Final Blog- Romania

 Final Hazards Report

Romania

-Earthquakes 

One of the main natural hazards for Romania would be Earthquakes. Romania contains the Vrancea earthquake zone, which is the site of strong intermediate-depth seismicity, down to 220 km depth. Different from the scattered crustal seis- micity, most of the intermediate-depth earthquakes occur in a very limited seismogenic volume with about 30 × 70 km lateral extent and in a depth range from 70–180 km. Romania lies on the Vrancea fault that forms an ellipse stretching from the northeast to the southwest of the country. Proximity to the fault and poor soils make Bucharest Europe's highest seismic risk capital city and one of the 10 most vulnerable cities in the world. Over 35% of Romanians, or 65% of the urban population, is exposed to seismic hazards from the Vrancea fault.

Records show that large magnitude earthquakes occur on the Vrancea zone with regularity—Romania has more than 30 quakes a year with a magnitude of 3 or more —and a large magnitude earthquake is anticipated in the coming years. A repeat of the devastating 1977 earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and killed over 1,500 people, would result in US$ 7.45-17 billion in estimated losses, roughly equivalent to 20-45% of the Romanian GDP. Such a loss would be catastrophic for the Romanian economy. This demonstrates why the earthquakes happen where they do and why I m addressing it as a priority. 

-Droughts

The second main natural hazard would be Droughts. Romania has been experiencing hotter and longer summers and shorter winters with less and less rain every year more than half of Romania is in a drought. As much as 1.7 million hectares of cereal crops have been destroyed because of the drought. Romania's production of wheat, maize and sunseed fell by double digits in 2022, driven by weather and higher production costs. 

The droughts have threatened water supplies for human agglomerations and industries, reduced water availability for agriculture, and reduced hydropower production (more use of coal and gas power). These factors being the reasons for making this my second main natural hazard Romania faces. 

-Action Plans 

Earthquakes:

For Romania a repeat of the devastating 1977 earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and killed over 1,500 people, would result in US$ 7.45-17 billion in estimated losses, roughly equivalent to 20-45% of the Romanian GDP. Such a loss would be catastrophic for the Romanian economy. The World Bank’s Hazard Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project, which came to a close at the end of June 2012, assisted the Government of Romania in reducing the environmental, social, and economic vulnerability to natural disasters and catastrophic mining accidental spills of pollutants through:

-strengthening the institutional and technical capacity for disaster management and emergency response through upgrading communication and information systems;

-implementing specific risk reduction investments for floods, landslides and earthquakes;

-improving the safety of selected water-retention dams;

-improving on a pilot basis the management and safety of tailings dams and waste dump facilities.

Droughts:

Action Plan for Water Scarcity and Drought include strengthening institutional framework by improving cooperation between main institutions and those involved in drought management. Improving legislative framework this includes Water Law, Forest Code, Law for improving degraded lands by afforestation, Law of land reclamation, and law ratifying the UN Convention on desertification. Developing a long term strategy that involves ways to reduce vulnerability of the local communities and natural ecosystems.Ways to reduce effects on social and economic activities. Ways to provide a sustainable framework for further development. As well as ways to increase public awareness and public involvement. 

We also need to increase research and development activities to improve the knowledge of drought and land degradation phenomena. Extend the capacity for meteorological and hydrological forecast. Develop of the water saving technologies and improve knowledge on water resources (groundwater). Lastly we should Establish and implement adaptation measures:

• Afforestation
• Extensions and rehabilitation of the water supply networks
• Modernization of the irrigation systems
•  Rehabilitation of the wetland areas
• Developing new water sources (wells)
•  Improving waste water treatment

As for where specifically I would want to target these actions first would have to Bucharest. Bucharest is the capital of Romania and has over a million people living there. Bucharest as mentioned before is  very close to the Vrancea fault which has a lot of seismic energy and is also in the red area for the drought crisis. The population alone is why I would chose Bucharest first to help implement these changes. 

(Bucharest)

With all of this being said I would construct a house in Oradea. Oradea is at the top of Romania away from Bucharest. It is pretty far from other seismic activity and as for the drought Oradea doesn't seem to be to negatively affected by it. It also is very cheap to live their and there are a lot of English speakers in the area. 

(Oradea) 

References:

Creating a Safer Romania

Drought in Romania 

Drought cuts Romania Grain

Pacific Prime

Action plan for water scarcity