Question

Write the causes of the following :
(a) Floods
(b) Forest fires
(c) Land slides/building collapse
(d) Storms
(e) Earthquakes

Answer 1

(a) Following can be the cause of floods in a region:

• It may occur due to heavy rainfall that leads to overflow of water from the water bodies.
• Sudden melting of huge amount of ice at mountain tops can lead to flood in the regions nearby to mountains.
• Cloudburst can lead to flood.

​(b) Following can be the cause of forest fires:

• Natural calamities like lightning strikes falling on the trees of a forest.
• Man made activities like smoking, setting thermal factories or campfires near the forest area, etc.

(c) Landslide/building collapse can occur due to following reasons:

• Earthquake can cause landslide and building collapse.
• Volcanic eruption can cause landslide.
• Usage of poor quality material for construction of building can lead to its collapse.
• Mining and weathering can cause landslides.

(d) Storms can occur either naturally or due to ecological imbalance occuring due to various human activities.

(e) Earthquakes can occur due to following reasons:

• Volcanic eruption

• Meteors falling on the Earth’s surface

• Underground explosions. For example, underground nuclear tests.

• Collapsing structures such as mines etc.
  
• ​Mining and construction of big dams.