"What are hazardous Environments and how can hazards be classified?"

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“What are hazardous Environments and how can hazards be classified?”

When you think about hazards, a number could be named, like volcanoes, hurricanes etc. And that you could tell that they exist all over the world. In fact, a hazard is only classed a hazard if it affects the interests of human life in any way. Be it more direct, for example a tsunami affecting the lives of human, or a hurricane, that leads to damage of property.

        One of the well-known hazardous environments is that surrounding an active volcano. These possess the power to terminate human life and also cause damage to property and other issues surrounding human existence, therefore it is classed as one of the major hazard areas on Earth.  Volcanoes form on the edges of tectonic plates, which exist all over the globe. The following diagram shows the location of the major tectonic plates.

        

Deep under the Earth’s Crust, is where the Mantle is found; this is a body of solid rock. When the Mantle melts due to high pressures and temperatures it finds its way up to the surface through weaknesses in the Earth’s Crust. A lot of gas build-up occurs as the molten Mantle rock (also known as Magma) nears the surface. Along the edges of each tectonic plate, volcanoes are formed as a result of weaknesses at these points. Iceland (labelled dark red) is an example of a country that has a number of active volcanoes, as you can see, Iceland is located in between the Eurasian and North America Plates, making it prone to Volcanoes. The most active volcano in Iceland is “Hekla”. It has been active for centuries and shows no sign of becoming inactive at any time, with the most recent eruption in 1991.

Although the area surrounding mount Hekla isn’t densely inhabited, it has the potential to do real damage.         

An example of a volcano that did affect humans has been documented throughout history. The city of Pompeii, Italy, was situated in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, a violent and active volcano. Around 2 million people lived within the radius of the volcano, of which their lives was devastated due to the catastrophic eruption of 79 A.D. A series of earthquakes struck the area prior to the initial eruption. As this happened in primitive times, many buildings were totally destroyed, as they had no mechanisms to protect structures. So even before the volcano had erupted, damage to human interests had taken place.  These earthquakes took place a few years before the historical eruption, and people thought the worst had passed and so rebuilt the destroyed buildings, little did they know, worse was to come.  On the day of the eruption in 79, hot cinders and pumice rock fell down over the surrounding areas of Vesuvius, damaging boats harbouring in the bay of Naples, and showering over the settlements of Herculaneum and Pompeii, damaging property and people as it caused fires and burns. As fire shot out of the summit of Vesuvius vast showers of ashes covered everywhere, burying many people and properties. Many found it impossible to flee the area, as the waves of the ocean were too violent. The vast majority of the population of Pompeii were trapped within their houses as the ashes fell and prevented escape. Pompeii was soon covered, lost and forgot about it, as it was buried below the layers of ashes. It wasn’t until the 16th century when local diggers came across some artefacts of Pompeii.  This dreadful example of the power of hazards to human life is only one of many hazards that exist that have and remain to threaten us as a race.

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         Another type of natural hazard and also related to tectonics are Earthquakes. These are caused by the plates either rubbing parallel against each other, or pushing into one another. The energy stored up underneath the Earth’s crust is released causing a movement in the plates as the energy is transferred into earthquake waves.

These waves travel for miles and can cause considerable damage to buildings and eventually human life. One such earthquake occurred in 1995 in the city of Kobe, Japan. As Japan is situated on the edge of the Eurasian Plate, ...

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