May 25th, 1980
660, Gold Street
Skamania Country, Washington
United States
Dear Friend,
I am writing this letter to you, hoping that you have probably saw the news about the volcanic eruption on May 18th of the Mount St. Helens. But still, I want to tell you more about this catastrophe in details.
Believe it or not, far from this eruption, the Mount St. Helens has already been considered as a dormant threat to the community and the experts from UGSG (United States Geological Survey) have urged a program about regular monitoring and civic preparation. But it still erupted in a way that no one planned for. Tragically, 56 people died because of the eruption according to the government. And 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed.
First, let’s start from the geographic features of this place. The fault line starts from cape Mendocino in California, extends through the Oregon and Washington and ends in Vancouver Island in Canada. In the Cascade subduction zone, the oceanic plate Juan de Fuca is sliding beneath the North American tectonic plate, allowing this place to activate for the past few centuries. Since the fault line has a close relation to the Cascade volcanoes, it can contribute to the pushing of its active lava1. The fault line has a close relation to the Cascade volcanoes, which are created by the pushing of its active lava. Comparatively, because it is a composite volcano, it has relatively deep and periodic explosions and effusive eruption under.
Before the actual erupting, the volcanoes have already preceded a two-month series of earthquakes and stream-venting. An earthquake at 8:23 which caused the largest landslide ever recorded in history, built a steady foundation for the actual volcanic injections. The melting magma injected from the shallow stage and created a huge bulge and fracture system of the cone shape volcanoes. There was also strong ash explosion and pyroclastic flow. Based on my further research, the total avalanche volume is about 2.5 km3 (3.3 billion cubic yards), equivalent to 1 million Olympic swimming pools.
Additionally, many tens of thousands of acres of prime forest, as well as recreational sites, bridges, roads, and trails, were destroyed or heavily damaged. Many families have lost their shelters and properties and they have to rely on governmental assistance for a period of time. Even though the local people were informed that there would be increasing activities in the district, they considered these as irrelevant events to their daily lives. Due to the lack of awareness, people though the ash clouds the saw were thundercloud or dust storm approached and did not react to it. But after the event, people's perception towards the volcano changed dramatically. In order to rebuild the community, roads were soon closed, motorists were stranded, and normal activities came to a standstill. Restriction zones were set around the mountain. People were also worried about how to manage the ashes. At the same time, people also concerned about the mental threat the ash could lead to their bodies.
The government was paying high attention to this event and enacted more protection to help the local people. The high loss in this disaster costed around 1 billion US dollar and a well-known insurance company, Smart's Insurance, issued 40,000 insurance. On a broader level, this eruption is important for the society to understand that St.Helen Mountain is still active and can erupt at any time. This could encourage the state and local communities to develop contingency plans to improve the response to another possible eruption.
For me, I believe my life can go back to the right track and I am working on it. Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Citation
Alden, Andrew. "Mount St. Helens Killed a Man I Knew in 1980." About.com Education. Web. 13 Nov. 2015. <http://geology.about.com/od/volcanology/a/aa051897MSH.htm>.
Gutierrez, Suzette. "Cascadia Fault Line: Scientists Predict Powerful Earthquake That Could Devastate The Pacific Northwest." Headlines Global News RSS. N.p., 16 July 2015. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. <http://www.hngn.com/articles/109826/20150716/cascadia-fault-line-scientists-predict-powerful-earthquake-devastate-pacific-northwest.htm>.
"USGS: Volcano Hazards Program - Mount St. Helens Geology and History." USGS: Volcano Hazards Program - Mount St. Helens Geology and History. USGS Home, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/st_helens/st_helens_geo_hist_99.html>.
660, Gold Street
Skamania Country, Washington
United States
Dear Friend,
I am writing this letter to you, hoping that you have probably saw the news about the volcanic eruption on May 18th of the Mount St. Helens. But still, I want to tell you more about this catastrophe in details.
Believe it or not, far from this eruption, the Mount St. Helens has already been considered as a dormant threat to the community and the experts from UGSG (United States Geological Survey) have urged a program about regular monitoring and civic preparation. But it still erupted in a way that no one planned for. Tragically, 56 people died because of the eruption according to the government. And 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed.
First, let’s start from the geographic features of this place. The fault line starts from cape Mendocino in California, extends through the Oregon and Washington and ends in Vancouver Island in Canada. In the Cascade subduction zone, the oceanic plate Juan de Fuca is sliding beneath the North American tectonic plate, allowing this place to activate for the past few centuries. Since the fault line has a close relation to the Cascade volcanoes, it can contribute to the pushing of its active lava1. The fault line has a close relation to the Cascade volcanoes, which are created by the pushing of its active lava. Comparatively, because it is a composite volcano, it has relatively deep and periodic explosions and effusive eruption under.
Before the actual erupting, the volcanoes have already preceded a two-month series of earthquakes and stream-venting. An earthquake at 8:23 which caused the largest landslide ever recorded in history, built a steady foundation for the actual volcanic injections. The melting magma injected from the shallow stage and created a huge bulge and fracture system of the cone shape volcanoes. There was also strong ash explosion and pyroclastic flow. Based on my further research, the total avalanche volume is about 2.5 km3 (3.3 billion cubic yards), equivalent to 1 million Olympic swimming pools.
Additionally, many tens of thousands of acres of prime forest, as well as recreational sites, bridges, roads, and trails, were destroyed or heavily damaged. Many families have lost their shelters and properties and they have to rely on governmental assistance for a period of time. Even though the local people were informed that there would be increasing activities in the district, they considered these as irrelevant events to their daily lives. Due to the lack of awareness, people though the ash clouds the saw were thundercloud or dust storm approached and did not react to it. But after the event, people's perception towards the volcano changed dramatically. In order to rebuild the community, roads were soon closed, motorists were stranded, and normal activities came to a standstill. Restriction zones were set around the mountain. People were also worried about how to manage the ashes. At the same time, people also concerned about the mental threat the ash could lead to their bodies.
The government was paying high attention to this event and enacted more protection to help the local people. The high loss in this disaster costed around 1 billion US dollar and a well-known insurance company, Smart's Insurance, issued 40,000 insurance. On a broader level, this eruption is important for the society to understand that St.Helen Mountain is still active and can erupt at any time. This could encourage the state and local communities to develop contingency plans to improve the response to another possible eruption.
For me, I believe my life can go back to the right track and I am working on it. Hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Citation
Alden, Andrew. "Mount St. Helens Killed a Man I Knew in 1980." About.com Education. Web. 13 Nov. 2015. <http://geology.about.com/od/volcanology/a/aa051897MSH.htm>.
Gutierrez, Suzette. "Cascadia Fault Line: Scientists Predict Powerful Earthquake That Could Devastate The Pacific Northwest." Headlines Global News RSS. N.p., 16 July 2015. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. <http://www.hngn.com/articles/109826/20150716/cascadia-fault-line-scientists-predict-powerful-earthquake-devastate-pacific-northwest.htm>.
"USGS: Volcano Hazards Program - Mount St. Helens Geology and History." USGS: Volcano Hazards Program - Mount St. Helens Geology and History. USGS Home, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/st_helens/st_helens_geo_hist_99.html>.