Los Angeles Los Angeles is located on an area of approximately 502 square miles. The city within itself is flat and hilly. However, it is located in a large coastal basin, surrounded on 3 sides by mountains over 10,000 feet high, Santa Monica Mountains on the East, San Gabriel Mountains on the North, and northeast of San Fernando Valley. The Los Angeles River begins in the Canoga River and runs east from the San Fernando Valley, turns by the north edge of the Sana Monica Mountains, and through the city center, to finally finish at the mouth of the port in Long Beach at the Pacific Ocean.
Southern California lies on the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. At this boundary the plates are moving past one another creating a transform boundary. These plates move past each other about fifty millimeters (two inches) per year. The San Andreas Fault, San Jacinto, Elsinore, and Imperial faults are all results of this boundary type, and pose great risks of natural hazards in and near the city of Los Angeles.
Aside from the probable risks, the overall climate in Los Angeles in my opinion is decent. In the year of 2016 the average temperature in Los Angeles was 63.5 with an annual high temperature of 71.9 and an annual low of 55.1. The annual rainfall is 1.44 inches. The temperatures have been pretty similar throughout the past few years, although there has been drastic changes in the amount of rainfall over the years. Recently there has been less rainfall in Los Angeles and this has caused major impact in the area. This area is known more for its warm weather than anything else. In the latest data recorded history there has been no snowfall reported.
Los Angeles is huge, in terms of population. As of 2014, the population in Los Angeles is 18.55 billion. The demographics are approximately 61 percent white, 14 percent Asian, 7 percent African American, and 37 percent Hispanic or Latino. Along with a big population comes a lot of attractions. These attractions bring in lucrative profit to support the economy. Los Angeles is known for its “lights, camera, action” scene. For instance, Hollywood Blvd., Getty Center, Universal Studios Hollywood, Griffith park, and TLC Chinese Theatre etc. amongst many more. This obviously helps out the economy a lot. Los Angeles ranks as the top manufacturing center in the United States. Producing even more jobs than Michigan. In addition to this, Los Angles is one of the largest metro economies in the world with a gross domestic product $700 million. The city also has a huge range of industries spanning from fashion to aerospace. Many of these industries generate over 640,000 jobs and more than $200 billion in sales.
Although, this may all seem sweet Los Angeles suffers from natural hazards. Earthquakes are said to happen very frequently in California, almost a daily occurrence. Most earthquakes though are so minor that many people don’t notice they have occurred. There is a 99% chance of an earthquake in the next 30 years that will reach at least 6.7 on the Richter scale. Earthquakes can be very costly for residents because not many purchase coverage for their homes at all. Even with HOA it is $500 per year or more to keep insurance to cover all possible damages.
Wildfires also pose a high risk in Los Angeles area. They can destroy forest and residential areas. Many wildfires occur because of brought, arsonist, lightning and other careless acts caused by people. Wildfires spread quickly causing much damage.
Landslides are likely to happen in Los Angeles as well, when there is heavy rainfall or climate changes. For example, snow melting rapidly and seeping into the ground, which is unable to retain all of the water. Landslides can move at the seeping of an avalanche. The size of a landslide can grow by picking up trees, bushes, and rocks. Landslides are able to occur anywhere in mountainous areas.
California is a coastal wetland. It suffers from coastal erosion because of wave action. However, there are different types of erosion. Rocky and non-rocky, California’s non-rocky coasts result in the erosion rate to be twice as much than the actual coast being restored. California’s shorelines are in danger, at least 4% is critically eroding. Los Angeles suffers from coastal erosion because they are along the Pacific Ocean. As mentioned earlier it is a coastal wetland. This occurs when saltwater and freshwater wetlands are located within coastal watersheds, whom drain into the Pacific Ocean or any-body of saltwater. Coastal wetlands cover roughly over 40 million acres in the United States and the southeast part of the United States account for 81 percent of these millions of acres (California accounting for the majority of this 81 percent as well). The map below demonstrates the coats whom are also accounted in the 40 million acres of land. Although wetlands may seem like a bad thing, they actually help with many other natural disasters such as floods and some erosion control. This is because they can absorb energy created by ocean currents which are the ones that degrade the shorelines
An action the government could tak