Giacomo Toscano
November 16th – 24th, 2009
Humanities 8B
Ms. Nickell
Questions 1 – 5 General Answers
1) Where is this location? Which country? Are there any cities nearby that might be in
danger if a natural hazard was to occur?
I am studying about the country of Greece. It is located at the southern end of the
Balkan Peninsula, with more than 1,900 islands. (Wikipedia) It has a population of just
over 11 million people, so of course there can be many disasters, when a natural
hazard or disaster occurs.
2) Whether or not your area lies on or near a plate boundary. Why type of plate
boundary it is? What is the most likely natural hazard that will take place at your
location?
Greece lies mostly in a minor plate known as the Aegean Plate. It is surrounded by
the African Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolia Plate. (USGS) Most of
Greece’s earthquakes come from interaction between the Eurasian Plate and the
Aegean Plate. I am of the opinion that earthquakes are the most consistent natural
hazards in Greece.
3) Have there been other natural hazards in this are before? What type? What is the
likelihood of a natural hazard taking place again?
Greece is known to also have common volcano eruptions. There are still many
volcanoes in Greece which are still active. They are part of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc.
This is a result of a subduction zone between the African and the Aegean Plates.
(USGS) Of course volcanoes will keep on erupting in Greece as they always have.
There are also large fires in Greece, because the forests can get very dry during the
summer. (NASA)
4) What is the climate like in the area? How has it changed over the past 100 years?
What are the predictions of further change?
Greece is known to be one on the warmest, sunniest places in all Europe. It
apparently is stated in more than six different references, that the temperature of
Greece has risen and that the country has become even warmer, and drier. (New
York Times)
5) How developed is the civilization that exists in your location? What types of buildings?
Ecosystems? Farms? Industries? Houses?
One thing that caught my eye when I was looking at the fatalities caused by
earthquakes in Greece was that there are practically none. (USGS) The most recent
one in 2008, with a magnitude of 6.4, only had 2 fatalities. There were no fatalities in
the 4 previous earthquakes, only to have 143 fatalities in a earthquake in 1999, which
had a magnitude of only 6.0. (USGS) It is a law in Greece that all the houses must be
built where the columns and beams carry the house and not the walls. These houses
can resist up to an earthquake with a magnitude up to 8.0 on the Richter scale. (Xbuildings-x)
Bibliography:
NASA.com. 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
<http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=39932>.
USGS.com. United States Geological Survey, 21 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.
<http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/greece/tectonic_summary.php>.
Wikipedia.org. Wikimedia, 25 Nov. 2009. Web. 27 Nov. 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece>.
X-buildings-x.com. 1 Dec. 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.
<http://x-buildings-x.com/viewtopic.php?t=19979115192234ZZJwOPf>.