Hazard Perception, Management and Response

Question 1

What is a hazard? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 1

A hazard is a naturally occurring event which threatens lives and livelihoods. May also cause longer term impacts and require an emergency response

Question 2

What are geophysical hazards? Give examples - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 2

Geophysical hazards are hazards driven by the Earth’s internal energy sources ie. The heating of the Earth’s core. These include volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and rockfalls/mudslides.

Question 3

What are hydrological hazards? Give examples of these - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 3

Hydrological hazards are hazards driven by processes working in bodies of water, mainly the ocean. These include hail, tsunamis, tropical storms, floods, avalanches and mudslides.

Question 4

What are atmospheric hazards? Give examples - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 4

Atmospheric hazards are hazards driven by processes at work in the atmosphere. These include sandstorms, thunderstorms, floods and tropical storms.

Question 5

What are examples of criteria that must be met for an incident to be declared a disaster? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 5

For an incident to be declared a disaster, 10 or more people must be killed, 100 or more must be affected, a government must declare a state of emergency or request international assistance. ONE OF THESE.

Question 6

What is hazard risk? What is hazard vulnerability? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 6

Hazard risk is the probability of a hazard event occurring and impacting lives and livelihoods.
Hazard vulnerability is how exposed a person, group or area may be to a hazard.

Question 7

What factors may impact the vulnerability of an area to a hazard? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 7

An area’s vulnerability to a hazard my be influenced by its proximity to a hazard, its population density, the level of development, the magnitude of the hazard, the duration of the hazard or the frequency of the occurrence of a hazard.

Question 8

What are primary and secondary effects of a hazard? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 8

Primary effects - effects which occur immediately after a hazard takes place as a direct result of it.
Secondary effects - impacts which occur as a consequence of primary effects, tending to occur in a period after a hazard.

Question 9

Why may people put themselves at risk of hazards? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 9

People may place themselves at risk due to a lack of alternative place to live (due to social, political, economic or cultural factors), due to the unpredictability of hazards, due to the changing level of hazard risk in areas and perhaps due to the advantages offered by living in hazardous areas outweighing risks of living there.

Question 10

What benefits exist of living near hazards? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 10

Natural beauty, tourism, geothermal energy, farming productivity from good soil, family/emotional links, minerals existing on slopes of volcanoes.

Question 11

What is the risk equation for an area suffering from the impacts of a hazard? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 11

Risk = (hazard x vulnerability to a hazard)/capacity to cope and recover

Question 12

With reference to the risk equation, what happens if each factor (hazard, vulnerability, capacity to cope) increases? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 12

Hazard - if increases, then overall risk increases (when multiplied by vulnerability)
Vulnerability - if increases then overall risk increases (when multiplied by hazard)
Capacity to cope - if increases, overall risk falls (when hazard x vulnerability is divided by this)

Question 13

Why is hazard risk increasing globally? (3) - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 13

Frequency of hazards is increasing due to climate change, vulnerability to hazards is increasing due to unsustainable development creating unstable living environments, capacity to cope decreasing due to poverty and urbanisation.

Question 14

What is perception of a hazard? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 14

Perception of a hazard is the way people receive and process information relating to a hazard, ultimately determining how people manage a hazard.

Question 15

What factors affect an individual’s hazard perception? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 15

Socioeconomic status and ability to respond to hazards financially, level of education, religion/cultural background, past experience of hazards, personal values and personality (frightened, excited), family situation and need to protect loved ones.

Question 16

How do socioeconomic status and level of education impact an individual’s hazard perception? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 16

Socioeconomic status: wealthier people feel better prepared, can afford to move to less prone areas, trust there is money to fund solutions. PERCEIVE RISK TO BE SMALL.
Education: more educated people feel they understand hazard risks, know how to reduce hazard risks and are able to mitigate hazards. PERCEIVE RISK TO BE SMALL.

Question 17

How do religion/cultural background and family situations impact hazard perception respectively? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 17

Religion/cultural background: religious people may accept that hazards are an act of God, may accept they cannot be responded to. PERCEIVE RISK TO BE UNAVOIDABLE.
Family situation: will want to protect their children from hazards. PERCEIVE RISK TO BE HIGH.

Question 18

How do past experience and personal values impact hazard perception respectively? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 18

Past experience: people who have experienced hazards may be resilient to them, may know how to prepare, know how to prevent impacts. PERCEIVE RISK TO BE MANAGEABLE.
Personal values: personality may make some people fear a hazard more or may make them excited.

Question 19

What is fatalism in terms of hazard response? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 19

Fatalism is an acceptance that hazards are a natural part of life and cannot all be entirely managed. May relate to God’s will and accept losses as inevitable.

Question 20

What is adaptation as a hazard response? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 20

Adaptation is made up of prevention, preparation, protection and prediction in order to mitigate effects. Sees local and national government playing a role in this, with the ability to adapt depending on an afea’s socioeconomic circumstances.

Question 21

What is fear as a hazard response? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 21

Fear is when people feel vulnerable when responding to hazards, meaning that people may not feel safe in an area and may relocate or flee to regions perceived to be at reduced risk.

Question 22

What factors impacting hazard perception are involved in fatalism, adaptation and fear respectively as hazard responses - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 22

Fatalism - past experience, religious/cultural experience, education, socioeconomic status
Adaptation - socioeconomic status, past experiences, level of education
Fear - past experience, socioeconomic status, family situation, personality

Question 23

What is the Park Model? What does it show? What are its 5 stages? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 23

The Park Model demonstrates the different stages of a natural disaster that may impact a place. These are: pre-disaster, the event, immediate relief (hours after event), rehabilitation (days after the event) and reconstruction (months and years after).

Question 24

What happens at the pre-disaster and event stages of a disaster respectively? What happens to quality of life? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 24

Pre-disaster: preparation for an event, with quality of life virtually normal.
Event: the event occurs and the quality of life suddenly drops.

Question 25

What happens at the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction stages of an event respectively? What happens to the quality of life? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 25

Relief - immediate aid supplied hours and days after an event. Begins to improve quality of life.
Rehabilitation - shelter, food, water, basic supplies given, quality of life improves.
Reconstruction - quality of life may return to normal, be above or below previously. Infrastructure rebuilt, future preparedness.

Question 26

What do each of the axes and the line on the Park Model show? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 26

X axis - progression of time
Y axis - quality of life
Line - change in quality of life throughout duration of a hazard

Question 27

What is the hazard management cycle? How does this differ from the Park Model? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 27

The hazard management cycle sees the management of hazards as a cyclical process in a constant cycle, with the recovery from one natural event eventually leading into the beginning of another.

Question 28

What are the 4 stages of the hazard management cycle (in order)? - Perception, Management and Response

Answer 28

Mitigation, preparedness (pre-event)

Response, recovery (post-event)