Instructor: Gabi Laske

2007 Rice Fire near Camp Pendleton
Photo: Elizabeth Vilchez,
2007 SIO15 student
2012 Monsoon Flooding in Malabon, Philippines
Photo: Gail Gutierrez, 2012 SIO15 student
 
2019 Fire first responders Eric and Robert
Photo: Robert Luna, 2019 SIO15 student
 
2022 Drought in Chongqing, China
Photo: Zhen Yang, 2022 SIO15 student
 

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Maria in 2017 have been some of the most costly natural disasters in U.S. history. Katrina has been the third deadliest, and some people who fled severely flooded New Orleans never returned. Since becoming a big city, no tropical cyclone has made landfall in San Diego until 2023 when significantly weakened Hurricane Hilary roared ashore in Baja California as a tropical storm, about 215 miles southeast of San Diego.

San Diego county also experience two deadly wildfires within only 4 years. The 2003 Cedar Fire (sparked by a lost hunter) became the largest in California history at the time. Together with other fires in southern California, the 2007 Witch Creek Fire (ignited by sparking power lines) triggered the largest evacuation in CA history, with more than 900,000 people fleeing the fires. In recent years, wildfire activity has somewhat shifted to Northern California and Oregon where many fires are sparked by lightning.

Climate scientists have raised alarm for many years that the U.S. west will face longer dry seasons, bearing an increased risk for devastating wildfires. Globally, the most recent decade has seen the most years of breaking average temperature records since observations began. In many locations, heat waves and droughts become evermore severe and prolonged. This does not mean that we no longer experience severe cold snaps. In fact, at nearly $200 billion, the 2021 Texas Freeze has been the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history, with serious damage to electrical power and water infrastructure.

Hurricanes, fires and extreme weather claim lives and cause extensive damage but so do earthquakes. For example, the great 26 Dec 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and its tsunami killed nearly 250,000 people. The devastating 11 Mar 2011 Tohoku, Japan earthquake killed ''only'' 20,000 people but has had a perhaps unexpected global impact on the nuclear power market. Fatal natural disasters include landslides, floods and - less spectacularly, but increasingly so - heat waves and droughts.

During this course, we will learn why and how conditions for natural disasters develop, how we can identify tell tale signs of potential disasters, why some natural disasters are so devastating and how we can mitigate disaster risks. We will also learn how we often increase risks, sometimes despite better knowledge, and even cause large-scale environmental disasters ourselves.
DID YOU KNOW? Though single events such as Hurricane Katrina can cost many lives, an often overlooked fact is that more people in the U.S. die from lightning strikes each year than from hurricanes.
During the last 30 years, heat waves have been the #1 killer in the U.S..
POLL THE PUBLIC: In February 2007, the San Diego Union Tribune asked: Do you think that humans cause global warming?
57% said yes; 24% said no; 19% don't believe in global warming.
The Pew Research Center conducted a similar survey: in 2006, 77% believed there is strong scientific evidence for global warming, in October 2009 it was only 57% check out News Clip.
SUBMIT YOUR PICTURE/EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF A NATURAL DISASTER!
This course maintains a special page to which you can contribute your favorite disaster photo. The photos appear under the "SIO15 Stories and Photos" tab in the "Lecture Schedule and Material" menu item. Just email them to Prof. Gabi at glaske@ucsd.edu with a short description of where/when/what. If you don't have a photo but want to tell your story anyway, send a short paragraph! Just can also tell your story on the SIO15 Facebook page.