Pacific Ring of Fire

Mount St. Helen's is an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range in Skamania County, Washington and is part of the Ring of Fire centered around the Pacific Ocean. Mount St. Helen's was created when the oceanic Jean de Fuca plate subducted beneath the North American Plate and has a long history of eruptive periods followed lengthy dormancies. Her volcanic activity was marked by thousands of years of lava and pyroclastic flows only to fall silent and then reawaken to begin her destructive cycle…

On January 17th 1994, at 4:31am, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, killing more than 60, injuring more than 9,000, and causing widespread damage (Taylor, 2014). With the vast amount of damage, loss of life, and injuries it is easy to understand how the local and state responders would have quickly been overwhelmed in their response measures. This is the exact sort of emergency that the Stafford Act was developed for. According to (Hunter, 2009),…

reptile. There are some endangered species as well including the California Condor, the Bald Eagle, and the Bighorn Sheep. Number Seven: Unique Growth Methods of the Sequoia One of the factors that contributes to these trees being so resistant to fire and living such fantastically long lives, is the way they grow. While other trees bend or curve, sequoias grow up perfectly vertical. Number Six: Native American Settlements It's been proven that Native Americans such as the Western…

The earthquake of 1906 was a horribly destructive and stunning event. It was described by people that were there, some of them described it in books. One of these books in the novel Dragonwings, where a character named Moonshadow feels the ground twist and turn between his feet. There are also articles found that explain the natural phenomena of the terrible earthquake that occurred on April 18, 1906. The name of one remarkable article that gives many facts is called “Web Resource”. Though…

San Francisco – The Bay Area was shaken to its core Monday morning when an earthquake struck around 7:12 a.m. with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4. One San Francisco resident was awakened that morning not by the quake, but by a chunk of cement flying through his kitchen. Michael Beamer said he was eating breakfast before the earthquake began, and when it did he ducked and covered under his kitchen table. “I was eating my breakfast and the room started rolling. I dove under the table just as I…

The collapse of the Cypress Street Viaduct in 1989 was a disaster caused by an earthquake. On October 17, 1989 an earth quake occurred around the Santa Cruz bay area. The Cypress Street Viaduct was the first double-decker viaduct in California and it was made in 1955 – 1957 and it cost 100 million dollars. On October 17, 1989, the southern portion of the structure collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, due to ground movement and structural flaws. When in use, the upper and lower tier…

Seismologist with the United States Geological Survey are usually the first to arrive in volcanic areas, to predict volcanoes eruptions and to alert people so they can get evacuated safely. One problem with the predictions is that the size and direction can’t be predicted. With the new technology and equipment, it's becoming easier to predict volcano eruptions correctly. In 1991 Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted causing many tribes to evacuate their homes. Researchers from the…

Disaster can be defined as a sudden event such as flooding’s, road accidents or natural catastrophe that cause loss of life or great damage. Earthquake is the seismic event where the earth surface shakes.On 16th September 2015 an 8.4 Richter scale hit Chilean city of Coquimbo. Where two hundred boats were destroyed and thirteen people died, the 8.4 Richter scale earthquake was the strongest earthquake to hit Chile this year. Another earthquake hit .while another earthquake hit central Nepal on…

Jonathan Apgar Intro to Systems John Small 21 November 2017 Cypress Viaduct Failure Inquiry At 5:08 pm the Point Loma earthquake begins. Within seconds the cypress viaduct begins to vibrate. This is due to the bay clay on which it is built which intensifies the vibrations. The upper deck is insufficiently secured to the lower deck and the areas near the shear keys begin to degrade. As concrete begins to fall away the resonant frequencies cause these weak points (columns with shear keys) to fail…

Many of those who live in central Italy near L’Aquila were greatly impacted by the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that shook the entire town and surrounding areas in 2009. After this, many of the residents in these areas took comfort in the idea that it happened once, and it wouldn 't happen again. But when houses began to shake at 3:36 A.M. on August 24th, 2016 disaster struck once again. Though this earthquake was not as large as the previous one, the magnitude 6.2 was followed by almost 200…