Hazards Case Studies

Question 1

Montserrat: Where is it?

Answer 1

A small island located in the Caribbean Sea

Question 2

Why do people choose to live in volcanic regions?

Answer 2

Volcanic regions often bring agricultural, mining and tourism benefits to an area, and with successful risk management the benefits can outweigh the negatives

Question 3

Montserrat: Was management successful at all?

Answer 3

Short term management of the 1997 eruption led to only 19 fatalities, however there was no long term local approach to living with the risk

Question 4

Montserrat: What were some reasons why management failed and depopulation occurred?

Answer 4

Constant evacuations led to people being fed up living there, slow construction of Little Bay port to strengthen economy, the 2002 economic boom wasn’t sustained and population dropped from 8,000 to 5000 2002-2009

Question 5

Montserrat: What could have changed the situation?

Answer 5

The government had followed through on major plans such as a medical school and school for hazard studies, this may have strengthened economy and mitigated some depopulation.

Question 6

Montserrat: What percentage of the GDP did construction account for in 2002?

Answer 6

Roughly 50%

Question 7

How is sustainable management defined?

Answer 7

Preserving the social/economic/environmental quality of life in the long term

Question 8

Can the cause of a volcanic event be modified?

Answer 8

Obviously not

Question 9

Can the volcanic event itself be modified?

Answer 9

Yes, it can. The use of sea-water spraying such as in the 1973 Eldafell eruption in Iceland, where the sprayed water cools the lava and reduces its speed.

Question 10

How can vulnerability to volcanic events be modified?

Answer 10

Hazard mapping can be used to decrease vulnerability, as was used in Montserrat in 1997, with most of the island being declared an “exclusion zone”, a successful attempt at reducing the short-term impact of a volcanic event.

Question 11

What percentage of volcanoes globally are monitored, and where are these mostly found?

Answer 11

Only 20% are monitored, mainly in MEDCs

Question 12

Montserrat: How many people died in 1997 eruption?

Answer 12

19 people died, however these were people killed by pyroclastic flow as they chose to remain in the exclusion zone

Question 13

Montserrat: Can the loss be modified? (the two Rs)

Answer 13

Relief: In 1997, almost 1600 people were accommodated in basic shelters
Rehabilitation: Britain offered £2500 per islander to relocate to the UK, but islanders said 4x this was needed to rebuild their lives

Question 14

Montserrat: What evidence is there that Montserrat may be recovering economically?

Answer 14

Guided tours of the former capital of Plymouth (that is now in ruins) are a big attraction, and annual tourists climbed to an all-time high of nearly 20,000 in 2019 (pre-pandemic)

Question 15

Haiti 2010: Earthquake magnitude

Answer 15

Magnitude 7.0

Question 16

Haiti 2010: Number of deaths

Answer 16

316,000 total deaths

Question 17

Haiti 2010: How many were made homeless or affected in general?

Answer 17

1 million made homeless, 3 million affected

Question 18

Haiti 2010: How many people lost their jobs as a result?

Answer 18

1 in 5 people, particularly affecting Haiti’s biggest industry: clothing

Question 19

Haiti 2010: Impact on hospitals and morgues?

Answer 19

Severe overcrowding

Question 20

Haiti 2010: How did a lack of funding affect preparedness?

Answer 20

Inadequate investment in earthquake-resistant construction and disaster mitigation measures

Question 21

Haiti 2010: How did the EU and world bank help?

Answer 21

The EU donated a total of $330 million in aid, the World Bank waived Haiti’s debt repayments for 5 years

Question 22

Haiti 2010: 23 charities provided 1.1bn$, why was this ineffective?

Answer 22

Most likely due to corruption, only 2% was ever released for relief efforts. Additionally, the main airport was small and the main port was severely damaged

Question 23

Haiti 2010: How was the housing situation managed for the displaced people?

Answer 23

1.6 million people were living in tents and other temporary accomodation - mostly falling apart and with no access to electricity, running water or sewage disposal

Question 24

Japan 2011: Earthquake itself (and tsunami)

Answer 24

Magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a up to 15m high tsnuami

Question 25

Japan 2011: How many people died/ were displaced?

Answer 25

16,000 people died, over 300,000 displaced

Question 26

Japan 2011: What was the economic cost of the earthquake?

Answer 26

$235 billion, the most expensive natural disaster in history

Question 27

Japan 2011: Impact on the nuclear power plant

Answer 27

The 15m high tsunami flooded the Fukushima Daichin nuclear plant’s generators, causing all 3 cores to meltdown and leading to the worst nuclear disaster other than Chernobyl.
164,000 people were either temporarily or permanently displaced and 7 deaths have been attributed to possible radiation related cancers - with many more (especially elderly) dying from evacuation related stress

Question 28

Japan 2011: Example of a failed preparation strategy

Answer 28

The government spent billions of dollars installing a 12m high tsunami defence system that was proved ineffective, the water simply washed over it
In 2002 the government earthquake research headquarters estimated a tsunami up to 15.7 metres could hit the power station

Question 29

Japan 2011: Tsunami warnings

Answer 29

Despite a well developed tsunami warning system, 58% of people in coastal areas chose not to follow the warnings and get to higher ground, and 49% of the people who stayed were hit by the tsunami.

Question 30

Japan 2011: Early warning system

Answer 30

Incredibly good warning system, alerts those at risk to provide them with valuable time to protect themselves

Question 31

Japan 2011: Evaluating immediate rescue

Answer 31

The japanese rescue services and army mobilised quickly to the affected areas to provide support and build field hospitals (300 damaged, 11 destroyed), a succesful first response

Question 32

Japan 2011: Evaluating longer term response

Answer 32

Reconstruction design council to rebuild houses had a budget of over 23 trillion yen, and rebuilding began almost immediately

Question 33

Japan 2011: New tsunami barriers

Answer 33

New barriers were erected of 18m height rather than 12m, however some scientists say it’s still not enough to protect against the most severe earthquakes

Question 34

Katrina: When did Hurricane Katrina form?

Answer 34

• 23 August, 2005

Question 35

Katrina: How did it develop in speeds?

Answer 35

• When it initially made landfall it was classified as a category 1, however quickly gained speed and topped out at a category 5
• At its peak there were wind speeds of 175mph

Question 36

Katrina: Social issues - what were some racial tensions exposed and intensified by Katrina?

Answer 36

• One social impact of the hurricane is that it brought to light the tensions and disparities between black and white communities
• 60% of black people surveyed believed the large black community was a reason for the slow speed of rescue compared to 12% of whites, with Bush’s response particularly criticised
• A Louisiana Recovery Authority poll found a majority of white respondents didn’t want New Orleans to return to its pre-Katrina racial demographics (67.3% black)
• News coverage often included more focus on black people looting than white

Question 37

Katrina: What was the storme surge height in Bayou La Batre, Alabama during Katrina?

Answer 37

12-14 foot high

Question 38

Katrina: Failure to reduce impacts - infrastructure

Answer 38

• The failure of some levees put in place to protect against flooding indicated the need to modernise and update infrastructure to prepare for furure hazards

Question 39

Katrina: Failure in providing immediate assistance to reduce impacts

Answer 39

• FEMA was accused of deliberately slowing down response efforts to ensure proper coordination
• There were reports of them turning down personel and supplies offered by police forces and emergency crew and an overall breakdown in communication between FEMA and local authorities
• One press figure said “We wanted helicopters, food and water. They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart” to underline the issues of bureaucracy.
• Their response is that nobody could have prepared for something at the scale of Katrina

Question 40

Katrina: what intensified the disaster impact of Katrina?

Answer 40

• The high concentration of industry and high population density exascarbated the impacts and made them particularly hard to manage due to the scale of people affected
• New Orleans is particularly historic and famous for its architecture, so buildings were not constructed to modern hurricane-resistant standards

Question 41

Katrina: Lives lost, economic impacts

Answer 41

• 1,833 deaths total
• $125 billion in the US alone (Bahamas and other countries were also affected)
• $21 billion in estimated damage to residential and non residential property
• $6.7 billion in damage to public infrastructure

Question 42

What is the difference between a tornado and a hurricane?

Answer 42

• Tornadoes are small-scale atmospheric disturbances, hurricanes are large scale
• Strong tornadoes most often form over land, hurricanes almost always form over oceans

Question 43

Oklahoma tornadoes: Environmental impacts

Answer 43

• Widespread habitat destruction
• Particularly due to oil spills from 44 facilities throughout Southeastern Louisiana, resulting in over 26 million litres of oil being leaked

Question 44

Oklahoma tornadoes: Key facts about the event itself (how many tornadoes, category, wind speeds, size)

Answer 44

• A swarm of 74 tornadoes along a 150 mile belt between South-west Oklahoma state towards Kansas
• Reached F5 category on the US Fujita scale
• The highest wind speeds ever recorded - 301mph
• 1-2km wide

Question 45

Oklahoma tornadoes: Social impacts

Answer 45

• 46 deaths, 751 injuries
• 8,000 homes destroyed
• Reports of PTSD from trauma, particularly in first responders who dealt with the deaths of 9 children

Question 46

Oklahoma tornadoes: Economic impacts

Answer 46

• Caused $1 billion in overall damages to insured properties
• Incresed insurance premiums for residents and businesses in affected areas
• Oklahoma has a large agriculture sector and crops and livestock were impacted

Question 47

Oklahoma tornadoes: Failure to reduce impacts: construction

Answer 47

• One major catalyst for the impacts of the tornadoes is the non tornado-resistant construction of many of the properties affected
• An issue with this is that projectiles that can be far more damaging may become loose and fly off poorly protected buildings
• A report published in 2001 found that poorly constructed homes, particularly sub-standard garages and manufactured homes were often cheaply built not to be resistant to extreme natural events

Question 48

Oklahoma tornadoes: Preparedness failure - lack of equipment

Answer 48

• One particularly surprising element identified in 2001 report was that in public buildings such as schools there was minimal preparation, most facilities had no idea where the safest part of the structure to shelter in would be
• Most public facilities also didn’t have a NOAA weather radio for monitoring the threat level and only redimentary level plans
• Despite these failures, the report also concluded that residents in the tornado-prone plane regions were sufficiently prepared to avoid casualties however structural and construction issues were the predominant issue in preparedness

Question 49

Oklahoma tornadoes: Causes

Answer 49

• Multiple supercell thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening of May 3rd

Question 50

Oklahoma tornadoes: Prediction and monitoring

Answer 50

• Early morning May 3rd a slight risk of severe thunderstorms was issued
• Later that morning (11AM) a moderate risk warning issued
• By 4pm this was upgraded to a high risk of severe weather
• Local TV and radio stations disseminated warnings and real time updates
• The effective prediction and monitoring reduced the number of casualties but of course couldn’t prevent the wide scale damage to properties