Debate: Environment contribute pollution

Natural disasters are bad enough by themselves. You only have to turn on the TV, or search the
Internet to see the latest victims of a hurricane or an earthquake. But when you add the damage that
pollution can cause on top of the initial and obvious effects of a natural disaster, the costs -- in lives
lost, and in property and environmental damage -- can rise astronomically.
Hurricanes
When a hurricane strikes the coastline, the storm surge may cause flooding. Storm surge flooding
carries pollution. Flooding during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 along the Louisiana coastline and in the
City of New Orleans caused water pollution when oil refineries were flooded, and oil was spilled into
neighborhoods, according to the National Academy of Engineering. After Hurricane Sandy hit the
eastern seaboard in 2012, many waterways were contaminated by raw sewage pollution from flooded
water treatment plants, according to a New York Times article. One of the largest problems after
Hurricane Ike in Texas was that the water treatment plants had no backup power, and so were not
able to continue running during the storm, which led to sewage contamination, according to an impact
report on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's website.
Earthquakes And Tsunamis
Earthquakes can cause ground, air, and water pollution, depending on where they strike. The 2008
Sichuan earthquake in China caused additional hardship when factories that collapsed in the quake
spread pollution both on the ground and through the air, reported an environment correspondent for
The Guardian. The 2004 Sumatra earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean
caused saltwater contamination of drinking water supplies and millions of acres of farmland; salt
water infiltration sterilizes farmland, and it is difficult and costly to make the land once again suitable
for crops, according to an article published on the Environmental XPRT website. Japan's 2011
earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear power plant to fail, and radiation to leak into the ocean and
escape into the atmosphere. Many evacuees have still not returned to their homes, and, as of January
2014, the Fukushima nuclear plant still poses a threat, according to status reports by the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
Floods
When a large river floods, many pollutants, such as farm waste, detergents, chemicals from processing
plants, and fertilizers from crops, are swept downstream and deposited on land. These large deposits
pollute drinking water and farmland. In addition, floodwaters deposit sediments, sand and moisture
in homes and other buildings. This leads to mold production, and many forms of mold are hazardous
to humans. In 2011, extreme flooding of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers transported 164,000
metric tons of nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico, creating a massive dead zone in the Gulf, according to
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nutrient loading, or the addition of too much
plant nutrients (nitrogen or phosphorus), causes algal blooms -- or an explosion of algae growth,
followed by algal death and decay. The decay processes consumes the available free oxygen in the
water and kills aquatic life.
Volcanoes
While volcanoes are beautiful to look at, and have formed some of the most beautiful islands on Earth,
they cause air pollution when they erupt. The Kilauea Volcano on the Island of Hawaii causes volcanic
smog and acid rain when it erupts, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Volcanic eruptions have
also been shown to contribute to depletion of the Earth's protective ozone layer, and the fluorine-
containing compounds from volcanic emissions that settle on land can harm or even kill animals who
graze on contaminated vegetation, reports U.S. Geological Survey.