BLUE WHALE

The blue whale is not only the biggest whale living today; the blue whale is the
biggest creature ever to have lived on Earth. They are mind-bogglingly
gigantic; much larger than any of the dinosaurs. Blue whales and the other
ocean giants live their whole lives in seawater.

Blue whales commonly reach the colossal length of 29m, that’s roughly as
long as three London red double-decker buses parked end to end. Blue
whales in the Southern Hemisphere are generally larger than those in the
Northern Hemisphere and female blues are larger than males.

The longest blue whale on record is a female measured at a South Georgia

whaling station in the South Atlantic (1909); she was 33.58m. The heaviest
blue whale was also a female hunted in the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, on
20 March 1947. She tipped the scales at 190 tonnes which is equivalent to
about 30 elephants or 2500 people.

Blue whales are now extremely rare due to uncontrolled commercial whaling.
Some populations could be endangered to the point of extinction.

ELEPHANT

Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, and they’re one of the most
unique-looking animals, too. With their characteristic long noses, or trunks;
large, floppy ears; and wide, thick legs, there is no other animal with a similar
physique.

Most experts recognize two species of elephant: the Asian elephant (Elephas
maximus) and the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), who live on separate
continents and have many unique features. There are several subspecies that
belong to one or the other of these two main species, though experts argue
over how many subspecies there are and whether or not they constitute
separate species.

African elephants live in sub-Saharan Africa, the rainforests of Central and

West Africa and the Sahel desert in Mali, according to National Geographic.
Asian elephants live in Nepal, India and Southeast Asia in scrub forests and
rainforests.
FLOOD

Flood is an event that occurs due to an increase in water discharge in the

waters. Floods do not always penetrate into people’s housing and destroy
infrastructure.Under natural conditions, flooding can make the river level rise
several meters from its normal level. So this is a natural terminology that we
can use as a reference for learning.

But usually the term flood is more often associated with disasters that claim
many victims. Houses sinking and many lives lost can also be caused if the
water discharge is really high. This is a context that we must understand in
order to later be able to distinguish it. Judging from the height and amount of
water flowing, the potential is also different.

In a big city with potential for flooding like Jakarta, the trigger is not only the
overflow of river water. Tidal floods can also occur in areas near the shoreline
due to rising sea tides. Even though in terms of terminology it is different
between rob and flood, they are usually classified in similar categories. So this
is also often linguistic point of view. If you see that the river has overflowed, it
is better to leave the location immediately. Because we cannot predict how
much discharge and potential height will occur in that area.

One of the characteristics when a flood is about to occur is that the condition
of the water slowly becomes cloudy, even though it was clear before. If that
has happened, it is better for you to immediately rise from the area to a higher
place to save yourself.

FOREST FIRES
Forest fires can be caused by two triggers, namely natural and man-made.
Forest fires caused by humans can occur due to land clearing using the
burning method. This method is illegal in Indonesia and the perpetrators can
be subject to severe criminal penalties. The potential from burning for land
clearing will certainly be enormous.

Naturally forest fires can occur in peat areas with tropical weather. The land in
the summer will be very dry because the water from the soil surface
evaporates more quickly. Dry grass and plants can be one of the triggers for
forest fires. So that this phenomenon is actually natural cycle that will occur in
certain areas.

When forest fires occur wild animals will immediately migrate to other places
to seek shelter. Then the forest will naturally grow back over time. If the trigger
is a natural cycle then it can happen every two to three years. Then until the
forest really grows again and it will happen again as a natural cycle.

Even though it looks detrimental, this natural cycle benefits peatlands. The
humus regeneration process in the soil will be quickly replaced so that the
plants can grow again. As long as these events are not triggered by human
activities, forest fires are still beneficial from a certain point of view. If nature
really destroys itself, it means that it is able to recover independently.

A HURRICANE
A hurricane is a phenomenon that occurs due to drastic differences in air
pressure. So that it can trigger faster movements and the impact continues to
grow to an alarming stage. The wind speed when a storm occurs is usually up
to forty kilometers per hour. Of course this can continue to rise depending on
the natural conditions where the turbulence process occurs. If we look at the
phenomenon of domestic storms, the average speed each year reaches
around fifty kmph. With that much power, the roof of the house can fly in the
wind.

One of the most common triggers for storms is landscaping, which changes
the ecosystem. Land clearing in certain places also triggers a significant
difference in pressure. If we do it without calculations, an area will become
even more vulnerable. The way to prevent this from happening is to keep tall
trees in the shade. Hurricane disasters that occur in big cities can drastically
increase their speed because there is no buffer zone. In the natural
environment with dense vegetation.

Leaves and tree trunks are natural buffers that can create an effective buffer
zone to prevent storms from occurring. So when we cut the forest to the
ground, don’t be surprised if the storms become more frequent. The impact of
the storm itself can be very broad, not only from the initial trigger area. These
winds can move into more open areas such as settlements and cause a lot of
damage.