0. Case Studies Flashcards
Describe the Haiti 2010 earthquake
- 7.0 magnitude
- 13km hypocentre
- epicentre 24km from capital Port-au-Prince
What were the impacts of the 2010 Haiti earthquake
- 8 hospitals collapsed
- 9,000 died of cholera
- 316,000 deaths
- many government officials killed
What were the root causes of Haiti’s vulnerability
- poor country due to debt
- high corruption level
- many Haitians live in poverty
- conservative plate boundary
What were the dynamic pressures on Haiti
- most of spending goes to debt and disease rather than earthquake preparations
- lack of education about them
- lack of investment into infrastructure
What were the unsafe conditions in Haiti
- slum buildings and dense urban environment
- buildings collapsed due to ground shaking
- aid limited due to damage to the only airport and few main roads
Name developing nations affected by hazard events
Haiti 2010
Nepal 2015
Indonesia (Indian Ocean 2004)
Philippines 1991
Describe the Nepal 2015 earthquake
- 7.8 magnitude
- 15km hypocentre
- epicentre 80km from Kathmandu
What were the impacts of the Nepal 2015 earthquake
- 9,000 deaths
- 3million made homeless
- $6.6billion damage (25% of GDP)
What were the secondary hazards of the Nepal 2015 earthquake
- aftershock earthquakes 6.6-7.3 magnitude
- caused landslides in the Himalayas (killed 19 people)
- avalanches blocked rivers eg Kali Gandaki
What were the root causes of Nepal’s vulnerability
- poor country therefore less money for services and infrastructure
- poor governance of building quality and emergency services
- corrupt and dysfunctional government
- on convergent plate boundary
- in Himalayas
What were the dynamic pressures on Nepal
- rapid urbanisation (lower quality infrastructure)
- deforestation increased flood risk and loosened soil
What were unsafe conditions in Nepal
- lack of preparedness
- poor infrastructure quality
What was the response to Nepal 2015 earthquake
- aid from UK, India, China
- 0.5million tents from UNICEF
- rebuilt 3/4 destroyed homes by 2019
- rebuilt all 7,000 destroyed schools
What was the response to the Haiti 2010 earthquake
- $13billion of international aid but the government only controlled less than 10% due to corruption
- 5 years later 80,000 still lived in temporary housing or camps
Name emerging nations affected by hazard events
China (Sichuan 2008)
Describe the Sichuan 2008 earthquake, China
- 7.9 magnitude
- 19km focal depth
What were the impacts of the Sichuan 2008 earthquake
- thousands of schools collapsed
- over 5,000 children died
- cost $15.8billion
- 374,000 injured
What were the root causes of Sichuan’s vulnerability
- mountainous region
- wealth not evenly distributed across the country
What were the dynamic pressures on Sichuan
- unregulated buildings
- concentrated in poorer rural areas and small towns that lack infrastructure investment
What was the response to the Sichuan 2008 earthquake
- government pledged $10billion
- banks wrote off debt of uninsured survivors
- 40,000 relocated
- within two years nearly 30,000 reconstruction projects had began including farmhouses and transport
Name developed countries affected by hazard events
New Zealand (Christchurch 2011)
Japan 2011
Iceland 2010
Describe the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004
- magnitude 9.3
- 150miles from Sumatra, Indonesia
- spread as far as Eastern Africa
What were the impacts of the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004
- 300,000 deaths
- 1.7 million homeless
- $10billion damage
What was the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004
Creation of Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS)
Describe the Mt Pinatubo eruption 1991, Philippines
- VEI 6
- composite volcano
- antisetic lava
What were the impacts of the Mt Pinatubo eruption 1991
- 800 deaths
- £700million damage
- lahars buried villages
- respiratory disease outbreaks
What were the global impacts of the Mt Pinatubo eruption 1991
- global temperature drop of 0.5ºC
- caused droughts and flooding globally
Describe the Christchurch 2011 earthquake, New Zealand
- 6.3 magnitude
- epicentre 10km from city
What were the impacts of the Christchurch 2011 earthquake
- 185 deaths
- unemployment in tourism industry
- 50% of city affected by liquefaction
Why was New Zealand not vulnerable
- lots of education
- strict building regulations
Describe the Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami
- 9.1 magnitude
- 70km offshore
- waves up to 40m high
What were the impacts of Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami
- 16,000 deaths
- $220billion damage (most expensive in history)
- 7 Fukushima nuclear reactors went into meltdown and caused 4,400x more radiation than maximum safety levels
What were the global impacts of Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami
- radioactive emissions in atmosphere and ocean
- caused stock market crash
- disrupted supply chains (eg Ford couldn’t sell black cars)
What was the response to the Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami
- dismantled reactors and decontaminated nearby land
-evacuated local residents within 1150 square kilometres
Describe the EFJ eruption 2010, Iceland
- VEI 4
- composite volcano
What were the impacts of EFJ 2010 eruption
- 110 cubic metres of ash released up to 9km high
- $3billion damage
What were the global impacts of EFJ 2010 eruption
- air travel disruptions affected 10million passengers
- British Airways lost £26million a day
- agricultural products from countries like Kenya rotted in UK factories causing a $2million loss per day
How is the Philippines a multi-hazard zone
- located on a number of major and minor plate boundaries (mostly convergent)
- ring of fire
- 24 active volcanoes
- in the Pacific Ocean (tsunamis)
- in tropical cyclone zone (typhoons eg Haiyan)
- mountainous (landslides)
- increased vulnerability due to urbanisation, large coastal population, low lying, deforestation and the fact it is newly industrialised (more wealth)
