Hazards Flashcards
What’s a hazard, and what are their 3 types?
A hazard is a potential threat to people and property caused by an event. The three types are hydrological, atmospheric and geological
Define the 3 types of hazards
Geological hazards-caused by land processes ( e.g. volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis)
Atmospheric hazards- caused by climatic processes ( e.g. tropical cyclones, storms, droughts, extreme hot or cold weather and wildfire)
Hydrological hazards- caused by water movement ( e.g. floods, and avalanches)
What is vulnerability?
How susceptible a population is to the damage caused by the hazard
How can different lifestyle (human) factors affect the perception of a hazard?
Wealth- money means they made be able to afford stronger housing, or be able to evacuate easily….however it may also mean that they perceive it to be more of a threat due to their expensive property
Education- educated on the full effects
Experience- understanding of full effects or more optimistic due it not occurring yet
Mobility- may be harder to evacuate due to secluded areas or disabilities
How does different aspects (incidence) of a hazard affect the human responses?
May be harder to predict and may have less management strategies put in place if it has low incidence, also usually more intense
Only 36 high magnitude earthquakes recorded since 1500 but millions low mag every year
What are human responses to hazards?
Fatalism-passive response which suggests that the hazards are uncontrollable natural event and any losses should be accepted as there’s nothing that can be done to stop them
Prediction- using scientific research and previous incidents to predict when a hazard will take place in order to prepare for evacuation (e.g. wildfires from climatic red flags)
Adaptation- attempting to live with the hazards by changing life style choices so that vulnerability to a hazard is lessened
Mitigation- strategies to lessen the impacts of the hazard (e.g. sandbags to offset impact of flooding)
Management- coordinated strategies to reduce a hazard’s effects
Risk-Sharing- form of community preparedness, where the community shares the risk posed and invests collectively to mitigate the impacts of future hazards
New Zealand- Cantebury Eathquake 2010- 20% of GDP spent on it so they invested in insurance
How does different aspects (distribution) of a hazard affect human responses
If a hazard has a high distribution it’s likely that there are many management strategies put out in order to minimise the effects of them. People living there would also be more adapted to it as there may be a higher incidence of events rather than in an area of low distribution
How does different aspects (level of development) of a hazard affect human responses
A less developed area is less likely to have effective mitigation or management strategies for protection from hazards due to it being costly meaning that the impacts of the hazard can be far more detrimental. However even HICs can struggle with developing successful management strategies in multi-hazard environments (e.g. Canada had many wildfires, and therefore were not able to reinforce strategies for tsunamis and earthquakes due to less money available. Even detailed evacuation routes were not developed in major tourist areas)
Therefore, it’s not solely about the level of development it’s also about how these countries use their development for mitigation.
What are the 3 stages of the Park model?
Stage 1 Relief- where foreign aid begins to occur and search and rescue teams come out (hours-days)
Stage 2 Rehabilitation- where food and water is distributes, tents and hospitals put up, coordinated foreign aid occurs and services are restored (days-weeks)
Stage 3 Reconstruction- where infrastructure is rebuilt, homes are rebuilt, quality of life is restored, mitigation and management strategies are put into place for the future, ecosystem restored, crops regrown (weeks-years)
Evaluate the Park’s Model
Positives- able to analyse the diff types of responses and the sequence they occur in, you can compare it with other hazards, useful in order to plan the responses needed for different stages of the hazard
Negatives- It doesn’t tell us the which specific responses occurred in each stage, doesn’t take inequalities around the area into account, not specific about the hazard itself (mag, incidence, distribution) and how that can affect the ability to respond
