Natural Hazards and Effects on San Diego CaliforniaEssay Preview: Natural Hazards and Effects on San Diego CaliforniaReport this essayIntroductionThe Geographical region that has the most interest to me is that of Southern California in the United States of America. Southern California, in particular San Diego has always been one of the most desirable areas in California to live creating a very densely populated city. The direct access to both the Pacific Ocean and multiple mountain ranges makes it susceptible to massive wildfires during the long and extremely dry summer months and floods during the winter months. Also contributing to other possible natural disasters, San Diego is located near the San Andres Fault, which runs through California making this city another prime location for earthquakes and its catastrophic damage. In recent years, both the federal and local governments have recognized that San Diego is most likely to be susceptible to wildfires and have implemented new building codes for infrastructures and massive purchases of fire fighting equipment to help combat these disasters and there effects.
The objective of my paper is to explain why San Diego is prone to having natural disasters, what some of these disasters are, and how we can prevent them. Furthermore I will discuss and indentify the primary and secondary effects associated with these specific natural disasters, and there related frequency-and magnitude.
Literature ReviewMuch of the related information has been obtained through consulting the relevant scientific literature. Works from published journals, periodicals and the use of e-journals contributed too much of the research. All of the related articles have a professional scope and have been published in scientific journals or books. Also contributing to my research was the use of federal and local government web pages. All data presented is subjected to a (+/-) 3% margin of error.
ResultsThroughout the late summer months San Diego and its outlying areas become a ticking time bomb for wildfires, many of these disastrous fires are caused by one thing, lack of rain. Because San Diego gets minimal to no rain during its long summer months, the dry brush that takes over many parts of the San Diego mountain ranges know as the “chaparral” becomes very susceptible to ignition. Anything from campers to a careless cigarette butt being thrown from a car window have been known to start massive infernos. Another contributing factor to these massive wildfires are the Santa Anna winds, which according to (United States Geology Survey) are classified as strong extremely dry offshore winds that typically sweep through the Southern regions of California and the Northern regions of Baja California, Mexico , creating the perfect accelerant for massive wildfires.
The Santa Anna winds affect only 4,500 square miles of the San Diego mountains, but the effects can be severe. There aren’t any severe impacts on drinking water supplies, a common food source, forests and more. This is good news for those who want to keep a healthy head start in the wake of a scorching rainy fall. But is it really possible to keep your house full during a Santa Claus-esque nightmare?
It seems like a lot of people are using the popular idea that Santa Claus’ children don’t get angry, but the reality is it can actually turn into a great storm system that’s very dangerous, quite possibly. As an example, the USGS has reported that it is possible to experience a Santa Claus-like storm even after the sun sets to the north. When the Earth gets very far away from the Sun on November 3rd, we may see the bright light of the Northern Lights as the strongest to ever form in a year. This is also how a large wildfire could turn into a mega-burner, possibly causing the largest number of deaths. Another possibility, even more frightening (and perhaps even less plausible to some) is that the fires that started in the last few months of 2018 may well be going to end up scorched, and even partially obliterated. The Santa Claus storm was once known to occur in California, Florida, and elsewhere, during the Summer. But what seems to be happening around the country today as Santa Claus continues to expand, especially in Baja and its surrounding areas and north portions of California, Baja California is seeing strong winds blowing through the Santa Claus range as a result of this year’s storms.
In other news, as we’ve reported the following over the past 24 hours, the Santa Barbara Mountains of Los Angeles and Baja California continue to experience high levels of wildfire activity. But, as we also reported previously, there is a very real possibility that fires in these areas are really just the result of two factors, lack of rain in Baja California and a lack of precipitation in Santa Barbara.
In California, this issue was even worse. For example, the Santa Barbara Regional Center for Environmental Resources, which works by planning, operating, and providing safety inspections in the Central Valley, has an actual report titled “Fire hazard assessment plans and planning for 2012 wildfire potential.” The report found that it was estimated that in the next 12 months there would be some 22 million acres of fire risk and that the fire risk over those same 12 months would be between 15% and 58% higher than last year.” The report specifically compared the current fire risk with the past 12 months, citing an 18% increase in fire risk overall and between 2.1% and 3.7% of the area between May 6th and November 22nd.
If you were to compare the two scenarios then you would see that in the Santa Barbara region, there are potentially about 6 million acres of fire risk (about 2% of the area), which is very bad news for Santa Barbara County, particularly as the center has recently been hit by serious wildfires. The fire activity in this area does make these fires, but the magnitude and the severity of these fires are often overlooked by many San Jose County residents and firefighters alike.
There have been reports of some 12 million acres of fire risk (or about 2% of the area) in and around Santa Barbara county, but this year’s recent reports are not the only one. According to a 2013 San Jose County Fire Control Authority report, the
During the first few days of October 2007, massive wildfires broke out along the Mexican border stretching to Santa Barbara County creating one of the biggest and most destructive wildfires known to the United States. According to (fema.gov) over 200,000 houses were destroyed and 500,000 acres or (2,000km2) of forest lost. A staggering 550,000 people from at least 340,000 houses were under mandatory evacuation (fema.gov). The Risk Assessment Matrix, refer to (Appendix A), will analyze the likelihood and probability of a Wildfire occurring in San Diego County in the next 5 years. According to (Bennett &Estall 1991) when disturbance is infrequent, average parameters can be hard to define as the frequency of the disturbance is of the same order of magnitude. As changes in the casual factors such as fluctuations and long-term trends in climate and human impacts.
There are many side effects to wildfires, because of the massive amounts of land they consume. The primary effected area is the housing industry and the loss of infrastructure. As stated above over 200,000 houses were destroyed during the wildfires in 2007. According to (californiagreensolutions.com) between (1990-2006) wildfires accounted for $4.73 billion dollars in damages. Attached to (Appendix A #2) are my personal photos of some of the devastation the wildfires of 2007 created. Furthermore the loss of forest (i.e.) timber and native species such as plants and animals are also greatly affected.
Much of the secondary effects are far more pervasive than the primary effects. Secondary effects include respiration problems from the plumes of smoke, land slides from soil erosion, and economic losses. As the fires burn large plumes of smoke begin to saturate the air and make the quality of air very poor for breathing. According to (usgs.gov) over 70% of people were affected by respiratory problems from poor air quality in and around the San Diego area during the 2007 wildfires. Another secondary impact of wildfires is soil erosion. Soil erosion occurs when the land is depleted of valuable nutrients making it susceptible to landslides and mudslides in the wet seasons.
Another potentially disastrous hazard San Diego is susceptible to is earthquakes. Much of Los Angeles county and the lower lying San Diego county run along major fault lines like the San Andres to the north which runs parallel all the way down to Baja California, Mexico. The largest of the faults, and presumed to be the most active, are the Rogers Creek-Hayward, Green Valley-Concord, and Calaveras which are all within 200 miles of San Diego county. According to (Bennett& Estall 1991) the infamous San Andres fault in California lies within a highly active tectonic zone that forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. Both of these plates are