Have you ever wondered what the safest place in America is? Well, I have an answer! Allentown, Pennsylvania. Allentown is on the east side of Pennsylvania which is on the northeast side of the United States. Also, it is the third most populous city in Pennsylvania! Allentown is the safest place in America because it is free from these three major natural disasters. Tsunamis, earthquakes, and tornadoes. Why is it you ask? Read on to find out more!
Splash! There is a tsunami! No worries, were safe in Allentown. To first understand why Allentown is safe from tsunamis, you need to know what it is, where it occurs geographically, and what conditions it forms under. Imagine this, you throw a rock into a small pond. What happens? You create ripples in the water of course! Now, imagine those ripples but 1000 x larger. That is a tsunami.
Tsunamis can be triggered by many things such as volcanic eruptions, landslides, earthquakes, and even (theoretically) asteroids and comets. However, most often tsunamis form from earthquakes at subduction zones. When 2 oceanic and continental plates collide at convergent boundaries and create subduction zones, the force is so strong that it can create tsunami waves in the ocean. Specifically, the earthquake has to be at least 7.0 on the Richter scale.
So where do they occur? Tsunamis only occur on the coast and most often occur on the west coast due to the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is an area in the Pacific ocean that faces the west coast. There, lots of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur create tsunamis heading the direction of the west coast. Allentown is not on a coast or on the west coast. It is actually on the east side of America. Therefore, Allentown is safe from tsunamis. Here's a fun fact, did you know that tsunami is actually a Japanese word that can be translated to "harbor wave" in English?
Now to learn why Allentown is free from earthquakes. Earthquakes are when the ground shakes. They occur along plate boundaries. A convergent boundary is when two plates crash together. A divergent boundary is when two plates slide apart. Finally, a transformed boundary is when two plates slide against each other. In the U.S.A, earthquakes most often occur along the west side of the U.S.A (much like tsunamis). The west side of the U.S.A is right on the edge of the North American Plate, that means that it can hit the Pacific plate which is right beside it. When these two plates collide together, earthquakes can occur along the west coast. Allentown is again not on the west side of America or near any plate boundaries. Therefore, earthquakes cannot occur in Allentown
The final natural disaster I will be talking about is tornadoes. A tornado is a violent spiraling column of wind that descends from a thunderstorm. They can cause lots of damage. In order for a tornado to occur, they need flat land allowing the air to build up and keep spinning. Tornadoes occur most often in tornado alley, a place with very flat land. Tornado alley includes Texas, Oklahoma, and other states in that area. Pennsylvania is not in tornado alley since its land is not as flat as it needs to be. Also, in order for a tornado to form, you need a cold/dry air mass, a warm/moist air mass, falling pressure, and unsteady winds. The cold air mass comes from Canada while the warm air mass will come from the Gulf of Mexico. Even though these elements can occur in Allentown, the hills and mountains there will prevent tornadoes. That is why Allentown is free of tornadoes.
A similar article was published by the New York Times. They said that Corvallis, Oregon was the safest place in America. However, this is incorrect because of two reasons. One reason is because tsunamis can occur there because of the location of the ring of fire. As you know tsunamis occur along the west coast, where Oregon is. That is one reason why Corvallis, Oregon is not the safest place in America. The second reason why it is not the safest place is because earthquakes can occur there. Since it is again on the west coast, it is right at the boundary between the Pacific and North American Plate. This means that those two plates can collide creating earthquakes in Corvallis, Oregon. I hope you learned lots about the safest place in America... Corvallis, Oregon!
