Conclusion/Final Entry

 My Thoughts

1. What is the purpose of your blog? What do you hope to achieve?
Purpose of my blog is to let everyone know that there are disasters happening everywhere.
I hope to achieve that people care for the people that it's happening to and disasters can happen anywhere at anytime.

2. Why do you think people will like your blog?
It's very important topic to know and care about because death is a serious thing and it happens to everyone and mostly caused by the Natural Disasters that happen all the time.

3. What concerns to you have before starting this project? Do you foresee any problems or difficulties?
Will people like what I talk about and comment on what they think about it.
How will I start to talk about it and what all I'll say in the blog.

When we had to do this blog assignment I really didn't know what I was going to do my blog on, I did have ideas but I didn't think they were good enough or enough to talk about in 13 blogs, so I had nothing.
Well at home me and my brothers watch the news more and we see alot of things happening and things that affect the world in a bad way and most of them are from Natural disasters, so I asked the teachers if I could do that and she said yes because there is alot of things to talk about on that and she also said that it was one of the best ideas in the class, so I was happy I had something to talk about for my blog.
I looked up Natural Disasters on the internet and found around 13 or more and I just chose the best ones to talk about, and ones that kinda relate to Canada or things that have happened here.
Well I'm done all my blogs it was fun and I did learn alil more things about Natural Disasters, but I don't think I would want to do blogs all the time because it's hard to write about alot of things everyday.

So last night on the news there was a riot in Vancouver happening about hockey,.......Hockey!! People would actually start a riot, make fires, try to tip a truck over and boss around the police?! For hockey?? Like, I know hockey is Canada's sport but you don't need to go that crazy like that for the Stanley Cup.
Well here's an outside article that was on the news.


Outside Article 
'Hooligans' give Vancouver black eye with post-Cup riots
http://youtu.be/T3n_ifSoCtg

Officers stand guard over two burning police cruisers following the 

Vancouver Canucks 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley 

Cup hockey final, in Vancouver, Wednesday, June 15, 2011.

Vancouver police will reveal details Thursday about the arrests they made during the ferocious riots that broke out on downtown streets after the final game of the Stanley Cup.
It took hours for police to bring the situation under control, as cars were overturned, store windows were smashed and smoke billowed from overturned vehicles that had been lit ablaze. Looters were seen stealing makeup, clothing and even a mannequin from major retailers that were targeted during the riots.
As the riots raged on Wednesday night, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Roberston put the blame on "hooligans" who were looking for trouble.

MyNews contributor Lukas Peters shared this photo of Vancouver Canuck fans 

watching a car burn during a riot following game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in downtown 

Vancouver, Wednesday, June 15, 2011.

A car burns outside The Bay department store during a 

riot in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, June 15, 2011 following the Vancouver

Canucks 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup hockey final.

Thank You for your comments and reading my blogs :)

Famines

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality
Emergency measures in relieving famine primarily include providing deficient micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, through fortified sachet powders or directly through supplements. Aid groups have begun to use a famine relief model based on giving cash or cash vouchers to the hungry to pay local farmers, rather than buying food from donor countries as the latter distorts local food markets.




The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving!

Since you've entered this site at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.

However, the world can produce enough food to feed its expanding population. While some famines are caused by drought or other so-called natural disasters, children are more likely to be starving because of man's inhumanity to man--war, embargoes, government corruption and economic oppression.

 

My Thoughts

It makes me really sad to think that there are people and not to mention young children who are starving and are in deep need of help.

When I'm at home watching TV with my mom and this World Vision commercial comes where they are showing sad pictures of kids so skinny you can see they're bones and playing sad music with videos of kids eating a lil bit of food or crying because of the hunger my mom tells me to change the channel because she doesn't like to watch those lil kids cry and starving. I watch it because my mom doesn't like it and because when i watched one i did one small thing to help change that. I sponsored a child when I DID call that number on the screen. 

His Name is Peter Alfred Makoye. As of January this year he is now 8 years old. I've sponsored him for a year now. Me and my mom send money to him and his family every month for food and medical treatment. I send him gifts for him to play with and keep. I've written letters to him and I've also recieved 2 letters from him, but written by his neighbor and then translated by a World Vision Translator. I get things in the mail that I could send to him also, the last thing I got was a letter from World Vision and a lil necklace that says "Hope" in it. The letter says that the necklace shows him that there's people around the world who care for him and his family and we want to do something to help him out.

A happy child with the World Vision Trademark.
(This is not Peter, my sponser child but he looks almost
exactly like this and just as cute.)
This just shows how big of a smile we can put on a lil child's face
and his family that we care and are doing something about it.

Meteorites

Meteorites are rocks that have fallen to Earth from space. Some have lain on Earth for many thousands of years; others arrive all the time. Those observed to traverse Earth's atmosphere, and recovered based on those observations, are called meteorite falls. Those with no record of arrival are meteorite finds when recognized. Meteorites are named for where they fall or are found. Over 25,000 meteorites are known worldwide: 18,000 are from Antarctica, and a few thousand from deserts in Africa and Asia. The best general reference on meteorites is Rocks from Space by O. Richard Norton, 2^nd Edition, Mountain Press, 1998.

Often there is confusion about when and where meteorites may fall or be preserved, and about what they are and look like. All are significantly different than Earth rocks. Samples sent to experts for identification, even by other scientists, are usually "meteor wrongs" - terrestrial rocks or minerals, man-made slag, metals, alloys or concrete- that rarely resemble meteorites. Less than 60 identified meteorites are known in Canada.



The Willamette Meteorite, officially named Willamette, is an iron-nickel meteorite discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the largest meteorite found in the United States and the sixth largest in the world. No impact crater was preserved at the discovery site; it is possible that the meteorite landed in what is now Canada and was transported to where it was found by moving ice sheets. It is currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History.

The Willamette Meteorite weighs about 32,000 pounds or 15.5 tons. It is classified as a type III iron meteorite, being composed of over 91% iron and 7.62% nickel, with traces of cobalt and phosphorus. The approximate dimensions of the meteorite are 10 feet (3.05 m) tall by 6.5 feet (1.98 m) wide by 4.25 feet (1.3 m) deep.

Tuscan Ring
It was a blacksmith named Ramon Pacheco, who recovered the slab-like mass on or about 1850, and put it to use as an anvil in Tuscan. In 1856, the other blacksmith anvil, the Ring, was abandoned leaving all the blacksmith's duties to Pacheco and his anvil. In 1862, Colonel James Carleton confiscated the Pacheco anvil and had it shipped to San Fransisco where permission was obtained to saw off a specimen for analysis. The mass remained on display at the Society of California Pioneers until 1939 when it was purchased by the Smithsonian to be displayed alongside the Ring mass.

My Thoughts
I don't think i personally have seen a meteorite fall. I have seen a falling stars. They look like a light shooting through the sky for less than 5 seconds with a certain color. At first when you see one you think it's an alien or something then you realize it's a falling star then you want to tell someone and your all excited that you actually seen a shooting star. I know i was.
I watched a show where they talked about the Tuscan Ring Meteorite and there were these two guys that tried to find the inside piece of the Tuscan Ring, but they didn't have much luck until they were on they're thirtieth day of the hunt and they found two little pieces of rock and they brought it in to be examined to see if it was the missing piece but it wasn't, but they did have a lil bit luck because they did find New Iron. They might be known as the first two people who discovered, New Iron.
I remember on the movie Joe Dirt, he thought he found a meteorite but it was really a big chunk of turd. He didn't know that till someone told him, and i felt bad for him because he was happy he had something somebody didn't, but he was really carrying around a big piece of poo. He even ate food off of it and touched it. Poor Joe Dirt.


Outside Article
Shooting Star's
A shooting star is another name for a meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere. So, a shooting star isn’t a star at all.
 Most of the shooting stars that we can see are known as meteoroids. These are objects as small as a piece of sand, and as large as a boulder. Smaller than a piece of sand, and astronomers call them interplanetary dust. If they’re larger than a boulder, astronomers call them asteroids.

Limnic Eruptions

A limnic eruption occurs when a gas, usually CO₂ suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising gas displaces water. Scientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption. To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded:

• On 15 August 1984, a gas eruption occurred at 11:30 pm local time at Lake Monoun. The event is thought to have been caused by a lakeside landslide that triggered the release of dissolved carbon dioxide and also resulted in a 5 m high wave that damaged vegetation. Carbon dioxide gas travelled downhill at ground level and asphyxiated 37 people. The majority of the causalities were found along a low-lying part of a road that passes the lake. A number of dead animals were also found within the immediate area.

• At nearby Lake Nyos in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800 people by asphyxiation.

My Thoughts
When something like this happened, not many people knew about it and the people that were affected died from it because they didn't know it was happening. I don't think there's many things we can do to stop something like this, but we just have to get through it and monitor the next one to be ready for it.

Cyclones

What is a cyclone?

Cyclones are huge revolving storms caused by winds blowing around a central area of low atmospheric pressure. In the northern hemisphere, cyclones are called hurricanes or typhoons and their winds blow in an anti-clockwise circle. In the southern hemisphere, these tropical storms are known as cyclones, whose winds blow in a clockwise circle.

The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times. Up to 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. This cyclone was the sixth cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, and also the season's strongest, reaching a strength equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.

The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on November 8 and traveled north, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on November 12, and made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan that night. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected upazila, Tazumuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 was killed by the storm.

                                                           Cyclone Storm Path

The 1970 cyclone is nonetheless the deadliest tropical cyclone on record and is one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent history. The exact death toll will never be known, but it is estimated that between 300,000 and 500,000 people lost their lives.

 My Thoughts
This disaster must have been the worst thing to happen in a long time. Lots of people must have been terrified and very devastated. If something like this happened now, it would be the biggest thing in the world for week or even months and every celebrity would want to donated lots of money from they're charities to help out and people everywhere around the world would try and donate as much money as they can to help every person affected, through it.
I personally hope nothing will ever happen like this again.

Heat Waves

 

A heat waves is an extended interval of abnormally hot and usually humid weather, usually lasting from a few days to over a week.
Heat waves form when an air mass becomes stationary over a region. Hot humid air masses form over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea while hot dry air masses form over the desert Southwest and northern Mexico. In the Eastern United States a heat wave occurs when a high pressure system originating in the Gulf of Mexico becomes stationary just off the Atlantic Seaboard (typically known as a Bermuda High.) The SW winds on the back side of the High continue to pump hot, humid Gulf air North-eastward resulting in a spell of hot and humid weather for much of the Eastern States.

Heat Waves are dangerous because heat kills by taxing the human body beyond its abilities. In a normal year, about 175 Americans succumb to the demands of summer heat. Among the large continental family of natural hazards, only the cold of winter - not lightning, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes - takes a greater toll. In the 40-year period from 1936 through 1975, nearly 20,000 people were killed in the United States by the effects of heat and solar radiation. In the disastrous heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died. The July 1995 heat wave caused more than 1,000 heat-related deaths across the Midwest and East Coast. And these are the direct casualties. No one can know how many more deaths are advanced by heat wave weather - how many diseased or aging hearts surrender that under better conditions would have continued functioning.

A heat advisory is issued when the heat, or combination of heat and humidity, is expected to become an inconvenience for much of the population, and a problem for some.


An excessive heat warning is issued when the heat, or combination of heat and humidity, is expected to be dangerous for a large portion of the population.

The heat index is the number in degrees Fahrenheit that tells how hot it really feels when relative humidity is added to the actual air temperature. Exposure to full sunshine can increase the heat index by 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

130 degrees or higher:	heatstroke/sunstroke highly likely with continued
105 - 130 degrees:	sunstroke, heat cramps or heat exhaustion likely with prolonged exposure.
90 - 105 degrees:	sunstroke, heat cramps and heat exhaustion possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity.
80 - 90 degrees:	fatigue possible with prolonged exposure and/or physical activity.

My Thoughts
Heat waves are scary because to me they seem kinda like global warming. Heat waves can kill people and so will global warming. My sister tells me that she kinda hates the summer because of how hot it can get sometimes and she thinks it's global warming and it would be a bad way to die.
Winter kinds sucks cause it's too cold but it's also not fun when it's too hot during the summer that you can't do anything because you feel to lazy or the sun is to hot and makes you tired.
I'd rather be hot then cold because there's actually no snow around and we can do things even if it's to hot. There's things to protect us from the sun like shade, sunscreen, cold water (swimming) and there's no snow and there's no school. Snow sometimes just isn't fun unless the sun's shining and it's nice out or when they snow is melting and spring is almost near.

Epidemic

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads at a rapid rate through a human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include: 

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu pandemic.

The 2002-3 SARS pandemic The AIDS epidemic, beginning in 1959 Other diseases that spread more slowly, but are still considered to be global health emergencies by the WHO include:
XDR TB, a strain of tuberculosis that is extensively resistant to drug treatments Malaria, which kills an estimated 1.5 million people each year Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which has claimed hundreds of victims in Africa in several outbreaks.

Rank	Death toll (estimate)	Event	Location	Date
1.	&0000000100000000000000100,000,000 approx.	Black Death	Asia, Europe, Africa	01300 1300s–1720s
2.	&000000005000000000000050,000,000–100,000,000	Spanish Flu	Worldwide	01918 1918–1920
3.	&000000004000000000000040,000,000–100,000,000	Plague of Justinian	Asia, Europe, Africa	00540 540–590
4.	&000000001200000000000012,000,000 ?	Third Pandemic of Bubonic Plague	Worldwide	01850 1850s–1950s
5.	&00000000050000000000005,000,000	Antonine Plague	Roman Empire	00165 165–180
6.	&00000000040000000000004,000,000	Asian Flu	Worldwide	01956 1956–1958

My Thoughts

When this like this happen it's hard to stop it or find an cure. Already hundreds of lives have been lost and there is till the people who have it and people are going to get it. It's hard to avoid something that can be spread easily, and alot of people already have it.

Severe Storms in Canada

Thunderstorms, hail, blizzards, ice storms, high winds and heavy rain can develop quickly and threaten life and property. Severe storms occur in all regions of Canada and in all seasons.
Listen to the local radio or television stations for severe weather warnings and advice. Keep a battery-powered or wind-up radio on hand as electricity frequently fails during severe storms.

Types of Storms

• Blizzards
• Hail
• Heavy rain
• Ice storms
• Lightning
• Thunderstorms
• Avalanche

Avalanche
Thousands of avalanches occur in Canada each year. They happen in all regions of Canada, but are more frequent in the mountains of British Columbia, Yukon and Alberta. Avalanches can be triggered by wind, rain, warming temperatures, snow and earthquakes. They can also be triggered by skiers, snowmobiles, hikers, vibrations from machinery or construction.

Avalanche facts

• An avalanche occurs when a layer of snow collapses and slides downhill.
• Avalanches are caused by four factors: a steep slope, snow cover, a weak layer in the snow cover and a trigger.
• Roads and railway tracks may be rerouted to reduce risks.
• Safe avalanches may be triggered in dangerous snow packs.
• Avalanches can travel up to 90 km/h.
• After one hour, only one in three victims buried in an avalanche is found alive. The most common causes of death are suffocation, wounds and hypothermia.

Blizzards

• A blizzard, in general, is a winter storm with winds exceeding 40 km/h with visibility reduced by falling or blowing snow to less than a kilometre and lasting for at least three hours.
• Blizzards come in on a wave of cold arctic air, bringing snow, bitter cold, high winds and poor visibility in blowing snow. While these conditions must last for at least three hours to be designated a blizzard, they may last for several days.
• Poor visibility, low temperatures and high winds combine to create a significant hazard.
• In Canada, blizzards with high winds are most common in the Prairies, eastern Arctic and eastern Ontario.
• Heavy snowfalls are most common in British Columbia, the Atlantic provinces, southern and eastern Quebec and areas around the Great Lakes.
• Freezing rain can occur pretty much anywhere in the country, but is particularly common in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Hail

• Hailstorms occur across Canada, though they are most frequent in Alberta, the southern Prairies and in southern Ontario.
• Hailstorms occur mostly from May to October.
• Parts of the Prairies can expect up to 10 hailstorms a year.
• For farmers whose crops are crushed, and for others whose homes and cars are damaged, a hailstorm can be a financial disaster.
• Some hailstones are the size of peas while others can be as big as grapefruits.

Heavy rain

• Heavy rainfall can result in flooding. This is particularly true when the ground is still frozen or already saturated from previous storms.
• Floods may also result, especially if heavy rain coincides with the spring thaw. 

Ice storms

• Freezing rain is tough, clings to everything it touches and is more slippery than snow.
• A little freezing rain is dangerous, a lot can be catastrophic.

Lightning

• Lightning occurs when the air becomes charged with electricity during a thunderstorm.
• Bolts of lightning travel at about 40,000 kilometres per second.

Thunderstorms

• Thunderstorms are often accompanied by high winds, hail, lightning, heavy rain and tornadoes.
• Thunderstorms are usually over within an hour, although a series of thunderstorms can last for several hours.

My Thoughts
All these things are very bad when they happen because it affects everyone and everything in a different way and causes damage.
When an avalanche occurs people are trapped and they could be lost and not found, they can die or they can get very injured. Nobody wants to be in an avalanche, and the people who survived one are lucky people and didn't like the experience and will always avoid them.
When blizzards happen it's not fun and people can get injured and hurt. This is a storm you don't want to mess with.
When hail comes down they can be any size and can happen almost anywhere in certain areas. Hail hurts and it's not fun when you are in one or when the hail cause damage to your vehicle or house. The damages cost lots and can be very big.
Heavy rain causes landslides or floods and it take a long time for things to get better and fixed.
Ice storms can be very dangerous because it causes the roads to but wet and frozen and  the roads become slippery and accidents can happen.
Lightening can cause forest fires and can strike anywhere and anyone at any time during a lightening storm.
Thunder storms can have heavy winds, rain, hail, lightening, tornado's and affect anything in it's way.
Any kind of storm is dangerous and should be avoided to avoid loss and damages.

Forrest Fires in Canada

 Fire plays an important role in most forest ecosystems in Canada. As these ecosystems have evolved over the last 10,000-15,000 years (since the glacial retreat at the end of the last ice age), fire has helped to maintain their health and diversity. From a socio-economic perspective fire can, however, have negative or undesirable effects on public health and safety, property, and natural resources.
The challenge of managing fire in Canada is to find ways to effectively balance the positive ecological aspects of fire with the negative social and economic impacts.
Wildfires are a natural hazard in any forested and grassland region in Canada. The regions with the highest wildfire occurrence are British Columbia, and the Boreal forest zones of Ontario, Quebec, the Prairie provinces, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Fire is the most spectacular natural disturbance that affects Canadian forests. The diversity of the forest landscape often bears witness to the passage of earlier fires.
Fire has a devastating effect on the landscape, and its impact is felt at every level of the ecosystem. Nevertheless, fire is an essential factor in the maintenance of the diversity and stability of boreal forest ecosystems.
Lightning is the primary natural cause of forest fires. Other fires are attributed to human-related causes such as cigarettes, matches, campfires, sparks from machinery or passing trains, etc.
Fires caused by lightning generally consume enormous areas, while fires started by human activities, although more frequent, are quickly detected and extinguished.

Impact on wildlife

Fire disturbs the vegetation and environment that provide food and shelter for animal species; therefore, wildlife populations change in response to the new habitat. Many species are able to take advantage of the conditions created by new vegetation and altered habitats. In the case of other species, however, years will pass before the populations return to their original levels, while some other species will never again be able to live in the area. 

For example, a recently burned site creates an ideal environment for the black-backed woodpecker. This species travels in search of food, which it might readily find in the form of an insect feeding on burned wood. The black-backed woodpecker is rarely if ever seen in older forests.

Impact on soil, water and air 

Fire reduces the amount of forest litter on the ground and, by doing so, it reduces the soil's capacity to retain water and nutrients. Heat from a fire can also significantly deplete the populations of microbial decomposers in the soil.

Fire affects both the amount of water available and its quality. For example, snow melts more rapidly in a burned zone, making a very large quantity of water available in a very short period of time. However, this same zone can dry out much more quickly during a dry spell. Also, water quality declines in zones affected by fire because of the resulting higher levels of sediment, organic matter and nutrients. These effects diminish over the medium term as vegetation re-establishes itself.
Air quality is primarily affected by the presence of particulates (ashes, soot, particles, etc.) in the atmosphere, which reduce visibility. Combustion also releases a large quantity of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water vapour into the atmosphere. The CO₂ released in this way can contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Wildfire facts

• Approximately 8,000 wildfires occur each year in Canada.
• The average area burned in Canada is 2.5 million ha/year.
• Fires caused by lightning represent 45% of all fires, but because they occur in remote locations and often in clusters, they represent 81% of total area burned.
• Human-caused fires represent 55% of all fires. They occur in more populated areas and are usually reported and extinguished quickly.

My Thoughts
If Forest Fires are necessary in the ecosystem, and they have to do it, they should try and reduce the amount of forest fires that are happening or being caused. They help the ecosystem but they don't help the animals that it's affecting. If some of the animals are being forced out of their habitat where they find food they shouldn't do it at all and just do something else with the trees and pick up the garbage that is on the ground instead of burning it with the trees.
Forest Fires do help one thing but then they affect another thing in a bad way. It also affects the water and air and the good supply of it.

Tornado Ally

Although tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, these destructive forces of nature are found most frequently in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains during the spring and summer months. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries. A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of 250 mph or more. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Once a tornado in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, carried a motel sign 30 miles and dropped it in Arkansas! 

Before a Tornado: How to Plan

Conduct tornado drills each tornado season.

Designate an area in the home as a shelter, and practice having everyone in the family go there in response to a tornado threat.

Discuss with family members the difference between a "tornado watch" and a "tornado warning." 

Have disaster supplies on hand:

• Flashlight and extra batteries 
• Portable, battery-operated radio and extra batteries 
• First Aid kit and Manual 
• Emergency food and water
• Non-electric can opener
• Essential medicines
• Cash and credit cards
• Sturdy shoes 

What is a tornado?  

A tornado is a spinning funnel of air. A tornado forms when a funnel of warm air quickly rises from the earth, most of the time into a thundercloud. In North America, when cold dry air from the Rockies moves east onto a warm wet air mass flowing north, if strong winds set the upward moving cold air mass of air spinning, it can turn into a tornado. Tornadoes that are over water are called waterspouts, and tornadoes that are over the desert are called dust devils.

Tornado Facts

Tornadoes are known to pick up trees, cars, trucks, farm animals, and anything smaller. Tornado speeds can range from under one hundred mph to over three hundred. A tornado can move along the ground at 70 mph! There is a place in the center of the US called Tornado Ally. This area receives a lot of tornadoes.

Outside Article-
Pipestone Tornado
The day after the Elie and Oakville tornadoes, another powerful tornado touched down near Pipestone. The tornado was followed by many storm chasers for its long nearly 100 mile path. Shortly after touching down, the tornado damaged several homes on the Oak Lake Reserve. This damage was F1. The tornado then continued for many miles over open country, occasionally grazing a structure with minor damage and snapping off many trees. As well, the parent storm occasionally produced baseball-sized hail. At its widest, the tornado was determined to be 1.8 km wide. This determination was made possible because the tornado churned through Spruce Woods Provincial Park, a heavily-forested region. At one point near Hartney, the tornado took out a very old (> 100 years) house that was made of brick. A new house built of brick would almost certainly require an F5 rating but as this home was built late in the 1800s, more than F3 damage could not be assigned. Near the end of its life-cycle, near Glenora, it destroyed a home (not well-built) and also destroyed some trees, garnering its F3 rating. It dissipated shortly thereafter.
Tornado's were spotted Saturday evening near Pipestone, Minto, the Canupawakpa First Nation and an area between Hartney and Deloraine.
Some houses were damaged on the Canupawakpa First Nation.

June 23, 2007;
F3 NW of Pipestone to near Glenora - Large 1.8 km wide tornado damaged many trees and several wheat fields. 1 home was destroyed.

F5 Elie area - Very violent, destructive tornado was spawned outside of the town of Elie and went through the town completely destroying several homes and damaging the town's flour mill. Although this was originally an F4 tornado, it was re-rated to an F5. This was a rare tornado and was Canada's first official F5 tornado.

F3 Near Oakville - As the Elie tornado dissipated, a new destructive tornado developed about 10 miles west of there. The tornado tracked through the country damaging trees and a couple of grain storage bins.


 My Thoughts
Tornado's happen alot during spring time and getting to summer, there's nothing really that we can do to stop them. We just have to be ready for them and get through all the damages that it causes.

I remember the time when the tornado was here. All of my family were looking out our big front window watching the rain and the hailing and the deadly winds. My lil bro, Cristian is only 4 years younger then me but he's not the youngest in the family, and he's scared of alot of things, like almost anything that can hurt him and he was freaking out that our house was gona get taken away by the winds. He's was asking what do we do when the tornado comes down and we told him that we would go in the basement and get under the stairs and wait till it passes but him freaking out, he was like half ways down the stairs already while me and my family were still looking out the window watching.
Nothing did happen to our house but the funnel cloud did go right over our house and touched down somewhere else far away. Later that day people were saying to us that it went over our house and they thought it got wrecked, it didn't we were okay, but they saw it as well that it went over our house. It was cool to watch because we never saw a tornado being formed and watch it touch down, and i hope we will never see one and soon.

Floods in Brandon

Manitoba declared a state of emergency across several municipalities, Monday afternoon as the flood threat rose in the southern areas of the province.
Frantic efforts were underway Monday night to top up existing dikes along the Assiniboine River, and to fortify previously unprotected properties along the LaSalle River system. The province plans to move mobile flood protection equipment into threatened areas as quickly as possible.

About 900 homes and businesses have been placed on evacuation alert in the city of 40,000, which means residents should be prepared to leave their homes on short notice.

City council met Sunday to issue the emergency declaration as river levels rose beyond earlier predicted levels and sandbag dikes were reinforced. The Assiniboine River reached the highest level in Brandon in recorded history last Thursday.

Protective dikes were being raised another 36 centimetres Sunday as water levels at the First Street Bridge rose more than 13 centimetres in the past 24 hours.

My Thoughts
Floods happen all the time during spring time when the snow is melting. But why is the worst flood in a hundred years happening now? Why are so many bad things happening to everyone now?
It's hard for the people that had to be forced to evacuate their homes or it's already been flooded, because all their belongings are being left behind or ruined in the floods waters. some people are lucky that they live in areas were they aren't being evacuated or flooded by the waters.
Lots of people took time out of their day to help fill sandbags for the people that need it to stop the waters from coming into their homes. They are being Thanked for the help and they are nice people to help the people that really need it.
Maybe, the Natural Disasters that are happening are the earth's way of saying that it's going to end.
What do you think all these Natural Disasters mean?

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

March 11, 2011. On Friday, at 2:46 p.m. Tokyo time, the quake struck. First came the roar and rumble of the temblor, shaking skyscrapers, toppling furniture and buckling highways. The day the most powerful earthquake to hit Japan since records begin 140 years ago struck the country's north-east coast Friday

Minutes later, the 8.9-magnitude earthquake set off a devastating tsunami that sent walls of water washing over coastal cities in the north. The waves as high as 30 feet rushed onto shore, whisking away cars and carrying blazing buildings toward factories, fields and highways.Concerns mounted over possible radiation leaks from two nuclear plants near the earthquake zone.

The death toll from the tsunami and earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, was in the hundreds, but Japanese news media quoted government officials as saying that it would almost certainly rise to more than 1,000. By Saturday morning, Japan was filled with scenes of desperation, as stranded survivors called for help and rescuers searched for people buried in the rubble. About 200 to 300 bodies were found along the waterline in Sendai, a port city in northeastern Japan and the closest major city to the epicenter. Thousands of homes were destroyed, many roads were impassable, trains and buses were not running, and power and cellphones remained down.
Many people are forced to evacuate the area for

My Thoughts
Causes of the earthquake are from the earth plates shifting and moving into place under the ocean. Why do earthquakes happen? A sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake.
What triggered the seismic waves to move the earth plate and shake the ground? Is it because we are changing the earth and causing these things to happen?
The world is always changing and new things are being invented that are maybe not be good for the environment that cause these things the happen.

After the earthquake there was a Tsunami. The Tsunami happened because the earth plates shifted under the ocean causing the water to move back into place and creating a giant Tsunami.
Or is it because the year 2012 is coming? What do you think?