A disaster is a hazardous event that occurs over a limited time span within a defined area. According to our book, Natural Disasters, the criteria for a natural disaster are 10 or more people are killed, 100 or more people are affected, a state of emergency is declared, and international assistance is requested. A hazard is a natural process and event that is a potential threat to human life and property. While learning about all the natural hazards, the two main priority hazards would be earthquakes and sinkholes. I would choose these because out of all the other hazards, they have the most occurrence and can be the most dangerous.
Portugal is located on the Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian plate has a boundary to the south, against the African plate, that is a convergent. A convergent plate boundary is a tectonic boundary where two plates are moving toward each other. If the two plates are of equal density, they usually push up against each other, forming a mountain chain. If they are of unequal density, one plate usually sinks beneath the other in a subduction zone. Portugal's seismicity is depending on where you are located in the region. The seismicity of the Portuguese territory increases in intensity from north to south, with a spatial distribution concentrated in the south and its adjacent Atlantic margins. The seismicity in the adjacent Atlantic region is very intense as a consequence of the proximity of the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates. I found that Portugal has frequent small earthquakes, but have experienced one catastrophe. This presents a risk of another big earthquake happening again.
Earthquakes may cause household items to become dangerous projectiles; cause buildings to move off foundations or collapse, damage utilities, roads and structures such as bridges and dams, or cause fires and explosions. I would recommend that people to come up with a family emergency communication plan, put together safety kits, and have every building in my country designed to be earthquake-proof, meaning no buildings will collapse. Safety kits can include supplies such as non-perishable food, water supply, and battery operated lights and a power generator, because after a disaster you never know how long your electricity can get cut off. Earthquakes may also trigger landslides, avalanches, and tsunamis. To prevent fires due to electrical malfunctions, I would recommend more regulation standards for electrical installations in all infrasturtcure throughout the country.
To address the hazard, the people of the country should be educated on all of the information needed to prepare for such a disaster and to help aide them in the recovery process if an earthquake shall occur. Portugal uses geographic information systems, technical models, and satellite data time series to prepare for potential risks related to climate change. I would recommend the people of the country have the best devices to predict an earthquake with a sufficient amount of time to get everything in order, before the disaster occurs.
Another main hazard in Portugal are sinkholes. There are many soil problems in the country. Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Portugal has 213 hydro metrical, 153 climatological, and 482 udometric monitoring stations. This coverage is considered adequate. The capacity for the assessment of soil and land degradation is rated poor, as there are only 2 data collection stations.
To try and mitigate the hazard, I would address the issue by making it more known that these things can occur at any time. Natural sinkholes will continue to open up, but we can prevent some human-caused subsidence associated with the mining of groundwater or pumping of oil and gas. We can also try to prevent human-caused sinkholes by regulating mining. This is possible because we can try to prevent mining in urban areas, which will ultimately minimize subsidence and soil volume change.
I would build my house in the northern, inland part of Portugal because it has the least seismic activity. The more critical source of concern is the Lower Tagus Valley region, which could produce a magnitude 6 to 7 earthquake with a return period as short as 150 to 200 years. This is where I would target help first. This seismic source zone, with its proximity to Lisbon, the large number of old masonry buildings and a fraction of reinforced concrete frames designed with limited lateral resistance, presents the most significant potential for large loss earthquakes in Portugal.
http://geology.com/plate-tectonics.shtml http://geology.com/nsta/divergent-plate-boundaries.shtml
http://srl.geoscienceworld.org/content/87/3/743
https://www.oecd.org/sti/outlook/e-outlook/stipolicyprofiles/newchallenges/technologytomanagenaturaldisastersandcatastrophes.htm
http://www.air-worldwide.com/Publications/AIR-Currents/From-1755-to-Today—Reassessing-Lisbon’s-Earthquake-Risk/
Portugal is located on the Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian plate has a boundary to the south, against the African plate, that is a convergent. A convergent plate boundary is a tectonic boundary where two plates are moving toward each other. If the two plates are of equal density, they usually push up against each other, forming a mountain chain. If they are of unequal density, one plate usually sinks beneath the other in a subduction zone. Portugal's seismicity is depending on where you are located in the region. The seismicity of the Portuguese territory increases in intensity from north to south, with a spatial distribution concentrated in the south and its adjacent Atlantic margins. The seismicity in the adjacent Atlantic region is very intense as a consequence of the proximity of the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates. I found that Portugal has frequent small earthquakes, but have experienced one catastrophe. This presents a risk of another big earthquake happening again.
Earthquakes may cause household items to become dangerous projectiles; cause buildings to move off foundations or collapse, damage utilities, roads and structures such as bridges and dams, or cause fires and explosions. I would recommend that people to come up with a family emergency communication plan, put together safety kits, and have every building in my country designed to be earthquake-proof, meaning no buildings will collapse. Safety kits can include supplies such as non-perishable food, water supply, and battery operated lights and a power generator, because after a disaster you never know how long your electricity can get cut off. Earthquakes may also trigger landslides, avalanches, and tsunamis. To prevent fires due to electrical malfunctions, I would recommend more regulation standards for electrical installations in all infrasturtcure throughout the country.
To address the hazard, the people of the country should be educated on all of the information needed to prepare for such a disaster and to help aide them in the recovery process if an earthquake shall occur. Portugal uses geographic information systems, technical models, and satellite data time series to prepare for potential risks related to climate change. I would recommend the people of the country have the best devices to predict an earthquake with a sufficient amount of time to get everything in order, before the disaster occurs.
Another main hazard in Portugal are sinkholes. There are many soil problems in the country. Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Portugal has 213 hydro metrical, 153 climatological, and 482 udometric monitoring stations. This coverage is considered adequate. The capacity for the assessment of soil and land degradation is rated poor, as there are only 2 data collection stations.
To try and mitigate the hazard, I would address the issue by making it more known that these things can occur at any time. Natural sinkholes will continue to open up, but we can prevent some human-caused subsidence associated with the mining of groundwater or pumping of oil and gas. We can also try to prevent human-caused sinkholes by regulating mining. This is possible because we can try to prevent mining in urban areas, which will ultimately minimize subsidence and soil volume change.
I would build my house in the northern, inland part of Portugal because it has the least seismic activity. The more critical source of concern is the Lower Tagus Valley region, which could produce a magnitude 6 to 7 earthquake with a return period as short as 150 to 200 years. This is where I would target help first. This seismic source zone, with its proximity to Lisbon, the large number of old masonry buildings and a fraction of reinforced concrete frames designed with limited lateral resistance, presents the most significant potential for large loss earthquakes in Portugal.
http://geology.com/plate-tectonics.shtml http://geology.com/nsta/divergent-plate-boundaries.shtml
http://srl.geoscienceworld.org/content/87/3/743
https://www.oecd.org/sti/outlook/e-outlook/stipolicyprofiles/newchallenges/technologytomanagenaturaldisastersandcatastrophes.htm
http://www.air-worldwide.com/Publications/AIR-Currents/From-1755-to-Today—Reassessing-Lisbon’s-Earthquake-Risk/
That is a ton of monitoring stations! Education about the dangers you discussed is crucial to preventing loss of live and minimal damage in these extreme events. Thank you for telling me where the safest place is for you to build a home. Not that I would ever get to build a house there but still good to know.
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