HUMAN IMPACTS OF EXTREME EVENTS

Question 1

CATEGORIES/EXAMPLES OF EXTREME EVENTS

Answer 1

BY EVENT SOURCE

CATEGORY 1: NATURAL

• DISEASE OUTBREAKS AND EPIDEMICS
• EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS
• NATURAL CATASTROPHES

CATEGORY 2: MAN MADE

• ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS
• RIOTS AND CONFLICTS OUTBURSTS
• TERRORIST ATTACKS AND MASS SHOOTINGS
• POLLUTION
• CRISIS

Question 2

‘NATURAL’ EXTREME EVENTS?

Answer 2

Natural processes of the Earth.
Firestorms, duststorms, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, and other geologic processes.
Can be categorised into disease outbreaks & epidemics; extreme weather events and; natural catastrophes.
Major impacts on human life, economic losses and environment.
Can be exacerbated by urbanisation and other human-driven processes.

Question 3

MAN-MADE EXTREME EVENTS?

Answer 3

Caused by human beings.
chemical spills, gas leaks, hazardous material spills, explosions, chemical or biological attacks, nuclear blast, train accidents, plane crashes, industrial fires or groundwater contamination.
Can be categorised into Accidents & incidents; Crises; Pollution; Riots & conflicts outbursts and; Terrorist attacks & mass shootings.
Major impacts on human life, economic losses and environment.
Can be amplified by natural forces.

Question 4

HAZARD VS RISK

Answer 4

Hazard: Anything that can cause harm.
Risk: How great the chance that the hazard will cause harm.

Question 5

EXTREME EFFECTS MOSTLY AFFECT..?

Answer 5

Low to middle income countries are typically effected the most as well as the marginalised communities.
Limited adaptation capacity and response options.
High risk regions.
Marginalised communities: living on the edge.
Invisible to decision and policy makers.

LMIC: 53% OF DISASTERS AND 93% OF FATALITIES

Question 6

TYPES OF TSUNAMIS?

Answer 6

• FALLING METEORS MEGA TSUNAMI
• EARTHQUAKE TSUNAMI
• VOLCANO TSUNAMI
• EROSION TSUNAMI

Question 7

SRI LANKA 2004 TSUNAMI? IMPACTS?

Answer 7

• Third largest and longest faulting recorded
• Indian Ocean – 26th December 2004
• Magnitude of 9.3 with 30 metre waves
• Minor quakes felt as far as Alaska
• Multiple aftershocks occurring for approximately 3 months
• Sri Lanka was one of the most devastated countries

Greatest impacts upon the Eastern and Southern parts of the island.

30,000 deaths in Sri Lanka (over 300,000 worldwide) many more injured and missing.

1.5 million people displaced from their homes.

Destroyed infrastructure (transport, housing, hospitals, energy grids, canals, drains, groundwater)

259 km² of paddy land: pollution, salinization, litter.

Infectious disease outbreaks (cholera)

poison freshwater sources and soil

14 billion pounds worth in aid was donated.

Question 8

WHAT IS A NUCLEAR DISASTER?

Answer 8

Explosion of a nuclear weapon or improvised nuclear device (IND).

The explosion produces an intense pulse of heat, light, air pressure, and radiation.

Nuclear explosions produce fallout (radioactive materials that can be carried long distances by the wind).

Nuclear meltdown, criticality accidents, decay heat, transport, equipment failure, human error, lost source.

Question 9

CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER?

Answer 9

Caused by design flaws and staff operation errors.

Uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction released significant quantities of energy.

Core meltdown and 2+ explosions ruptured the reactor core.

Open air reactor core fire (lasting 9 days) that released airborne radioactive contamination.

30km of permanent exclusion zone around the plant.

Question 10

IMPACT OF CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER?

Answer 10

28 people initially died and 100 injured.

6,000 children later developed thyroid cancer.

30km of permanent exclusion zone around the plant.

350,000 people permanently resettled from contaminated areas. (force/involuntary migration)

Alarming radiation levels across Europe.

Long-term psychological effects causing suicides, alcohol abuse and apathy.

former plant will not be habitable for up to 20,000 years.

Four square miles of forest destroyed due to absorbing high levels of radiation (red forest).

• Because the area has been totally cleared, there has been some emergence of endangered flora and fauna

Question 11

TYPES OF MIGRATION

Answer 11

Voluntary

• Migrant makes the decision to move
• Push and pull factors determine whom and where

Forced migration

• Mover has no role in the decision making process
• Slavery or internment: 11 million African slaves were brought to the Americas between 1519 and 1867.
• Refugees
• Military conscription (state-mandated military enlistment)
• Children of migrants

Question 12

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON? (IDPs)

Answer 12

Involuntary character of movement: Forced to leave their homes but remain within their country’s borders.
- typically deemed homeless, searching for somewhere to reside

Avoid armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters.

Examples:
Families caught between warring parties and having to flee their homes under relentless bombardments or the threat of armed attacks, whose own governments may be responsible for displacing them.

Residents of poor neighborhoods rendered unsafe and uninhabitable, at least temporarily, by the impacts of weather-related, geophysical or technological hazards.

Indigenous communities forced from their ancestral lands to make way for the construction of dams and other infrastructure projects.

Families pushed to leave their homes by harassment of local criminal gangs.

Rural communities whose livelihoods are decimated by drought and unable to feed their families and forced to seek external help elsewhere.

Communities from coastal, mountainous or arid areas whose land and livelihoods are irrevocably lost because of gradual environmental degradation linked to the impacts of climate change.

Question 13

IMPACTS OF CONFLICT IN SOUTH SUDAN

Answer 13

Civil war between 2013 and 2018 (2018 power sharing agreement).

400,000 people killed

4 million people displaced.

1. 8 million IDPs
2. 5 million refugees (predominantly Uganda and Sudan).

6 million people facing starvation.

Attacks on civilian centres, child soldiers (17,000 children), ethnic cleansing, sexual violence.

February 2020: Kiir and Machar developed a unity deal to form a coalition government.

Destabilisation and tension between multiple parties remains with deaths being recorded in 2021 and 2022.

Third largest refugee crises.

60% refugees are children.

Question 14

AID AND SUPPORT TO SOUTH SUDAN?

Answer 14

Country relies heavily upon external funding

Estimated need approx. $1.8 billion yearly.

UK government proposed 59% cuts to South Sudan due to overseas development budget.

UN has had a strong position within South Sudan since civil war began

• should be critical of the aid/involvement of some of the international agencies (despite good intentions, might have negative impact on communities) –> A LOT OF INFO TAKEN FROM IDPs (E.G. NAME, AGE, ADDRESS ETC), CAN MAKE THEM MORE VULNERABLE/EXPOSED
• more TRANSPERANCY needed about what the collected data is used for!!!!!!!!!!!!

Question 15

TOP 10 DONORS FOR SOUTH SUDAN

Answer 15

• US
• UK
• GERMANY
• UNICEF
• EU INSTITUTIONS
• NORWAY
• NETHERLANDS
• INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
• CANADA
• SWEDEN

Question 16

HOW CAN PERSONAL DATA TAKEN FROM IDPs HAVE UNINTENDED NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON COMMUNITIES?

Answer 16

Data leak in 2021. (500 000 AFFECTED INDIVIDUALS IN SOUTH SUDAN)

Vulnerable communities and individuals FURTHER exposed within affected populations.

Trafficking in Persons: forced recruitment; forced marriage; domestic servitude and sexual exploitation; other forms of violence and; labour exploitation.

• Forced recruitment into armed forces or armed groups: some adults are forcibly recruited into armed forces and groups, which also recruit children into combat and non-combat roles. Women and girls are recruited as well, particularly for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
• Forced marriage: women and girls are abducted and forcibly married in exchange for a bride price – at times without the prior knowledge of the victim or parents. After being forcibly married, the victim may be subjected to domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
• Domestic servitude and sexual exploitation: women and children are deceived into migrating to pursue employment or education, only to be forced into domestic servitude or sexually exploited.
• Labour exploitation: South Sudanese and foreign nationals are deceived into accepting coercive employment in the hospitality, entertainment and construction sectors. Children are abducted for the purposes of working in the community, where they have limited means to refuse work and may be restricted from accessing education. Children are also forced to beg by parents or other adults, while both men and boys are forced to mine gold or traffic cannabis.

Vulnerability factors dictate susceptibility (sex, age, gender, nationality).

Question 17

Trafficking in Persons Report

Answer 17

The Trafficking in Persons Report, or the TIP Report, is an annual report issued by the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. It ranks governments based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking.

• reported that 79% of human trafficking involves sexual exploitation

Question 18

EXTREME EVENTS ARE HIGHLY CONTEXT SPECIFIC, EXPLAIN

Answer 18

• EXTREME EVENTS WILL HAVE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, CITIES AND COMMUNITIES (DEPENDING ON RESILIENCE STRATEGIES, INFRASTRUCTURE ETC.), E.G. A FLOOD IN SOUTH SUDAN AND NETHERLANDS WON’T HAVE THE SAME IMPACT
• VITAL TO HAVE HOLISTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF IMPACT OF ANY EXTREME EVENTS TO ALLOW APPROPRIATE REPOSNSE (ACKNOWLEDGE THAT DIFFERENT POPULATIONS AND GROUPS WON’T BE AFFECTED EQUALLY)

Question 19

PRE-PLANNING PRIOR TO AN EXTREME EVENT: MEASURING CITY RESILIENCE TO A PARTICULAR RISK/HAZARD

Answer 19

• CONSIDER 4 MAIN PILLARS OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: ECONOMY, SOCIETY, GOVERNANCE, ENVIRONMENT
• ECONOMY: BUDGET FOR EMERGENCY AID, RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT, EMERGENCY INFRASTRUCTURE (E.G. BUNKERS ETC), GDP GROWTH RATE, START UPS AND BUSINESS, AGE AND GENDER OF EMPLOYED AND WORKING POPULATION
• SOCIETY: RATES OF HOMELESSNESS, POVERTY LEVELS, CRIME LEVELS, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, ACCESSIBILITY TO DIFFERENT SERVICES (20 MINUTE NEIGHBOURHOOD), MIGRATION AGE AND GENDER
• GOVERNANCE: POPULARITY OF THE GOVERNMENT, TRUST IN THE GOVERNMENT, COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS, AID ORGANISATIONS, CHARITIES, REVENUES BY SOURCES, PUBLIC SECTOR OFFICIALS, SUB-NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS
• ENVIRONMENT: ACCESSIBLE GREEN SPACES, POPULATION DENSITY, % BUILT UP AREAS, % CITIZENS NEAR OPEN SPACE, % NEW DEVELOPMENT, % BROWNFIELD SITES

Question 20

20 MINUTE NEIGHBOURHOOD

Answer 20

‘20 minute neighbourhoods’ are places that are designed so residents can meet their day-to-day needs within a 20 minute walk of their home; through access to safe walking and cycling routes, or by public transport