Natural Disasters of Jamaica

Jamaica has been largely effected by Coastal Hazards and Erosion. Beach erosion has been the number one issue on this island. Based on the article, beaches have been receding at a rate of 0.5-1.0 meter every year. At this rate, all of Jamaica's beaches are predicted to disappear by 2025 give or take 5 years. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), human activity was the main cause of beach erosion, such as: Bad Environmental practices  Bad building practices Illegal dumping of pollutants in the sea Death of sea grass due to the pollution Bleaching of coral reefs As a means to control the erosion, each morning the local groundskeepers carefully tend to Negril's resort-lined shore. However, it is getting more difficult considering some sections are hardly wide enough to accommodate for a regular sized beach towel! The erosion is said to worsen due to climate change which is a horrible issue in today's world! https://www.nbcnews.com/

Extreme Weather Conditions:  I have chosen to stick to my assigned country, however, this weeks topic has been rather challenging... Jamaica has no severe tornadoes, rarely gets hit by heat waves due to the sea breeze that comes in and is not effected by snow storms. What I did find was that cold fronts are a normal occurrence in Jamaica. What is a Cold Front?  "A cold front is the leading portion of a cold atmospheric air mass moving against and eventually replacing the warm air mass" (Dictionary). They can move northwest to southeast and the shift between cold and warm fronts can be drastic. It can go from freezing temperatures on the end of the cold front and warm temperatures on the end of the warm front. How can we prepare? Some common tips to prepare for a cold front are: Wear layers. Gloves and a hat will prevent you from losing body heat. Bring your pets indoors. They may have fur, but if it’s too cold for you, it’s too cold for them. Keep your thermostat

The type of mass wasting that Jamaica is most affected by is landslides.  What is a landslide?   A l andslide is a general term used to describe a down or outward movement of slope forming materials due to gravity pulling the landform. It also includes little or no sliding such as the fall of rocks and debris or flow of debris and mud.  What are the four types of Landslides? Falls: a mass detaches from a steep slope or cliff and descends by free-fall, bounding, or rolling. Topples : a mass tilts or rotates forward as a unit. Slides: a mass displaces on one or more recognizable surfaces, which may be curved or planar. Flows: a mass moves downslope with a fluid motion. A significant amount of water may or may not be part of the mass.  How has landslides affected Jamaica? Landslides and flooding account for majority of Jamaica's natural disasters and continuously pose a threat to lives and their properties.   " Jamaica’s mountainous terrain, its geology, it

Jamaica has very little information regarding volcanic activity or eruptions... The islands volcano hazard is extremely low. There has only been one known volcanic eruption in Jamaica which produced the Low Layton Lava . Due to this lava, "a prominent east-west ridge [was formed] on the north shore of the island"(Caribbean...). Although there is little activity now, over half of the island of Jamaica is covered by white limestone, which has yellow limestone underneath. There is also older metamorphic and indigenous rocks (which are created by the cooling of molten material) underneath. Jamaica has shallow soils on their upland areas which are particularly susceptible to erosion. http://caribbeanvolcanoes.com/jamaica-geology/ https://www.britannica.com/place/Jamaica

Jamaica experiences roughly 200 minor earthquakes per year, most have a magnitude of 4.0 or less. The most seismically active areas are the Blue Mountain block in eastern Jamaica and the Montpelier-New Market Belt in western Jamaica. Jamaica and Haiti share the same seismically-active plate boundary . This is important to note because Haiti was recently affected by a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that wiped out over 316,000 people. Due to this, the professor that predicted Haiti's earthquake warns Jamaica to get prepared for a major hit as well.    Despite the many warnings, Jamaica does not appear to be prepared . The information I was able to find was that they are educated on basic safety measures such as: standing in strong doorways and crawling beneath a desk. However, there is no information that states they have earthquake-proofed their construction to prevent collapses or have emergency warning systems that can be sent out through text, emails, etc.. This

The book Natural Hazards states that tectonic plates are simply large broken up pieces of lithosphere (33). However,  the island of  Jamaica  lies in between two tectonic plates; the  Gonave Microplate  and the  South Jamaican Microplate  which are both Convergent boundaries. Convergent   boundaries happen when plates move towards each other, in this case both move towards the island of  Jamaica  shown on the photo above. This is creating a subduction. There has only been two major earthquakes; one in 1692 that killed over 5,000 people and destroyed over 3,000 buildings. The second one was in 1907 that killed about 1,000 people and 9,000 were left homeless.  Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett.  Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes . Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print. https://jis.gov.jm/information/get-thefacts/major-earthquaks-jamaica/  https://caribbeantectonics.weebly.com/caribbean-microplates.html