3.1.5.1 concept of hazard Flashcards
What is a natural hazard?
- potential threat to human life and property caused by an event
- it can be human caused or naturally caused
- natural event becomes a hazard when it presents a threat to human life
Is a disaster the same as a hazard?
Disaster is not the same as a hazard as these are when a vulnerable population is exposed to a hazard according to Degg’s model: 10 or more killed, 100 or more affected, declaration of state of emergency by relevant government and request of international assistance by government
What are the 3 types of hazard?
Geophysical, atmospheric and hydrological
What is a geophysical hazard?
Hazards caused by land processes, mainly tectonic plates e.g. earthquakes
What is an atmospheric hazard?
Hazards caused by atmospheric processes and the conditions created because of these, such as the weather systems e.g. wildfires
What is a hydrological hazard?
Hazards caused by water bodies and movement e.g. floods
Are hazards only one of 3 types of geographical hazard?
No - can be classed as a mixture of these geographical processes e.g. a tropical storm could be classed as a hydrological-atmospheric hazard/hydrometeorological hazard as both of these processes contribute to hazard
What is hazard perception?
People have different viewpoints of how dangerous hazards are and what risks they pose relying on lifestyle factors
What are the lifestyle factors that affect hazard perception?
Wealth, education, experience, religious beliefs and mobility
How does wealth affect hazard perception?
If you are wealthy you may perceive the hazard will have less impact because you are less vulnerable having stronger houses and the transport to be able to evacuate
OR
Greater risk as there is more property that can be damaged and more financial loss
How does experience affect hazard perception?
More experience means you have a better understanding of the full effects however studies also suggest people who have more experience have a more optimistic unrealistic outlook on future events - ‘lightening never strikes the same place twice’ mentality
How does education affect hazard perception?
More education means you understand full effect and what to do when a hazard hits and the process of evacuation
How do religious beliefs affect hazard perception?
Some may view hazards as put there for a reason by God’s will or that it is a natural cycle of life, having a positive outlook
OR those who believe in environmental conservation may perceive hazards to be a huge risk to natural environments
How does mobility affect hazard perception?
Limited access to escape a hazard increases threat
- secluded location
- impaired disability or illness
- can’t leave area quickly
What is a passive response to a hazard?
No effort to lessen a hazard
Fatalism - viewpoint that natural hazards are uncontrollable events and any losses should be accepted as nothing can be done to stop them - God’s will
What is an active response to a hazard?
Strategies to lower hazard risk - prediction, adaptation, mitigation, management, risk sharing
Explain prediction
Using scientific research and past events to know when a hazard will take place
- warnings may be delivered and impacts reduced
- some cases hazards can be prevented when predicted early enough e.g. prediction wildfires from climate red flags
Explain adaptation
Attempting to live with hazards by adjusting lifestyle choices so that vulnerability to the hazard is lessened e.g. earthquake proof houses
Explain mitigation
Strategies carried out to lessen the severity of a hazard e.g. sandbags to offset impacts of flooding
Explain management
coordinated strategies to reduce a hazard’s effects - includes prediction, adaptation and mitigation
Explain risk sharing
form of community preparedness - community shares risk and invests collectively to mitigate impacts of future hazards
Example of risk sharing
New Zealand is a multi-hazardous environment with threats from tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes and weather-related hazards.
Cost of these hazards are huge e.g. Canterbury earthquake 2010 cost New Zealand 20% of its national GDP. Attempts to share the risk by insurance investment so strategies can be put in place before the disasters rather than investing more in a cleanup
What are the aspects of hazards that affect human responses?
Incidence, distribution, intensity, magnitude, level of development
How does incidence affect human responses to hazards?
Incidence refers to frequency of a hazard
Low incidence - harder to predict and less management strategies put in place meaning more catastrophic when eventually occurs - usually more intense than high incidence hazards
e.g. 36 recorded earthquakes since 1500 with 8.5+ magnitude but millions of earthquakes too weak to count/be recorded thought to happen every year
How does distribution affect human responses to hazards?
Distribution refers to where hazards occur geographically
Areas of high hazard distribution likely to have a lot of management strategies and those living there will be adapted to the hazardous landscape because it dominates the area more so than in places with low hazardous distribution
How does intensity affect human responses to hazards?
Intensity refers to the power of a hazard - how strong it is and how damaging the effects are
How does magnitude affect human responses to hazards?
Magnitude refers to the size of the hazards, usually this is how hazard intensity is measured
High intensity, high magnitude hazard will have worse effects as they require more management e.g. more mitigation strategies are needed to lessen the effects and ensure a relatively normal life can be carried out after hazard
Difference between magnitude and intensity
Magnitude is the a number whereas intensity is the effects on the people and can change depending on distance and management strategies
How does level of development affect human responses to hazards?
LDC less likely to have effective mitigation strategies as costly and therefore more catastrophic
Many HIC’s not prepared for hazards - lack of management strategies which is a problem in multi-hazardous environments where problems are spread out thinly over a variety of hazards
e.g. Canada wildfires are increasing due to climate change meaning less money available for earthquake and tsunami preparation. Even detailed evacuation routes and tsunami sirens are not available in popular tourist beach areas such as Vancouver Island. Text message systems are available to act as a warning system to suggest people to evacuate but many switch their phones off over night, reducing effectiveness
What is the park model?
Graphical representation of human responses to hazards.
The model shows the steps carried out in recovery after a hazard, giving a rough indication of time frame.
- Steepness of curve shows how quickly an area deteriorates and recovers
- The depth of the curve shows the scale of the disaster - lower curve, lower quality of life
What are the stages of the Park model?
Pre-disaster, disaster, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction
What happens in the relief stage of the Park model?
Immediate local response - medical aid, search and rescue
Immediate appeal for foreign aid - the beginnings of global response
What happens in the rehabilitation stage of the Park model?
- services begin to be restored
- temporary shelters and hospitals set up
- food and water distributed
- co-ordinated foreign aid - peacekeeping forces etc.
What happens in the reconstruction stage of the Park model?
- restoring area to same or better quality of life
- area back to normal - ecosystem restored - crops regrown
- infrastructure rebuilt
- mitigation efforts for future events
Advantages of Park model
- acts as a control line to compare hazards - more catastrophic event = steeper curve than the average and slower recovery time than average - highlighting the significance of emergency relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of natural hazards
- can be applied to any type of hazard
- last stage highlights need for people to learn from past mistakes = importance of infrastructure
Disadvantages of Park model
- Does not account for differences in development or other impacts regarding hazard impact and recovery
- time scale not clear
- final stage not realistic for LICs that don’t have the financial capabilities to reach quality of life prior to natural disaster
What is the hazard management cycle?
Manages both pre and post-event situations and outlines the stages of responding to events, showing how the same stages take place after every hazard
This is what governments, organisations, businesses and other stake holders can do to reduce the impact of losses from the hazard to receive a rapid and effective recovery - attempts to minimise the drop of the downward curve on the Park model and reduce the length of time it takes to return to normality
What are the stages of the hazard management cycle?
Mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery
What happens in the mitigation stage of the hazard management cycle?
Occurs prior to an event - aim is to reduce the extent of damages done by future hazard events
- Infrastructure can be built so that it is hazard resistant - after Typhoon Haiyan government built typhoon-resilient structures
- Floodwalls put in place to lower chances of severe flooding - Hurricane Katrina - 200 miles floodwalls built and $15 billion spent on levees
What happens in the preparedness stage of the hazard management cycle?
Aims to help people be prepared for a hazard event if one were to occur - if managed appropriately, should mean that people know how to respond to onset of hazard event e.g. Montserrat - the volcano started erupting in July 1995 resulting in 5000 inhabitants being evacuated as a precaution
What happens in the response stage of the hazard management cycle?
When a hazard event happens, it’s critical that people react quickly and effectively
This is divided into short term and long term responses based on lag time between onset of the event and response
What happens in the recovery stage of the hazard management cycle?
Restoring affected areas to something approaching normality or even better than pre-hazard
- used in conjunction with mitigation to improve infrastructure
- support - financial aid, debt, cancellations and replacing belongings
e.g. Typhoon Haiyan people got cash grants
Advantages of the hazard management cycle
- Preparedness and mitigation stages carried out before hazard to minimise impacts meaning less money spent in aftermath - also reduces anxiety making locals feel more at ease
- Useful in assessing effectiveness of hazard management - lays out clearly what should happens vs what actually does happen
Disadvantages of hazard management cycle
- No time frame
- Assumes knowledge of a future event which may not be there and is more appropriate for HICs as more money available for the technology to research this
- Doesn’t consider level of development
Similarities between park model and hazard management cycle
- Do not take into account level of development and other political, environmental and social issues affecting disruption to recovery
- Both can be used by government to put together a management plan
Differences between park model and hazard management cycle
- Park model is linear, hazard management is non-linear - cycle
- Park model is quantitative, hazard management is qualitative
- Park model measures quality of life, hazard management is a more general overview of the area as a whole, not specific
- Hazard management puts more emphasis on the before stages such as mitigation and preparation to reduce damage
- Park model more emphasis on not only returning back to state area once was but improving it
