Geog 1700: Natural Disasters

 Course Discription

Students will be introduced to natural disasters; the processes and energy sources that produce them, along with the spatial distribution and pattern of natural phenomena, while developing an understanding of the impact these phenomena have on human activity.  Students will become aware of the dynamic nature of the earth, and the effect this has on the physical, economic, and personal/emotional aspects of their lives. They will discover the ramifications of these phenomena in their lives with an increased understanding of the necessity for preparation, if not prevention, should some type of natural disaster occur locally. Students will also develop an increased awareness of the financial and emotional toll that a headline really represents. All disasters are actually individual disasters!

Reflection 

Before this assignment, I knew there was a lot of talk about Utah eventually having a big earthquake, but I didn't think too much about it because there has been so much talk about a lot of big events taking place. Now that I have read about why scientists and others say that Utah is bound to have a big earthquake in my textbook and through other assignments, I understand where all of this talk is coming from and have changed my views on trying to prepare ourselves for an emergency like having a big earthquake.

For this assignment I had to use Google Earth to look up recently erupted volcanoes and earthquakes. I had no idea that this was possible, but after using this tool, I feel that there is a need for citizens to become better at interpreting the world from an aerial point of view and to better understand how to use the tools that are freely given to us. Google Earth gives us the opportunity to see how close our house is to a fault line which would come in handy if you are in the market of getting a new house. Earthquake insurance is not added to your home insurance by default, so if you can see if your area is at a high risk or not, you can better decide if adding this insurance is for your better interest or not. Google Earth is free which means that it is accessible to the public and as much as we would all like, there are some people out there that aren't as good as others. With that being said, Google Earth could potentially have some ethical or civil liberty issues come up. Citizens do not know that Google has images of their homes and their land for everyone to see and the people that aren't always trying to do good, could potentially do some harm by having access to these satellite and local images.