ranges, such as the Cascades of the U.S. Pacific Northwest and the Andes of South America.
The Ring of Fire encircles the Pacific Ocean with volcanic and earthquake activity.
How many active volcanoes are there in the world?
There are about 1,500 potentially active volcanoes around the world, but the number often depends on how we define active. Experts at the National Geographic Society consider approximately 1,900 volcanoes on Earth to be active, with evidence of activity and a strong likelihood to explode again. Most are located in the Ring of Fire surrounding the Pacific Ocean. About one-tenth of the world’s active volcanoes are located in the United States. A volcano is considered active if it has erupted in the last 10,000 years. If you were to consider how many volcanoes may be at the bottom of the sea floor, there could be many thousands more.
What are some of the world’s most active volcanoes, in terms of numbers of years of eruptions?
The volcanoes that have been active the most number of years include Mt. Etna in Italy (3,500 years), Mt. Stromboli in Italy (2,000 years), and Mt. Yasur in Vanuatu (800 years).
How many active volcanoes are located in Europe?
There are more than sixty active volcanoes in Europe and more than forty dormant ones, many of which are located in Italy, Sicily, and Greece.
Which
