Hazards COPY Flashcards

Question

what are the three types of vulnerability in the PAR model?

Answer 1

``` root causes (governmental) dynamic pressures (people) unsafe conditions (location) ```

Answer 2

1) limited access to: - power - structure - resources 2) ideologies - political system (corruption) - economic system

Answer 3

1) leads to lack of investment into: - infrastructure - education (no warning systems in place) - Training - Appropriate skills - Local investment - Local market - Media freedom - medical care 2) macroforces - Rapid population increase - Rapid urbanisation - Expenditure - Deforestation - Decline in soil productivity

Answer 4

1) Fragile physical environment - Dangerous locations (landslide prone) - Unprotected infrastructure (shanty towns) 2) Fragile local economy - Livelihoods at risk - Low income levels - high inequalities 3) Vulnerable society - Special groups at risk (elderly) 4) Public actions - Lack of preparedness - Epidemic disease

Answer 5

risk reduction = (mitigation of hazard x reduction of vulnerability) / capacity to cope

Answer 6

refers to the classing of different natural hazards based off their magnitude and scale of damage. When a hazard’s magnitude exceeds the risk/damage threshold the hazard is dangerous to the local population. This can be because the population is vulnerable or the hazard has an extremely high magnitude.

Answer 7

1) Physical vulnerability - When people live in hazard-prone areas in building that offers little protection, lack of infrastructure - Action: move away from hazard-prone areas 2) Economic vulnerability - dependant on the economic stays of individuals and nations so affected by assets - poor residents do not have to money to afford recovery and preparation - Action: Introduce housing insurance, compensation 3) Social vulnerability - When a household or community is unable to support the disadvantaged people within it, e.g. political isolation may exist for the poor, females, elderly and rural residents - elderly populations are more vulnerable - high population density - Action: Government could provide money 4) Knowledge vulnerability - When people lack education and training and therefore understanding. - This leads to the lack of warning or evacuation systems in place - Action: They must educate people on efficient evacuation routes 5) Environmental vulnerability - lack of natural resource depletion - resource degradation making settlements vulnerable, those dependant on resources - high pop density leading to people being forced into riskier areas - being on plate boundaries - Action: They must relieve population pressures by creating new services

Answer 8

the greatest initiative for mitigation must come from the government as they have the largest influence/power to implement reforms. They also have the money to maximise their effectiveness and strength. For example, individuals may not have the social influence to make their ideas widespread or the money to successfully enforce them.

Answer 9

- Poor structural integrity meaning buildings couldn’t maintain their structure leading to a lack of shelter - Densely populated so inevitably affected more people - Lack of government stability reduced spending and preparation as people were less equipped and educated to deal with the risks - On a plate boundary so suffered from environmental/physical vulnerability

Answer 10

They are a way of comparing two physical processes and impacts that all hazards share. They can show intensity, frequency, special extent, duration, speed of onset, death toll, recovery rate and damage ($). It can also compare two areas of events.

Answer 11

- they can compare the vulnerability of areas to different hazards in a range of categories and are an easy visual representation - they can help areas see what they are most at risk of. because of this, they can plan and prepare more efficiently, helping to mitigate the effects when they come - it is easy to compare the same type of hazard in two different locations because it breaks the event down into a variety of factors

Answer 12

- it is difficult to compare two different hazards as they have different impacts, e.g. a volcano may have a larger spatial extent like Hawaii but not be very intense whereas an earthquake may be very intense like Hawaii, but have a low spatial extent - It is difficult to compare two different hazards because it doesn’t provide specific values for factors leaving it somewhat open to interpretation. They have varying impacts and spatial and temporal distributions

Answer 13

pros - see what an area is most vulnerable to, see how an area can defend against the hazards, e.g. droughts have a slow speed of onset so allows for preparation cons - doesn’t compare to other area so hard to see development - Development is not factored into the different scales so it’s hard to see

Answer 14

pros - see how vulnerable an area is in comparison to another area - similar impacts so easy to visually compare cons - only references one hazard which is less useful in a multiple hazard risk zone

Answer 15

- Physical location - Government initiatives / community preparedness, social and knowledge vulnerability - New Zealand on ring of fire and plate boundary - Haiti is also on a plate boundary

Answer 16

Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions manage common affairs. It is a root cause of vulnerability.

Answer 17

- Poor investment into social development, rapid urbanisation - Exploitation of the environment (dynamic pressure) - High inequality, poor building and infrastructure, lack of preparedness (unsafe conditions)

Answer 18

includes the decision-making process that affects a country’s economic activities and its relationship with other economies. This has major economic implications for equity, poverty and QOL.

Answer 19

is the process of decision making to create policies, influencing national disaster reduction and planning. The nature of this process and the way it brings together the state, non-state and private. Sector players determined the quality of the policy outcome.

Answer 20

is the system of policy implementation and requires good governance at both central and local levels. It requires functioning enforcement of building codes, land-use planning, environmental risk and human vulnerability, monitoring and safety standards.

Answer 21

- Colonial powers: military regimes, dictatorship - Infrastructure needs repair - 2/3 of the population was unemployed - Largest income is from remittances - Former French colony, indebted by 90 million gold franks, didn’t finish paying till 1947 - One of the poorest countries

Answer 22

- Developing country, it is poor and so its limited resources were spent on more immediate issues like disease - High levels of corruption at both local and national government, leading to a lack of resources and commitment to improve the country’s infrastructure and living standards - Lack of controls and regulations meant many were in poorly built slum housing. These couldn’t sustain the shaking and so collapsed. The dense urban environment also made it difficult for rescue teams to work efficiently. - Lack of disaster preparation meant officials didn’t know what to do when the earthquake struck - Concerns about political corruption and mismanagement meant that many of these organisations were unwilling to channel aid money through the Haitian government directly instead bringing their own things from overseas at huge costs. Experts argue that this has hampered Haiti’s ability to be self-sufficient meaning much needed money hasn’t gone to local businesses and industries

Answer 23

Bad governance = social exclusion, inefficiency, red tape, corruption Good governance = transparency, engagement, sustainability, decentralisation

Answer 24

- Intro: root cause of vulnerability - Invest into warning systems - Can control how safe the buildings are, building and infrastructure - Reduce inequality in a population and reliance on primary industry - Increase awareness and educate people on what to do (Egypt) - Yet arguably a country needs to be developed to have good governance and development controls how resilient the economy is (New Zealand vs Nepal) - Some hazards will still make a population vulnerable no matter how prepared they are, e.g. Japan

Answer 25

- High population density not only inevitably means more people are affected but it can also hamper recovery as it can reduce the efficiency of evacuation teams due to a dense urban environment - The degree of urbanisation is significant. More urban means a higher population density and so more people affected. Often also increases slum housing. However rich urban areas often have more mitigation in place, e.g. cross braising. - Isolated areas will have trouble recovering and rebuilding as they’re difficult to access, e.g. in the Himalayas helicopters are used which are expensive

Answer 26

A hazard hotspot is an area that can experience multiple hazards ranging from tectonic hazards to hydrometeorological hazards. They are likely to be areas where plate boundaries intersect with major storm belts and high human concentration in low/medium development areas, e.g. the Philippines, Mexico and Japan

Answer 27

- Located on a (convergent) plate boundary creating major risks from both earthquakes and volcanoes - Archipelago meaning susceptible to tsunamis - Climatic hazards due to being in storm belt regions - Mountainous terrain can lead to landslides. Landslides are common due to steep topography, high levels of deforestation and high rainfall - Its northern and eastern coasts face the pacific ocean (the world’s most tsunami prone ocean) - Tropical monsoon climate so is subject to heavy annual rainfalls - The Philippines has 47 volcanoes, 22 of which are active. This means over 30% of he population lives within 30km of a volcano.

Answer 28

- Growing population, rapid urbanisation and poverty increases their vulnerability - Many of the country’s poor live in coastal areas where sea surges, flooding and tsunamis are made worse by poorly constructed housing and infrastructure which lack structural integrity - 25% of the population live in poverty

Answer 29

- One hazard can increase the likelihood of other hazards - Different hazards happening in a short amount of time can make resilience for government and communities hard as it drains resources and stretches the ability of emergency services to respond - Operating in a near constant state of emergency

Answer 30

Deaths, people affected and economic damage from hazards has fluctuated. It has had sudden surges and spikes in seriously damaging events like Haiti or Japan. Overall deaths, however, appear to be decreasing (exc major events). Better and earlier warning systems, preparedness and building codes should be decreasing deaths yet this is countered by increasing urbanisation and population density which increases deaths.

Answer 31

- no universally accepted definition, Definitions sometimes differ across the world, e.g. the UN says 500 must die for a disaster but others may think the number is lower - Reported number of deaths might be inaccurate due to indirect deaths following the event (e.g. Haiti had a cholera outbreak) - Mega disasters upset trends because they are drastically different - Political bias in reporting deaths, in order to protect their country's status, no deaths to protect tourism or they may be overstated where aid is concerned (e.g. Thailand after the 2004 tsunami as they didn’t want to damage their tourism) - No single organisation is responsible for collecting information so often collected in different ways, e.g. GMF or IMF - Difficulty in collecting statistics especially in low human development areas or remote areas, they go unrecorded. Or in densely populated informal settlements where populations are not properly recorded anyway (Haiti, India, Mexico City)

Answer 32

- Countries have to sustain affected countries through their recovery via aid, this places economic strain on countries - Reduced tourism to that country - Transport, e.g. Airports - Damage to crops and agricultural means for the world - Due to the globalisation of supply chains and production, a mega disaster can have a knock-on effect on the production of a good in several countries, affecting their economies (e.g. Silicon semiconductors made in Japan, affected microchips, affected apple) - Global financial systems and inter-linked, major disasters affect insurance industries in many countries

Answer 33

1) Look for precision and specifics 2) Long term forecasts are more reliable than short term 3) Satellites now monitor crust from space to look for signs of stress building so could improve in the future, this is still not entirely accurate 4) GPS is the new method for giving indications

Answer 34

it shows how a country or region might respond after a hazard event. it can be used to directly compare how areas at different levels of development might recover from a hazard event. - Used to understand that resilience in the aftermath of a hazard event can vary in different countries - The model suggest that if you are a developing or emerging country then you are likely to recover to a better QOL than if developed when recovery tends to be normal. This also depends on if it is a one-off incident or if it is likely to happen again. - The model shows how a hazard will inevitably cause a deterioration in QOL and economic activity but the amount of disruption and time taken to recover varied depending on the success and of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction - It is possible to compare the curves of two or more tectonic hazards and gain a better understanding of their relative resilience- what makes one place more resilient than another. - It allows places at risk to prepare better for future events and understand not just resilience but also risk.

Answer 35

emphasised the need to combine ‘tow-down’ technological and governmental approaches with bottom up community and NGO efforts - This may form part of hazard management cycle with the overall aim to reduce future vulnerability

Answer 36

- Identifying particular hazards and taking steps to reduce their impact. - Preventions is minimising the effects of a hazard - This means that the population is less vulnerable. This can be done by: 1. Zoning 2. Land use planning 3. Developing and enforcing building codes 4. Building protective structures, e.g. tsunami walls

Answer 37

- Facilitating the response and providing risk reduction strategies, e.g. evacuation routes, having early warning systems, stockpiling equipment - Preparation is being ready/getting ready to deal with a hazard

Answer 38

- Short term focuses on peoples immediate needs, long term can take years and often reduces future vulnerability - Providing essential healthcare, proving food/shelter, rebuilding infrastructure - Recovery is getting back to normal

Answer 39

- Coping with initial problems, main aim is to save lives and reduce economic loss through: search and rescue efforts, evacuations and ensuring critical services - Response is acting well initially after a hazard

Answer 40

Pre-disaster Relief Rehabilitation Reconstruction Stage 1- PRE DISASTER Occurs prior to the event and shows that quality of life is at its normal equilibrium level. Stage 2 Where the hazard occurs and, again, at this point quality of life is at normal level. Stage 3- RELIEF Where the event has happened and search and rescue is underway. Quality of life drops at this stage and stays low for several hours up to several days depending on the severity of the hazard and the level of development of the region/country. Stage 4- REHABILITATION Where relief strategies are underway and there is an organised programme of help. It can take a variable amount of time, from hours and days to weeks and months to reach this stage, but quality of life improves at this time. Stage 5- RECONSTRUCTION Refers to long term human response; rebuilding and restoring normality. Quality of life returns to normal and in some cases can be higher than it was originally; especially if the repairs improve on the old infrastructure etc

Answer 41

it is a process in which governments and other organisations work together to protect people from the natural hazards that threaten their communities.

Answer 42

hazard mitigation | hazard adaptation

Answer 43

strategies meant to avoid, delay or prevent hazard events (e.g. land-use zoning, diverting lava flows, GIS mapping and hazard-resistant design and engineering

Answer 44

strategies design ed to reduce the impacts of hazard events (e.g. high-tech monitoring, crisis mapping, modelling hazard impacts, public education and community preparedness)

Answer 45

land use zoning diverting lava flows GIS mapping

Answer 46

it is a process by which local government regulate how land in a community may be used. in areas at risk from eruptions, land-use zoning is an effective way to protect both people and property. in areas at high risk from volcanic eruptions + tsunamis: - any settlements tend to be limited - certain types of structures and facilities will be prohibited - some communities may be resettled (those near shore moved to higher ground for tsunamis) land-use zoning is common in wealthy countries, but less so in some developing countries, often why it causes more deaths in developing countries.

Answer 47

- methods include building barriers and digging channels to try to divert the flows into safer directions - while these methods have led to some successes, in general they are fairly ineffective. this is because: - the path taken by lava is hard to predict making it hard to know where to build the walls and channels - the terrain has to be suitable (downward slope) - stopping the lava from flowing towards one community may push it towards another.

Answer 48

GIS can be used in all stages of the disaster management cycle, e.g. to identify where evacuation routes should be placed, or to help with rescue and recovery options

Answer 49

high-tech monitoring community preparedness and education crisis mapping

Answer 50

- technological monitoring systems for volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis allow scientists and others to learn more about these natural processes, to predict them further in advance - GIS helps to create hazard maps and manage hazards more effectively - early warning systems use scientific instruments to detect signs that a volcanic eruption or tsunami is about to occur - mobile-phone technology is used to communicate rapid warnings and coordinate preparation activities. when seismographs detected P waves off japan's NE coast the Japanese government set out text messages via phones warning of the earthquake

Answer 51

- concerned about the unfolding crisis in Haiti's 2010 earthquake due to the lack of good infrastructure, members of Ushahidi set up a map site for Haiti so people could provide info, such as where people were tapped under rubble or where there were food shortages via social media or texts - these locations are then plotted onto maps and placed online so anyone could see them - rescue and aid workers quickly began to use these maps- which were constantly being updated to decide how, when and where to direct resources

Answer 52

- they need to develop suitable preparedness plans and educate local residents, especially in low-income countries - enforce building codes aimed at 'hazard-proofing' structures - local knowledge is an important part of community disaster preparedness. during the Boxing Day tsunami, the elders of Thailand's token tribe noticed unusual sea movements and ordered everyone to run to the hill top. moments later the tsunami struck, only one out of 200 villagers died - community preparedness tends to be most effective when its formalised, so that efforts can be ongoing and coordinated, e.g. a committee may be formed develop plans. - this includes organising practise evacuation drills, providing first aid courses and creating lists of vulnerable people who would need assistance

Answer 53

aid the role of non-governmental organisations the role of insurance

Answer 54

this can be emergency aid, short-term aid or longer-term aid. - aid can be provided as cash, personnel, services or equipment. - it can be distributed straight to the government of the affected country which then uses it to manage the disaster recovery operation or be controlled by aid agencies or foreign governments. - it is often criticised lsrgely on the grounds that national and local distribution systems are often inefficient or corrupt, it does not encourage a more bottom-up management of disasters at a local level.

Answer 55

NGOs play a critical role in disaster management. - especially important in disasters where the local gov are struggling to respond or don't have the resources to do so (Haiti) - they can provide funds, co-ordinate search and rescue efforts and help to develop reconstruction plans - many NGOs are involved in all stages of the hazard management cycle and often remain in affected areas for years- helping communities to build up their resilience

Answer 56

- insurance coverage can help commntities to recover from disasters and provides individuals and businesses with the money they need to repair and rebuild - yet in many countries, few people have insurance for tectonic hazards. more pressing economic needs take priority over a hazard event that may not actually happen - in some developed countries like Japan, the government and insurance companies work together to provide insurance for economic losses from disasters. - with earthquakes, seismologists are working with risk analysts to help the insurance industry calculate premiums and risk. computer stimulations are used to estimate the probability of damage from different scales of earthquake event. volcanic eruptions, however, are easier to predict and to know the potential scale of damage

Answer 57

they have made a manual called "disaster preparedness Tokyo" to help households get fully prepared for an earthquake directly hitting Tokyo and other various disasters - it is tailored to the various local features of Tokyo, its urban structure and the lifestyles of its residents. - it contains easy-to-understand info on how to prepare for and respond to a disaster, this can be used in the even of an emergency

Answer 58

the ability to protect lives, livelihoods and infrastructure from a destruction, and to restore areas after a natural hazard has occurred

Answer 59

This is when buildings and systems are subject to earthquake exposure. This is done by adding construction principles or structural elements. They may use features like shock absorbers, a reinforced steel structure and counterweights. These structures will then, if done effectively, protect against the largest earthquakes.

Answer 60

Inequality of access to education, housing, healthcare and income opportunities can influence vulnerability and resilience.

Answer 61

two events in different places can occur with very similar physical factors but if the context of the area is different then they can have very different scales of effects. context includes development and governance Haiti and Christchurch had very similar physical factors with their magnitudes being very similar but due to the difference in context of the two places they had very different effect.s Haiti has a poor and corrupt government whereas new Zealand have a strong governance system. this means that aid was funnelled well to Christchurch but for Haiti, money was lost and lots of aid was refused to go directly to the government but instead aid projects were set up, leading to a loss of money for the government. Haiti had a lower economic impact than New Zealand due to the different levels of development Iceland being so close to Europe meant the ash cloud had a greater effect stopping northern trans Atlantic flights Area of Banda Aech (Indian Ocean tsunami) was a low lying area meaning the tsunami could wash far inland

Answer 62

The likelihood of a community being unable to absorb and recover from the impacts of a hazard. This can be social, economic or physical vulnerability.

Answer 63

This is the ability of a community to cope with the effects of a hazard

Answer 64

- Asset inequality (lack of proper housing and means of livelihood; difficult to recover from any loss of limited assets) - Access to service inequality (education, healthcare, policing) - Political inequality (not able to fight their corner or protect their interests) - Social status inequality (lack of status also means an inability to reduce inequalities)

Answer 65

- the willingness to invest in hazard mitigation so the future hazard events cause less disruption - the need for reconstruction offers a great opportunity to start fresh (e.g. better housing, new businesses, new development directions) giving the area a function that was previously lost from the disaster (loss of agricultural function)

Answer 66

It suggests that socio-economic context of a hazard is important. In poor, badly governed (root causes) places with rapid change and low capacity (dynamic pressures) and low coping capacity (unsafe conditions), disasters are likely. It shows how root causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions combine with a natural hazard to create a disaster.

Answer 67

the probability of an event occurring that could potentially harm people, damage property of destroy infrastructure. low probability events can nonetheless pose a high risk if their magnitude is very large

Answer 68

- living in a hazard-prone areas in buildings that offer little protection (physical vulnerability) - when people lack education and training and therefore understanding (knowledge vulnerability) - due to population pressure it leads to people being forced into riskier areas, high density pop (social vulnerability) - when people have little money, at risk of losing their jobs, cannot afford good protection measures (economic vulnerability) - lack of government stability reduces spending and preparation so people are less equipped (political vulnerability)

Answer 69

- high levels of corruption at both local and national government leading to a lack of resource and commitment to improve the country’s infrastructure - lack of controls and regulations means many are left in poor slum housing, cannot sustain shaking - lack of disaster preparation means that officials don’t know what to do when an earthquake strikes - high corruption means that some organisations will be unwilling to channel aid money through the gov directly, hampering their ability to be self-sufficient, HAITI

Answer 70

- on a plate boundary so suffered from environmental/physical vulnerability - it had a shallow focus (13km) which increased the amount of ground shaking - looser soils caused many building foundations to sink through liquefaction - the epicentre was only 24km from the country's capital and its most densely populated city

Answer 71

Pre disaster - high-tech monitoring - hazard-resistant design and engineering Post disaster - crisis mapping - AID

Answer 72

- Technology can also help construct buildings that are more hazard resistant, earthquake-resistant structures are intended to withstand the largest earthquake of a certain probability that is likely to occur at their location - after the Christchurch earthquake, governments set up GeoNet to help "quake proof peoples' homes" - this includes the use of automatic window shitters to prevent falling glass, steel frames which can sway during earth movements, open areas where people can assemble if evacuated and rubber shock-absorbers to absorb earth tremors

Answer 73

The USGS are a team of scientists that are responsible for providing information to support readiness and preparation for hazards. They work with lots of people to understand hazards and communicate their potential risks and impacts. They use storm-tide sensors (hurricaines) and other pieces of equipment to provide scientific data to inform ways to mitigate large-scale loss of life and property.

Answer 74

Structural: Diverting lava flows- methods include building barriers and digging channels to try to divert the flows into safer directions Aseismic design- earthquake-proof buildings are constructed to reduce the potential impact. They may use features like shock absorbers, a reinforced steel structure and counterweights Earth embankments- can be built around a volcano to try divert the flow of magma Non-structural: GIS mapping Land-use zoning Community preparedness and education

Answer 75

``` large spatial scale High Magnitude Strong likelihood of needing international support from NGOs and IGOs Large economic and human impacts Low probability ```

Answer 76

Haiti 2010 earthquake | 2010 Eyjafjallajökull

Answer 77

- high population density meaning more people will be affected - the increase in informal settlements that it creates - immense pressure on services (healthcare) in times of disaster - many are located in hazard-prone or multiple-hazard zones

Answer 78

It attempts to explain the decline in disaster deaths in terms of preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery.

Answer 79

Scientists play a key role in the prediction and forecasting part of the hazard. They must have accurate predictions as to when the hazard will hit and the scale. They are responsible of warning us of the hazard in order to effectively prepare prior to the event. Volcanologists are now better able to forecast both aspects (where and when)

Answer 80

- Tectonic hazard education/training - Population density - Scientific understanding - Infrastructure - Quality of governance

Answer 81

This is a strategy that takes place before the disaster hits. It involves preparing a set of actions and steps aimed at reducing the impact of a hazard event and/or the probability of its occurrence.

Answer 82

Earthquakes: strengthening individual buildings against stress and shock waves Volcanoes: diverting lava flows insuring buildings

Answer 83

Creating coastal buffers in the form of mangroves or some other form of dense shore vegetation. Building defensive walls. Land-use zoning- moving housing and other important uses (hospitals, transport lines) away from the most vulnerable areas.

Answer 84

they have two distinct contexts. The one to modify the potential impacts of the event by land-use zoning and improving prediction and warning systems. They also need to improve preparedness through emergency action plans and educating the locals.

Answer 85

planners insurers NGOs

Answer 86

they need to make sure they have plans in place to help all those who are insured with them which will mean that the social impacts will be minimised through the loss of housing. They reduce the financial burden for those with insurance premiums, so little use to the poor.

Answer 87

they need to make sure they have preparation in place in order to distribute aid in the most effective way. They ensure that the social impacts are minimised through the giving of food and through the economic aid they minimise the financial impacts. They also educate about hazard risks and what to do during a hazard event.