Natural Disasters in Beijing, China
The purpose of this paper is to explore the natural hazards experienced in Beijing. When researching Beijing, I noticed there was a lot of information on a few different kinds of hazards that occur frequently. These hazards are caused by Beijing’s natural climate which is described as a monsoon climate. This climate creates frequently occurring droughts, sandstorms, and a very rainy summer. In this paper I will discuss Beijing’s natural climate and the natural disasters that occur within the city.
Climate
Beijing has very predictable seasons and a climate which is described as a continental monsoon climate. This climate is due to the East Asian Monsoon which is defined as a monsoonal flow that carries moist air from the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean into East Asia. This particular monsoonal flow is characterized by a warm and rainy summer and a cold and dry winter ("East Asian Monsoon"). In the diagram below from NC State University you can see how a monsoon climate operates.
In Beijing specifically the summers are approximately from June thru September and are hot, humid, and wet. Most of the rainfall occurs in July and August and accounts of approximately 75% of the annual rainfall ("Beijing Climate/Weather"). Autumn is considered the best season of the year with pleasant weather and the best air quality of the year. Autumn is a short season which is from September through October, and is often referred to as the ‘golden season’. Winter is a much longer season running from early November through March and is described as cold and dry. There is very little snowfall in Beijing causing frequent droughts. The spring runs from early April until the end of May making it another very ...
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China economy has been falling for many years. Part of this downfall is lack of clean water. You know this, but know one in this world can’t live without water ,so that means water is very important. Climate change, Industrialization, and Government policy all contribute to the chinese water crisis. Of these, the biggest driver is the government policy. The government in China has a strict policy that does not allow the people to have water because China is not using enough money for their water.
And for some final evidence “In addition the melting could cause massive flooding followed by severe drought.” (Doc A) I believe this because, Of China had flooding followed by drought, it would not only cause major destruction, but would also cause almost all agriculture in China to diminish, as well as put China ’s flourishing economy to be put on hold. However this is a huge issue the biggest is saved for
Hembreee, Brandon. "Southwest Could See Continuation of Drought." Southwest Farm Press 40.3 17 January 2013: 1-7. Web.
China has had Water-Scarcity for several years now.China is suffering majorly from the water shortages in China, North China in particular. Many of the bodies of water are running low but especially the three main rivers Yellow,Yangtze, And pearl rivers, which may cause their rank in industrial powers to fall. In order to stop the water shortages China is building something designed to move water each year from southern to northern China. This shows many actions are being pushed to save water throughout China.There are three main causes of China’s water scarcity crisis this includes, Global Warming,China’s changing population, and Different industries using all the water to power the Country. Of these, the biggest driver is the power industries have over the water supply.
The rise in temperature is having a significant impact on levels of rainfall, which in turn effects water run-off. Satellite observations since 1987 have shown that, as global temperatures have increased, global mean precipitation has increased in parallel at a rate of 7.4 ± 2.6% per ◦C ...
Topping, Audrey Ronning. Environmental controversy over the Three Gorges Dam. Earth Times News Service. Website location: http://www.earthtimes.org/chinanov11.htm
Rinat, Zafrir. "Israel Finds Secret to Water Conservation: Drought Tax." Haaretz.com. Haaretz Daily Newspaper, 30 May 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Natural Disasters can occur anywhere at anytime. Some are more predictable than others, but they all bring hardship to everyone’s life. Examples of natural disasters are Earthquakes (Haiti 2010), Tornadoes, Tsunami, Hurricanes, Wild Fires, Winter Storms, Heat waves, Mudslides and Floods. Regardless of what kind of disaster occurs, bottom line, everyone needs to be prepared mentally and physically to deal with the aftermath. Education is the first step to prepare you to deal with any major disaster. Three of the major disasters that can potentially disrupt normal day to day operations in our lives, are Hurricanes, Tsunamis and Tornadoes.
The BBC's Jeremy Cooke reports: “rain and drought: UK’s two autumn” 24th October 2011 last updated in 19:17pm – retrieved 24th October 2011.
unveils landmark urbanization plan - Xinhua | English.news.cn. N.p., 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. .
Onishi, N. & Wollan, M. (2014, January 17). Severe drought grows worse in california. The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/as-californias-drought-deepens-a-sense-of-dread-grows.html?_r=0
“For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature (Druyan).” According to Fox, Drought came also be seen as a slow- motion train wreck. We still have a very short time to get the people off safely before the crash. This drought is causing long dry period in regions were rain fall is usually frequent enough. From there this drought is turning to more like a famine because the area in drought is so huge and is causing much conflict for the survival of the people (2011). These areas include Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya.
(2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Drought - a fact sheet. Retrieved from: http://www.ifad.org/lrkm/factsheet/cc.pdf The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007).
This paper examines the factors that led to the climate change and environmental threat particularly air pollution and also identifies the roles of the Chinese government in resolving the environmental crisis. Every single day, globalization is keeping moving forward and makes human unpredictable what will happen in the future include human security. As in the case of climate change, as the same thing occurred to human security threats because they related each other. The rapid in industrialization, the gradually growth of economics and the globalization in China contributing to the factors of environmental crisis and climate change to their society. Consequently, these transformations gave the negative impact on human security which is in economically, domestically, agriculturally and the most important thing is the health of human. Therefore, those issues will be challenges to the policy makers of the Chinese government to identify the suitable policy to implement and also find a way to confront these issues as a responds to the resolving the environmental crisis and climate change.
Cherain, T., Unni, K., and Sophie, L. 2010. China – India water shortage. Bloomberg News. http://www.grailresearch.com/pdf/ContenPodsPdf/Water-The_India_Story.pdf (accessed November 1, 2010).