Natural Disasters
Flood How it happens? •A flood is the occupation by the water of areas that are usually free of it, by overflowing rivers, torrents or flows , by torrential rains, melting, by rising tides above the usual level, by tsunamis, hurricanes, between others. •Natural causes: •Meteorological: like rain. •For river overflow: as a consequence of an increase in its flow due to rain. In these will be very important the type and distribution of rainfall, intensity, orography, vegetation, soil type of the basin and the river itself, including hydraulic works on it. • By floods: that is to say the accumulation of water by an intense precipitation. In this case, the status of the drainage network and the presence of infrastructures that are easily susceptible to flooding, such as basements or underpasses, are very important.
•A poor infiltration of the land: that is, the water has difficulty being absorbed by the land, and it accumulates. The bad infiltration of the ground can be due to different factors such as that it is already saturated or that the soil is impermeable. For example, asphalt is more waterproof than grass, resulting in increased water accumulation. • An adverse weather situation: such as intense rainfall over a short period of time, snow melting, a long rainy period or wind making it difficult to drain rivers into the sea. • A malfunction of hydraulic infrastructures: such as reservoirs or drainage networks. • Buildings or town planning activities: of another type near rivers or places where, on occasion, water may circulate. •No weather: as by thawing or by invasion of the sea.
How to prevent? 1. Do not throw rubbish, debris or rubbish into the bed of rivers and streams, as these do not let the water flow freely and can generate damming and flooding. 2. Do not throw rubbish in the streets when it rains. These debris clogs the sewers of the water collectors and can generate flooding on the roads and affect your home. 3. Do not take garbage out to the street at times when it will not be picked up by cleaning companies. 4. Make proper management of rainwater and wastewater in your home and at community level. 5. Check obstructions on wells, drains and other structures that prevent drainage of rainwater, as well as raising sewer levels.
6. Report on the changes that may present rivers and streams as odor, color or increase and decrease of water flow and report to 123 and 116 of the Aqueduct. 7. If you live in areas near rivers or streams, be aware of the alerts declared by the authorities and plan how you will protect your family and property. 8. Organize with your neighbors maintenance campaigns and review of the ravine, which allow you to detect areas obstructed by material or garbage. 9. Do not discharge rainwater on the slope and steep slopes. 10. Do not throw rubbish or debris into sloping soils. These can cause water to seep out and destabilize the terrain.
Forest Fire •
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How it happens? Forest fires are caused by the fire that burns the vegetation of a particular forest area. They can be natural or provoked. Among the first are those caused by meteorological phenomena, such as lightning, the absence of rainfall and heat. How to prevent? Do not throw cigarette butts or matches on the floor. Any spark or flame can cause a fire. Do not throw away pieces of glass, bottles, debris or any combustible material that could cause a fire. Do not light bonfires. Do not enter cars or motorcycles in areas where there are dry bushes. Contact of the exhaust pipe with the scrub can create a fire.
•If you find remains of fires, turn them off with water and earth and do not leave the embers until you stop smoking. •If you notice suspicious situations involving pyromaniacs, report them. •Call your city's emergency telephone number as soon as you see a pillar of smoke or suspect a firestorm, specifying the location. •Observe the direction of the fire and provide an escape outlet. •Stay away from the direction of the wind. •In the mountains, run down. The fire tends to rise. •Do not cross the flames if you do not see them clearly. If necessary, moisten the clothes beforehand and protect your head with a damp cloth. •If the fire surrounds you, place yourself on the ground already burned.
• If the flames are nearby and you can not flee, lie on the ground and cover as much of your body with dirt as possible. • If you are driving with your vehicle through a burned area, close the windows and turn on the lights. If you see the danger increasing, come back.
Desertification How it happens? • Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, such as climatic variations and human activitiesIt is caused by a variety of factors, such as through climate change and through overexploitation of soil through human activity. How to prevent? • Combating desertification: Activities that are part of a sustainable and integrated use of dry, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands and whose purpose is: Prevention or reduction of land degradation, Rehabilitation of partially degraded land.
The recovery of desertified lands.
•Drought: A phenomenon that occurs naturally when rains have been considerably below normal levels recorded, causing an acute water imbalance that harms the systems of production of land resources. •Mitigation of the effects of drought: Activities related to drought forecasting and aimed at reducing the vulnerability of society and natural systems to drought as it relates to combating desertification. •Land: A terrestrial bio-productive system comprising the soil, vegetation, other components of the biota and the ecological and hydrological processes that are developed within the system.
• Land degradation: Reduction or loss of biological or economic productivity and the complexity of rainfed agricultural land, irrigated arable land or meadows, grasslands, forests and woodlands, caused in arid areas, Semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, by land use systems or by a process or combination of processes, including those resulting from human activities and patterns of settlement, such as: Soil erosion caused by wind or water, Deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological properties or economic properties of the soil, and The lasting loss of natural vegetation.
• Arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas: Those areas where the ratio of annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration is between 0.05 and 0.65, excluding the polar and sub-polar regions. • Areas affected: Arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas affected or threatened by desertification.
Iceberg How it happens? • These frozen masses that are mainly found in the Antarctic have clear origin: They are formed when the glaciers reach the sea. When they reach enough depth they begin to float and, accompanied by great thunders, they separate from the mass of ice. Also the natural ice shelves of the Antarctic continent can be their origin.
How to prevent?
• Change course.. • Put the engine in reverse and move the rudder a few degrees to port or starboard.
Earthquake How it happens?
•The point of origin of an earthquake is called a focus or hypocenter. The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface directly above the hypocenter. Depending on its intensity and origin, an earthquake can cause shifts of the earth's crust, landslides, tsunamis or volcanic activity. To measure the energy released by an earthquake are used various scales, among them, the Richter scale is the best known and used by the media.
How to prevent? •The SCIGN system: There is a method to prevent earthquakes that helps to minimize the risks and, above all, helps to prepare the population for an earthquake. This is the SCIGN system that monitors the movement of tectonic plates using the global positioning system (GPS). •Seismic sliding plate (SSP) •It is a special shock absorber. This unique device acts as a spring between the ground and the construction, which gives flexibility to the entire structure and is able to greatly reduce the consequences of an earthquake. •Shock absorber magnet •It is a revolutionary earthquake prevention method that is still in full development. It consists of a complex mechanism in which an amount of fluid is converted from liquid to solid by an electromagnetic effect.
Hurricane How it happens? • Tormentas acumuladas: Los huracanes se forman cuando una serie de tormentas eléctricas se acumulan y se desplazan sobre aguas oceánicas cálidas. 1. Elevación: El aire cálido de la tormenta y de la superficie oceánica se combinan y comienzan a elevarse. Esto genera baja presión en la superficie del océano. 2. Giro: Los vientos que circulan en direcciones opuestas hacen que la tormenta comience a girar. La elevación del aire cálido hace que la presión disminuya a mayor altitud. 3. Baja presión: El aire se eleva cada vez más rápido para llenar este espacio de baja presión, atrayendo a su vez más aire cálido de la superficie del mar y absorbiendo aire más frío y seco hacia abajo.
4. Velocidad: A medida que la tormenta se va desplazando sobre el océano, va absorbiendo más aire húmedo y cálido. La velocidad del viento aumenta a medida que el aire va siendo chupado por el centro de baja presión. 5. Ojo: Los huracanes están formados por un ojo o centro de vientos calmos rodeados de una banda nubosa de fuertes vientos y tormentas con pesadas precipitaciones.
How to prevent? • Make a family emergency plan. • Prepare a first aid kit. • Have canned foods prepared and purified or boiled water in capped containers. • Place the important documents in plastic bags. • Make a telephone directory with family numbers, schools, emergency services, security and Civil Protection. • Clean the roof, drains, channels and drains.
• Keep a battery radio on for information and instructions from official sources. • From inside your house, protect glass and crystals with tape placed in the form of "X" and run the curtains. Large windows can be covered with boards that withstand strong winds. • Consider the probability of evacuating your home if you consider it unstable. • Cut branches from trees that could come off and cause damage. • Have warm or waterproof clothing on hand.
Tornado How it happens?
• It is the result of the confluence of two masses of air of different temperature and humidity, with warm air in the lower layers and cold in the upper ones. • It can have a width from a few meters to almost a kilometer in the zone of contact with the ground. • They move quickly and their winds can reach speeds of 400 km per hour. • The average trajectory of a tornado is about 400 meters wide and a few kilometers long.
•Some of these have reached exceptional values of 1.6 km wide and 480 km long. •Most tornadoes rotate counterclockwise. •Deep-sea tornadoes, called sea thrusts, are weaker and occur very often in tropical waters.
How to prevent? • Get ready for a tornado by stockpiling emergency supplies such as food, water, medicine, batteries, flashlights, important documents, road maps, and a tank full of gas. • When a tornado approaches, everyone in your path should take refuge indoors, preferably in a basement or in an interior room or hallway on the ground floor. • Avoid windows and protect yourself as much as possible by placing yourself under large, solid furniture. • Avoid cars and caravans, which offer virtually no protection against tornadoes. • If you are surprised at the outdoors, lie in some depression of the ground or in low places and wait for the storm to pass.
Volcanic Eruption How it happens?
• A volcanic eruption is a violent emission on the Earth's surface of materials from the interior of the volcano. Except for geysers emitting hot water, and mud volcanoes, whose largely organic matter comes from relatively near-surface hydrocarbon deposits, terrestrial eruptions are due to volcanoes.
How to prevent? • Establish an evacuation route, away from rivers and streams and possible shelters. • Let us inform the local authorities or 9-1-1 of any anomaly or observation about the behavior of the volcano. • Do not get carried away by false rumors of unauthorized people. • With family members, prepare the briefcase for emergencies, with non-perishable foods, radio, bulletins, personal documents, medicines and nose shields.
• Locate temporary shelters, evacuation routes and safe areas in your community. • Let's respect the sites declared dangerous. • Let's consult the Municipal and Local Emergency Committees, about the evacuation system and animal shelter centers.
Drought
How it happens? • The main cause of all droughts is the lack of rainfall or precipitation, this phenomenon is called a meteorological drought and if it persists, it results in a hydrological drought characterized by the inequality between the natural availability of water and the natural demands of water.
How to prevent? • Use better and more efficiently existing water reserves. • Develop new sources of supply and use practices to increase resources. • Store surface water in specially constructed reservoirs. • Use underground reservoirs and water transfers or exchanges between basins, or within a basin. • Minimize runoff, drainage, and evaporation losses.
• Adapt to changes in climate and availability of resources. • Avoid contamination of water sources and deforestation.
• Analyze previous drought experiences: anticipate occurrence, using predictions and data analysis, researching the frequency and duration of droughts in the past, and making forecasts and alerting the community to better preparedness To such phenomena. • Rationally use resources. • Increase the use of practices such as: planting trees, streamlining water, reusing elements, recycling and reducing waste, saving energy, among others.
Glacier
How it happens? • A glacier is a thick mass of ice that originates on the Earth's surface by accumulation, compaction and recrystallization of snow, showing evidence of flow in the past or today. Its existence is possible when the annual precipitation of snow exceeds evaporated in summer, reason why the majority is in zones near the poles, although they exist in other zones, in mountains. The process of growth and establishment of the glacier is called glaciation.
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How to prevent? 1. WATER: Consume the just. 2. WASTE: More than half are recyclable. 3. FOOD: Reduces the consumption of red meats. 4. ENERGY: Do not consume more than necessary 5. TRANSPORTATION: the use of the private vehicle