Australia Natural Disasters

The Victorian bush fire hit most of Victoria's bushland, but it is the environment that was hit the hardest. As one of the worst burn-offs that Australia has seen, it has obviously had a great affect on the wildlife. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has estimated that wildlife injury and death would tally more than a million. Many of the surviving wildlife suffered burns and other injuries. A species of possum, the Leadbeater's Possum, had its only known habitat burned, putting it under extreme threat of extinction. Of course, the plants in the bush were most affected, and this has had, and will have, impact on the prospects of the many animals who need the vegetation for survival (like koalas and possums), who have all lost vast areas of habitat. Also, regrowth in the burned areas will affect run-off rates, availability of water, and infrastructure, such as dams, and dam maintenance for decades. The greater environment has not gone unscathed either with evidence of smoke from the fires, found high over Antarctica.

Tropical cyclone warning centres are located in these cities as they are the major centres along the coasts where most cyclones occur. Cyclones rarely hit as far south as Perth, but Perth is the capital of Western Australia, and the centre for communications - thus it is a logical location. Brisbane is in a similar situation. Darwin is right in the middle of cyclone territory.

They paid for a portion of the damage bill and provided support for the destroyed place. They also gave in ideas of improving the structural components of the buildings in taking on future earthquakes (a way of minimizing the damage as much as possible).

The Gundagai floods of 1852 caused significant destruction, with the Murrumbidgee River bursting its banks and sweeping away homes, buildings, and bridges. The flooding resulted in the loss of around 89 lives and the complete destruction of the town, leading to widespread devastation and displacement of residents. The event highlighted the vulnerability of settlements to natural disasters and led to improved flood control measures in the region.

There were hundreds of fires on Black Saturday, which occurred on February 7, 2009, in the Australian state of Victoria. These fires burned across multiple areas, claiming lives and causing widespread destruction.

Very few significant historical events occurred in Australia in 1853. 1853 was the year that transportation of convicts to Australia from Ireland ended. (England followed suit fifteen years later.) 1854 was more significant. * Australia's first telegraph line was opened on 3 March 1854; it ran from Melbourne to Williamstown. * The first Cobb & Co coach run was on 30 September 1854, departing Melbourne for the Forest Creek diggings (now Castlemaine) and Bendigo. * The Battle of the Eureka Stockade occurred near Ballarat, Victoria, on 3 December 1854.

Bushfires can have seriously damaging effects on the atmosphere. Excessive smoke in the atmosphere can have the following effects: * Smoke reduces how much sunlight gets through which, in turn, reduces ground temperature. * It also affects light available for the process of photosynthesis in plants, and results in less healthy plant growth. * Bushfires produce extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which increases the so-called "greenhouse effect". * Temperature changes on the earth, resulting from increased smoke in the atmosphere, affect weather and rainfall patterns. (This may mean an agricultural area dependent on regular rain suffers drought seasons.) * The smoke from Australia's devastating bushfires of February 2009 actually reached the Antarctic. Smoke particles in the atmosphere resulted in the growth of sulphuric acid droplets which were believed to have a small effect on the climate at high altitudes. Depending on their size, these sulphuric acid droplets had the potential to producing chemical reactions which could result in damage to the ozone layer in the stratosphere.

Western Australia is prone to natural hazards such as bushfires, cyclones, flooding, and droughts. These hazards can pose significant risks to both rural and urban communities, impacting infrastructure, agriculture, and the environment. It is important for residents and authorities to be prepared and have response plans in place to mitigate the impact of these hazards.

Little information was recorded about Cyclone Mahina, which hit north Queensland on 4 March 1899. As with all cyclones, it would have been generated from a low pressure system out at sea some days earlier.

Australian bushfires do not have a regulation speed they must burn at, and all bushfires behave differently.

Fire speed depends on the speed and direction of the prevailing winds, the temperature and relative humidity, whether the land is flat, hilly or undulating, the availability of fuel and degree of curing of the fuel, weather conditions and rainfall for the previous days, months or years.

You cannot outrun a bushfire and many people are killed trying to escape in cars.

A good rule of thumb for major bushfires is, if you can see the flames, you have left it too late to do anything and you are in a lot of trouble. Make prior arrangements and leave when the warnings are issued.

"Black Saturday" marked the start of massive bushfires in Victoria, Australia, which eventually killed 173. The fires 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.

Stuart Diver survived being trapped for 65 hours in the Thredbo landslide in 1997 by being located in a pocket of air that had formed within the debris. He was able to stay hydrated by licking moisture off a wet cloth and was eventually rescued by a team of emergency workers.

Bushfires are common in Australia. They can occur with equal force in grasslands and in bushland. They tend to occur more in the southern states, where summers are hot and dry, but they are also common up the coast of New South Wales, and in limited regions of Queensland, such as the area around Rockhampton.

Bushfires need fuel, oxygen, and heat to keep going. Fuel can be dried vegetation, trees, or debris, while oxygen is supplied by the air. Heat is often the initial ignition source and can be sustained by the fuel burning.

Cyclone too cause impacts on hydrosphere. Cyclone causes water displacement from water bodies. it causes streaming movements in water which may be threat to aquatic life. It may drown ships or boats of fisherman and kill them.

Some significant events that occurred in December 1974 include the end of the OPEC oil embargo, author John Lennon appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

The 2003 Canberra bushfires ended through the concerted efforts of the Emergency Services personnel. A protracted campaign of fire-fighting, together with water-bombing were necessary to contain the worst of the fires. The speed and intensity of the fires was unexpected, and there were so many fire fronts that firefighters struggled to keep up. 150 NSW Rural Fire Service personnel and 40 extra firefighters were brought in from Queensland to help the ACT firefighters. In the end, the fires continued past Canberra, met with back-burning and burnt themselves out as they ran out of fuel.

1. Meckering, in the Avon Valley of Western Australia, suffered an earthquake at 10:59am on 14 October 1968. No deaths were reported, but the earthquake injured 17 people, and caused an estimated $2.2 million worth of damage, the equivalent of around $5 million today. 2. In 1961, severe bushfires in several regions of the southwest resulted in extensive loss of property and bushland, but no loss of life. 3. Lake Grace, in Western Australia's eastern wheatbelt, experienced a major hailstorm on 16 October 2005, which razed 500 hectares of grain crops and damaged a further 5,500 hectares. Some farmers reported fields buried in 25 cm of hail. 4. An enormous cyclone (unnamed) hit the northwest coast on 22 April 1887. A pearling fleet bore the brunt of the storm; thirteen vessels were destroyed and 140 people killed. Eighty Mile Beach (some sources say Ninety Mile Beach), near Broome, was littered with bodies and debris washed up from the battered fleet.

Weather is a major contributor to bushfires. The hotter and drier, the more likely it is for a bushfire to start and spread uncontrollably. High winds will reduce humidity, and cause an ongoing bushfire to spread more rapidly. Often these high winds are brought from off the desert areas in Australia. Therefore, the geographic process tends to be that bushfires are more common inland, rather than near the coast, where weather is drier. Bushfires move faster in hilly country. For every 10 degrees of slope gradient, the speed of the bushfire will double as it travels uphill. This is by no means the case every time, however, as bushfires are also common on the largest island in Moreton Bay (North Stradbroke Island), near Brisbane, Queensland. Not only is the weather humid, but the terrain is comparatively flat.

The spatial dimension of the Victorian bushfires refers to the geographic extent and distribution of the fires across the state of Victoria, Australia. It encompasses factors such as the size of the affected areas, the spread of the fires, and their proximity to populated areas.

Cyclone Hamish caused widespread damage along the coast of Queensland, Australia in 2009. The cyclone destroyed homes, boats, jetties, and caused significant erosion to beaches. It also disrupted power supplies and resulted in the closure of ports and businesses in the affected areas.