Where Geography Bloggers Go For Disaster Maps and Information

Geography and map blogs have been filled with information about the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes. Many readers have contacted me asking where we bloggers get our maps, etc. So below I made a quick guide of places to go for geographical data on disasters.

Earthquakes: The United States Geological Survey's (USGS) earthquake page has a constantly updating webpage on earth tremors felt around the world. Each page has information ranging from how strong a quake was to p-wave data to maps. Check out the Chilean earthquake's page for a good example.

Tsunamis: The National Weather Service has the excellent Pacific Tsunami Warning Center which despite the name covers tsunamis around the world.

Extreme Weather: The National Weather Service wins this one as well for extreme weather in the United States.

Volcanoes: USGS has a Google Maps mashup showing American volcanoes and their status along with any warnings.

Fires: This one is not as developed yet. Local news agencies seem to be the best place to go for specific fires. However, FIRMS by the University of Maryland is the best place to go for worldwide fire mapping. They also have GIS shapefiles on fire data.

Disasters that Cause Population Displacement: Hands down this goes to Relief Web. The Haiti page, for example. has enough maps to answer any internally displaced person/relief organization question you may have concerning the January 2010 earthquake.

Also, be sure to check out and subscribe to Geographic Travels' Twitter feed. When major geographical events are taking place I will be updating here as I get information.

Maps of Insurgent Activity in Afghanistan

Frontline has a map of insurgent activity in Afghanistan by group. The groups shown are the Taliban, the Haqqani Network (Wahabbi Afghans who fought against the Soviets and later along side the Taliban), Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (the semi-independent Pakistan branch of the Taliban), and and forces loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (fought against the Soviets, the other Mujaheddin leaders, against the Taliban, and later fought for the Taliban).

Below is a mashup map showing the location of Taliban controlled areas of Afghanistan overlaid deployments of NATO and other ISAF forces.


View Larger Map

Frontline's Behind Taliban Lines

As I prepare to go to Afghanistan it is important to understand and see what the enemy sees.

Ghosts of North Dakota: Photoalbum of Lost Towns of the Prairie

"till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19

Ruins are places where geography, history, archaeology, and society meet. Scholars, tourists, and the average person can admire ruins at their physical location, through literature, or other media. People reconstruct, and sometimes imagine, the reasons why a place started, who lived there, and why the placed died. These thoughts help integrate a lost place into the contemporary cultural landscape. Tourists to Mexico City will go out of their way to see the massive buildings of New Spain, Aztec Tenochtitlan, and the pre-Aztec Teotihuacan to understand the force that made Mexico what it is today. Holy Land visitors will visit the holy sites of the three major faiths and imagine the their patriarchs' lives to build a sense of oneself in their religious cosmos. Preservationists will use their influence to protect ruins through groups like UNESCO to ensure the human-place relationship can exist for future generations.

Sadly cultures do not appreciate the ruins made by their own culture. Stories these cultural ruins have to offer are lost on present generations. Sure, urban centers have "historical buildings" and "historical districts" but these efforts are sometimes driven by anti-development sentiment as they are preservationist motivated. Urban preservationists, and the public in general, seem to have little concern for the ruins of the rural countryside. Think about the Great Plains, there are countless ghost towns full of ruins that are rarely considered national treasures let alone worthy things to learn from. I accept these ruins as part of a time we have moved away from as a society but the lack of respect most preservationists and historians give to these places shows the discount between urban and rural forces (do not even get me started about the Buffalo Commons!).

Parts of the Great Plains are dying. The era of interior-frontier farm towns has past as farming becomes more centralized and the population shifts more to an urban character. The frontier towns do not merely cease to be but go through a process of becoming ruins before the Great Plains reclaims them.

Ghosts of North Dakota is an excellent photo blog site documenting ghost towns in North Dakota. The photographs are both fascinating and tragic as one reads the stories of towns where people lived and labored. One can browse through the various ghost towns via a map of North Dakota. The website is complemented well by National Geographic's article on ghost towns in North Dakota.

The ruins of the Great Plains is a part of me. I remember visiting my grandparents' farm and having them tell me the history (and fairy tale-style stories) of the ruins, who lived there, and what happened there. As these ruins are lost due to demographic shifts let us take a moment to absorb this unique part of Americana and appreciate them before they are gone forever.

Countercartography Response to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games

A "loose collective of artists, geographers, writers, and activists" has contacted Geographic Travels about their response to/against the public perception of Vancouver and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Their website, Vancouver [de]Tour Guide, is a Google Maps mashup with locations discussing the history, art culture, social activism, and thoughts about the Olympics and Vancouver in general.

There is an overriding anti-Olympic feeling to many but not all the posts. Some of the feeling is definitely understandable. During every Olympics there are stories of housing and cultural sites being demolished for sports facilities or funding being shifted away from local interests. Those map locations that are not anti-Olympics do give a feeling of the rich Canadian heritage all the way back to the various Indian, First Peoples, tribes that lived along the bay.

How Birth Rate Works

Every wonder why 2.1 is the replacement rate in the developed world while it is 3.1 in the developing world? Or why one woman having one or two babies just won't cut it demographically? Then this short movie is for you!

What You Need to Know About The Falkland Islands

View The islands in a larger map

The past few weeks have seen a rise in tensions over the control of the Falkland Islands. A combination of oil being drilled off the coast of the islands and Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner falling approval ratings has created a sort of "Wag the Dog" situation where the issue is being used to distract the Argentines. President Kirchner demands any ship involved in the oil drilling must have Argentina's approval to enter the waters near the islands. The British government has responded with a "no." Currently Kirchner is saber rattling and the threat of war is distant but it is something to watch.

Argentina officially claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands. These islands create a island-bridge to Argentina's Antarctic claims. However, since 1833 the United Kingdom has governed the islands. Today the Falklands are self-governing overseas territory while South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands governed as one oversea territory.

Geoimportance

The islands were valuable in the past as they proved a good shipping port, whaling and seal station, and military outpost. Today the islands are valuable because of having oil off its coasts. Other than that the biggest part of any geopolitical struggle over the islands is national pride.

History

The history of Falkland and other islands control is complex. Periods of no occupation are intermixed with de facto Spanish, French, British, and Argentine control. The last permanent Argentine population left after settlement of Port Louis was destroyed by the USS Lexington as part of America's protest of the arrest of American sailors. The British finally established their dominance in 1833 despite protests from the the Argentines. The Argentines returned to the area by establishing scientific outposts on Thule Island, part of the South Sandwich Islands, in 1956 and 1976.

In 1982 the military junta which ruled Argentina invaded the Falklands and other islands. Their hope was that a weakened United Kingdom would be unable to mount any opposition. However, Margret Thatcher's Conservative government successfully managed to rally an underfunded army and Royal Navy to victory in a small yet fierce war.

Today

Today the Falkland Islands are a sensitive issue in Argentina, which calls the islands Islas Malvinas. The war's veterans form a powerful lobbying group, memorization of the war has reached sanctification phase where the war memorial is a combination of the American Vietnam War Memorial and Tomb of the Unknown Solider, welcome to Argentina signs declare the Falklands as belonging to Argentina, and a textbook error showing the island as part of the United Kingdom lead to massive outcry.

The population of the Falklands is overwhelmingly British or British-descendant Falkland Islander. While those who identify themselves with the nationality of Falkland Islanders see themselves as part of South America, they also view themselves as British. There is no serious movement on the islands to have the islands become independent or join Argentina. The other islands have no permanent population.

Who Owns the Falkland Islands?

De facto and in all reality the United Kingdom owns the Falklands. The British claim is recognized by the European Union, France, and members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Meanwhile most Latin American countries back Argentina's claim. Because of diplomatic reasons most other countries are officially neutral on the issue. With the oil drilling most countries will probably continue to deal with the British rule and all but recognize their control.