Storm Strikes Several Southeast States

"1 dead, several hurt as storm hits Southeast"

Okay so I'm not posting so much on this article becuase I thought it was interesting, but more or less because it pissed me off. There are plenty of other things to worry about right now in the world in terms of weather or hazard events but the one that gets reported is "severe wind damage" due to a possible tornado. Imagine if Kansas got put on the news everytime some wind damaged a couple of houses. I mean I understand that someone died and a few people got hurt but this really shouldn't be such a big deal. To put this in perspective the article clearly states that four, yes FOUR houses in Alabama were damaged. They go on to say this was "the worst bout of weather the state has seen since April" This picture below really does a justice to this whole situation

This picture displays one of the destroyed homes in the Louisiana town of Houma, where as far as I can tell from this news report was the ONLY
home that was destroyed. This goes hand in hand with what we talked about in class where if a few people die or something moderately bad happens and happens on US soil you'd better damn well believe that its getting reported over something that's happening in Africa. While this report was being typed up by some journalist at the MSNBC headquarters I'd be willing to bet that there was an earthquake that happened somewhere in southeast Asia that caused more damage, and will subsequently get .2% of the coverage this does.

Extra Note: The article also mentions that gusts of wind were 'up to' 30 mph. I think when we walk across the footbridge here in Eau Claire we experience anywhere from 15-30 mph wind gusts, and that's when it's already 0 degrees outside, and I don't get blown over, how the hell does a house fall from 30 mph gusts? I cant wrap my head around this.

Second large quake strikes Turkey

'5.7 quake in Turkey collapses damaged buildings'

This is a very brief article, and thus will require a slightly more brief analysis. This is sort of a follow up to a previous article that was run by MSNBC about the earthquake that happened in the Van province of Turkey a few weeks ago.

Two weeks ago there was a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck an area of this province and 600 people were killed. This quake, while only a 5.7 magnitude essentially finished off what the other earthquake failed to destroy in the first place.

This isn't even what is significant about this hazard event though. Upon further investigation I was able to find out that while this earthquake affected people on a physical level, they were also hit religiously if you will. This image that was used in a Turkish newspaper displays the religious divide that this earthquake has in turn caused.

This reads "divine warning", which apparently many inhabitants of this country are taking as a sign that the growing unease and conflict in this area of the world may be leading to more severe religious implications.

There are also added problems regarding disaster mitigation. This province is home to many Muslims who identify themselves as Kurds, who are currently unhappy with the conditions of the current government. Various factions within the Kurdish sect have been staging riots, and occasionally killing public and government employees (soldiers and police officers). But when these earthquakes hit, these radical groups cry for help from no one other than the government. Because of the tensions shared between those two organizations, the disaster relief effort is virtually non-existant, with only a percentage of the required aid being delivered. A writer for the Foreign Policy Journal notes that usually when disasters happen people come together and rally for the good of those who have been affected, regardless of prior conflicts or tension. This does not seem to be the case in Turkey and it will be interesting to see how this develops now that the severity of the disaster has increased.

Alaska about to get absolutely hammered by storm

'Life-threatening' storm bears down on Alaska's west coast

Okay so this storm will basically be the most intense storm to rock the coast of Alaska in a very long time, if not ever. This storm is likely to hit the Western coasts of Alaska today and tomorrow this week, but it appears as if the inhabitants of these local towns are prepared. (sort of)

A mayor of one of these tiny towns on the coast said he is confident that rock wall that their town has built will be more than enough to handle the storm. The wall has not yet been tested by a storm of this magnitude, but their mayor is still confident that it will hold. He has also instructed all residents to seek shelter in the school, which is at the highest point in town.

So knowing what little I know about these kind of storms, I don't necessarily agree with what this town is doing. It is said that the tides will go up 8 to 10 feet, and from what I've learned, if water rises by that much, there are some potentially devastating things that that can do. I personally wouldn't think that a rock wall could take the constant battering of an extra 10 feet of water constantly crashing into it at much higher speeds than normal.

It is also said that this storm is expected to produce record blizzard conditions and excess snowfall levels and up to 80 mph winds and that does nothing to help the cause for that rock wall, and that could also lead to other problems. People may not be able to evacuate and protect themselves as planned.

It will be interesting to see what happens as this storm system progresses throughout the day today and into tomorrow, and see if the evacuation procedures and safety measures taken by these towns will be effective enough to weather this storm with minimal damage.

This is a goes satellite image of the storm that is currently battering Alaska. The GOES satellite provides some of the highest resolution imagery available when it comes to displaying weather patterns such as this one. This picture of the storm is basically what you could call "gnarly"