Heavy Snow in Northeastern United States Leaves 3 Million without Power

A news story video of the snowstorm to Northeastern United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM9appCOQTg
October, 30, 2011
A freak snowstorm in October hits northeastern U.S. leaving more than 3.2 million homes and businesses without power with 60 centimeters falling in some areas over the weekend. The storm caused major damage because many of the leaves are still on the trees thus catching a lot of the heavy and wet snow causing branches and trees to snap from the weight. The storm has also been blamed for the death of 11 people along with the shut down of roads, railways, and airline flights. The storm extended from Maine to Maryland and it is claimed that to restore the electricity could take several days. The storm broke record snowfall totals in October and it became even worse as it moved more north having communities in western Massachusetts being hit the worse. This type of storm isn't typical at this time of year in the are but an area of high pressure over southeastern Canada funneled cold air south into the U.S. and the cold air combined with the moisture coming from the North Carolina coast producing the devastating snow storm.
http://www.thestar.com/article/1078425--early-storm-deals-u-s-northeast-wet-heavy-snow-leaves-3-million-without-power-kills-9

Flood in Thailand Threatening Village with Dike Breakage

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/25/world/asia/thailand-flood/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
October 25, 2011
Early Tuesday morning residents of Munag Ake village in Thailand are urged to evacuate the area due to parts of  a dike located in Tambon Lak Hok, Muang District in the Pathum Thani province has broken and it is expected that a large amount of water will flow though the village. It's estimated that flood waters could reach about 5 feet. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged employers for the private and public sectors to allow time off for staff in affected areas. Flights have also been canceled in Bangkok's Don Muang airport due to flood waters reaching the airport. Government says that the flooding is the worst in the country in half a century and certain areas could require more than a month before the waters recede. Already 356 people have been killed by the flooding and about 9 million other people have been affected by it. This coming week more high tides are expected to cause river back up and more floodings. As of now the government has set up 1,700 shelters in the country and over 113, 000 people have taken refuge at these places. So far damages from the flooding is expected to cost up to $6 billion dollars, but this is predicted to rise and Thailand's important part of income, the tourism has been greatly affected by the disaster.

Rising Death Toll in Turkey Earthquake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHCASnI0eig
This is a video reported on CNN about the earthquake that occurred in Turkey.

10/24/2011
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 occurred in Turkey on Sunday injuring 350 people and killing at least 217 people. This has been the most powerful earthquake in more than a decade in to occur in the country.  About 20 aftershocks occurred in eastern Turkey in one of Turkey's poorest areas with the largest magnitude being 6.0. Rescue workers and residents in eastern Turkey are battling near freezing temperatures and darkness trying to go through the wreckage and search for survivors. The prime minister estimates that death toll is going to continue to rise as the rescuers are continuing to search for people trapped in the rubble.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/turkey-earthquake/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Extreme Fire Threat for New Mexico and West Texas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m67ZokFYl2A
Sept 6, 2011
This is a raw video from the Texas Parks and Wildlife on the wildfires burning up Bastrop State Park, two-thirds of the 6,000 acre park have burned up already

October 17, 2011
Strong winds, warmth and low humidity are all combining early this ween creating an extreme fire threat from parts of New Mexico and West parts of Texas. A cold front in the High Plains will bring wind gusts of 40-50 mph to this area and any fires already in existence and new fires will fan out from winds of  this magnitude. In places such as Lubbock, Texas, new record high temperatures could be set. High temperatures are set to climb 15 degrees above the normal temperatures in areas ahead of the cold front. with the very dry air, the relative humidity levels will drop below 20%, which doesn't help the already the bad drought conditions across Texas and the plenty of tinder dry grass and brush to help fuel the fires.

 http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/56442/extreme-fire-threat-grips-new-1.asp

New Zealand Crews Pump Oil from Ship Leaking Oil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW-tZKTX89Q
This is a video from the associated press about the oil spill that occurred off of the coast of New Zealand
October 14, 2011
It is estimated that 300 tons of heavy fuel oil has spilled from a cargo ship named Rena with a cracked hull off of the coast of New Zealand. The week before 10 tons were drained from the ship but bad weather forced a temporary suspension of the operation. Salvage are now looking to return to pump the remaining fuel and have installed equipment and platforms to provide a level base for the operation. Environmentalists are worried that there will be a major disaster for the wildlife if all 1,700 tons of oil and 200 tons of diesel spill into the ocean. An estimated 1,000 people including soldiers, wildlife experts and residents have come to help and in total it is estimated that some 3,000 people have volunteered to help. So far some 1,000 birds have died since the accident.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15305816

Many Malnourished Children in North Korea due to Flooding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtypFK9Nap8
October 6, 2011
Above is a video of the issue of malnourishment of children in North Korea. The Reuters AlertNet humanitarian news service shot the video in South Hwanghae, a farming province in the country's heartland.  This malnourishment is due to the major flooding and harsh winter that has occurred. The failed harvests have led to major food shortages in the country. The World Food Program has was that it only has 30% of the funding needed for relief to reach the 3.5 million of North Korea's most vulnerable people. It was estimated in March that a quarter of the countries 24 million inhabitants needed food aid and that one third of all the children were chronically malnourished. Seoul has abandoned their offer to provide emergency flood aid this week claiming that Pyongyang (the area affected) has not responded. There is some suspicion that Pyongyang could be hoarding crops to make sure there is enough food next year. The governing People's Committee has said that the harsh winter destroyed 65% of South Hwanghae's barley, wheat and potato crops. 80% of the maize harvest has been destroyed by flooding and typhoons.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/06/north-korea-malnourished-ophans-floods

Lab 4: Flooding in Cambodia Worst in 11 years

Cambodia has been experiencing flash floods since August with the occurrance of heavy rains and the flooding of the Mekong River, at least 150 people have been killed, worst since 2000 when 374 people were killed. Several dykes have broken along the Mekong River allowing for major flooding in the area on top of the already great amount of rain fall.

Engineering approach: A link looking at a meteorlogical map showing the amount of current precipitation based of of 24 hour precipitation totals in areas around the world could give an engineering approach for flooding using scientific weather forcasting. Looking at the current meteorlogical map of Cambodia, it is seen that there is still some precipitation in the area months after the significant amount of flooding and rainfall that has been occurring since August. The rainfall is measured using rain gauges placed to uniform height, measuring with up to an accuracy of 0.1mm or 0.01in.
http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Precipitation/Current.aspx
Another good link is the GDACS- the Global Flood Detection System which gives current information on flooding worldwide showing the areas affected by flooding. By selecting Cambodia as an area I can see the areas affected by flooding. There are also links on the side with information about the current flooding that is occurring.
http://www.gdacs.org/flooddetection/searchareas.aspx

Behavioural Approach: In a disaster such as a flood it is important to evacuate people quickly and make sure people at least have a short term warning and know about what is going to happen. Allowing for a system to get message across about a natural disaster that will be occurring will help with a better long term plan of avoiding areas prone to floods and gives a warning for it. HEWS or Humantitarian Early Warning Service gives a flooding monitoring page of floods going on more recently as well as in the past, listed by the date the flood has occurred. By clicking on a specific flood, it shows the start date, cause of storm and the estimated population within 60 km. This would be a good website to look at and see where floods are occurring to be able to stay away from certain sites, but since Cambodia is not a developed country it most likely does not have access to websites such as these to monitor floods in thier area.
http://hewsweb.org/floods/#
The Global Disaster Alert and Coordinate System gives a good analysis of the impact of the Cambodian flooding, as well as helpful maps that could help to understand the contributions of why the impact was so great. It has a population density map, which shows that the great amount of the populations are along the rivers, one in particular being the Mekong River which flooded greatly.
http://www.gdacs.org/reports.asp?eventType=FL&ID=2011_3853&country=Cambodia&location=0&system=asgard&alertlevel=Orange&glide_no=0

Developmental Approach:  Cambodia is a fairly poor country that has suffered greatly in disasters, such as flooding because they don't have enough sophisticated equipment and techniques to help prepare the people that are living here from flooding disasters. This makes them more vulnerable to disaster and the impacts are great. Cambodia has been suffering the worst from the Mekong flash floods in the last decade this most recent one has killed 150 people, destroyed 130,220 homes, affected 270,000 hectares of rice paddies, which is important economically. By not having the most accurate equipment, structures and protection from a flooding disasters, the impacts are heightened.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/03/c_131172904.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkdxUwUxJNQ
This video is of the flooding occurring in Siem Reap, Cambodia in September 2011 a month after heavy rainfall has been occurring since August. From the video footage it shows that the flooding is still pretty significant and also with the conditions of the town you can see it is not as developed of a country as say the United States.


Complexity Approach: Looking at all the different interactions  that could have caused the impact of the flooding in a poor country, such as Cambodia, there isn't much surprise that the flooding impacted them greatly. With the country not having a great amount of sophisticated equipment and techniques, it would be hard for local people to be able to monitor flooding in thier areas and be able to be more prepared for them. Also since the economy is pretty poor here, they won't have the most up to date structure that would help with an oncomng flood and protect important buildings. With the lack of equipment and  technologies, it would be hard make and organize warnings and evacuations for the area. The poorest of people located most likley on the areas most prone to flooding, would not have a warning to know to leave the area because a disaster is going to occur. The economy has played a major role in the impact of Cambodia and the floodign that has been going on since August. With the poor economy it is hard to put money towars long term planning for situations such as these and they still remain very vulnerable to disasters The relief for the flood victims in these poor areas need to go into effect so that it is known globally and a plan of action can occur. Currently Plan International is distributing relief kits to over a 1,000 familes affected. Plan Cambodia is working with the government to help with disaster management in the future. Overall there are many interactions that have helped to contribute to the outcome of the flooding and these were just some of the one's considered.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/plan-provides-relief-to-flood-hit-families-in-cambodia

59 Killed in Philippines in Back to Back Typhoons

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/ap/september/322140/2nd-typhoon-in-week-lashes-rainsoaked-Philippines

10/2/2011
Typhoon Nalgae slammed onto the northeastern province of Isabela in the Philippines October 1, 2011. It also came across the main island of Luzon leaving at least three people dead. This is one day after Typhoon Nesat killed 56 other people and left 28 missing in the same region. A day after Typhoon Nalgae rescuers delivered food and water to hundreds of people stuck on rooftops for days because of the flooding from the typhoons. Nalgae had winds up to 75 miles per hour with gusts of 93 mph. After the typhoons China's National Meteorological Center urges people in expected areas to be hit by the storms in the next 3 days on southern part of Hainan island and eastern Taiwan to stay indoors and cancel big assemblies. Nalgae caused a rock slide in northern mountain province of Bontoc in the Philippines, which killed one person in a van who was pinned to death from boulders coming down the mountain. Once Nesat was downgraded to a tropical storm, it headed towards Vietnam on Friday causing 20,000 people to be evacuated. President Benigno Aquino III ordered authorities to study how villagers and fisherman can be forced to follow storm warnings to help prevent future casualties. Damage on agriculture and infrastructure from the typhoons in the Philippines estimated $200 million dollars. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44747966/ns/weather/#.TokclnZOCKU