Help! Screamed the survivor underneath a pile of rubble as the hurricane rips through Visaya. The article “Philippines storm kills estimated 10,000 destruction hampers rescued effort” by Manuel Mogato and Rob Ng, from Philippines Suns, the storm Haiyan shred through the province of southern Philippines called Visaya, and destroying countless communities and engulfing survivors on mountains of concrete. Rescuers in Visaya are obstructed by the lack of infrastructure and equipment supply due to the destruction of the typhoon. In “Aid slow to reach Colombian town” by Bradley Graham, Washington Post, Graham discusses the obstacles provide aid to victim to Armero tragedy. The Red Cross had a tough time moving through the muddy terrain and rescuing survivors trapped alive under quicksand-like mud. In both situation, the rescuers were ill-equipped and had a tough time navigating the terrain, but Colombian victims experience a much more difficult tragedy as some have to accept death, and being abandoned by the rescuers.
Whoever was still alive after that devastating emergency was trapped und...
There are many areas of the world where the most basic needs like clean drinking water, proper sanitation and medical care are just not available. When disaster strikes, the people living in these already disadvantaged areas are thrust into situations where death is almost always imminent. Reach Out WorldWide (“ROWW”) was started by a group of 6 men in California. They flew to Haiti and volunteered to help in whatever way they could after a massive earthquake devastated the country on January 12, 2010. While working in Haiti as medical aid volunteers, the group recognized the need for skilled people, supplies and urgency for a faster response when natural disasters strike.
Hurricane Katrina was a major travesty to the gulf coast; high winds took down buildings, large rain flooded streets and buildings that still stood. Weeks after the hit of Katrina the media would show images of SOS signs on roof tops, civilians waist high in filthy flood water guiding rescue boats to survivors, and of pets needing help. Because of this there were many health issues that would arise and need rectifying to the good of the people. With any disaster as large as this one there are many health issues that have to be taken under control: Displacement, drinking water, growing viruses, emotional state of survivors or toxic contamination (Public Health News Center). The health problem in regards to the displacement of civilians that had to leave their homes is where will they sleep, what will they eat, and also how are they dealing with the disaster. And the most critical issue with thousands of displaced civilians is having access to clean drinking water (Kellogg Schwab, PhD, co-director of the Center for Water and Health.
October of 1998 marked one of the most historical moments of Honduran history, the occurrence of Hurricane Mitch. It has been one of the deadliest storms in Central America since two centuries before it. A total of approximately two million people were directly affected by the storm (Fuentes 2). This only accounted for the human toll. Due to the inconvenience of Honduras geography, the probability of natural storms and natural catastrophes were relatively high. And within days, the landscape of Honduras was reshaped by the massive storm. As much as 50 cubic inches of water poured (Fuentes 1) in the obvious disaster location in the coastal lowlands. The mountainous highlands contributed as much damage, aggravating the rainfall effects with several
Hurricane Hugo was a tragic natural disaster that completely altered the lives of many people affected by it. In 1989, the year I was born, my parents and I lived on an oceanfront lot in Myrtle Beach. When Hugo struck, most of the city was flooded, with some areas under twenty five inches of water. A clear evacuation plan was presented, which most of the city’s residents followed, traveling north to Greenville. When we returned to our house, we found nothing but rubble and debris piled up in twelve inches of salt water. The President flew to the areas affected by Hugo to view the devastation, and immediately gr...
On January 12, 2010, while vacationing in Santo Domingo, DR. Tragedy hit and my strong foundation no longer stood. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 shook and uprooted homes, places of business and my sense of peace. After hearing news of the earthquake, I rush to Port-au-Prince to check on my family. I was reassured that my family was secured and had no life threatening injuries, but the same was not said to my grandparent’s neighbor. Their neighbor suffered from a head injury and deep laceratio...
Having investigated the case studies of two natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina & Typhoon Haiyan, I have noticed that MEDCs and LEDCs respond much differently to a certain situation. Katrina and Haiyan both happened in countries with contrasting levels of economic development, therefore reacting much differently to the circumstances. In this essay, I will be discussing the various reasons to why LEDCs and MEDCs behave in such a contradictory manner.
On September 21st, Puerto Rico was hit by hurricane Maria. This was their strongest hurricane since 1932, there are 10 confirmed deaths. Officials believe there are probably others they haven't yet been able to confirm. The storm knocked out 100 percent of the island's power and 95 percent of its wireless cell sites, leaving the 3.4 million American citizens living on the island without electricity and leaving them no way to communicate with their families. Puerto Rico's government says that they can up to six months without power, that's means leaving them with no electricity, no water, and no food Nelson Rodriguez, a Gulf Express employee said "It took everything. All the medicine in the pharmacy, all the food, it's gone."
There is no doubt that human activity is having a significant impact on our environment. These environmental impacts include depleting our natural resources, air and water pollution, climate change, destruction of habitats, and loss of biodiversity. Because of these growing concerns, we need to learn how to live sustainably. Living sustainably will allow us to conserve our limited resources more wisely so they will be available for future generations (Withgott & Brennan, 2011, Chapter 1).
Picture this, you laying on top of you car as you are being violently slung down your street, which was once dry and calm and is now wet and foreign, at an extremely rapid pace. You can’t find your family and all you can do is hope that they haven’t drowned and are able to stay afloat against the violent waters that are angrily attempting to destroy everything in its path. You look around the weather is gray and it’s raining heavily. It is a struggle to breathe between the rapid rain and the violent waters which are attempting to pull you under, forever. Your house no longer exists it is broken down from the pounding waters and fast winds. That is exactly what it would be like if you were in the midst of a hurricane. After hurricanes are over the confusion is crazy, children who had loving families are now orphaned, people become homeless, and people miss certain joys such as walking due to becoming paralyzed.
...ral disaster safety and relief efforts. Today, many organization have been created to aid the victims in areas that have been pounded by hurricanes and other nasty natural disasters like the Red Cross Association and UNICEF. Both groups collect funds for, distribute supplies to, and send out volunteers to the broken areas pleading for someone to rescue them from tragedies. Thanks to organizations that are apart of relief efforts many lives have been spared and cities have been rebuilt. As far as safety precautions, weather and news channels provide constant coverage and warnings for any storms that are within the area, houses are built to within severe weather, and disaster kits are even sold in stores all across the nation. It is important that we take these storms seriously and make an honest effort to keep not only the citizens safe but our environment as well.
Rainforests, should we cut them down or not? Probably one of the biggest questions the world has to overcome. Sure, rainforests supply us with a lot of resources and we could surely not live without cutting some of them down, but should we be cutting them down at the rate we are? To be exact, the statistic estimates 1.5 acres of natural rainforests are being destroyed every second. While this practise supplies us with resources like timber for furniture, it also reduces the amount of oxygen supply.
ATTENTION GETTER: Every day, I see the effects of pollution. From the trash that’s thrown into bushes to the murky lakes to the smog-filled skies, these are examples of the negative human impact on the environment.
Segal, Jen. "UPDATE: Global Impact Charities Provide Aid After Typhoon Haiyan | Global Impact | `Helping People in Need."Global Impact. N.p., 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2013.
Having just returned from a trip to Haiti, seeing immense suffering, it leaves one a bit perplexed. How in just a 1 1/2 hour flight from Miami can a people exist in such incredible need & suffering? The purpose of my trip was to teach on Conflict Management in
Florida has to contend with the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Hurricane Andrew swept through southern Florida in August 1992, just south of Miami, leaving 41 people dead, making more than 200,000 homeless, and doing about $20 billion worth of property damage. In August 1995 Hurricane Erin crossed Florida along the same path, then turned and swept through the panhandle, causing an estimated $360 million in damage. The panhandle was pounded again later in 1995 by Hurricane Opal, which caused damage of $2.1 billion. A series of tornadoes hit the central part of the state in February 1998, claiming 42 lives. That is just one case in particular. All over the world the same story happens over and over. What is so sad is that in the 3rd world countries, there is little to no protection and many more lives are lost. Such as in 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, killing between 5,600 and 7,000 people. It also swept away 70 percent of their crops and cost billions of dollars to put the nation back together.