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Natural Hazards and Disaster Information on theInternetJohn A. Cross aa Department of Geography , University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh , Oshkosh, WisconsinPublished online: 16 Aug 2007.

To cite this article: John A. Cross (1997) Natural Hazards and Disaster Information on the Internet, Journal of Geography,96:6, 307-314, DOI: 10.1080/00221349708978812

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Natural Hazards and Disaster Information on the Internet by John A. Cross DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH, OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN

This article describes various materials on the World Wide Web that can be effectively utilized in courses on natural hazards and physical geography. Specific Internet addresses are provided for teachers who wish to access various hazard warnings, satellite images, hazard vulnerability maps, reports, and other data concerning geophysical, hydrologic, and meteorological hazards. Suggested strategies for classroom use of this informa- tion are also provided. References are made to previous articles in the Journal ofGeography that can provide guidance for teachers using the abundant hazards data accessible via the Internet. Keywords: natural hazards, disasters, Internet, World Wide Web.

Flood and avalanche warnings, Doppler radar images of severe thunderstorm or tornado outbreaks, satellite photo- graphs of the latest (or current) Atlantic hurricanes, photo- graphs and maps of an exploding volcano, location maps of earthquake epicenters during the past day or week, and up-to- date statistics on tornado and lightning casualties are useful and exciting teaching materials. All of this information-and much, much more-awaits the geographer who surfs the World Wide Web (WWW). Although the weather warnings and some statistics can be accessed using Gopher servers on the Internet, graphical capabilities, such as provided via Netscape, are necessary to view the illustrative material posted on the World Wide Web. With both the number of classrooms and teachers having access to the World Wide Web and the number of websites offering current high quality information and graphics growing rapidly, we are being provided an heretofore unequaled opportunity to utilize this information in our teaching. Whether we are teaching a natural hazards course at the college level, or describing simple weather concepts to primary school students, the Internet now provides us with exciting and dazzling images and information of geophysical and meteorological events that we cannot afford to ignore.

“Harnessing the multimedia and interactive features of the WWW in conjunction with its vast store of information is presently the premier challenge to educators” (Barrie and Presti 1996, 371). Two of the three general ways that the World Wide Web can be used for educational purposes should have wide applicability when teaching geography students about natural hazards. These include the ability to rapidly access vast amounts of information and to utilize the World Wide Web as a classroom supplement. The third use of the World Wide Web is for distance education, and it is already possible to take disaster-management courses from the Uni-

versity of Wisconsin via the Internet. As Barrie and Presti (1996, 372) conclude, “The potential for the WWW to con- tribute in each of these three ways is enormous.” Given that the Internet is expected to continue to expand rapidly over the next few years, now is the time for geographers to explore its capabilities and introduce our students to some of its best features.

Use Disaster Fascination to Teach Geography Hollywood’s persistent production of movies and television specials highlighting disasters underscores the public’s fasci- nation with such events. Tremendous devastation from 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, the Mississippi River Flood of 1993, and the Northridge Earthquake of 1994 are continuing reminders of the vulnerability of the United States to various natural hazards. Curiosity about both the physical and human aspects of these events can be channeled into exploration of a variety of geographic topics, including natural hazards.

Geographical study of natural hazards dates back over a half century. Unlike the days when Gilbert F. White and his students were conducting pioneering work on flood hazards at the University of Chicago and later at the University of Colorado, today a variety of hazards textbooks are available. By the early 1980s, 20 U.S. colleges and universities offered specific geography courses on hazards and disasters, prompt- ing William Powell (1986) to encourage the development of such courses and provide a brief course outline. Powell recommended four possible textbooks for adoption, including White (1974), Burton, Kates, and White (1978, with a second edition in 1993), Whittow (1979) and Hewitt (1983). During the past 10 years, additional texts have appeared, including works by Ebert (1988, and its third edition in 1995), Palm (1990), Bryant (1991), Smith (1992, and its second edition in 1996), Alexander (1993), Blaikie et al. (1994), Chapman

@National Council for Geographic Education Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705 NOVEMBEIUDECEMBER 307

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(1994), Kovach (1995), Hewitt (1997), and Tobin and Montz (1997). These books provide instructors with a choice of textbooks suitable for both introductory classes and advanced graduate students.

The Journal ofGeogruphy has published several articles, besides Powell’s (1986), demonstrating ways educators can incorporate natural hazard information into their classes. Anderson (1987) showed how the occurrence of a cata- strophic volcanic eruption could be utilized as an educational opportunity. Cross (1992) described hazards in the Caribbean and noted that questions about Columbus’s epochal voyage might cause students to ponder hurricane hazards in the Atlantic. Butler (1988) and Barber (1988) described snow avalanche hazards and provided examples of classroom map- ping activities. Montz, Tobin, and Medford (1989) noted that urban flooding, which occurs in or near most school districts, could focus students upon various local geographic issues. Vitek and Berta (1982) indicated that education about the local environment could enhance perception and response to natural hazards, finding that students in Flint, Michigan, were “deficient in their knowledge of local hazards.” Hanson, Vitek, and Hanson (1979) articulated the role of experience in enhancing tornado awareness. Cross (1988) introduced nu- merois maps of hazard vulnerability that could be utilized in the classroom, indicating that large-scale flood hazard maps had been published for nearly 18,OOO U.S. communities.

Monmonier (1997) described in considerable detail nu- merous varieties of hazards maps-natural, technological, biological and social-in his recently published book. Con- tinuing such geographic interest in hazards is appropriate during this International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduc- tion.

Internet Opportunities The Internet literally puts the world at one’s fingertips. Lengthy waits for earthquake epicenter data to be collected and avail- able on printed maps no longer will deter the instructor who wishes to show students the epicenter of the tremor described on the previous evening’s national news. No longer must an instructor wait for the latest weather map to be printed in the newspaper. The latest maps are posted on the World Wide Web. The instructor with an Internet-connected computer in the classroom can have students monitor the movement of a humcane in the Atlantic or Pacific, with new satellite images available hourly and each updated warning from the National Hurricane Center displayed. Bencloski (198 1) demonstrated how satellite imagery could be used in instruction about hurricanes, and now the Internet provides a ready mechanism for accessing these photographs. Students can even watch the Doppler radar images of a developing winter storm and anticipate whether or not classes will be canceled early, or if there will be school the next day. Students living in Florida or Hawaii can watch the Buffalo, New York, radar images with envy or relief. The opportunities are literally endless.

The flooding of the Red River of the North during April and May 1997 was one of the first North American disasters extensively monitored from its earliest stages via the World

Wide Web. Special websites were established in both North Dakota and Manitoba to relay the latest flood warnings and predictions, to provide farmers information about post-flood recovery and delayed planting, to indicate flood levels includ- ing the posting of detailed maps illustrating those areas currently flooded, and to provide live video camera views of the flooding from several vantage points. Although some of these websites were active only for a few weeks, they provided excellent examples of the variety of disaster information that could be publicly disseminated during a disaster situation. Undoubtedly, during future disasters such quickly established websites will prove valuable supplements to established sites, such as that of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Through these web connections, students thousands of miles distant can share a small portion of the disaster experience.

The classroom with a networked-computer projection system is still a rarity at many institutions, whether college or primary school. Nevertheless, any institution where either the instructor or students can access a networked computer, even if only for a few minutes a day, can benefit from the capabili- ties of the World Wide Web. Just as Emani and Kasperson (1996,341) conclude, “The use of the Internet for communi- cating information about disasters marks the beginning of an exciting period in the history of disaster management in the United States,” this same informational use of the Internet should excite our students.

Accessing Hazards Information on the Internet Two strategies for obtaining hazards information await Internet users. One is to utilize an Internet search engine (such as AltaVista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Magellan, Yahoo, or Webcrawler), by providing various key words (such as hurri- cane tornado, earthquake, or hazard). The second is to access assorted directories to locate potential websites. Although these strategies may discover the latest postings of new websites and provide the user with the excitement of discov- ering many sites-some which have nothing to do with hazards, but might provide information on Hazard, Kentucky, or the Miami Hurricanes football team-this is not the most efficient approach to using the Internet. Search engines vary in their utility. Indeed, Emani and Kasperson (1996) found tremendous variations among three search engines in the number of hits and the type of sites when they sought informa- tion about Hurricane Opal during the time it churned across the Gulf of Mexico in October 1995. Furthermore, informa- tion indiscriminately posted on the Internet is not peer-re- viewed. Although you can find cutting-edge research papers and official government reports via these search engines, you can also find student papers and sensational rumors that are not worth sharing.

The other strategy is to access the desired web page on the Internet directly by using the appropriate URL (http) address. The listing that follows provides the addresses of a wide variety of useful websites, along with a commentary describ- ing these sites. Users of these sites will find that most web pages provide links to numerous additional sites, with new or more specific information. Although not all hazards are treated

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equally on the Internet, some information is available about most geophysical, meteorological, and hydrologic threats. The following listing starts with websites that provide infor- mation about a wide variety of hazards and then describes sites devoted to specific hazard threats.

Best Sites for All-Hazard Information University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center. <http://www.colorado.edu/hazards>.This is the most useful

all-hazard site, providing Internet linkages to over 70 other hazard websites, five gopher servers, and nearly 25 hazards newsgroups, discussion groups, and electronic newsletters. For a first-time seeker of hazards information, this is the place to start, particularly if you need to find a more specific website on aparticularhazard. The links to other websites are arranged by types of hazard: all hazards, earthquakes and tsunami, landslides, volcanoes, drought, hurricanes and other severe weather, floods, and wildfire. Information about 38 other hazard and disaster centers and institutes (mostly affiliated with universities) worldwide is also provided, along with appropriate Internet links. [See also Butler (1997).]

The Hazards Center has also put many of its most recent publications on its web pages. Some of the most useful are the Center’s very detailed bibliographies on specific hazards. The Center also issues a semimonthly electronic newsletter, Di- saster Research, which can be accessed via their web page. In addition, the latest issues of the bimonthly Natural Hazards Observer are also available through this web page.

HazardNet Informational Subsystem-Simon Fraser Univ. <http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/-hazard>. This site provides many useful linkages to U.S. and Canadian hazards websites, along with 10 United Nations disaster-related organizations and over a dozen non-governmental organizations which deal with disasters. The site is arranged around Geophysical Haz- ards, Meteorological and Hydrological Hazards, and Wild- fires. Under development are links dealing with Insect Infes- tation and Technological Hazards.

The Operational Service portion of this site provides “access to real-time hazard alerts, warnings and forecasts, situation reports.. .and other relevant information.” The Infor- mational Service portion of this site provides “access to natural and technological information identifiedcategorized by hazard type.”

U.S. Geological Survey Hazards Website. <http://www.usgs.gov/hazard/index.html>. This site provides information about hazards research and current hazard occur- rences involving the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Link- ages are provided to Geological Survey centers conducting research involving earthquakes, floods, landslides, radon, and volcanoes. This site can provide you with current information about the status of flooding in the United States and Canada, volcanic eruptions in the Cascades, Hawaii, and Alaska, landslide activity in California and elsewhere in the United States, and recent earthquake activity.

The U.S. Geological Survey has recently published nu- merous fact sheets dealing with a large variety of geologic hazards in specific areas of the United States. You can access

and download these fact sheets. Detailed background infor- mation on a variety of geological hazards is also accessible, and you can also use the “Ask-A-Geologist” feature. Details on specific USGS hazards information centers are described under specific hazards below; you can also access these websites through linkages from this site.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Homepage. <http://www.fema.gov/home>. Information about recent di- sasters and hazard mitigation in the United States can be found at this site. Recent (and previous years) major disaster decla- rations, emergency declarations, and fire suppression autho- rizations are available. The “What’s New” section is particu- larly useful, providing information about the latest or devel- oping disaster situations. The FEMA Library not only posts Director James Lee Witt’s speeches, but you can examine the news releases from this agency. Detailed information is available about past major disasters with which this agency has had to deal, including the Northridge Earthquake, several hurricanes, the Red River of the North flooding, and the Oklahoma City bombing. This site can also provide you with legal information dealing with hazards and disaster response, plus copies of various FEMA forms, government disaster policies, flood insurance applications, and flood insurance map information. At the time of a major natural disaster, you can often access other useful current information via this website.

Emergency Preparedness Canada. <http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/-epc>. This site is the Canadian coun- terpart of the FEMA website described above. Information is provided about hazard brochures, guide manuals, and regula- tions. Information is also furnished about their quarterly, Emergency Preparedness Digest.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Disaster Finder. <http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/ndrd/disaster>. Disaster Finder advertises itself as “a complete index to the best disaster web sites on the Internet. Period.” Users can interactively search by keyword or concept or can obtain listings by category: disaster management, disciplines, general, organization sys- tem, or disaster type. This site indexed 583 sites.

U. N. Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Situation Reports. <http://www.vita.org/disaster/sitrep>. This site provides de- tailed information about major disasters overseas. In one month alone (April 1997), reports were posted about floods in Tanzania, floods in Malawi, drought in Ethiopia, an earth- quake in Trinidad and Tobago, and drought in Mauritania.

Disaster Management Center, Univ.of Wisconsin-Madison. <http://epdwww.engr.wisc.edu/dmc>. You can take indepen- dent study courses on various aspects of disaster management through this center. Extensive texts of notes and diagrams concerning many types of hazards are downloadable. Ex- amples of the 12 self-study courses that are presently available (more are being prepared) include: Aim and Scope of Disaster Management; Natural Hazards: Causes and Effects; Disaster Preparedness; Disaster Response; and Epidemiologic Sur- veillance after Natural Disaster. Even if you have no interest in taking these courses, this site is an excellent way to obtain detailed information.

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Earthweek. <http://www.slip.netl-eartheno. “Diary of the Planet uses maps and symbols to highlight the location and types of natural and man-made events in the environment.” This simple overview of last week’s events would be ideal for an elementary class.

Earthquake Hazard Information National Earthquake Information Center.

<http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov>. Current hypocenter data and magnitude information is provided for the latest earthquakes- near real-time information. Both magnitude information and maps are provided for each of these earthquakes. Seismicity maps of the contiguous United States, Alaska, and the various continents are also displayed. Lists of historic earthquakes and maps of the largest historic earthquakes are also posted.

Access USGS - San Francisco Bay and Delta. <http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/hazards.html>. This site provides detailed information on the epicenters of the most recent earthquakes in Northern California. Discover the epicenters of even minor quakes which occurred in the past 24 hours. This site also provides excellent interactive on-line earthquake hazards maps for the San Francisco Bay area. You select the fault line and maps will be generated showing the amount of ground shaking in any specific part of the region. Note how the potential for damage at some sites changes when different nearby faults are selected. These multi-color maps are highly detailed.

Southern California Earthquake Center. <http://www.scec.org>. This site is similar to the one listed above, except that it provides interactive “Earthquake Hazard Analysis Maps” for Southern California.

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. <http://www.eeri.org>. Information concerning seismic leg- islation and seismic-resistant engineering can be downloaded. This Institute prepares very detailed (and well illustrated) reports following major earthquakes that provide seismic information and discuss the performance of buildings, high- ways, and other structures in the area. A recent report de- scribes the November 12, 1996, earthquake in Peru.

Volcanic Hazards and Current Volcano Eruptions Alaska Volcano Observatory.

<http://www.avo.alaska.edu>. Current volcanic activity in Alaska and Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is available at this site. Alaska has over 40 active volcanoes, and this site pro- vides the most recent information concerning eruptions, warn- ings, maps, photographs, and satellite images of this activity. Checkout the most recent activity of IliamnaVolcano, Okmok Volcano, and Pavlof Volcano.

Cascade Volcano Observatory Web Pages. <http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/home.html>. This site provides information about volcanoes in the Cascade Range of Califor- nia, Oregon, and Washington, as well as other potentially active volcanic features in North America. Obtain copies of USGS reports and examine large-scale hazards maps for many of the Cascade volcanoes. Network links provide

information on many foreign volcanoes. Particularly useful are detailed information on volcano hazards in general, de- tailed information about Mt. St. Helens (including its current hydrological conditions), volcano visitors’ information, and the photo archives.

Hawaii Volcano Observatory. <http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/hvo>. This site is still less de- veloped than the Alaska and Cascade Volcano Observatory websites. Nevertheless, considering the continuing volcanic activity on Hawaii, this site provides useful current informa- tion about the eruption and maps of earthquake activity in Hawaii during the previous few days.

Government of Montserrat Volcano Observatory. <http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/west.indies/soufriere/ govo. View photographs of this currently erupting volcano in the Caribbean. Reports are posted twice daily about this dangerous volcano.

Landslide Hazard Information U.S.G.S. National Landslide Information Center.

<http://gldage.cr.usgs.gov/html-fileslnlicsun. htmb. This site provides information on landslide hazards, photographs, and reports of recent landslide activity. Recent postings discuss landslides that occurred in Washington in January and Febru- ary 1997, discussion of landslides on Oregon’s side of the Columbia Gorge, and the potential for landslides in California’s Sierra Nevada. Recent landslide hazard reports for areas in Colorado and Virginia are available.

Snow Avalanche Hazards Cyberspace Snow and Avalanche Center.

<http://www.csac.org>. Current regional avalanche bulletins from throughout the world are provided. Information about subscribing to such bulletins via e-mail is provided. Data on mountain weather, snow conditions and snowpack, and ava- lanche incident reports are supplied. Linkages to photographs of avalanches posted on other websites are also provided.

Westwide Avalanche Network. <http://www.avalanche.org>. This site provides detailed in- formation on avalanche accidents, current avalanche fore- casts for specific areas of western North America (during the winter), weather information and satellite photographs spe- cifically tailored for various ski areas, and numerous high quality photographs of avalanches. In addition, this site pro- vides linkages to snow reports and ski information.

Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center. <http://www.nwac.noaa.gov>. Mountain weather and ava- lanche warnings covering Washington, northern Oregon, and southern British Columbia are provided on this site, one of the best examples of a website providing regional avalanche forecasts and information. Information about avalanche edu- cation and awareness and linkages to other avalanche sites in other regions are also provided.

Flood Hazards National Water Conditions.

<http://h2o.usgs.gov/nwc>. This site provides aNorth Ameri-

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can overview map and specific data on recent floods in the United States and Canada. Links to regional flood and drought information are also provided.

Floodplain Management Web Site. <http://www.floodplain.org>. This site provides access to press releases concerning floods, publications about floods, and links to a variety of flood-related organizations. This site is most appropriate for flood management and mitigation.

SAST Database: Upper Mississippi and Lower Missouri River Basins. <http://edcwww2.cr.usgs.gov/sast-home.html>. Detailed data sets on flooding in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, flood levels, levee information, maps, and aerial photographs are downloadable. Check this site for information about the flood of 1993.

Dartmouth Flood Remote Sensing Page. <http:Nwww.dartmouth.edu/artsci/geog/floods>. Linkages to many other websites provide up-to-date flood maps and satellite images of floods from throughout the world. Note: For latest flood warnings see web pages of National Weather Service’s National Warnings or Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Weather Hazards in General National Weather Service’s (NWS) National Warnings. <http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/nationalwarnings.html>. All current NWS warnings for the United States are given: torna- does, hurricane, severe thunderstorms, floods, flash floods, winter storm, special marine, and dense fog. Tsunami warn- ings are also provided. Note: Considerable meteorological hazard information is contained on several websites providing current weather forecasts and other meteorological data.

NWS-Interactive Weather Information Network. <http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/main.html>. This site provides detailed information for any state, local-to national-level warnings, world weather and weather videos. Access a particular state and receive the latest hourly report of weather conditions, state and local forecasts, short-term fore- casts, and recent climatic data. Links are provided to other weather sites.

WeatherNet. <http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet>. This site provides ac- cess to a wide variety of forecasts, weather reports, and advisories for the United States and Canada. Satellite images, weather radar, and weather maps are available. This site claims to have the most weather links. Use this site to access local NWS Doppler radar images.

The Weather Underground Inc. <http://www. wunderground.com>. United States maps of current temperatures, plus links to each state for specific forecasts are provided.

Hurricanes and Coastal Flood Hazards National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Cyclone Page.

<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/products.html>. This site provides the latest (and archival) warnings on hurricanes and tropical

storms for both the Atlantic and eastern Pacific. Also provided are discussions of the forecast models and probabilities. Check out the latest tropical weather outlooks to see if any- thing is brewing. Note: This site is hard to access when a major storm is threatening the U.S. coast. Try one of the following sites.

WeatherNet Tropical Weather Products. <http://cirrus,sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/tropical,html>. Use this site when things get really busy at the National Hurricane Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (I could access neither of those sites for a couple days when Hurricane Fran threatened during fall 1996.) All of the items from the National Hurricane Center’s page are accessible here, plus great satellite images of the Atlantic, the northeast Pacific, the north central Pacific, and the Pacific overview in color, visible (black and white), and infrared. Because tropical cyclone activity is much more common in the western Pacific than either the Atlantic or northeast Pacific, instructors should be able to locate storms to show their classes much of the year. Sea-surface temperature maps are also available, useful for informing students that hurricanes typically form only after water temperatures exceed 80°F (27°C).

FEMATropical Storm Watch. <http://www.fema.gov/femdtrop.htm>. This site provides the latest storm advisories from National Hurricane Center, plus news releases on the recovery process from past storms. The Hurricane Fran Situation Report provides tracking maps, and photographs of damage in North Carolina and flooding in Virginia. A map of hurricane probabilities by magnitude is also posted. Check the archives for information on past events. (Note: This page is active only during hurricane season.)

Tornado and Thunderstorm Hazards N W S Storm Prediction Center.

<http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/-spa. Get the latest storm statis- tics from this site: the number of tornadoes and tornado fatalities the past month, year to date, or previous year. The list of the previous day’s severe weather reports and map of tornado and severe thunderstorm reports is useful.

The Tornado Project Online! <http:Nwww. tornadoproject.com>. This site provides con- siderable detail on recent and past tornadoes. Information about tornado safety, myths, the Fujita scale, tornado statis- tics, as well as photographs, publications, and videos are provided. Check out the series of photographs of the July 1996 tornado in Oakfield, Wisconsin. Links to numerous other tornado sites are provided, as are listings of U.S. tornado activity during the previous day.

Drought Hazards National Drought Mitigation Center.

<http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc>. This site contains a wealth of information about droughts: definitions of the hazard, infor- mation about mitigating the hazard, a drought planner’s handbook, drought climatology, and lists of other websites. Extensive U.S. climate and drought-monitoring data are avail- able. Use this site to access precipitation index maps, the most

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current Palmer Index maps (Drought Severity Index), current crop-moisture index maps, forest-fire-danger maps, the latest weekly snow-pack data, Great Lakes water conditions, and much more. For anyone interested in agriculture, this site is a must.

Many of these web pages have links to other sources of hazard, disaster, geological, and climatological data. If one site is busy, you can often obtain the data you desire by linking through another site. All of these page addresses work as of August 10,1997, but they are subject to change as the Internet grows. This compendium is not an all-inclusive listing of hazard-specific websites, but provides suggestions of sites this author believes will be most useful. Users of the World Wide Web can expect to discover new sites as the web expands, and they may find exciting but ephemeral sites, established to monitor a current disaster situation, such as occurred during the Red River of the North flooding in 1997.

Exploratory Classroom Activities Appropriate classroom activities utilizing hazards informa- tion on the World Wide Web obviously vary with both the level of the student and the class being taught. Geography majors taking college coursework in natural hazards may need to be provided only with pertinent Internet addresses and assigned papers on timely disasters or hazard threats. Some of our most computer-literate freshmen need little encourage- ment. Indeed, provided with suggested sites for tracking hurricanes or severe weather outbreaks, these students may provide their instructors with the names of their favorite sites-sites which the instructor might not have discovered. Other students, including some college students less familiar with the World Wide Web, may require more structured activities. Butler (1995) argues that such structured assign- ments are preferable to activities which promote Internet surfing. A few suggestions are provided below. These activi- ties can reinforce geographic concepts presented in class or initiate and extend our students’ Internet skills.

Monitor Seismic Activity to Study Plate Tectonics Students can be assigned to regularly access the National Earthquake Information Center’s website (described above) and note the locations of all earthquakes exceeding a given magnitude. The magnitude selected would depend upon whether the students were considering the entire world or a small region, the length of time over which seismic activity was being monitored, and the level of the students. As a guide, consider that worldwide in a typical year approximately 3,000 earthquakes with a magnitude (MJ exceeding 5 occur, com- pared to 100 exceeding MS6 (Bolt 1993,274). Students should record data on the earthquake’s epicenter (latitude and longi- tude), its depth to focus, its magnitude, and its date of occur- rence. This information should be plotted on an appropriate base map.

After sufficient earthquake activity has been plotted, a variety of questions may be asked. Do most earthquakes occur near plate margins? Depending upon the level of the students, this could provide an excellent entree to the concept of plate

tectonics. Where do the strongest earthquakes occur? Over short time periods, do earthquakes tend to cluster in specific areas? What might this indicate? Where do the deepest earth- quakes occur? How does the pattern of earthquake activity which students recorded compare with the long-term record, which can be accessed either via the Internet or on the U.S. Geological Survey’s This Dynamic Planet map (Simkin et al. 1989)?

Human aspects of the earthquake hazard can also be studied. How does the pattern of observed earthquake activity compare with a map of the world’s population density? Why do people chose to live in areas vulnerable to earthquakes? What is the pattern of newspaper coverage of earthquakes that occur in sparsely inhabited areas compared to densely settled regions? What types (magnitude and location) of earthquakes are largely ignored by your local newspapers? Can you find anything about the damages from these earthquakes using the World Wide Web? Check several of the other earthquake web sites for situation reports.

Monitor Hurricane Activity During late summer and the fall, students can be assigned to monitor the development and movement of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Pacific, or both. The National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Page or WeatherNet Tropical Weather Products page are particularly useful websites for this pur- pose. Have students consult the official Tropical Weather Outlook issued by the National Hurricane Center. What areas, if any, are most conducive to tropical storm formation at the time you are monitoring the weather? What are the sea-surface temperatures in this area?

If a named tropical storm or numbered depression has formed, have your students plot its location on a hurricane tracking chart regularly. Do students expect it to hit the U.S. coastline? Why or why not? College students can be intro- duced to the strike probability forecasts. Once a storm ap- proaches the coast, detailed warnings are issued by the Na- tional Hurricane Center and local warnings are issued by National Weather Service Offices, both of which students can access. (Use the capabilities of the National Warnings Web page or the National Weather Services Interactive Weather Information Network page to access these local forecasts.) What specific hazards related to the hurricane are described in these warnings? Why are warnings different for different locations? How do warnings for communities to the right of expected landfall compare with those to the left? Why should these occur?

The WeatherNet Tropical Weather Products website provides links to satellite images of hurricanes. Can students see the hurricane eye? What is the pattern of clouds associated with the storms? Students may have the opportunity to note the change in cloud configuration as an easterly wave orga- nizes first into a tropical depression and later into a hurricane. As humcanes approach the U.S. coast, have students access Doppler radar images. This can be done using either the National Weather Service Interactive Weather Information Network or Weather Now to provide links to the appropriate

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local weather service office. Can the eye be discerned? Where are the heaviest bands of precipitation occumng with respect to the eye? Refer to Bencloski’s (198 1) article for other ideas of using these satellite images.

Design Your Local Hazards Web Page Computer- and Internet-literate students could design a local hazards web page. Depending upon the students’ technical abilities, and the suitability and availability of equipment, this page could exist on a school or departmental page or it could be simply a paper proposal. Either way, students could be given the task of designing such a site.

First, students would need to study the local environment, similar to what Hewitt and Burton (1971) did for London, Ontario, and determine what potential hazards exist in their community. What hazards should be included or excluded? What local sources, if any, of appropriate environmental or hazards-management information exist? Although obvious local differences exist, every such page should include a link to the nearest National Weather Service Office, providing the latest weather warnings and Doppler radar images. If nothing else, this assignment would encourage students to consider their local situation vis-a-vis both hazard vulnerability and local resources that could help manage the threat. For ex- ample, Eve Gruntfest and colleagues at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs have developed an interactive learning module about the flash flood hazard at nearby Manitou Springs (http://www.uccs.edu/-geogenvslges 199/manitou/).

Conclusions The Internet is one of the newest tools that we can profitably utilize in our teaching activities. Recent issues of the NCGE Perspective now include information about Internet and Online Resources. Every two months the Natural Hazards Observer adds to its listing of websites-a complete listing can be accessed via the World Wide Web. Real-time information is now available about many geophysical, hydrological, and meteorological hazards. The excitement of these events and the clamor of many students to explore the World Wide Web should prove a winning combination in many classrooms.

Acknowledgment The author would like to thank the reviewers for providing helpful suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Bencloski, Joseph W. 1981. The use of weather satellite imagery in teaching characteristics of tropical cyclones: The example of Hurricane David. Journal of Geography 80:204-216.

Blaikie, Piers, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis, and Ben Wisner. 1994. At risk:

Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability, and disasters. New York Routledge.

Bolt,Bruce A. 1993. Earthquakes. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company Bryant, Edward A. 1991. Natural hazards. New York: Cambridge Univer

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ment as hazard. New York: Oxford University Press. (2nd edition 1993).

Butler, David L. 1997. Selected Internet sites on natural hazards anc disasters. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disaster

Butler, David R. 1988. Teaching natural hazards: The use of snow ava lanches in demonstrating and addressing geographic topics and prin ciples. Journal of Geography 87:212-225.

Butler, J. C. 1995. An introduction to geoscience education resources on th Internet. Computers & Geosciences 21 :8 17-824.

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Hanson, Perry O., John D. Vitek, and Susan Hanson. 1979. Awareness c tornadoes: The importance of an historical event. Journal of Geograph

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Summary Listing of Suggested Hazards Websites

Best Sites for All-Hazard Information University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards HazardNet Informational Subsystem - Simon Fraser University

http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/-hazard US. Geological Survey Hazards Website

http://www.usgs.gov/hazard/index.html Federal Emergency Management Agency Homepage

http://www.fema.gov/home Emergency Preparedness Canada

http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/-epc NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Disaster Finder

http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/ndrd/disaster U. N. Department of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Situation Reports

http://www.vita.orgisaster/sitrep Disaster Management Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison

http://epdwww.engr.wisc.edu/dmc Earthweek

http://www.slip.net/-earthenv

Earthquake Hazard Information National Earthquake Information Center

Access USGS - San Francisco Bay and Delta

Southern California Earthquake Center

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute

http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov

http://sfbay .wr.usgs.gov/access/hazards. html

http://www.scec.org

http://www.eeri.org

Volcanic Hazards and Current Volcano Eruptions Alaska Volcano Observatory

http://www.avo.alaska.edu Cascade Volcano Observatory Web Pages

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/home.html Hawaii Volcano Observatory

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/hvo Government of Montserrat Volcano Observatory

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/west.indies/soufriere/govt

Snow Avalanche Hazards Cyberspace Snow and Avalanche Center

http://www.csac.org Westwide Avalanche Network

http://www.avalanche.org Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center

http://www.nwac.noaa.gov

Flood Hazards National Water Conditions

Floodplain Management Web Site

SAST Database: An Environmental Information System for the Upper Mississippi and Lower Missouri River Basins

Dartmouth College Flood Remote Sensing Page

“http://h2o.usgs.gov/nwcP‘

http://www.floodplain.org

http://edcwww2.cr.usgs.gov/sast-home.htm1

http://www .dartmouth.edulartsci/geog/floods

Weather Hazards in General National Weather Service’s National Warnings

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/nationalwarnings.html National Weather Service: Interactive Weather Information Network

http:/liwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/main.html Weather Net

http://cirms.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet The Weather Underground Inc.

http://www.wunderground.com

Hurricanes and Coastal Flood Hazards National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Cyclone Page

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/products.html WeatherNet Tropical Weather Products

http://cirms.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/~opical.html Federal Emergency Management Agency Tropical Storm Watch

http://www. fema.gov/fema/trop.htm

Tornado and Thunderstorm Hazards National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center

The Tornado Project Online! http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/-spc

http://www.tornadoproject.com

Drought Hazards National Drought Information Center

http://enso.unl.edu/ndmc

Landslide Hazard Information U.S.G.S. National Landslide Mitigation Center

http://gldage.cr.usgs.gov/html-files/nlicsun.html

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