Essay Example about Natural Disasters and Their Impacts

The phenomena that influence the occurrence of natural disasters include earthquakes, volcanoes, and Tsunamis. The impacts of earthquake include collapse of buildings, deaths, and property damage. Earthquakes also cause tsunami (Bolt, Horn, MacDonald, & Scott, 2013). On the other hand, the explosion of volcano may cause destruction due to the collapse of the rock or blast of the volcano. It also leads to the formation of lava which damage buildings, flora and fauna (ColeDai, 2010). Besides, the eruption of a volcano cause earthquakes, mudslides, fast floods and rock falls. Tsunami results in an increase in water levels, thus, create extreme flooding. Flooding destroys property and human life.

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How These Disasters are monitored through the Internet

Natural disasters are monitored using remote sensing. Remote sensing is used to identify and measure an object without direct contact (Kaneda et al.,. 2015). It is a dominant tool and an essential technique for application in the geologic study, land supervision, atmosphere, meteorology, land use and investigative purposes. The information collected from these devices is analyzed to monitor these hazards.

Parts of the World that are potentially affected by these Phenomena

Many countries throughout the world are vulnerable to these natural disasters. The countries that are potentially affected by earthquake include India, Indonesia, China, Japan, Pakistan, South America, Peru, Iran and Solomon Island. On the other hand, Tsunami potentially affects Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Maldives, Somalia and Myanmar (Prejean & Haney, 2014). Besides, Volcano occurs in countries like North America, South America, Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Spain, Iceland, Greece and Mexico.

Resources allocated towards monitoring these Resources

The first tool is seismic monitoring that is used in earthquake evaluation to minimize property loss and human life. In the US, National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) has developed the United States Geological Survey (USGS) stations to prevent or solve earthquake-related problems (Bolt, Horn, MacDonald, & Scott, 2013). USGS provides Regional Seismograph Network (RSN's) and United State National Seismograph Network (USNSN) to monitor the earthquake. Innovative seismic sensors are also initiated in these networks to monitor and manage earthquakes (Prejean & Haney, 2014).

In the case of the volcano, techniques such as remote sensing, geophysical measurements, ground deformation, seismic monitoring, and hydrology are applied (Prejean & Haney, 2014). These tools offer practical information about risks found in volcanoes. USGS introduced a GSN to take care of tsunamis. This instrument employs the seismic method to discover and monitor tsunamis.

Web Resources that Monitor Natural Disasters and Provide Updated information about them

Internet websites such as www.tsunami.noaa.gov and walrus.wr.usgs.gov are used to monitor the phenomena mentioned above. These websites provide detailed and updated information about the natural disasters.

Technology Involved in Monitoring the Phenomena

Remote sensing method has advanced in national disaster monitoring. It included global climate observing system, object identification and satellite remote sensing (Bolt, Horn, MacDonald, & Scott, 2013).

Political Ramification that the disaster-preparedness technology would cause between more developed and less-developed countries

Developed nations are always more prepared than developing countries in disaster management. However, this does not mean that the less-developed nations have no resources for disaster management. These countries may have both positive and negative political ramifications during disaster management. Positively, the countries may have similar ideas regarding the solution to the issues. As such, they can work together and help each other deal with the challenge. In contrast, the negative side comes about when the countries have different idea and plans. When this happens, the less-developed countries may be disadvantaged due to their unlimited resources in risk management.

Kinds of Issues this technology could cause among less-developed countries

The technology used can lead to financial constraints, unavailability of advanced tools, lack of invention of new techniques, limited resources and political issues.

How this Technology would directly impact the economies of the countries with technology versus those without technology

Nations that can afford this technology will use it. By doing so, they can reduce the effects of the natural disasters. Minimizing the impact of these disasters such as loss of property, and lives improve the economy. However, countries without this technology could liaise with the countries that have it. This implies that the country in need of the resources must pay some exportation fee (Loayza, Olaberria, Rigolini, & Christiaensen, 2012). This act affects the country's economy. Nonetheless, if the nation decides not to apply the technology, then, more property damage and loss of lives will be witnessed. These challenges also result in economic decline. Also, any country that lacks the technology can develop it. The implementation of this mechanism also affects the economy since much money is required to make it successful.

Prediction of the indirect impact and the current evidence that supports the position

One prediction is global warming. Global warming has indirect consequences on life. For instance, it increases the composition of carbon (ii) oxide in the atmosphere (Zoback & Gorelick, 2012). The increase of this gas will boost the organic system hence, fertilizing crops.

Types of Systems in Place in terms of Disaster preparedness related to these monitored phenomena

In terms of disaster preparedness, some countries such as the US have implemented remote sensing system. Numerous techniques such as seismic network that consists of UNSN, GSN and RSN are also put in place.

References

Bolt, B. A., Horn, W. L., MacDonald, G. A., & Scott, R. F. (2013). Geological Hazards: Earthquakes-tsunamis-volcanoes-avalanches-landslides-floods. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.

ColeDai, J. (2010). Volcanoes and climate. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Climate Change, 1(6), 824-839.

Kaneda, Y., Kawaguchi, K. A., Matsumoto, H., Nakamura, T., Kamiya, S., & Takahashi, N. (2015). Development and application of an advanced ocean floor network system for megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis. In Seafloor observatories In Seafloor observatories. Berlin: Springer.

Loayza, N. V., Olaberria, E., Rigolini, J., & Christiaensen, L. (2012). Natural disasters and growth: Going beyond the averages. World Development, 40(7), 1317-1336.

Prejean, S. G., & Haney, M. M. (2014). Shaking up volcanoes. Science, 345(6192), 39-39.

Zoback, M. D., & Gorelick, S. M. (2012). Earthquake triggering and large-scale geologic storage of carbon dioxide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(26), 10164-10168.