Hazards

Question 1

Background of the Montserrat Eruption

Answer 1

Convergent margin
LIC
Volcano thought to be extinct

Question 2

Primary Impacts (Montserrat)

Answer 2

23 deaths (S)
Harsh living conditions in North (S)
Schools and hospitals destroyed (S)
2/3 of island covered in ash (S+ENV)
Farmland destroyed (ENV+ECO)

Question 3

Secondary Impacts (Montserrat)

Answer 3

Over 1/2 pop. left and never returned (S)
50% evacuated to North - makeshift shelters (S)
Tourist industry suffered (S+ECO)
Airport and port closed (S+ECO)
Floods - valleys blocked with ash (ENV)
Forest fires due to pyroclastic flows (ENV)

Question 4

Responses (Montserrat)

Answer 4

£17mil in UK aid (ST)
Exclusion zones defined (ST)
Montserrat volcano observatory set up, 1995, successfully predicted 1997 eruption (LT)
Warning systems set up (LT)
1998 - granted full residency rights in UK, British citizenship in 2002 (LT)
Rebuilt - volcano as tourist attraction (LT)

Question 5

Background of the Eyjafjallajökull Eruption

Answer 5

Divergent margin
HIC

Question 6

Impacts (Eyjaf)

Answer 6

Internal haemorrhaging in animals (fluoride ingestion)
Respiratory illness risk - evacuated
Local flooding due to glacier melting
Airlines closed, shares in airlines fell. Fresh flowers and vegetables spoiled - economic loss
Carbon emissions reduced due to airspace closure

Question 7

Background to the Japan Tsunami, 2011

Answer 7

9.0 Magnitude
Subduction plate boundary
HIC
Buddhist - karma and predetermination - fatalistic

Question 8

Impacts (Japan)

Answer 8

15,000 deaths (S, ST)
500,000 homeless (S, LT)
Radiation poisoning from nuclear powerplant disaster (S, LT)
1/3 of children have thyroid cancers or abnormal thyroid growths due to radiation (S, LT)
$6.6bil of damage, thousands of homes and buildings damaged (ECO, LT)
1.5bil tonnes of debris left in Pacific (ENV, LT)
Radioactive debris affected wildlife and habitats in exclusion zone (ENV, LT

Question 9

Responses (Japan)

Answer 9

100,000 soldiers established order (ST)
Helicopters rescued survivors on roofs (ST)
UK sent 63 search and rescue teams (ST)
Exclusion zone around Fukushima Power Plant (ST)
Upgraded tsunami warning system (LT)
2016 - reactors issued licences to restart (LT)

Question 10

Background to the Haiti Earthquake, 2010

Answer 10

7.0 Magnitude
Conservative plate boundary
LIC

Question 11

Primary Impacts (Haiti)

Answer 11

316,000 deaths (S)
50% of buildings collapsed, including gov buildings and a prison (S+ECO)
600,000 people left area (S)
Main port subsided - unusable. Roads cracked and blocked (S, ECO, ENV)

Question 12

Secondary Impacts (Haiti)

Answer 12

Loss of hundreds of civil servants (S+P)
Lawless due to destruction of prison (S+P)
Cholera killed 1500 people (S)
1.5mil left homeless (S)
Tectonic sea level change - some parts of land sank below sea (ENV)

Question 13

Responses (Haiti)

Answer 13

Internal search and rescue - struggled due to dense urban env
US military took over airport to speed up aid distribution
Basic food support from UN
1100 camps set up for shelter
Reconstruction aid with controls to stop corruption
Farming sector reformed to induce self sufficiency
Buildings rebuilt to safer standards
Slums demolished in at-risk areas
Economic activity moved to less earthquake prone areas

Question 14

Background to Hurricane Katrina

Answer 14

New Orleans vulnerable to flooding
Levees only designed to withstand category 3 storms, Katrina was category 5

Question 15

Primary Impacts (Katrina)

Answer 15

1800 deaths (S)
300,000 homes lost (S)
230,000 jobs lost (S+ECO)
Oil platforms closed due to dmg (S+ECO)
Beach erosion - lost breeding grounds for marine mammals, brown pelicans, turtles, and fish (ENV)
Floods, $81bil property dmg (ECO)

Question 16

Secondary Impacts (Katrina)

Answer 16

Redistributed over 1 mil people from central Gulf coast elsewhere. By Jan 2006, less than half of the pre-storm population was back. Jul 2006 - almost 5% population decline (S)
Racial tensions intensified - many victims were African American (S)