Australia Natural Disasters

Blondes don't always smile during lightning storms. This is likely just a stereotype or joke. People of all hair colors can have different reactions to lightning storms, depending on their individual personalities and feelings about thunderstorms.

Different regions of Australia experience drought at different times. The drought currently being experienced by the southern regions is the worst on record, and has been going on for 12 years. In Queensland, some areas were drought-declared in August 2002, and are still in drought (October 2008), whereas other regions have had the drought declaration lifted, following good rainfalls earlier in 2008. A similar situation exists in Western Australia, where good farmland has been drought-declared for a number of years, but other areas have received sufficient rain to be taken off the list.

A fetus can split during early pregnancy due to a process called twinning. This may occur when a fertilized egg splits into two separate embryos, leading to identical twins. It is a natural occurrence and happens randomly in about 1 in every 250 pregnancies.

The Aborigines have nothing to do with the drought in Australia. It is more likely to be the effects of white man and his earlier tendency to clear land for tha sake of greed, rather than considering the long-term effects of his actions. Before European settlers arrived and started their campaign of massive land-clearing, the Australian continent had its regular seasons of wet and dry, but most likely not the debilitating long periods of drought that many regions endure these days. The effects of drought are exacerbated by overgrazing livestock, which leave the earth bare. The introduced rabbit has had a similar effect.
Some may believe the Aborigines placed a curse on Australia when their land was invaded and they were forcibly removed. For those who believe in the power of curses, they may also believe the Aborigines have something to do with the drought. Science would say otherwise ... but then ... science cannot always explain everything. Many Aboriginal methods of traditional hunting and gathering was done so as not to impact negatively on their surroundings. Traditional Aborigines used fire responsibly to help the regeneration purpose, and they moved on to new food sources with the seasons, always ensuring there was enough left to replenish and regenerate the supply for the following year. It should be noted that the Aborigines themselves have suffered greatly in past droughts. In 1902, a severe drought affected central Australia, where European settlement and influence was still minimal, yet the Aborigines were dying from starvation. Whilst European settlement can certainly be blamed for the exacerbation of drought conditions, this event alone indicates that drought is often a natural situation which occurs regardless of man's activities.

Quite simply, it was a very black day when they occurred. Over 170 lives were lost as a result of the fires. Also, previous major bushfire disasters in Australia had been dubbed "Black Tuesday" (Tasmania, 7 February 1967) and Black Friday (Victoria, 13 January 1939).

Encountering a bushfire whilst in a car is a dangerous situation, but there are still many things one can do to try and improve one's chances of survival. Finding a clearing or anger natural barrier such as a rocky outcrop can help. Surprisingly, one should keep the engine running and face the fire front head-on. Remain inside the car, closing all doors, windows and vents. One should then get into the footwell and cover oneself with a woollen blanket, if possible.

More detailed information can be found at the related links below.

You can't prevent bush fires, but you can prevent them spreading to your house....

Clear your house and garden from dry leaves and clear your gutters of flammable objects.......

Keep protective clothing near by and make sure you have lots of water sources...

Fire can be a devastating fact of life within the Australian bush lands, especially after periods of severe drought.

According to the Australian Government's website, and backed by data from the Australian Institute of Criminology, there are roughly 52,000 bushfires every year. Actual figures may vary from 46,000 to 62,000 per year.

Not normally.

Brisbane tends to be too far south to be hit by cyclones. The warm water currents necessary for a cyclone's development usually do not extend as far south as Brisbane, although a cyclone could, conceivably, be caught in such a current.

Cyclones on Australia's eastern side readily form in the Coral Sea any time between November and April. If they do track south, they are unlikely to retain their wind strength, but they can still cause major damage with flooding rains. This was what happened in the 1974 floods in Brisbane, when Cyclone Wanda crossed the coast several hundred kilometres north of Brisbane, but then continued inalnd, dumping hundreds of millimetres of rain, despite its wind strength being depleted.

The most drought-prone areas are the areas inland from the coast. Drought hits all areas of Australia (including the coast) but drought is more prevalent in inland Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Northern Territory and throughout South Australia and Western Australia. Even Tasmania can be subject to drought.

One reason is that the Eucalyptus tree, a kind of myrtle, has a very high concentration of volatile oils. Fires can start naturally, but there are episodes of arson from time to time. The many species of Eucalyptus are abundant in parts of Australia.

A dust storm is usually caused by the top layer of earth becoming very dry over time, usually from a drought. When the wind becomes heavy enough, it will pick up only the smallest particles of dirt, which resembles dust, and will carry them through the air.

It is not known what, exactly, caused the Newcastle earthquake of 1989.

Originally, investigations following the earthquake suggested that it was triggered by 200 years of underground coal mining. Geoscientists from Columbia University claimed that removal of 500 mega tonnes of coal and 2000 mega tonnes of water removed from the ground reactivated a major faultline underneath the Newcastle's coalfields. Removal of millions of tonnes of coal, and the pumping out of water needed in the mining process, created enough stress to reactivate a fault line beneath the Newcastle coal fields.

However, a 2007 report cast doubts on this theory, which came from a US report. Australian geoscientists believe more factors were involved, as evidenced by the fact that minor earthquakes have occurred in the Hunter Valley coal mining region from time to time, and not necessarily close to the coal mining sites. The epicentre of the quake was simply too far underground to have been caused by coal mining alone.

For more details on possible causes of the Newcastle earthquake, see the link below.

Australia does experience earthquakes, but not as severely or as commonly as in say Japan, Iran or New Zealand. Meckering WA in 1968 and Newcastle NSW 1989 were two earthquakes which caused severe damage, and loss of life in the case of Newcastle, largely because Australian building codes generally do not take into account earthquakes because their frequency is so low. There were two minor earthquakes off Broome WA and in Gippsland Vic in March 2009.

Essentially, Australia is situated far from tectonic plate margins which are the "hotspots" for severe earthquakes. Stresses can develop away from plate margins, which is why the continent can experience relatively minor earthquakes. Because Australia is centrally located on one of the shields of the earths crust. These are old solid parts of the earth's crust where there is no volcanic activity or movement so there is little in the way of seismic activity.

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Bushfires can have significant environmental impacts, including the destruction of habitats, loss of biodiversity, and disruption of ecosystems. They can lead to soil erosion and degradation, affecting land productivity. Additionally, bushfires release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Water quality can also be compromised due to ash and pollutants entering waterways.

The Black Saturday bushfires began on 7 February 2009, and continued for almost five weeks. On 12 March Victorian authorities announced that the last of the worst bushfires which caused the most death and devastation were under control. However, smaller fires continued, controlled, for many months after that.

November to April is the official cyclone season, although November cyclones are rare and there have been cyclones outside of the season, such as in May.

The reason cyclones occur at this time is because these are Australia's warmest months, and cyclones need warm sea temperatures of 26.5 degrees Celsius or higher to form.

See the link below for the frequency of cyclones for each month below.

The total effects of Larry were nearly A$1 billion in damage and one fatality. It destroyed the region's banana plantations. Consequently Australians had to pay astronomical prices for bananas for around a year. North Queensland's tropical fruit, sugar cane and avocado farm industries also suffered, and took some time to rebuild. Environmental effects included the following: * damage to the Great Barrier Reef, by way of broken and dislodged coral, damaged vegetation and beaches * fish and marine animals suffocated when their gills were filled with mud which resulted from the turbulent waters * extensive damage to rainforests, particularly rainforest remnants (which were less protected), not only by way of damaged trees and animal habitats. but by the intrusion of pervasive weeds and non-native plants from other areas; these weeds, such as Miconia, smother native plants and alter the structure of the environment