Oso Landslide Disasters

Kathryn Schulz has provided insight of the dangers of the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the lack of our countries preparedness. Seismologist has detected and proven probability of an enormous earthquake and/or tsunami that is over due to take place along the western coast line and yet the lack of preparedness is evident. Thousands of lives will be lost due to unpreparedness.

Introduction. On 06 January 2005, a cargo train carrying a massive amount of chlorine spilled in Graniteville, South Carolina creating panic and indeed chaos to both citizens and emergency managers on how to properly respond to the hazardous materials released from the train wreckage. The people of the small rural town of Graniteville located just outside of Aiken, South Carolina, where caught in their sleep when Freight train 192 traveling approximately 47 mph struck other consignments spilling a dangerous amount of chlorine gas into the atmosphere. As a result of this disaster, 5,400 individuals were evacuated from their homes whiling causing nine death. The magnitude of such disaster was one that would change any town or city forever.

Three years ago, what I thought was only supposed to be any other November night, turned into a blizzard that made headlines all over Northwest Kansas, specifically affecting Colby and Atwood, leaving us with over 20 inches of thick, heavy snow (Newton). It piled up against houses, and blocked roads. The snow fell fast and it fell

After some 3 million gallons of toxic mine water spilled into this big, western river, the economic costs are being tallied by farmers, fly fishing shops, and bankers. Politicians are pointing fingers at each other. It is no accident that federal and Colorado officials have tried to put the best face on disaster. The former actually triggered the incident and the latter have a tourist season to save.

Many a time the hazards that loom on the horizon present a striking and beautiful view. As humans, people cannot live their lives in fear of things they have no control over. Local communities plus the federal government, and global nations can prepare for disasters, create emergency supply kits and organize family emergency plans. Regional parks near volcanoes can keep lake and reservoir water levels low to mitigate mudslides and avalanches. But no matter what one may do to prepare for disasters, they will happen, and nothing can keep one from occurring. The residents of the area surrounding Mt. St. Helens must understand that the volcano still poses a threat and it could erupt at any

On November 18, 1978, one of the most tragic catastrophes took place. Taking place in the vast jungles of Guyana, the act of “revolutionary suicide” was undertaken by the people of Jonestown. Killing 918 people, over which 200 were children, this event held the title for being the largest single loss of American civil life in a non-natural disaster for the next 23 years. (ADST, 2017)

Over one hundred and twenty five years ago one of the most powerful, disastrous, and devastating snowstorms hit the United States with a deadly vengeance. This particular storm was called by a couple of different names such as “The Murderous Blizzard of 1888” and The School Children’s Blizzard”. No matter which name it is referred as, the results after the storm were gravely unimaginable. Without warning this storm killed over five hundred people mostly children. This life changing, painstaking day would hunt families for years to come. This day in history showed a normal routine of chores being done while school children went off to school, a shift in weather, the blizzard, and life after the blizzard.

The key geological features played a significant role in creating Waimanalo. Waimanalo was formed by a catastrophic landslide from the Nuuanu Pali all the way down to the coast and to the ending of Makapu`u. Under the water lay debris and material from this landslide. In the 1960’s, the US Navy first found out about this information by a single-beam sonar surveying a utilized improved radio navigation system. In the 1980’s, a multibeam side-scan sonar, GLORIA, imaged in unprecedented detail known landslides, and also discovered new ones. Then finally, came the JAMESTEC multibeam profiler which surveys and utilized GPS navigation, produced detailed maps of the entire landslide for the first time.

This article discusses an incident that happened outside of Fargo, North Dakota in 1955. On June 12, a grain elevator that was being steadily filled for the first time collapsed. The collapse was not due to a weakness in the structure itself, but the weakness of the soil upon which it was built.

A swarming number of 30 earthquakes have happened in less than 19 hours, weather.com reports. Two earthquakes happened within 30 seconds of each other. The first had a magnitude of 4.7, and the second had a magnitude of 4.8. All 30 earthquakes have happened in the state of Oklahoma. Home to Oklahoma City, Fairview, and other highly populated cities. The earthquakes were felt as far as the eastern Texas panhandle, Kansas, Wichita, and many other near places around the map. What is so crazy about this certain event is that there were only 42 earthquakes TOTAL in Oklahoma in 2010. Within 19 hours, Oklahoma has managed to almost reach the number. According to USA Today, the state has hit 70 earthquakes in a week. Oklahoma is home to huge gas and

Interoperability was a struggle for my agency during the Oso landslide of 2014.. Governance was at the singular level with no outside commination among the levels of government and the standard operating procedures were outdated. Even fire/EMS were not cohesive with law enforcement in the same city. Having to deal with the issues of interoperability was a huge struggle during the incident from coordination of resources to communications. After the incident was over my agency worked with the city and its many departments to help create a streamline system of communication and collaboration of resources. The incident both hurt and helped the city In terms of growing.

1). Landslides are likely to occur in downtown Schenectady by Broadway Avenue and Nott Terrance street area because it is a hillslope that is going through a wet phase. It also has an oversteepened slope, therefore the landslide is set up to fall. Three historic landslides that occurred in Schenectady are the 1996 Tel Oil Landslide, the Broadway remediation landslide in 2005 and the Barney Street landslide that occurred in January 2018. Tel Oil was a gas station located between Broadway and I-890. Heavy precipitation and snowmelt triggered a landslide to occur, resulting in one death. The 2005 Broadway remediation landslide occured as a result of a multi-million dollar remediation of a failing hillslope. A mix of high precipitation and cutting of the toe on the hillslope triggered the landslide. Most recently, in January 2018, a landslide occurred on Barney Street from a leaky pipe, that oversteepened the top. It is hazardous for landslides to occur in this area due to its location in a populous

The Pacific NorthWest are bound to have natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. For example japan, Japan sits at the intersection of three continental plates. The Eurasian,Pacific, and Philippines. Which, these plates are rubbing together causing hard friction, resulting in an earthquake. Tsunamis are a reaction from an earthquake, when earthquakes occur they shake the sea floor causing tsunamis. And floods are caused when the pacific overflows its natural banks. In 2011, Japan was experiencing several earthquakes a week. It became so common citizens began to stop paying them any attention, and started laughing them off just like Chris Goldfinger. However, these laughed at earthquakes were just foreshocks from “The Big One”.

The extent of damages and repairs over a year expressed by The Seattle Times (1999), "At the most intense moments, the ground in Aldercrest moved from six inches to one foot a day during a two-month period. A hillside fissure that early on measured less than a foot high is now a cliff estimated to be 120 feet high." (Davila, 1999) According to the city data (n/a ) there is one medical center, one college, 13 schools (public and private k-12), 33 radio stations, and 6 broadcast stations around this danger zone (most of these establishments would not been physically harmed) however access would have been. (City-Data, n/a) The safety of the community and surrounding areas in some way are affected by this one hill side.

In the U.S. alone, the average annual cost to repair damage caused by earthquakes is $4.4 billion USD. The worldwide figure is much larger than this but unquantifiable due to poorer countries unable to accurately determine the amount of damage that occurred. Year after year the cost of damages barely fluctuates from these ridiculously high figures and money must be pumped into repairing the damage done. Although a lot is being learnt about earthquakes and the fact that humans are now normally able to be alerted in time to evacuate the area the earthquake will affect, there have been no breakthroughs into reducing the amount of damage earthquakes cause to buildings and infrastructures.