Zhouqu's landslide on August 8 2010

    On August 8, 2010 a giant mud slide hit the town of Zhouqu killing over 1700 people and 600 missing. There were many factors that led up to the land slide:

weather: the region had recently experienced heavy rains from the monsoon season. The heavy rain creates lots of mud.

Topography: This area in china borders the Himalayas and has many mountains which have thick forests and also has many rivers and valleys.

Forestry: the forests have been logged for trees as an industry for over fifty years, since the great leap forward in its communist history. The stripping of the mountains sides have exposed the underlying soils and sediments.

Rivers: The rivers have lots of dams and hydro electric plants to support china's growing need for electricity and energy.

Earthquakes: This region experiences frequent earthquakes with some that are very large and disastrous the most recent large earthquake was in 2008.

Dams:

  The mudslide left a thick layer of sludge around 5 km long and 500 meters wide on the center of town. Many bodies are believed to be buried in the mud but authorities banned their recovery on the following Sunday due to concerns over public health. 10,000 soldiers and rescuers arrived soon to go through the mountains of mud that buried several parts of the zhouqu county. Engineers also worked to blast the debris that has passed through the town to partially block the Bailong river, causing more flooding. Zhouqu gets earthquakes and landslides a lot but geological experts and residents blamed the sloppy construction of mud slide barriers, lack of good monitoring and warning systems and rapid urban development as causes and factors of the disaster. A 2003 study on Zhouqu by Gansu's Geo-environment monitoring center found that road building in the mountains had to an extent raised the chances of geological disaster. The government forested the area much faster then the forest could replenish and by the time the government realized the problem and started to plant trees to establish the soil, the vegetation was unable to take root on the steep, thinly soiled slopes.

The Rhine River

     The Rhine River was used since the roman times and was a very important navigable water way for carrying trade and goods deep inland. It also served as a defensive feature and the basis for regional and international borders. Castles along the river found the river very important because river traffic could be stopped for collecting tolls by the state controlling that portion of the river. The river supplied water to the surrounding soil so the land was very fertile and many farms were built on the river.
America's industrial heartland would be the Rust Belt. The Rust belt begins in south central new York and ends in north Illinois and ester Wisconsin. A while ago it was called the industrial heart of america. But industry has been declining in the region since the mid 20 the century due to many economic factors like the decline in coal and steel industries because of factors like industrialization and globalization.

     The Rhine River is the most polluted river in Europe. People have been dumping waste in it literally since the roman times. Factories that were later built on the river dumped chemicals into the river and that gases and smoke that the factories produced hurt the cultivation process and made the land less fertile. Researchers say the river is almost dead and a lot of the fish in the river has diseases and mutations and are unsafe to eat. 
     There are many ideas on how pollution could be stopped like making it illegal to dump into the river and maybe creating a volunteer team to clean up the area. But these would be difficult to implicate because the river has had so much damage to it it is almost unrecoverable because for so long people has been polluting it and most of the time they did not understand the damage they were doing because they just simply did not have knowledge of pollution and global warming.

AQUACULTURE

    Aquaculture; The rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.

Pros and Cons for Aquaculture

Economic;Pros- Supplies almost half of the global demand for fish.
                        - Provides social-economic contribution to many coastal and rural communities where the fish farming takes place.
                        - Is a 78 billion dollar industry.
                 Cons- Pathogens can result in major fish disease outbreaks ( especially shrimp ) and consequently significant economic losses in producing countries.
                         - Jobs are really sensitive to the outbreaks and with fewer wild shrimp to harvest.
                        - It takes more fish to feed the farmed fish. It takes 26 pounds of "trash" fish to produce 1 pound blue fin tuna. The feed is made up of squid, blue mackerel and sand eel. 37%  of global seafood is ground up into feed for fish and poultry. This is called the "reverse protein effect" when the resources out weigh the product.


Social;-Pros- Provides a living for thousands of farmers whose crop value has dropped.
                  - Supplies a year round supply of protein.
                 - A living for fishermen who do not make enough from                       fishing.
Cons- People in the US have been encouraged to eat more fish for health but learned that the highly recommended farmed fish was found to be tainted with mercury and PCB's.
         - Pesticides and veterinary drugs have been used to treat pests and diseases that hurt fish.
         - Farmed fish are genetically modified and can cause health problems.




 Environmental Pros- Fish farming reduces fishing pressure on certain species and helps the life cycle of certain fish.
                              - Raises fish that have been depleted in the wide like Cod, Sea bass, and Red snapper.
                              - Lets endangered species in the wild rebound.
Cons- Crowded thousands of fish in their artificial environment, waste products like feces, uneaten food and dead fish are flushed often untreated into the surrounding waters add to the contamination.
          - The chemicals of the untreated waste affect the entire aquatic ecosystem. In many area, especially China, waters are already heavily polluted from sewage, industry and agricultural run off.
       - Farm fish sometimes escape into the wide and breed with the wide fish to produce unnatural hybrid species.
      
My Opinion on Fish Farming
   People believe that fish farming is a solution to catching wild fish but I believe it is creating more problems then before. It is true that wild fish could reproduce better but when the fishermen take the smaller "trash" fish and grind it up into feed they are taking away feed of the wild fish so they do not have enough food. Plus, people say that by fish farming we are feeding more people but it actually takes way more fish to feed the fish that are grown. This is the "reverse protein effect" because it takes a lot more resources to make the product so we are not feeding more people. People also believe that farmed fish are just as good for you as wild fish but farmed fish are genetically modified and are very unnatural and are dangerous to peoples health. Farming fish causes a lot of pollution from the chemicals from the waste, uneaten food and dead fish add to the pollution that harm the wild fish and wild ecosystems by poisoning them. In order to help the fish we should really cut back on how much we eat.

Vancouver Earthquake in the Future

   We know that Vancouver will have a large mega earthquake because researchers who have been able to use sediment samples taken off the coast of Vancouver island to reveal the pacific coasts seismic history. The region stretches from the north tip of Vancouver island to northern California has experienced 22 major earth quakes over the last 11000 years and is due for another. The span between major thrust earthquakes is 300 years. The last major earth quake was 313 years ago. Researchers extracted a sediment core from the sea floor of Effing ham inlet in Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver island, and used radio carbon dating to determine when mega thrust earthquakes occurred in what is known as the Cascadia subduction zone. The sediments preserved on the bottom of Effing ham inlet resemble rings of a tree each year a thin layer of sediment. These layers show what has happened in effing ham inlet year by year back all the way to the end of the last glaciations about 11 000 years ago. Japanese written records confirm a 8-9 magnitude earthquake along the north american coast at 9 pm January 26 1700.


      Metro Vancouver geological settings
  The metro Vancouver region of south western B.C lies at the fore front of the north american plate. on the western edge of the north american plate, The Juan de fuca plate is subducting beneath and slowly deforming the continent. The dynamic geological settings make the densely populated region susceptible to frequent seismic activity and increase the risk of dangerous mega thrust earthquakes. The metro Vancouver region is surrounded by the mountains and the pacific ocean making it very isolated and vulnerable in the event of a large earthquake.

 Liquefaction
      During an earthquake shaking can cause loosely packed water saturated sediments such as sand or silt turn into a fluid mass, this is known as liquefaction. When this happens the sediments loose their strength and can no longer fully support structures, which may lean, sink or settle. All new structures in Richmond are built on denser or improved ground and use foundation systems such as piles raft slabs that are specially designed to lower the risk of liquefaction. Richmond's soil is made of silt and sand. The energy caused by an earthquake could take longer to dissipate and the shaking more intense in these softer soils then it would be on firmer soil and bedrock. The good thing is that softer soils tend to absorb the damaging high frequency shaking better then areas located on rock. Richmond is an island. Richmond is connected to other communities through a network of bridges. Seismic upgrades to a number of older bridges have been under taken in recent years and continue to enhance their strength. This will help to alleviate transportation impacts in the event of an earthquake.

 Tsunami 
     Experts studying the second largest earthquake measured in Canadian history have zeroed in in on the pacific archipelago of Haida Gwaii as the likely source of a future large earthquake and tsunami. What this has done is raise the possibility of future thrust earthquakes and tsunamis along this part of the British Columbia margin. An earthquake off B.C's coast relived some of the regions tectonic strain, but new research shows the sifting also increased pressure immediately south of the islands along the Queen Charlotte fault. Vancouver island will be the most impacted by the tsunami because it will be the first land mass the tsunami will hit.


  Flooding and Landslides
    A earthquake scenario researchers have done is what would happen if the sea level were to rise by four meters. The inter web they used showed that Vancouver would survive just fine but the suburbs of Richmond, Delta and Lander would be completely submerged underwater. Stevenson, Richmond's touristy fishing village, would be completely wiped out and much of Delta and Lander's agriculture would be flooded. Surrey and Langley would also see flooding in certain areas. Metro Vancouver is at risk of a tsunami. Studies show that sea levels in Vancouver could rise by as much as one meter by 2100. Vancouver island is covered in mountains and seismic activity from the Juan De Fuca and explorer plates, over steep cliffs and high rain fall make Vancouver island susceptible to land slides. Land slides can block roads for days to weeks and could cut power and even kill people.



    Infrastructure 
       New research shows that Vancouver would rock harder and longer from an earthquake then any other areas given the shape and composition Vancouver is on. Studies show that seismic waves would intensify when they pass through the Georgia basin, the deposit of softer sedimentary rock that lies partly beneath metro Vancouver. These studies make the officials check the readiness of infrastructure in the region. The increase of intensity would make the ground shake three times harder then it would be in a different region. Damage to well designed buildings in the area would be inevitable in an earthquake of that intensity, while older structures like the brick buildings in Gas Town would be hit hard. Researchers say that the findings will help with seismologists determine where to place more instruments to record further earthquakes. These findings can also be used to upgrade codes for buildings, bridges and other infrastructure to make then more secure.

Preparation
       Metro Vancouver takes many steps to make sure that people are prepared. Children in school are taught to hid under heavy tables or desks or in hallways. People should also hide in corners of rooms and archways. There are courses that are offered to teach CPR and first aid. There is also earthquake insurance. Families are encouraged to practice earthquake evacuation and make or buy earthquake kits. The purpose of an earthquake kit and other preparations is to survive without help for at least 72 hours.

    Economics
      Some statistics say that Canada is not prepared for a possible 9 magnitude earthquake and would cost around 60 to 75 billion in damage. It will have a domino effect on the entire Canadian economy. It is estimated that 62 billion will be from direct damage and 12.7 billion in indirect impact caused by things like supply chain interuption and infrastructure damage.