Geophysical Hazards - Part 4: Resilience and Adaptation Flashcards
How much has the number of people living in seismic areas increased by in the last 40 years?
93%, from 1.4 billion in 1975 to 2.7 billion in 2015.
How many people live near dangerous volcanoes?
In 2015, 414 million people lived near one of the 220 most dangerous volcanoes.
What regions are exposed to risk of tsunamis?
Japan, China, USA
How will pop. growth + urbanisation impact global hazard trends?
Higher pop, more exposed to disasters, forced to live in high-risk areas.
Higher pop. = higher poverty = seek arable land is high-risk areas.
Urbanisation = fossil fuels + deforestation = global warming = unpredictable weather.
List potential impacts of extreme events
Global economic crises Deaths Destruction of megacities Environmental refugees Environmental degradation Global food shortages Disrupted transport and communication Climate stress and pollution
List the result of the impacts of extreme events
Famine
Disease
Political unrest
Collapse of Social Order
What are examples of international action taken to tackle global environmental problems (Protocols)
Montreal Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
Paris Agreement
Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-15
Pop. growth statistics by 2030, 2050 and 2100
- 5 billion by 2030
- 7 billion by 2050
- 2 billion by 2100
50% pop growth = concentrated in India, Congo, Ethiopia, USA, Indonesia etc.
Urbanization Statistics
2014 - 54% pop. living in urban areas
2050 - reach 66%
North America - 82% urbanized
Africa - 40% urbanized
50% total urban pop. in small settlements less than 500k
1/8th total pop. in megacities with 10 mill+
Outline Earthquake Predictors
Seismometers - record micro-earthquakes
Strain meters - monitor surface deformation
Sensors in wells - changes in groundwater levels
Animal behavior
Outline Volcano Predictions
Seismometers - tiny earthquakes as magma rises
Chemical sensors - increased sulphur levels
GPS - physical swelling of crater
Ultra sound - lof frequency waves in magma resulting from surge of gas and molten rock
Destructive plates - more explosive
Hotspots - more frequent, less explosive
Outline the need for Adaptation: Land use Zoning
Evaluate risk in diff. areas => no dense pop. or hospitals in high risk.
Residents evacuated in certain areas e.g. slopes.
Exclusion zones e.g. Montserrat.
Building codes.
0.2 million move to urban areas each day.
1 billion new dwellings in Africa and Asia by 2050.
HIC’s: risk maps to control land use + damage. Analyse past events, geology and pop. density.
LIC’s: control of land is difficult due to rapid rural-urban migration and lack of resources. Poverty = self-built unsafe homes.
Outline the need for Adaptation: Insurance
Mitigates economic cost of large damages
Depends on severity of impact + quality of insurance
HIC’s: can afford insurance, earthquake proof housing reduces need.
LIC’s: cannot afford insurance, unstable companies and mistrust, less educaation
Outline the need for Adaptation: Technology
Seismic movements detected Warn people less than 1 min before quake Allows them to prepare and reduce loss of life Short warning time Relies on Wifi and smart phones
HIC’s: USGS - advanced monitoring system costs 1 billion/annum
Briefly define Predicting, Forecast, Preventing and Planning
Predicting - est. year/day/time event will happen.
Forecast - general probabilities. Informing and telling people so they are aware.
Preventing - strategies to decrease the likeliness of an event.
Planning - mitigation and adaptation tactics to prevent and cope with a hazard.
Ways of Managing Risk of Landslides
Excavation and filling for stability
Drainage E.G. drilling horizontal drains: to lead away surface water + prevent build up of water in cracks
Structures e.g. gabions + stone walls = keep material behind structure
Erosion control: rock armour and revetments
Ways of Managing Risk of Earthquakes
1/3 fastest growing cities are at high quake risk.
Building designs - aseismic:
Single-storey, reduces swaying or soft-storey to reduce impact.
Basement isolation: rubber mounts allow ground to move underneath.
Land-use planning
Safe houses in fault zones: Shear walls: concrete walls reinforced with steel, strict codes. Cheaper alternative: straw, reinforced adobe with plastic mesh to increase time to escape. Old tyres filled with bags of sand = absorb shock.
Interlocking steel frames
Roads for quick access
Open areas for evacuation
Managing tsunamis
Sea walls
Early warning systems
Cost restraints dictate height of wall
Ways of controlling volcanoes
GPS crater monitoring
Diverting lava flows using dry channels or explosives.
Earth walls to deflect lava.
Pumping water onto the lava front to slow movement - takes time.
Pyroclastic flows - evacuation
Outline the short, mid and long-term responses after an event.
Rescue - immediate aftermath priority, search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs, thermal sensors.
Emergency shelter and feeding
Few survive past 72hrs.
Rehabilitation - making homes safe and liveable. Restoration of major services.
Clear rubble.
Reconstruction = rebuilding public, economic systems, infrastructure, governance
Factors affecting responses:
Magnitude Predictability Level of wealth (individual, national, international) Perceived level of risk Information provided by the media Preparation
Outline the use of phones to track missing children
RapidFTR - open-source android app allowing humanitarian workers to register missing children info, which gets uploaded to a database.
Quicker they are found = less vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.
Outline the use of phones for hazard mapping
UNICEF training young people to map risks + alert authorities about natural hazards in their home region.
