Natural Disasters


How does a tornado form?


Due to the possible large length or height of tornadoes, there is a long and somewhat complex series of events which leads up to the mighty natural disaster. On average, tornadoes will reach a height of around 500 metres to a whopping 1500 metres. Just because the numbers of smaller occurrences may appear non destructive, any tornado can inflict damage. For a tornado to be caused, this is the following process:



Commonly, it is said that the current climate circumstances will continue to be a contributing factor to the cause of these types of disasters. During our interview with our expert Mrs Arnott, she said that there's four parts of the atmosphere. The first one is called the troposphere. And that's where all the weather happens. And it's between here and say, 12 to 15k up in the sky. we generally fly up above the troposphere. And we go up above the weather or the climate. And we sit in the next layer, which is the stratosphere.


So generally, when we're in a plane, they go up, we go high and then we stay above the weather. So what it means is that at ground level the temperature is the highest on the planet. So the temperature is higher at the ground level than it is at the top of the troposphere. So as you go up, interest towards. So temperature decreases with altitude, so temperature gets colder with altitude. An example of this is when you're hiking up a mountain and you can feel the temperature drop once you start to get higher.


Sun gives us heat and light. Okay, so when the heat, we get hot air and it comes into the atmosphere, it goes through the different layers and it's the troposphere. At the top of the troposphere, it's cold, at the bottom of the troposphere, it's hot. Now hot air is lighter than cold air. So cold air sinks and hot air rises and that's called a convection cell. Now if water gets cold, what do we get? so you're gonna get clouds and you're gonna get rain. So you're gonna get hot air rises, cools down, condenses the rain cloud, and it rains, the water cycle is really simple. Now, tornadoes are unique because they form when you have warm, moist air. So you've got to have hot and it's got to have water. There's got to be water in it. And it's got to be hot. It's going to rise. Yeah. And as it rises, it cools down and syncs. Now with a tornado, what happens is when it sinks, it kind of gets sucked back in on itself. Because there's a gap called the eye or simply pressure gap. So if hot air is moving, it's leaving a gap where it was, and the cold air is going to fill it. So it rises, it cools, it sucks, it sucks back in.


So we have our surface inflow air, which is what hot air comes in from the surface. It's getting sucked in over here. It's going traveling up where it cools down, and it condenses. We have a condensation funnel and it gets heavy and it starts to sink again. when it starts to sink again, okay, it creates this downdraft. And that kind of starts to create a pressure system that starts to spin, if that makes sense. So you have the main draft here, which is hot air rising hot air rising on the edges, you've got the the funnel in the middle, which is a cold air rising, and also you've got wind and cold air coming in from the sides, which are kind of creating the shape of the tornado. So you've got this pressure coming in from the winds around the side, and it just starts to cause it to rotate. So you've got low level winds at the top, you've got high level winds at the top.


Some places in the world are really susceptible to it. So like Tornado Alley, they have moist air in the area of tornado alley and all this other air is coming from different sides of america. You're getting cold air from Canada, warm dry air coming over from Mexico and other states that are dry and warm moist air from tropical areas such as Florida and mexico.


On rather rare occasions, tornadoes can be named a ‘multiple vortex tornado’- this is when separate tornadoes form somewhat closely to a different one which gives the effect of three tornadoes in one. 


What effect do tornadoes have on the land and man-made structures?


Tornadoes have dramatic effects on both of these topics. The main impact occurs when man-made structures are involved. Tornadoes can cause severe damage or complete destruction to buildings in the tornado's path. The strong winds can rip off roof tops, smash windows, and make walls collapse, especially in structures with weak foundations and poor construction. Buildings and housing frequently collapse and the remains have a chance of being flown around by the disaster itself. This can pose a very dangerous risk for both humans and animals. 



Other things that can be destroyed are infrastructure such as roads, bridges, power lines. These are vital for us because roads and bridges help us get to places we need to get to, power lines help store power to cities and homes. Vehicles get destroyed in the process because they are vulnerable to damage or destruction when caught in the tornado's path.


This type of natural disaster can also take a toll on the climate and nature. Many trees and plants can be destroyed at impact. Tornadoes can heavily damage land.  The main impact is on the environment because of things along the lines of trees, swaths of forest as well as wildlife habitat being destroyed. In other cases, Tornadoes can open up opportunities for invasive species to gain ground. In some occasions, tornadoes can reshape the land, this can be shown in this example, the trees have been knocked down which means they will not be able to grow so they will eventually have to be cleared away forming a new pathway or a new open space. Tornadoes can carve new channels and depression in the ground. The strong winds and intense rain associated with tornadoes can cause soil erosion, especially in areas where vegetation has been uprooted.


Our expert gave us some facts about this question, she said that you're gonna have two types of damage, you're gonna have physical geography damage, which is like looking at what it does to the landscape. we're going to think about trees, anything natural, if it's going to, if it goes over farmland, for example, it's going to destroy all the farmland, it's going to destroy vegetation. So your physical geography or landscape geography is obviously going to destroy vegetation and potentially different river paths.



What effect does tornadoes have on people and society? 


Tornadoes typically bring people together and creates a sense of community. It gives everyone a chance to meet new people which they may not have normally spoken to when mostly anyone could be at their worst and continuing on what our expert had to say, the second type of damage is human geography, when it affects people, you're looking at the obvious ones, which is I think death can cause death and cause injury can cause financial destruction. Because it destroys houses, destroys hospitals, destroys schools, you then destroy facilities such as gyms and all the ledger facilities and that kind of stuff that destroys anything that goes in its path.


Tornadoes have the chance to leave massive destruction. This leaves communities and areas having to come together to repair the damage that has impacted them. The human impact because of tornadoes can cause injuries and loss of life. injuries and fatalities to people caught in their path. Flying debris and collapsing structures pose significant risks to people, people who have witnessed or experienced a tornado destroying their lives, homes and killing the people they love the most can cause a psychological impact on them leading them to have anxiety, stress and even PTSD because of the events that have taken place.


Survivors who lose their homes in tornadoes may be temporarily or permanently displaced. This can result in homelessness and require immediate efforts and long-term support to help affected individuals and families get back on their feet. Adding on to homes, they have to rebuild them which can have a considerable economic toll on regions affected. The costs of rebuilding, repairing infrastructure, and replacing damaged or destroyed assets can be substantial.


As they respond to the disaster and help those in need, police, fire agencies, and medical facilities may become overwhelmed by tornadoes. Tornadoes have the potential to disrupt critical services such as power, water, and communication networks, making it difficult for emergency responders to coordinate and for affected individuals to receive assistance.






How do people respond and deal with tornadoes?


The government reacts to the situation somewhat well. However, there are always improvements that contribute to a better recovery. The government follows plans advertised by Civil defense. Most governments respond to tornadoes using emergency responses . Governments will have to deploy resources to the area that has been damaged, resources such as emergency services and medical assistance. Following the first response , governments focus on rehabilitation measures. This includes financial assistance, temporary housing, and assistance to affected individuals. Eventually in the aftermath, the government would consider different types of ways to build houses and infrastructure that will withstand more resistance to tornadoes.  


In general, homes in certain parts of countries such as America are all built with tornadoes in mind. The more at risk areas have recently been acknowledging the effects and potential damages from the disaster. With all of this - more families have been installing some sort of shelter within their homes. The more this happens, the less lives will be lost, injured or affected in other ways.


Overtime, less lives will be lost as America and other countries continue to develop new innovative and affordable ideas which can be accessible for the majority. As we continue to find more about tornadoes and as science advances, so will our plans of action.


Mrs Lacey gave us some more information to help us saying that you do the  same as you do with any sort of natural disaster. So it's about preparation and planning. So if you think about when we do any form of tsunami warnings, or earthquake drills, so those that live in tornado areas, you have to prepare the automated drills. Now, the key thing here is that you need to start thinking about which areas of the world are going to start having tornadoes that haven't previously. So new areas where the climatic conditions are gonna see more. Those people need evacuation training. So it's education, planning, storm shelters, evacuation packs, having stored water etc. 


How can the effects of tornadoes be minimized?


The major effects can be both minimized and balanced with an effective route to life. The effects can truly be minimized by doing what most already know and are aware of.


When it comes to reducing major and minor effects, the main thing that comes to mind is saving lives. This can primarily be accomplished by following what we have learned - this is following a tornado emergency list or set of instructions. 


The side of infrastructure can be saved by building with stronger foundations and taking further steps to think about tornadoes and what would help.


As time passes, more and more tornado vulnerable countries are continuing to implement a form of tornado safety. Commonly, this is when carefully choosing where the building will stand and what extra addons the brick or stone will contain.


Our expert said I feel like you shouldn’t build houses in areas that are prone to tornadoes, So you reserve that land for other things that can be damaged. You might allow it to be farming, because then it reduces because as fewer people are involved , if that land is predominantly farming, then you're gonna have you're gonna minimize the impact on people. But you're going to have the long term impact of loss of food. Our expert said that land use rezoning is a really good way to minimize it.


Otherwise, it's trying to housing, low building housing. So like keeping your buildings low to the ground building with materials that aren't gonna go get sucked up into but they're very powerful

Man made beaches, this will descend tourism on people and societies. 


How does climate change have a factor on tornadoes and how can the impacts of that be minimized?


So global warming is when we increase the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere through carbon production, we increase the amount of heat being trapped by the atmosphere, and that increases global temperature. When you increase global temperature, you increase the temperature of the ocean, so the water gets hotter. Now our oceans dictate all of the weather on the planet. Because the oceans push all the weather everywhere.


When water gets hotter, it starts to steam and evaporate, So you're gonna have more water in the atmosphere. Using tornado alley as an example, the stored up water travels over very hot land. So it travels overland, you're going to have more cases of tornadoes, because you're going to have really, really, really hot land, heating up warm hot air above it, which is going to travel all down and sink. So the longer you have the heat, the more prolonged you have the heat. 


Now climate change means that you're going to have more places in the world that can have this happen. Right now it's limited to certain places in the world, such as Tornado Alley, like not everywhere has tornadoes. Because we're not, we don't have the climatic conditions for it. Climate change means that more places in the world will suddenly start having the right environment to have tornadoes. Which is why we see them in random places where we don't expect. An example of this happening is when there was reportedly a small tornado in Pyes Pa, that's weird. Why would there be a tornado in Pyes Pa? 


With climate change, we'll start seeing them in different places where those conditions are perfect for them to fall. Now, rather than being minimized, that is a multi generational fix. our grandkids will be trying to fix this, your generation has to try to fix what the older generation did. reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere so that we can actually slow down the rate, the amount of heat being trapped in so we can minimize global warming


Miss Lacey said this question has a big solution. I would say, if you're going to argue it, you'd have to think real. Well, you're gonna go small scale for an inquiry, you're gonna have to think, okay, what can the combined effort of lots of small companies do? So if every single person made a little change? That would have a massive effect globally? So your individual choice, if everyone made that same choice, we'd have a greater impact from the government saying we're gonna tax that person over there for that big company. 



Fertile Question

What is the best way to minimize the effects of tornadoes?


Overall, there are a few ways to minimize effects. The best way to minimize the effects is focusing on building foundations. Although the instructions and step by step plans of action for citizens are primarily helpful, going to the main source is the place to be. When buildings are taken to the next level and replenished with high quality supports, people can be more relieved and confident in the buildings and have the chance to not panic.

This plan would cost a lot of money to implement across many countries but we think this plan will save a lot of lives and will be easy to maintain the buildings in the long run. Compared to the main earthquake plans of action, the tornado evacuation plan is very less known and there can be confusion for certain people. If all buildings were built to fully sustain both a small or large tornado, it would be a straight ford safety process. We think it would look similar to this:



This plan would have to be taught worldwide and known by billions and would replace the current set of instructions. This would be taught in schools and would eventually be known side by side against the earthquake plan.


 When you increase global temperature, you increase the temperature of the ocean, so the water gets hotter. Now our oceans dictate all of the weather on the planet. Because the oceans push all the weather everywhere. Okay, so our oceans get hot, we get lots more and they what happens to hot water if you boil water, what happens? What do you get? It bubbles? Yeah, what's that process called? What's the process when it bubbles and then what is produced? Steam? Okay, so what process is that process? word called? The silver long ago in science and science is against IE. operation. So if you have really hot, warm Oh, Since for a long period of time, he had to have more evaporation. 







Bibliography


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Experts: Mrs Arnott