This assignment, with full details and a grading rubric, can also be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/geol115-hazardreport (Links to an external site.)
You are a city planner of a town that has been affected by a particular geohazard. The mayor knows you are something of an expert in natural hazards and has asked that you give a brief report at the town meeting to explain the hazard to the townspeople.
The hazard afflicting your town belongs to one of the following categories, determined alphabetically by your last name:
Earthquakes: Adeogun – Dexter
Volcanoes: Druss – Liu
River Flooding: Long – Royer
Coastal Hazards: Sauceda – Zuo
Now that you know your category of hazard, it is up to you to pick your town. Your town can be anywhere around the world but must have suffered (or be suffering) from a specific, easily researched event of your choosing (ex: earthquake — San Francisco in 1906; landslide — La Conchita 2005; if you have climate change, this might not be an event so much as an aspect of your town, such as nuisance flooding, sea level rise, wildfires, etc).
Deliverable: Due Saturday, July 10 by 11:59pm
Compose a two-page report to deliver to your city council on your chosen geohazard. This is an individual project, not a group assignment. Your paper will describe how the specific event affected your town, region, or more, and what citizens and the scientific community can study/monitor/do/build/learn to make your town more resilient when facing future disasters. Your report should give a brief but thorough background to an audience of interested townspeople with a high school education. Your report can be double-spaced as long as it covers all the bases mentioned below.
Each report must address the following (you do not need to strictly adhere to this order):
Describe the event — What, when, where, why.
Were there casualties?
What about specific losses you can name (bridges collapsed, neighborhoods in lava)?
Hazard background: Explain the geohazard in general. Basic questions to be answered include but are not limited to:
Why and where does the hazard tend to occur?
What determines the severity of the hazard?
What locations are at risk?
Ideas for mitigation, prevention, awareness, and safety, and suggestions for further scientific inquiry.
References to reliable sources for ALL information. Cite these sources throughout your paper using any format you choose (footnotes, parenthetical citations, etc) and list the sources in a References section. Your references section does not count against the page/word limit. Papers without proper citation and references will not be graded. Ignorance of proper citation procedures is not an excuse; refer to your training in ENGL110, make an appointment with the Writing Center, or ask us. Examples of reference sections, paraphrasing, and proper citation are available on the Google Doc assignment sheet above.