And the answers are…
1.
What are the four deadliest tsunamis in history?
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami ranks as the most devastating on record, with more than 150,000 people losing their lives, many of them washed out to sea. The most damaging tsunami on record before 2004 killed an estimated 40,000 people in 1782 following an earthquake in the South China Sea. In 1883, tsunamis in the South Java Sea killed some 36,500 people following the eruption of Indonesia's Krakatoa volcano. In northern Chile, a tsunami killed more than 25,000 people in 1868.
Before the 2004 tsunami
After the 2004 tsunami
Source: National Geographic News
2.
Are earthquakes that accompany volcanic eruptions large enough to collapse buildings and roads?
Not usually. Earthquakes associated with eruptions rarely exceed magnitude 5, and those moderate earthquakes aren’t big enough to destroy buildings, houses, and roads. The strongest earthquakes at Mount St. Helens in 1980 were magnitude 5 — large enough to sway trees and damage buildings but not destroy them. During the huge eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, several hundred thousand people felt dozens of light to moderate earthquakes (magnitude 3 to 5). Many houses collapsed but not primarily because of the shaking. Heavy, wet ash from the eruption, combined with a hurricane, caused accumulation on roofs and crushed them.
Stronger earthquakes occur sometimes near volcanoes as a result of tectonic faulting. For example, four magnitude 6 earthquakes struck Long Valley Caldera, California, in 1980, and a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, in 1975. Both volcanoes were quiet at the time. The Hawaii earthquake triggered a small eruption at the summit of Kilauea. No eruption has yet occurred at Long Valley, but the area has been restless since the 1980 earthquakes.
Flows on Kilauea volcano in Hawaii
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
3.
Does ISO recognize fireboats for PPCTM grading purposes?
Yes. In certain cases, ISO considers fireboats as “engine companies” and the lake as the water supply. But ISO doesn’t recognize fireboat stations that have boats equipped with small, unrated pumps with insufficient hose, tools, and equipment as engine companies.
New York City’s largest fireboat is capable of pumping 20,000 gallons per minute.
4.
Can a private passenger automobile insurer charge different premium rates to persons residing within the limits of any Ohio municipal corporation based on the location of the insured’s residence within those limits?
No. With respect to private passenger automobile insurance, no insurer can charge different premium rates to persons residing within the limits of any municipal corporation based solely on the location of the insured’s residence within those limits.
Source: Ohio Insurance Code 3901.21
5.
What are the two projections that government and industry organizations commonly use to map the United States? Hint: A map projection is a process or technique of rendering a three-dimensional sphere into a two-dimensional representation.
The first projection is the Albers equal-area conic projection, or Albers projection — a conic, equal-area map projection that uses two standard parallels. Although this technique doesn’t preserve scale and shape, distortion is minimal between the standard parallels. The United States Geological Survey and the United States Census Bureau use the Albers projection.
The second projection is the Geocentric Coordinate System – World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) — a geographic coordinate system that models the earth as a sphere or spheroid in a right-handed X, Y, Z system measured from the center of the earth. The X-axis points to the prime meridian, the Y-axis points 90° away in the equatorial plane, and the Z-axis points in the direction of the North Pole. The U.S. Department of Defense and many other organizations use this system to define the position of objects on the face of the earth. WGS 84 is the reference system used by the Global Positioning System (GPS).
