Hazards Flashcards
1
Q
What is a hazard?
A
- An event that threatens the well-being of people and their property
2
Q
What are the four categories of hazards?
A
- Biological
- Tectonic
- Atmospheric
- Geomorphic
3
Q
What is risk?
A
- The possibility of suffering harm or loss
4
Q
What ia natural disaster?
A
- A hazard produced by enviornmental processes, e.g. storms, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
5
Q
What are the seven conditions needed to produce a tropical cyclone?
A
- Surface temperature 26C
- Warm water to depth of 70m
- Disturabnce in lower atmospheric circulation
- Large enough coriolis force to produce certain patterns of wind
- Unstable air with high humidity
- Rapid outflow of air at high level and inflow of air at low level
6
Q
How does a tropical storm form?
A
- Start when strong clusters of thunderstorms dift over warm ocean waters
- The very warm air fromt he strom and the ocean surface combine and begin rising creating low pressure at the surface
- Trade winds blowing in opposite directions cause the strom to start spinning and rising warm air causes pressure to decrease hgih altitudes
- Air rises faster and faster to fill this low pressure, in turn drawing more air off the sea and sucking cooler, drier air downwards
- As the stotm moves over the ocean it picks up more moist, warm air. Wind speeds increase as more air is sucked into the low pressure centre.
7
Q
Where are tropical storms found?
A
- Between 10 to 30 degrees Northa nd South of equator
8
Q
What are storm surges?
A
- Combination of low pressure near the centre and strong onshore winds, which results in large increases in sea levels.
9
Q
When are tropical storms classified as hurricanes?
A
- When their wind speeds are greater than 118 km/hr
10
Q
When do tropical storms dissipate rapidly?
A
- When they moe over cold water or over a large mass of land as they derive their energy from warm water and latent heat of condensation.
11
Q
What are the three distinct elements of a hurricane?
A
- Eye - region usually 30-60km in diamtere found in center of hurrican where skies are clear
- Eye wall - wall of cloud an thunderstomrs surround eye
- Spiral rainbands - bands of thunderstorms that spiral around the hurricane
12
Q
What are synoptic weather charts?
A
- Used to show a pressure map of depression or tropical storm
13
Q
What is the saffir-simpson scale?
A
- A scale made up of five categories distinguished by wind that is sustained and measured by its present intensity
14
Q
How does naming hurricane helps?
A
- improves communication, especially exhcaning detailed storm information between weather stations coastal bases and ships.
15
Q
What is mitigation?
A
- The action of reducing the severity of a hazard event
16
Q
What are some methods of mitigation of a hazard?
A
- Aircrafts
- Satellites
- Radars
- Buoys and floats
17
Q
How are aircrafts used to mitigate a tropical storm?
A
- Used to measure a cross section of a hurricane by ejectin onboard radards and dropwindsodes from the plane’s belly
18
Q
How are satellites used to mitigate a tropical storm?
A
- Used to view large weather systems
- Display cloud formation
- An imager acts like a camera and gathers infromation on cloud movement and patterns
19
Q
How are radars used to mitigate a tropical storm?
A
- Measure reflected sound waves
- Reads precipiation intensity and movement and wind wind data
20
Q
How are buoys and floats used to mitigate a tropical storm?
A
- Transmit data about air, wind temprature, wave height and wind direction and speed
21
Q
How do meterolists help to mitigate hazard events?
A
- Meterologists use specialised computer forcecast models to track and predict progress of hruricane
- Warm people in predicated path
- Asseses the level of damage that will impact an area
22
Q
What can be done to prepare before a hazard event?
A
- Educate people on what to do when hurricane approaches, can be done thorugh lealets or broadcasting
- Low coast loans to residents so that they can strength properties with storm shutters
- Hurrican shelters set up
- Build levees to reduce the impact of storm surges on the coastline
- Build better roads so evacuation is more effective and rescue can reach quicker to affected areas
- Sea walls to protect densly populated areas
- Raise banks of rivers
23
Q
What can be done in the short term to mitigate the consequences foa hurricane?
A
- Relief camps to provide food, water and shetler
- Emergency serves and army take action
- Use lifting gear to clear away rubble
- Restoring basic services
- Providing medical help and counselling victims
24
Q
What is appraisal?
A
- Examination of what happended after teh event with many questions asked and answered
25
What can be done in a longer term to mitigate the conseuences of a hurricane?
* Government providing funding and guidance
* FEMA refer to long term recovery as the "need to re-estavblish a healthy, functioning community that will sustain itself over time"
* Government building a long term community recovery program
* Banks set up laons with low intrest rates so people can rebuild their homes or businesses
* Government finances small businesses to start up again
* Securing aid from other countries and NGOs
26
When did Katrina happen?
* 25th August 2005
27
When did Nargis happen?
* 27th April 2008
28
What is the GNI of the US?
* $48,586
29
What is the GNI of Burma?
* £1900
30
What were the social effects of Katrina?
* 1,833 people died
* 1 million people moved away from central Gulf coast
* Population decline of Lousina was 4.87%
* Severe physiological stress - 45,000 children suffered mental health problems by 2007
31
What were the social effects of Nargis?
* 138,000 people died
* Labutta lost 80,000 people
32
What were the economic effects of Katrina?
* Impact \>$180 million
* Oil spills - 26 million litres
* Petrol and energy prices soared
33
What were the economic effects of Nargis?
* Impact = $10 billion
* Major lost in harvest
* Loss of income
34
What were the enviornmental impacts of Katrina?
* 8.5m storm surges
* 80% of New Orleans flooded
* Levees only designedfor category 3 hurricanes.
* Mississippi flooded 6-12 miles inland
* 217sq miles of land lost to water
35
What were the enviornmental effects of Nargis?
* 7.6m storm surges
* Huge amount of rice and crop fields flooded, especially in Irrawaddy Delta
* Impacted 65% of Burma's paddies
* Flooded inland estimated 40-50km
* 95% of buildings collapsed on the delta
* 1,163 temples lost
36
What were the responses to Katrina?
* Bush signed $10.5 billion relief package
* Eu helped
* Blankets, medial, water, 50,00 food rations
* $854 million foreign aid, only $40 million spent to help
* National disgrace becasue of slow response
37
What were the responses to Nargis?
* Poor response by miltary and government refused foreing aid
* Asked UN for help 7 days after the disaster
* Only let South East Asia Nations to deliver aid
* 3 weeks until international aid workes allowed in.
