January 2023 All-Hands

La Niña, the abnormal cooling of eastern Pacific Ocean waters, is into its third consecutive year.

What are some examples of countries whose flood/monsoon/hurricane seasons and related crises were clearly impacted in 2022?

• Bangladesh, Pakistan,

  South Africa,

  Brazil, Colombia, Mexico

• Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan,

  South Africa,

  Dominican Republic, Mexico

• Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan,

  South Africa,

  Colombia, Venezuela

• Bangladesh, Japan, Pakistan,

  South Africa,

  Dominican Republic, Venezuela

Answer explanation

La Niña and its cooling of eastern Pacific waters influences countries beyond the eastern Pacific areas, as weather and climate systems are highly interconnected across the world.

Australia saw her second year of repeated severe floods in eastern states, due to La Niña and the confluence of other meteorological factors. Bangladesh and especially Pakistan saw devastating flood/monsoon seasons which could be attributed to La Niña.

La Niña traditionally results in an increased Atlantic hurricane season, affecting countries like Dominican Republic and Mexico. However, this was not experienced in 2022.

Every 1.0 increase in earthquake magnitude represents a 32x increase in energy. However, an earthquake's destructiveness is not solely determined by its magnitude and depth alone. Bear in mind that building codes/construction, level of development and population density are all important factors in the number and severity of damages as well!

Which earthquake in 2022 was the most damaging, in terms of houses?

(Listed below are: [Magnitude] [Location, Country] [Depth])

• M7.6

  Morebe, Papua New Guinea

  116 km

• M5.6

  Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia

  10 km

• M7.0

  Abra, Northern Luzon, Philippines

  33.7 km

• M6.0

  Eastern Afghanistan

  4 km

• M5.3

  Nippes, Haiti

  10 km

The Jan 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption in Tonga was a historic event on many counts, including its atmospheric explosion, height of the eruption cloud into the upper atmosphere, and the concentration of lightning events produced.

What was the main trigger of most of the first large tsunami waves in this event?

• Earthquake associated with the eruption (USGS recorded M5.8 earthquake here)

• Volcanic collapse of the caldera or submarine landslides on the volcano flanks, displacing the seawater

• Pressure waves/changes from the atmospheric blast, acting on the sea surface

• Eruptive material from the volcano (e.g. pyroclastic flows), displacing the seawater

Answer explanation

Massive atmospheric pressure changes can act on the sea surface and resonate with very fast (700 mph) waves to generate what are known as meteotsunamis, arriving ahead of classic tsunami waves for which most present-day tsunami warning and forecast systems are made for.

The result was that the first tsunami waves arrived 2-3 hours earlier than expected, as observed in places like Sydney, Japan, and as far as Peru (more than 10 hours later; causing 2 deaths).

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pcmsc/news/depth-surprising-tsunamis-caused-explosive-eruption-tonga

https://www.preventionweb.net/news/why-tonga-tsunami-arrived-much-earlier-and-much-larger-expected

What was the average time of tropical cyclone formation to landfall (estimated by publication time), for published SCs (tropical storms/hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons) in 2022?

• 4.5 days

• 2.5 days

• 3.0 days

• 3.5 days

Which SC in 2022 had the highest casualty figures?

• The Earthquake Across Eastern Afghanistan (Jun)

• The Flooding Across Pakistan (Q3)

• The Earthquake in West Java, Indonesia (Nov)

  - also commonly known as the "Cianjur earthquake"

• The Sand Storm Across Central Iraq (May)

Answer explanation

The Flooding Across Pakistan captured most of the monsoon season impacts that stretched across Q3 2022, with some areas in Pakistan unfortunately still submerged at least until last month! The cumulative toll across the monsoon season was more than 1,700 deaths and 12,800 injuries.

Which countries had their first SC ever in 2022?

• Ghana, Guadeloupe, Jersey, Liberia, Malawi, Montenegro, Turks and Caicos

• Algeria, Guadeloupe, Jersey, Oman, Sierra Leone, Tonga

• Armenia, Bahamas, Iran, Liberia, Malawi, Oman, Suriname

• Bahamas, El Salvador, Jersey, Montenegro, Suriname, Timor-Leste

Answer explanation

In 2022, SCs were launched for the first time in 7 countries.

How has the number of GSOC-sourced incidents changed from 2021 to 2022?

• Decreased

• Similar numbers

• Increased by 10-50%

• Increased by more than 50%

Answer explanation

Pat yourselves on the back for using your skills, the tools and techniques at our disposal to significantly enhance our team's self-sourcing capabilities!!

Last question on crisis donation stats!

How have the total dollars raised organically changed from 2021 to 2022, and how many megaphone activations (by Product) have there been in 2022?

• Decreased; 0

• Decreased; 1

• Similar; 1

• Increased; 2

Answer explanation

2021 saw two large and egregious crises in the Charitable Giving countries of Germany (floods in Jul) and the US (tornadoes in Dec). In addition, there was the devastating M7.2 Haiti earthquake occurring the western world. These three SCs in 2021 each generated $60K-$130K in donations, compared to Hurricane Ian Across Southeastern US, the SC in 2022 with the most donations at $27K raised.