Sierra Nevada Wildfire

The lowdown :A record drought in California has set a perfect climate for wildfire season, creating a record number of fires, as well as their size and destruction. The fire, burning over 70,760 acres in Amador and Calaveras counties, was 65% contained as more than 4,000 firefighters sought to prevent its spread. Over 500 homes have been destroyed and 2 deaths have been reported.

Californian drought

California is entering the fourth year of a record-breaking drought creating an extremely dry landscape. Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought State of Emergency in January 2015. About 12 million trees have died in California forestlands in the past year because of the drought. The drying landscape is increasingly threatened by large, intense wildfires. Researchers found that although was caused by natural variation in rain and temperature, climate change added between 8% and 20% to the effect of the drought. This is a warning that as climate change gets worse the effects of drought around the world will also be worse.

The Enterprise Bridge passes over full water levels at a section of Lake Oroville in Oroville, California, 2011. The right hand picture shows the drop of the water level of the lake in 2014. 

Earthquake in Chile

So... first post of the blog! The topic is going to be the huge earthquake that struck Chile on Wednesday 16th September.

The lowdown: On the 16th September 2015 a very powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Chile. Over a million people were evacuated from coastal areas and at least 11 people were killed. Chile's government has declared a state of emergency in the central region of Coquimbo. Illapel, an inland city with about 30,000 residents was reported immediately to be without water. Two days after the earthquake 90,000 people were still without electricity.The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.3, the strongest this year, and has sent tsunami waves as far as Japan! It was the country's sixth most powerful recorded earthquake. The earthquake struck as many of Chileans were travelling to the coast to spend a week of celebrations for their independence day. Illapel, an inland city with about 30,000 residents was reported immediately to be without water. Two days after the earthquake 90,000 people were still without electricity.

The USGS (US Geological Survey) said that  the tremor struck off the coast of Coquimbo, 46km (29 miles) west of the city of Illapel at 19:54 local time (22:54 GMT). 

The USGS said it was at a depth of 25km, while Chilean seismologists calculated its depth at 11km.

How do earthquakes happen?

Earthquakes happen when tension is released from inside the Earth's crust. Tectonic plates do not always move smoothly alongside each other and sometimes get stuck. When this happens pressure builds up and is eventually released. This is when an earthquake tends to occur.

This map shows the seismic zones around the world. The seismic scale goes from 1-9, 9 being the zone at the highest risk of plate movement. Chile is in the red area, showing that it is at high risk of earthquakes and volcanos.