Professor McGuire stated: “In the political community people are almost completely unaware of any geological aspects to climate change. The bottom line is that rapid climate change drives a hazardous response from the Earth's crust – fact! The idea is not new and – in scientific circles – is not even controversial […] with the climate once again changing at least as rapidly as during post-glacial times, we are already seeing a seismic response to the loss of ice mass in Alaska, and a rise in the frequency of giant landslides as a reaction to heat waves across mountainous regions […] the potential exists for unmitigated climate change to bring about a significant and hazardous riposte. 

“Greenland is the place to watch. As the ice sheet melts at an increasingly rapid rate, and the ice load is reduced on the crust underneath, faults that have been dormant and accumulating strain for hundreds of thousands of years may rupture, triggering significant earthquakes.” 

Tertiary level institutions are also responding to the causal link between climate change and geo hazards. The Western Norway University of Applied Science offers a semester programme on geohazards and climate change. The course explores how extreme weather conditions and increased precipitation affect the frequency of landslides and flooding. The intention is for students to have an understanding of: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and landslides, and how these influence human societies; safety factors for rock and soil slopes; different methods to monitor unstable slopes; and engineering geology and early warning. 

World Tsunami Awareness Day will be marked for the second time on November 5, 2017.

Date:

31 Oct 2017

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Themes:

Climate Change

Hazards:

Tsunami