Rebecca Nelson
Geography 1700- Natural Disasters
Prof. Robert Dastrup
ePortfolio assignment 1
1. How far apart are these two points on a map? They are 765 miles apart and roughly 12hrs
and 41 min driving time.
2. What are the tectonic plate boundaries for each of these two points? Mount St. Helens is a
convergent plate boundary on the San Andres Fault, also known as the St. Helens Fault
Zone. Loma Prieta in California is a transform plate boundary located on the San Andres
fault.
3. How could there possibly be a connection to these catastrophic events even though they
were completely different and nearly 10 years apart from each other? List reasons why
there might be a connection and why there might not? The most interesting connection I
find is that they are both located on the ferocious Pacific Ring of Fire, where a majority of
volcanoes and earthquakes occur. They are two different types of boundaries, convergent
and transform, which make the characteristics different. Although they have the San Andres
fault in common, the amount of time and distance between these events, lead me to
believe that the only correlation is the fact that they are both on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
4. Describe how these two events are different in regards to human impact? Although Mount
St. Helens killed 57 people, destroyed more than 200 homes, and wiped out over 230 sq.
miles of forest, they had much more time to evacuate and prepare for the eruption than
with the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The Loma Prieta quake killed 63 people, and
injured over 3,700. The damages due to it being a metropolitan area, a higher and more
dense population lead to more than 6 billion dollars in damages, and thousands of people
left homeless.
5. What is the most significant natural disaster that has occurred near where you live or that
might occur in your region? Without a doubt it’s the earthquake that has been predicted to
hit Salt Lake City.
6. What are the factors that contribute to this hazard? The last earthquake along the Wasatch
fault line occurred 500 years ago. That is a lot of time for pressure to build up and ultimately
leading to a powerful and destructive quake on an increasingly dense population close and
even over the fault itself.
7. What can people in your region due to reduce their vulnerability to that hazard? They
should have a plan set in place, a set location to meet up, and at least a 72 hour survival kit.
On a larger scale we should set strict building codes and reinforced roads. Knowing where
and where not to build structures is also very important to reducing the vulnerability to our
region.
Reflection- I learned to navigate through Google Earth, and am amazed by the technology
behind it. It is amazing to be able to look at Mount St. Helens in an instant by clicking a few
buttons. Also, the magnitude of these two events and the impact on humans and our planet
is astonishing. It is scary how far of a reach a volcano or an earthquake can have. In a matter
of moments the landscape at Mount St. Helens was completely changed. And at Loma Prieta
in moment people were without homes.
1. This image shows the distance between the 2 points is 765 miles.
2-3. These Images show the San Andres fault through Loma Prieta and the St. Helens fault, through
Mount St. Helens.
4. This image shows the dense population surrounding Loma Prieta, Ca.
5. This is an image of the Wasatch front, gives a good example of why an earthquake through this area
could result in a large loss of life and a huge amount of money in damages.