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Some definitions PDF Print E-mail

Here are some definitions of the principal natural disasters that we have listed. Those definitions are from various sources, such as online dictionaries or encyclopedias.

The pictures used to illustrate our definitions all come from Wikicommons.

CYCLONE:

A cyclone is a system of winds rotating inwards to an area of low barometric pressure. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

cyclone

STORM:

A storm is a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain, thunder, lightning, hail or tornado.

DROUGHT:

The drought is the normal or temporary state of the ground and\or the environment, corresponding to a deficiency in water supply. Over a significantly long period it has impacts on the natural or cultivated flora, the wild fauna or the animals of breeding.

drought

COLD SNAP:

A cold snap is a weather phenomenon lasting at least two days during which the minimal temperatures remained equal or lower than a certain threshold.

HEAT WAVE:

A heat wave is a prolonged period of unusually hot weather (at least 72 hours) during which the thermal amplitude between day and night is low. The heat accumulates faster than it evacuates by convection or radiation.

TORNADO:

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud.

tornado

AVALANCHE:

An avalanche is a sudden descent of snow down a hillside in the direction of the valley.

SEISM:

Sudden movement or shock of the earth's crust, produced in a certain depth, from an epicentre.

LANDSLIDE:

A landslide is a geologic phenomenon in which a mass of soil goes down a slope.

landslide

MUDSLIDE:

A mudslide is a rapid mass wasting. (up to 80 km/h) and fluid composed of at least 30 % of water and 50 % of silt, muds and the other clayey materials.

VOLCANIC ERUPTION:

A volcanic eruption is a geologic phenomenon characterized by the emission, by a volcano, of lavas accompanied by volcanic gases.

volcanic_eruption

FLOOD:

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land.

TIDAL WAVE:

Exceptional invasion of the bank by the sea, produced by a blade of storm, a tsunami or a submarine wrinkling.

TSUNAMI:

A tsunami is a geological series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of water (ocean or sea), often caused by an earthquake or a volcanic eruption.

tsunami

 

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