Living in Bangladesh, we have seen quite disastrous mudslides from the past few years. Mudslide is also called a landslide or a land slip. It is a downward mass movement of earth or rock on unstable slopes, including many forms resulting from differences in rock structure, coherence of material involved, degree of slope, amount of included water, extent of natural or artificial undercutting at the base of the slope, relative rate of movement, and relative quantity of material involved. There are numerous facts that can cause a mudslide and there are also numerous effects that it can cause us.
Mudslides usually occur in hilly areas, for an example, when there was a mudslide in Bangladesh few months back, it occurred at Chittagong. Mudslides occur when a portion of a hill side becomes too weak to hold up its own weight. This is generally caused by an intense amount of rain fall. With all of the new water introduced into the slope the content of liquid makes it so heavy that gravity pulls it downward. Although water plays a major factor in creating the mud that flows in a mudslide the real reason that the land begins to slide is gravity. What happens is mudslides redistribute soil and sediments in a process that can be in abrupt collapses or in slow gradual slides.
Some other factors in causing mudslides are earthquakes, slope failures, heavy storms. All of the natural causes of mudslides are not nearly as bad as the human made causes such as grading terrain cutting, and excessive development. Over development especially in hilly areas can cause mudslides that are dangerous.
Hundreds of people die each year from the effects of mudslides. Health hazards are one of the main effects of mudslides. Rapid moving water and wreckage lead to trauma for the sufferers. Clogged drainages can also cause spread of diseases. Broken electrical, water, gas, and sewage lines can result in injury or illness.
Environmental hazards arise as well from hazardous materials and waste. Hazardous materials concerns could arise from spills of gasoline, diesel fuel, oil, or solvents from containers or vehicles. Spills could contaminate soils or leach into ground or surface water. And environmental hazards could adversely affect humans, wild life, vegetation and water supply.
Electrical hazards could include vegetation or equipment fires, electrical burns, or electrocutions to humans or animals. Electrical hazards could take place anywhere near energized conductors or facilities.
The Johnstown Flood killed over 20,000 innocent people lost their lives because of the terrifying flood. The flood was one of the deadliest floods in Johnstown. Poor Johnstown got whipped out from the tremendous flood. This flood came roaring down from the dam that had broke down. The poor dam couldn't hold all the water so it broke down.
Tsunamis caused by the Earthquake leads to flooding along the coastal environment. This damages any homes. Flooding caused new lakes or sag ponds on the land. Increasing groundwater flow from springs and displacing stream channel. ("Flood Consequences")
Environmental risks and hazards provide the world with some of the most important issue pressing obstacles. Being able to manage risks and hazards on an environmental level can save many lives and create economic benefits in the process. The Flint, Michigan water crisis is such an example of this. When the water supply of a small urban Michigan town became tainted with lead, the pressure was put on the officials in order to manage the dangers surrounding that problem. Some of the ways at which reducing the risk and hazard would be to understand them better. One way to do this is to put prejudices aside and to understand the human condition. In other words, perceiving risk appropriately and being able to take risk out of the equation in order to protect the lives of humans.
Earthquakes commonly have consequences that are unexpected by an environment they occur in. The consequences may be tsunamis, buildings collapsing, structures distorting, landslides, and liquefaction.
Aquatic species are having these chemicals and debris forced upon them against their will. As stated in the article “Combined Sewer Overflows” the treatment plants cannot handle the income of water and the trash in it, so they push the water and the trash out into the ocean (“Combined Sewer Overflows”). Because humans are not able to handle the event aquatic species are being tangled up in or choking on all the garbage and trash from humans. Oil spills are another case were animals are the victims of human actions. "As little as one part of oil per million parts of water can be detrimental to the reproduction and growth of fish, crustaceans, and plankton” (“Threats to Aquatic Environments”). Even the slightest amount of oil will affect the life of any aquatic species. Oil spills also block sunlight, because oil is lighter that water the oil just sits on top of the water (“Threats to Aquatic Environments”). When the oil sits like this it blocks the sun from aquatic plants and kills them. Another problem caused is when aquatic plants are dying they are sinking down to the floor of the water, suffocating the other organisms that cannot move quickly or at all. Oil spills have been devastating to many species for years. Since the oil spill of 1989 a species was so devastated that today the species is still trying to recover from the spill (“Threats to Aquatic Environments”). Oil spills are a major reason that species
The major causes of soil erosion in Iowa are due to ephemeral gully erosion. These erosion form branching like pattern of channels and also, cause soil movement that are affecting the soil's ability to hold water. The soil is the foundation for agriculture, which Iowa truly depends and so do corn and soybean farmers. Agriculture involved businesses provide roughly one-quarter of Iowa's $152.4 billion gross domestic product.
Because of various limitations, one cannot prepare for every type of release, however, the plan can be written to address those releases that can most likely occur. Regardless, hazardous materials response plans must be designed to minimize hazards to human health and the resulting environment during the intentional or accidental release of a hazardous material. The plan should be written under the authority permitted b...
Surface Creep occurs when landing sand particles remove the larger and heavier particles, pushing them forward.
They are the earth’s crust; they move very slowly every year. As the tectonic plates slide over each other they cause earthquakes. Earthquakes produce various damaging effects this includes damage to structures of buildings, bridges and other standing formations which then...
Hazardous materials come in many forms and include: explosives, flammable and combustible substances, poisons and radioactive materials. These dangerous substances are usually released during a transportation accident or through accidents or chemical spills in plants and factories. Since hazardous materials are shipped or transported through a variety of ways including l, waterways, and major highways and the release of these chemicals could cause serious harm. They can enter our water ways from oil rig spills or enter the environment from a train derailment or a container truck accident. The affects of a hazardous materials incident can include serious injury or death, serious health effects and property damage and environmental damage including bodies of water.
... although we may never be able to understand exactly what soil failures can occur when a natural disasters take place, as time goes on and testing instruments and materials advance we will hopefully have a better understanding of what we can do to avoid soil failures and come up with a better and more sufficient method of improving the soils structure and strength permanently. While researching the information for this report I feel I have a much better understanding for construction geo-technics and foundations especially regarding the deformation, liquefaction and pile information related to this specific event. I hope to carry the information I have learned from this event into the construction field and apply them towards an authentic project that’s taking place and know that the information, regarding soils, I have given input on will be precise and accurate.
In my first hypothesis, I believe that sinkholes will occur in soil and rock that is soft and wet because sinkholes are known to be associated with limestone bedrock and limestone is easily dissolved by acidic groundwater. Thus, my hypothesis is that when soils and rocks that attract more water, it is easily for a sinkhole to develop because the soil will erode into open cracks or caverns in the ground. This in turn would lead to a surface collapse because the er...
Transportation is a big issue with pollution. Vehicles create smog, catalysts for ozone, and components for acid rain. Smog contains a chemical called ozone. Ozone can seriously affect a human’s health. It reacts with the molecules in the lining of our airways. This then causes inflammation. Acid rain has many ecological effects, but none is as bad as its impact on lakes, streams, wetlands and other bodies of water. Acid rain makes waters acidic, which causes them to absorb the aluminium that goes from soil into water. When bodies of water become more acidic, the numbers and species of fish and other organisms living in the water begin to decrease. There are many examples of water pollution. Raw sewage running into water, industrial waste spills, and exhaust fumes from vehicles. A big problem with raw sewage is that Bacteria use up oxygen in the water, as they decompose the organic material in the water. The lack of oxygen kills animals and other organisms that live in the water. Many harmful chemicals are in industrial waste. These can become drinking water pollutants if not well managed. Car exhaust creates a wide range of gases and solid matter. This causes global warming, acid rain, and it harms the environment and human health. Engine noise and oil spills also cause pollution. Since most oils float, the marine creatures most affected by oil spills are animals like sea otters, and seabirds that are found on the shore or in
Hazardous material is any material that may cause hazard to human health or environment. Hazardous material can be solid, liquid or gas. There is 9 classes of hazardous material are known in the United Nation. The solid hazardous material can cause hazard to human by contacting or by dust form so the human will inhale it. The liquid hazardous material can cause hazard to human by flowing into draining system and waterways so it will affect the person by the drinking water and it will also affect the wildlife. There is 2 main ways that hazardous material can get in human body and cause harm, one of them is inhalation so it will damage the lungs and respiratory system, and also ingestion so the material will enter the body with the food or water and it will damage the digestive system.
Earthquakes belong to the class of most disastrous natural hazards. They result in unexpected and tremendous earth movements. These movements results from dissemination of an enormous amount of intense energy in form of seismic waves which are detected by use of seismograms. The impact of earthquakes leaves behind several landmarks including: destruction of property, extensive disruption of services like sewer and water lines, loss of life, and causes instability in both economic and social components of the affected nation (Webcache 2).