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Showing posts with the label climate change

Pakistan Floods - August 2022

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 The Guardian newspaper reports in this article that over 1,000 lives have been lost and 33 million people have been displaced and injured since June. The number of people, reported by the National Disaster Management Authority (Pakistan) , that died on Sunday was 119 and from Friday to Saturday was 45 people. Daily Mail The cause of this loss of life and damage is thought to be climate change with other contributing factors such as "the vulnerability of the poor citizens, steep mountainous slopes in some regions, the unexpected destruction of embankments and dams, and some natural climate variation." Pakistan has had an unbroken cycle of monsoon rains for eight weeks and has left a lot of infrastructural damage and a third of the country is under water. It has been  reported , by the additional deputy commissioner of Swat, that roads over 130 kilometres (80 miles) had been damaged and 15 bridges were completely destroyed as the flood wreaked havoc and more than 100 houses a...

Climate Change News - May 2022 Update

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Taken from The Guardian Weekly 27/5/2022 May sees record-breaking temperatures of over 40C In Spain, parts of the country experienced the high temperatures of over 40 degrees Centigrade, it also brought hot dry air and dusty air from North Africa. Seville airport reached 41 degrees, Jaen in Andalucia got to 40.3 degrees. In August 2021, Montoro in Andalucia reached 47.4 degrees Centigrade  ( Lesson Thumbnail - Hot Weather Hot Clipart - Png Download (#1460025) - PinClipart ) Taken from The Guardian Weekly 22/4/2022 " Restraint of global heating is possible if all measures taken For the first time, the world is in a position to limit global warming below 2 degrees centigrade, according to the first in-depth analysis of the net zero pledges made by nations at the UN COP26 climate summit in December.  Before these pledges, a temperature rise above 2 degrees centigrade was almost inevitable, bringing more severe effects for billions of people.  Now it is more likely that the p...

An example of a tropical storm - Cyclone Megi - Reported 22/4/2022

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 Taken from an article in The Guardian Weekly  " Storm Megi kills 148 with many missing feared dead .  The death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to the 148 last week with scores missing and feared dead, official said, as rescuers dug up more bodies with bare hands and backhoes in crushed villages.  Most of the deaths from tropical storm Megi - the strongest to hit the archipelago this year - were in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities.  Megi, which made landfall on 11th April with sustained winds of up to 65 kph and gusts of upto 80 kph, has since dissipated.  The disaster-prone region is regularly ravaged by storms with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of human-driven climate change." Video of Tropical Storm Megi - cyclone Megi Questions to be asked: Would the landslides have been less worse if there had been less deforestation (removal...

The Challenge of Natural Hazards - Defining the Natural Hazard

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 Natural hazards are sudden, severe events that make the natural environment difficult to manage. They are natural processes of the planet (be it atmospheric , flooding  or geological ) but since they disrupt human life  and have huge economic  and social impacts they become natural hazards .  Atmospheric hazards include: Blizzards, Droughts, Heatwaves, Lightning & Tornadoes.  Flooding hazards include: Glacial bursts & Storm Surges  Geological hazards include: Earthquakes, Landslides, Sink Holes & Volcanic Eruptions Atmospheric combined with Flooding include: Snow Storms, Thunder Storms & Tropical Storms Flooding combined with Geological include:  Avalanches & Tsunamis Geological combined with Atmospheric include: Ash or Pyroclastic Clouds Hazards that combine Atmospheric , Flooding and Geological are mud flows or lahars Hazard risk = the chance of being affected by a natural hazard e.g. the residents of New Orlean...