Greetings my comrades! I am looking forward to uncovering the geological mysteries of the vast Eurasian land we know as Russia as this semester progresses. I currently know very little about this significant country other than what I would consider common facts and that a few of the artists I enjoy listing to hail from this region. It will be exciting to learn about the geological forces at play in this country and how it affects the inhabitants.

To start things off we need to clarify the differences between catastrophes, disasters, and hazards. A Natural Hazard is a natural process or event that is a potential threat to human life and/or property. A natural process is only a hazard when it affects humans. So if a large flood happens in some swamp in the middle of nowhere with no humans around it is not considered a Natural Hazard. It is only when this same flood occurs near a town and begins threatening the infrastructure or residents. A disaster is a natural hazard that occurs over a limited amount of time in a defined area that has at least one of the following things occur:

- Ten or more people are killed by this event
-One hundred or more people are affected by this event
-A state of emergency is declared
-International aid is requested

A catastrophe is a massive disaster where large sums of money and a great amount of time is required for recovery.

An example of a disaster that occurred in Russia would be the Maili Glacier collapsed in the Caucasus Mountains, a range that is between the Black and Caspian seas. This glacial collapse slew over 140 people who were unfortunate to be in its path. Below is a before and after image of the collapse.

An example of a catastrophe would Sakhalin earthquake. This magnitude 7.5 quakes caused the death of  2032 people, over half of the inhabitants of the nearest town Neftegorsk and the injury of 750.

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Sources

Generator, Metatags. "Resources." Map. Tristar Resources, n.d. Web.

García, Ana García. Geol9: EARTH CATASTROPHES: INTRODUCTION.

Hays, Jeffrey. "NATURAL DISASTERS IN RUSSIA." Facts and Details. N.p., May 2016. Web.

Lindsey, Rebecca. "Collapse of the Kolka Glacier : Feature Articles." NASA. NASA, 9 Sept. 2004. Web.

"Neftegorsk Russia 1995 (CAR)." Neftegorsk | Gemecd. N.p., n.d. Web.

SPACE. "Earthquake in Neftegorsk on May 28, 1995." Earth Chronicles News. N.p., 29 May 2017. Web.