NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

FLOOD

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry.

The European Union (EU) Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering
by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water",
the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide.

Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water bodies, such as

a river, lake, or ocean, in which the water overtops or breakslevees, resulting in
some of that water escaping its usual boundaries, or it may occur due to an
accumulation of rainwater on saturated ground in an areal flood. While the size
of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes
in precipitation and snow melt, these changes in size are unlikely to be
considered significant unless they flood property or drown domestic animals.

1
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Pictures of flood

Floods can also occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of
the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in thewaterway. Floods
often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood
plains of rivers.

2
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Cause of Flood
Flooding occurs most commonly from heavy rainfall when natural watercourses
do not have the capacity to convey excess water. However, floods are not
always caused by heavy rainfall. They can result from other phenomena,
particularly in coastal areas where inundation can be caused by a storm surge
associated with a tropical cyclone, a tsunami or a high tide coinciding with
higher than normal river levels. Dam failure, triggered for example by an
earthquake, will result in flooding of the downstream area, even in dry weather
conditions.

Riverine Flooding
While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and
other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers
because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy
travel and access to commerce and industry.

Some floods develop slowly, while others such as flash floods, can develop in just
a few minutes and without visible signs of rain. A flash flood is a
rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry
lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rainassociated with a severe
thunderstorm, hurricane, tropical storm, or meltwater from ice or snow flowing
over ice sheets or snowfields.. Flash floods are distinguished from regular floods
by a timescale of less than six hours

3
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

4
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Effect of Flooding

Floods can have devastating consequences and can have effects on the
economy, environment and people.

Economic
During floods (especially flash floods), roads, bridges, farms, houses and
automobiles are destroyed. People become homeless. Additionally, the
government deploys firemen, police and other emergency apparatuses to help
the affected. All these come at a heavy cost to people and the government. It
usually takes years for affected communities to be re-built and business to come
back to normalcy.

Environment
The environment also suffers when floods happen. Chemicals and other
hazardous substances end up in the water and eventually contaminate the
water bodies that floods end up in. In 2011, a huge tsunami hit Japan, and sea
water flooded a part of the coastline. The flooding caused massive leakage in
nuclear plants and has since caused high radiation in that area. Authorities in
Japan fear that Fukushima radiation levels are 18 times higher than even
thought.

Additionally, flooding causes kills animals, and others insects are introduced to
affected areas, distorting the natural balance of the ecosystem.

5
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

People and animals

Many people and animals have died in flash floods. Many more are injured and
others made homeless. Water supply and electricity are disrupted and people
struggle and suffer as a result. In addition to this, flooding brings a lot of diseases
and infections including military fever, pneumonic plague, dermatopathia and
dysentery.Sometimes insects and snakes make their ways to the area and cause
a lot of havoc.

6
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

However, there is also something good about floods, especially those that occur
in floodplains and farm fields. Floodwaters carry lots of nutrients that are
deposited in the plains. Farmers love such soils, as they are perfect for cultivating
some kinds of crops.

7
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

EARTH QUAKE
An earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by the sudden breaking and
movement of large sections (tectonic plates) of the earth's rocky outermost
crust. The edges of the tectonic plates are marked by faults (or fractures). Most
earthquakes occur along the fault lines when the plates slide past each other or
collide against each other.

The shifting masses send out shock waves that may be powerful enough to

 alter the surface of the Earth, thrusting up cliffs and opening great cracks
in the ground and

 cause great damage ... collapse of buildings and other man-made

structures, broken power and gas lines (and the consequent fire),
landslides, snow avalanches, tsunamis (giant sea waves) and volcanic
eruptions.

8
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Pictures of earth quake

An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the perceptible

shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy
in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can be violent
enough to toss people around and destroy whole cities. The seismicity or seismic
activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes
experienced over a period of time.

9
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Cause of Earthquake

Most earthquakes are causally related to compressional or tensional stresses

built up at the margins of the huge moving lithospheric plates that make up the
earth's surface (see lithosphere). The immediate cause of most shallow
earthquakes is the sudden release of stress along a fault, or fracture in the
earth's crust, resulting in movement of the opposing blocks of rock past one
another. These movements cause vibrations to pass through and around the
earth in wave form, just as ripples are generated when a pebble is dropped into
water. Volcanic eruptions, rockfalls, landslides, and explosions can also cause a
quake, but most of these are of only local extent. Shock waves from a powerful
earthquake can trigger smaller earthquakes in a distant location hundreds of
miles away if the geologic conditions are favorable.

10
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Effect of Earthquake

Earthquake environmental effects are the effects caused by an earthquake on

the natural environment, including surface faulting, tectonic
uplift and subsidence, tsunamis, soil liquefactions, ground
resonance, landslides and ground failure, either directly linked to the
earthquake source or provoked by the ground shaking. Both surface
deformation and faulting and shaking-related geological effects (e.g., soil
liquefaction, landslides) not only leave permanent imprints in the environment,
but also dramatically affect human structures. Moreover, underwater fault
ruptures and seismically-triggered landslides can generate destructive tsunami
waves.

Social impacts Economic impacts Environmental

impacts

Short-term People may be Shops and business The built landscape

(immediate) killed or injured. may be may be destroyed.
impacts Homes may be destroyed.Looting may Fires can spread
destroyed. take place. The due to gas pipe
Transport and damage to transport explosions. Fires can
communication and communication damage areas of
links may be links can make trade woodland.
disrupted. difficult. Landslides may
Water pipes occur. Tsunamismay
may burst and cause flooding in
water supplies coastal areas.
may be
contaminated.

Long-term Disease may The cost of rebuilding a

impacts spread. People settlement is high.
may have to be Investment in the area
re-housed, may be focused only
sometimes in on repairing the
refugee camps. damage caused by
the earthquake.
Income could be lost.

11
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

12
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

VOLCANEOS
A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below
the surface of the earth. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur. Gases and
rock shoot up through the opening and spill over or fill the air with lava
fragments. Eruptions can cause lateral blasts, lava flows, hot ash flows,
mudslides, avalanches, falling ash and floods. Volcano eruptions have been
known to knock down entire forests. An erupting volcano can trigger tsunamis,
flash floods, earthquakes, mudflows and rockfalls.

13
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Cause of Volcaneos

Volcanoes are formed when magma from within the Earth's upper mantle works
its way to the surface. At the surface, it erupts to form lava flows and ash
deposits. Over time as the volcano continues to erupt, it will get bigger and
bigger.

Scientists have categorized volcanoes into three main categories: active,

dormant, and extinct. An active volcano is one which has recently erupted and
there is a possibility that it may erupt soon. A dormant volcano is one which has
not erupted in a long time but there is a possibility it can erupt in the future. An
extinct volcano is one which has erupted thousands of years ago and there’s no
possibility of eruption.

14
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Why do volcanoes erupt?

The Earth's crust is made up of huge slabs called plates, which fit together like a
jigsaw puzzle. These plates sometimes move. The friction causes earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions near the edges of the plates. The theory that explains
this process is called plate tectonics.

There are more than 1500 active volcanoes on the Earth. We currently know of
80 or more which are under the oceans. The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area of
frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific
Ocean.
The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 50% of the world's active
and dormant volcanoes. Ninety percent of the world's earthquakes and 81% of
the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

15
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Effects of volcanoes

The destructive effects of an earthquake can be classified into primary and

secondary effects.

Primary effects are the immediate damage caused by the quake, such as
collapsing buildings, roads and bridges, which may kill many people. Those lucky
enough to survive can suffer badly from shock and panic

Secondary effects are the after-effects of the earthquake, such as fires, tsunami,
landslides and disease.

 Fire - earthquakes destroy gas pipes and electric cables, causing fires to
spread. Broken water mains prevent the Fires being extinguished. Fires
spread very quickly in cities, especially in poor-quality housing areas
where wooden buildings are common.
 Tsunamis - an earthquake on the sea floor or close to the coast may
cause huge waves.
 Landslides - earthquakes often cause landslides, especially in steep river
valleys and areas of weak rocks.
 Disease and famine - fresh water supplies are often cut off causing
typhoid and cholera. Lack of shelter and food causes much suffering.
 soil liquefaction when soils with a high water content are violently shaken
they lose their mechanical strength and behave like a fluid and so
buildings can literally sink.

16
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

17
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

Natural disasters is any catastrophic event that is caused by nature or the

natural processes of the earth. The severity of a disaster is measured in lives lost,
economic loss, and the ability of the population to rebuild.

All natural disasters cause loss in some way. Depending on the severity, lives can
be lost in any number of disasters. Falling buildings or trees, freezing to death,
being washed away, or heat stroke are just some of the deadly effects. Some
disasters cause more loss of life than others, and population density affects the
death count as well.

Flood- Natural disaster

Tornado- Natural disaster

18
 NATURAL DISASTER QALBI / 5 SUCCESS

The many natural disasters the world over, mankind has shown amazing
resilience. When an area or country is badly affected by a natural disaster, the
reaction is always one of solidarity and aid is quick to come. There are
organizations set up with the primary goal of being prepared for natural
disasters. These groups work on global and local scale rescue work.

It’s clear that natural disasters are a part of life as we know it. However, science
is making it more possible to predict, aid is faster at coming, and people are
learning how to rebuild in safer areas.

19