What caused a hurricane, tornado, or other natural disaster - Essay Example

College: Causes and Effects of Natural Disasters Natural disasters are events that occur on due forces of nature. These events usually are destructive in nature and cause extreme negative impacts to the lives and property (Langley 2). Natural disasters can occur in any part of the world, though there are places which are prone to certain types of disasters. These natural disasters include earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tornados. Since they cannot be controlled by human beings, knowing their causes helps prevent the impacts that can be caused by these natural disasters.

Two of the most dreadful natural disasters on earth is Hurricane and Tornado. Both are abnormal weather occurrences that humans have little or no control of. Hurricanes are experienced when warm, saturated air from the surface of the ocean is heated and rises due to its reduced weight. The warm air is then condensed by cold air above and form rain, but as warmer air rises, more condensation takes place. This creates a very powerful and rigid wind pattern. The strong wind forces water to the earth’s surface at a high speed from a single point to another (Langley 33).

A tornado is a spinning air, which is destructive and is usually in contact with earth surface and a cumulonimbus cloud developing from heavy rain and high speeding winds of different pressures. Hurricanes and tornadoes can be said to the most destructive, powerful, and awful natural disasters to mankind. For example, hurricane Katrina killed about 1,800 people and destroyed property of over $100 billion in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana (Langley 35).Earthquakes are among the natural disasters experienced by man.

An earthquake occurs when the tectonic plates of the earths crust move away from or towards each other. This movement of the plate causes them to collide, resulting in pressure, which in turn releases energy. When the pressure is high, it is impacted on the adjacent plates which end up shaking the earth (Langley 7-12). According to Langley (16-17), there are other natural causes of earthquakes, such as volcanic activities and landslides. Human activities such as mining, which involves crashing hard rocks, using powerful nuclear bombs can also trigger earthquakes.

Flooding is another disaster that is controlled by forces of nature. Floods occur when a river or a lake bursts its banks causing water to spread in dry surfaces that are not normally occupied by water. Heavy, prolonged rains and the fast melting of ice are the main causes of floods. Lack of vegetation cover speed up water runoff, thus promoting floods. Floods cause death to people and animals by drowning them, destruction of property and slowing down of development.Finally, volcanic eruptions are also terrifying occurrences.

They take place when there is high pressure inside the earth due to hot magma, the earth magma will try to find an escaping point; cracks along earth walls. The magma will find its way out to the earth’s surface forming lava. The hot air running up from the volcanic eruption usually referred to pyroclastic flow is the most destructive. The gases from volcanic eruptions are also poisonous and may harm people when inhaled. The other effect of volcanic eruptions is destruction of property such as sinking of the roofs of houses by the volcanic ashes.

Works citedLangley, Andrew. Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and Other Natural Disasters. Boston: Kingfisher, 2006. Print.