Shamal's Blog

There are countless Cyclones and Hurricanes that take place in Fiji, this brings about many occasions of flooding. The floods can be very severe and widespread in the low-lying areas across the country. They can cause many road closures and casualties due to slips, downed power lines, landslides, and debris. It also tends to occur because of the country's rainy season which is between November and April. Fiji's wet zones are located in the southeast region of the islands, these are typically more prone to experience heavy rains and flooding.  One sever case of flooding in Fiji was in January 2009. After four days of continuous heavy rain on Nadi, Labasa, Sigatoka, and Ba on the main island of Viti Levu, the flood had damaged many roads, bridges, crops, and farmland. "Eight people were reported to have been killed, six from drowning and two killed in a landslide". In order to counter this moving forward, Fiji could adopt an education and research program for disaster p...

  Discuss your country’s volcanic activity (past or present) Fiji has a total of 452 Volcanoes throughout its many islands. The biggest Volcanoe is Taveuni which is about 4071 feet tall. Up until the end of the 20th century it was believed that the volcano had gone utterly extinct. After some research and further studies by scientists its was noted that the last eruption was probably less than 400 years ago which makes it an active volcanoe. Aside from that, the Fiji and Lau Ridge are no longer active volcanic island arcs. Since there is no subduction of rifting in the Fiji Islands, but they formed from a similar process in the past. However, there is still active seafloor spreading that occurs to this day in the Lau Basin. In order to forecast and mitigate possible future eruptions Fiji should incorporate constant and continuous seismic monitoring for activity in their few active volcanic arcs. Plate_Tectonic.pdf (mrd.gov.fj)

One of the biggest Tsunamis to have hit Fiji was in 1953 due to the 6.7 earthquake in Suva. The earthquake had caused a slip in the seabed of the harbor  area which brought about the tsunami in the Suva Peninsula. It dealt major damage to the wharf and caused 3 deaths in Suva, 12 were also reported as drowned in the Fiji Islands Koro and Kadavu. The main source of the tsunami was the result of a "60 million cubic meter submarine landslide at the head of the Suva Canyon". Usually earthquakes near Fiji are the cause of tsunamis, but they can also be caused by "a sudden motion of the ocean floor." This could be due to an underwater landslide or even a powerful volcanic eruption. Tsunamis are a big concern as most population is concentrated in low coastal areas.  One way to further help lower injuries and damages would be to setup a real-time monitoring system of seismic activity and tsunami education and research program to study causes and frequent locations. These co...

The largest and most devastating earthquake to have hit Fiji Islands was the 1953 Suva Earthquake. It took place September 14, 1953 near Suva, Fiji on the main Island Viti Levu. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 6.8, it has triggered a coral reef platform to collapse and also a submarine landslide which in turn caused a tsunami. This event took down many stores and houses within the city.  Fiji is seismically active which means they experiences many earthquakes weekly/monthly, most occur mainly on the edges of the plate and in the ocean. The ones that do occur inland tend to be of low/medium magnitude. Many times earthquakes also bring about a tsunami. Though it is very rare to see another earthquake of similar magnitude to the 1953 Suva Earthquake take place inland.  Two studies of "magnitude-frequency relations" near Fiji have shown that earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher are expected every 15-21 years. While earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or higher are expected ...

Fiji is located on both the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plate. Because of that Fiji is also a part of the Ring of Fire, which is a string of volcanoes that go around the boundary of the Pacific Ocean. The part of the Ring of Fire that Fiji is located in is the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. Since there are two plates that are constantly moving towards one another, this is known as a convergent plate boundary. The result of which brings about volcanic mountains such as Mount Tomanivi of Fiji. Previously known as Mount Victoria, Tomanivi is an extinct volcano and also the highest mountain in Fiji. Tectonic History of the Fiji Plateau | GSA Bulletin | GeoScienceWorld Plate_Tectonic.pdf (mrd.gov.fj)

 Hello everyone, Fiji is the country that I have chosen. I was actually born and raised there for 8 years before moving to USA so it really pulled me in. The Republic of Fiji was originally a British Colony that became Independent in 1970. The Fiji Islands themselves consist of about 330 Islands and only 1/3 of that is currently inhabited. Regardless of that, 87% of the total population live on the 2 major islands. 3/4 of Fijians live on the biggest Island, Viti Levu, the second major island is Vanua Levu. Fiji is located in the South Pacific Ocean, around 1,300 miles northeast of New Zealand.