3.1.5.1 The Concept Of A Hazard In A Geographical Context Flashcards
What’s a hazard
A perceived event that threatens both life + property
What’s a natural hazard
A natural event which is perceived by people as a threat to life, property + the natural environment
What’s a disaster
The realisation of a hazard which has enormous impacts on people + property (result)
What are the 3 main types of hazard
Geophysical
Atmospheric
Hydrological
What’s a geophysical hazard
E.g
Driven by earth’s own internal energy
E.g plate tectonics, volcanoes, seismic activity
What’s an atmospheric hazard
E.g
Driven by processes at work in the atmosphere
E.g tropical storms, droughts
What’s a hydrological hazard
E.g
Driven by water bodies (the oceans)
E.g floods, storm surges, tsunamis
Define risk
The exposure of people to a hazardous event presenting a potential threat to themselves, their possessions and the built environment
5 reasons why people put themselves at risk from natural hazards
- Hazard events are unpredictable
- Lack of alternative
- Changing level of risk
- Cost/benefit
- Perception
What 2 things can you not predict of a hazard event
Frequency
Magnitude / scale
Example of how a place over time can become more vulnerable to a hazard
E.g deforestation can cause more flooding/landslides
What’s vulnerability to hazards the potential for
Loss
Often before a hazard, how long is the warning time
Mostly only short
What’s risk exposure mostly like in LICs compared to HICs
LICs - involuntary
In HICs - most people are well aware of the risks which they choose to ignore/minimise
Example of an effect that can be felt long after the natural hazard
Disease
What perception would someone living in a hazardous area have
Vulnerable
Example of an area people live in as they think the advantages outweigh the risk
California
What will affect the degree to which the hazard event will impact them
Explain
People’s wealth + level of technology
Richer people + countries - protect themselves more e.g sea defences, earthquake resistant buildings, better emergency services. Also can be better prepared
Poorer people - more vulnerable as more people have been forced to live in hazardous areas e.g very steep hillsides prone to landslides, low lying areas at risk from tsunamis + tropical storms
Define perception
The way someone views the threat of a hazard event
Will determine course of action taken
5 factors perception is influenced by
- Socio-economic status
- Level of education
- Occupation/employment status
- Religion, cultural/ethnic background
- Family + marital status
- Past experience
- Values, personality + expectations
How does socio-economic status effect perception
Less wealthy - more perceptive as fear more
How does level of education effect perception
More educated - better perception
How does occupation/employment status effect perception
Better occupation/employed - better perception
How does religion, cultural/ethnic background effect perception
More religious - worse perception as believe it’s god
How does family/marital status effect perception
Better perception - may not want kids growing up in hazardous area
How does past experience effect perception
If event is previously experienced - more perceptive
3 ways people may perceive natural hazards
Fatalism (acceptance)
Adaptation
Fear
Define community resilience
Ability of a community to utilise available resources to respond, withstand + recover from natural hazards
What process is used for community resilience
Integrated risk management
What is prediction helped by
E.g
Helped by improved monitoring to give predictions allowing warnings to be issued
E.g the national hurricane centre in Florida uses satellites + land, sea + air based recordings
What are the 2 management cycles
The hazard management cycle
The park model of human response to hazards
How 2 situations does the hazard management cycle manage
Both pre- and post- event
4 categories in the hazard management cycle
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
Mitigation
2 examples of preparedness that can speed up recovery process of an event
Education
Raising public awareness
What will speed of response depend on
The effectiveness of the emergency plan put in place
Define recovery
Restoring the affected area to something close to normality
What’s a typical short-term response
Restoration of services do long-term planning + reconstruction can begin
Define mitigation
Actions aimed at reducing the severity of an event + lessening impacts
How does incidence affect response to an event
More frequent - faster responses due to management + adaption
Less frequent - slower responses
How does intensity + magnitude affect response to an event
Bigger - faster mitigation
Smaller - slower
How does distribution affect response to an event
More in an area - faster adaptation + management
Less - slower
How does level of developement affect response to an event
More developed - faster (predict,mitigate,manage,risk share)
Less developed - slower (fatalism,adapt)
Describe the start of the park model
Early stage before disaster where areas quality of life is normal and people prepare in case
When event happens, quality of life suddenly drops with people taking immediate action to preserve life + build the environment
3 steps in park model after disaster occurs
Relief
Rehabilitation
Reconstruction
What happens to the line in the park model after the event occurs
After relief, it goes back up
What happens in relief (park model)
How long can this last
Medical attention + care is delivered
Few hours -> several days
What happens in rehabilitation (park model)
How long can this last
People try to return to normal providing food, water + shelter for the most affected.
Few days -> few weeks
What happens in reconstruction (park model)
How long can this last
Infrastructure + property are reconstructed
Crops are regrown
Weeks -> several years
2 positives of hazard management cycle
- Shows steps in effective hazard management
- Shows continuous nature of recovery + preparation which is true for many hazard prone countries
3 negatives of the hazard management cycle
- a little basic
- focuses on actions of management but not impacts on people which shapes response
- difficult to know how long each stage takes as doesn’t include temporal dimension
- doesn’t show level of recovery,just presumes return to previous situation + level of development
3 positives of the park model
- sense of time + scale
- more complex
- also shows social/economic factors
- shows level of response
2 negatives of park model
- doesn’t show continuity
- not all disasters will be as straight forward (some places never return to normal)
- doesn’t show mitigation procedures in place
