Melting Himalayas Making Water Scarce

     Many politically unstable areas across south Asia are water stricken. Meaning that the amount of water is lacking compared to the demands that need to be met in the area. Some of it is due to the lack of infrastructure. Researchers are reporting how changes in the Himalayan glaciers are affecting the river systems, water supplies, irrigation, and hydroelectric power for roughly 1.5 billion people stretching across eight countries. Changes in water availability due to climate change could result in increased conflicts within the region.

       One of the main problems is that the region utilizes the groundwater that is collected during the summer from monsoonal rainfall. But this natural process is shifting due to climate change and rainfall will start to decrease.

    "In the western Himalayas, where people do depend on runoff for water, glaciers are relatively stable, and perhaps even advancing, the report states. And the NRC researchers say they don't predict the same high water demands in these regions on the booming Indian subcontinent."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57511298/melting-himalayas-may-magnify-water-scarcity/

     Some of the changes in the water resources has been experienced during July and August in 2010. Pakistan had flooding that killed over 15 hundred people and resulted in 9.5 billion dollars of damage. The important steps to protect water quality and regulate their current policies are going to have to be taken by the government in the next decade.

 

Tsunamis and Nuclear Sites

      Natural Disasters such as the tsunamis in Japan in 2011 that caused a major meltdown of three Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors and the evacuation of thousands is still a fear for preventative disaster managers. Researchers published in the Natural Hazards journal that 74 reactors at 23 plants are in areas of high risk for tsunami damage in the South East Asia area.

     Tsunamis are difficult to predict, as researchers are working out possible risk factors that could be improved to avoid potential worse tsunamis in the future, by studying the; historical, archeological and geological studies of disasters. The building and safety of nuclear power plants in at risk areas need to continuously be watched. The 15 meter tsunami which swept through Japan in 2011 could happen again.
http://www.energylivenews.com/2012/09/26/fukushima-style-tsunamis-threaten-23-other-nuclear-sites/

Droughts Are Pushing Plants to their Limit

Droughts in the Southwest made more severe by warming

temperatures are putting plants in stressful growing conditions

Droughts have seemingly been making winters milder and summers hotter than ever. Jeremy Weiss a senior research specialist in the UA department of geosciences, said " We Know the climate in the southwest is getting warmer but we wanted to investigate how the higher temperatures might interact with the highly variable precipitation typical of the region" Weiss and his team used a growing season to examine limits in the plant growth during times of drought. The research is supposed to help create a better understanding of how vegetation might respond to future droughts, if summers continue to get hotter and winters drier. Climatic growing conditions are already at an extreme level with just the relatively little warming we have seen thus far. Modeling land and current environmental disturbances will help us create a better understanding of how to work with our land.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120911103411.htm


Guatemalan Volcano Causes 33,000 to Evacuate

           Fuego is one of three active volcanos that is located by Antigua, Guatemala just south of the Mexican border. It had its strongest eruption in more than 30 years, causing alarm for the Mexican and Guatemalan government. Several small communities, totaling, 30 thousand people have been evacuated do to large amounts of volcanic ash in the air and lava flow coming from the volcano. The last time Guatemala has seen an eruption was just in 2010 and since then the government has begun to educate people of the dangers and come up with better disaster response efforts. Do to these measures taken people took the alert seriously. Shelters have sheltered over one thousand individuals overnight. “When you co-habitat with the volcano you know perfectly well that things could worsen quickly – early warning signals can save your life,” a resident says.

http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/guatemalas-volcano-of-fire-eruption