EQ2: Why do some tectonics develop into disasters?

Question 1

What is a hazard?

Answer 1

A natural event with the potential to harm people and property

Question 2

What is a disaster?

Answer 2

A hazard which has killed more than 10 people, 100 more were affected, a state of emergency was declared and they requested international assistance

Question 3

Why do people choose to live in areas associated with tectonic activity?

Answer 3

-Job opportunities
-Volcanic activity causes fertile soil
-Climate/ecosystems
-Economic reasons e.g cheaper land
-Not fully educated on the hazards e.g dormant volcano

Question 4

What is vulnerability?

Answer 4

The ability to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from a natural hazard, it also takes into account the location of settlements

Question 5

What is resilience?

Answer 5

The ability to protect lives, livelihoods and infrastructure from destruction and to restore areas after a natural hazard has occurred

Question 6

What decreases resilience?

Answer 6

-Low doctor dependant ratio
-Large scale rural-urban migration
-Lack of skills
-Lack of revenue

Question 7

What increases resilience?

Answer 7

-Good communications
-Pre planning
-Medical supplies and services available
-Positive attitudes of people

Question 8

What is the pressure and release model?

Answer 8

Theory that a disaster occurs when two opposing forces interact (the vulnerability and the natural hazard)

Question 9

What is physical vulnerability?

Answer 9

When people live in hazard prone areas that offer little protection

Question 10

What is economic vulnerability?

Answer 10

When people risk losing their jobs, assets or money

Question 11

What is social vulnerability?

Answer 11

When a household or community is unable to support the disadvantaged people within it

Question 12

What is knowledge vulnerability?

Answer 12

Exists when people lack education or training and there are no warning or evacuation systems in place

Question 13

What is environmental vulnerability?

Answer 13

Exists where the area that people are living in has increased in hazard risk because of the population pressure, forcing people into riskier areas

Question 14

What factors can affect the economic impact of tectonic hazards?

Answer 14

-Level of development in the affected areas
-Insured/non insured losses
-Urbanisation
-Peoples resilience to recover

Question 15

What human factors affect vulnerability?

Answer 15

-Level of income
-GDP
-Millionaire cities/mega cities
-Physicians per 1000 people
-Informal housing

Question 16

How do you calculate risk?

Answer 16

(hazard x vulnerability) / capacity to cope

Question 17

How do social and economic factors affect vulnerability?

Answer 17

-Communities with poor healthcare suffer more
-People’s level of wealth affects how well they cope
-Lack of education means people are unaware of how to cope

Question 18

How do physical and environmental factors affect vulnerability?

Answer 18

-Rapid urbanisation = informal housing
-Accessibility of an urban area
-High population density

Question 19

How do governance and political factors affect vulnerability?

Answer 19

-Education and practised hazard responses
-Enforcement of building codes and regulations
-Level of corruption
-Efficiency of emergency services

Question 20

What is the moment magnitude scale?

Answer 20

A scale which is more accurate than the richter scale as it uses:
-The energy released from the seismic waves
-The area of the rupture and the resistance of the rock
-It has no upper limit
-It is not used to express damage

Question 21

What are the advantages of the moment magnitude scale?

Answer 21

-More accurate than the richter scale as it uses more values
-No upper limit
-Accurate and not subjective as it is recorded on a seismometer
-Uses geological evidence

Question 22

What are the disadvantages of the moment magnitude scale?

Answer 22

-Not used to express damage
-No indication of impacts
-Uses scientific equipment which may not be available in all parts of the world
-Many people don’t understand the logarithmic scale

Question 23

What is the mercali scale?

Answer 23

A scale which measures an earthquake by measuring the intensity rather than the magnitude
-It uses a set of definitions based on the people around the earthquake opinions and observations
-Uses reports and photos of the event
-Focuses on impacts of the earthquake
-Rated on a scale 1-12 (instrumental to catastrophic)

Question 24

What are the advantages of the mercali scale?

Answer 24

-Shows impacts, more specific for when help is needed
-Has a description as well as a number
-Cost effective so can be used more widely

Question 25

What are the disadvantages of the mercali scale?

Answer 25

-Doesn’t work in rural or desert settings as there is no infrastructure
-Subjective as it works on opinions
-Has an upper limit
-Some of the descriptions aren’t very clear or detailed
-Not understood by the wider public

Question 26

What is the VEI scale?

Answer 26

-The volcanic explosivity index
-Measures explosivity with eruption cloud height, volume of products erupted and qualitiative observations
-Measures on a scale 0-8
-As each number increases there is a tenfold increase

Question 27

What is governance?

Answer 27

The government of a country running and organising the country

Question 28

What does good governance look like?

Answer 28

-Democracy = right to vote
-The national and local government are keeping people safe, healthy and educated
-Low corruption
-High GNI
-Listening to the public’s needs and wants

Question 29

What is corruption?

Answer 29

Where those in power use resources for their own personal gain, it involves abusing power and dishonesty

Question 30

What is corruption measured on?

Answer 30

The corruption perception index

Question 31

What is the swiss cheese model?

Answer 31

The cumulative effect model used for risk management and analysis
-Layers of cheese represent the safety systems
-Holes represent weakness in the systems
Theory that an accident occurs when all the holes line up