Natural Hazard Case Study's Flashcards
Haiti 2010 Earthquake case study
MAIN INFOMATION:
Location - where the Caribbean and North America plates meet
Plate boundary - Conservative
Discovery - 2008 scientists found plates where jammed , 12th Jan 2010 stress was released
Magnitude - 7
Epicentre - 24 km south west of capital (Port-au-Prince)
Focus - shallow focus of 13km
PRIMARY IMPACTS:
deaths - 230,000
homes damaged - 180,000
homeless - 1.5 mil
evacuated people - 600,000
schools damaged -5,000
SECONDARY IMPACTS:
Aftershock magnitude - 6.1
Destruction of main prison
Cholera killed - 1,500
year later how many homeless - 1.5 mil
SHORT TERM RESPONCES:
rescue efforts struggled in dense urban environment
US troops took control of airport for aid
16,000 troops and police restore order
water and food provided in aid
emergency surgeries established
shelter for 1.5 mil in over 1,100 camps
LONG TERM RESPONCES:
received 11.5 billion for reconstruction
farming re encouraged for self sufficiency
follow up care for mental health
buildings rebuilt with new life saving codes
Economic activities moved to less earthquake prone areas
Cyclone Nargis 2008 case study
MAIN INFOMATION:
where - formed in bay of Bengal, hit coast of Myanmar
when - last week of April formed , hit May 2nd
category - 4 cyclone
wind speeds - 215Km/h
storm surge - 5m sea level rise + 2m on top for waves so 7m total
land flooded - 14,000 Km2 (most land just above sea level)
SOCIAL IMPACTS:
Dead - 140,000
houses destroyed - 450,000
without shelter - 2.5 mil
fresh water sources now with salt - 43%
ECONOMIC IMPACTS:
Agricultural land damaged - 6,000 Km2
food stores destroyed - 40%
total cost - US $4 billion
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS:
mangrove forest destroyed - 380km 2
flooding caused salinization of land
WHY MYANMAR WASN’T PREPARED:
no hurricane monitoring centre
Warning came out to public 48h before it hit
didn’t warn its severity
no plans for what to do in this situation
government initial refused foreign aid, Myanmar military seized some aid, 2 weeks later aid workers where finally let in, in which this delay caused more deaths.
Storm hazard case study: Hurricane Katrina- USA, 2005
Category 3 hurricane
29th August
Hit south east USA
formed over Bahamas
went north west and strengthened over warm water in gulf of mexico
winds of 200 km/h
200-250 mm of rainfall in lousiana
storm surge of up to 8.5m in mississippi
80% of new orleans flooded due to 50 levees broken by the storm surge
high winds, storm surge and flooding
social impacts:
- 1836 people dead
- 300,000 houses destroyed
- hundreds of thousands of people homeless
- 3 million people left without electricity
- main routes into new orleans blocked off because i-10 bridge collapse
- water supplies polluted by sewage and chemicals
- 5 people dead from use of contaminated water
- 18 schools destroyed in new orleans
- 74 damaged- disruption to education
economic impacts:
- 230,000 jobs lost from damage to business
- industry disrupted
- 30 oil platform in gulf of mexico damaged or destroyed
- ports like Gulfport in mississippi damaged affecting shipping industry
- 5300 km2 of forest destroyed in mississippi
- causing loss of income~ $5 billion for logging
- total cost of damage around $300 billion
environmental impacts:
- coastal habitats (e.g sea turtle breeding beaches) damaged
- some coastal conservation areas were destroyed (e.g Breton national wildlife refuge in louisiana)
- flooding damaged oil refineries in louisiana causing oil spills
- flooding on salt marsh led to habitat loss
there was effective warning systems put in place which helped USA respond quickly
USA has monitoring systems to predict (if and where) hurricanes will hit
26th august national hurricane centre (nhc) in florida issued a hurricane warning for louisiana, mississippi and alabama
nhc continued to monitor and track hurricane and update government
helped federal emergency management agency (fema) and other organisations to start preparing. for example:
- US coast guard positioned helicopters and boast around areas likely to be affected
- FEMA organised teams and supplies (e.g mortuary teams and refrigerated trucks to deal with dead bodies)
- some areas, including new orleans residents were evacuated before storm hit
- after the hurricane, emergency shelters were set up for people who hadnt evacuated ( e.g louisiana superdome in new orleans sheltered 26,000 people during hurricane
- coastguard, police, fire service and army rescued over 50,000 people after hurricane
- organisations sent search and rescue teams, medical teams and supplies into areas hurricane hit
- charities collected over $4 billion in donations from public to provide aid (e.g food)
Seismic hazard case study: Japan, Tohuku- 2011
japan is found between sea of japan and the pacific ocean. found in east asia
sits on and near the plate boundaries of pacific, north american, eurasian and filipino plates
there was a magnitude 9 earthquake under pacific ocean
400-500km of north american plate being subducted under pacific plate
because of earthquake plate slipped upwards by 5 and 10 meters causing massive water displacement
this resulted in a tsunami
japans tsunami warning system alerted the people along 3000km stretch of coastline but some had only minutes to leave
first wave hit 30 mins after earthquake
10 waves about 1km apart when they reached shallower water, they piled up and reached 10m in height
went over tsunami defence wall and surged up to 10km inland
primary effects:
- ground shaking- building collapse. some set on fire because of broken gas and petrol pipes
- tsunami swept inland, along north-east coast, caused devastation to everything in its path (boats, vehicles, trees, buildings, etc)
- flooded area around 500 square km
- when water receded whole cities left ruined
- in tokyo, skyscrapers where shaking but earthquake-proof design meant damage was limited
- in ichihara, a commuter town of tokyo, oil refinery set on fire because fuel tanks exploded
- in sendai, areas near the sea were badly damaged but in the city not much damage occurred at all
- rizukentakata almost completely submerged and almost totally destroyed
- in minami-sanriku half of the population of 170,000 died, few buildings left standing
secondary effects:
- half a million homless. for weeks, 150,000 people lived in tempory shelters
- over 1 million homes left without running water and almost 6 million homes lost electricity supply
- shortage of food, water, petrol and medical supplies
- 2 weeks after quake, more that 700 after shocks, concern for further damage
- explosions and radiation leaks at fukushima diichi nuclear power plant in days after earthquake and spread fear worldwide
- earthquake served power supply to cooling system: tsunami then destroyed the back-up generators. workers struggled to prevent a meltdown
- fears of a nuclear disaster caused panic- selling across global stock markets
immediate responses:
- in freezing temperatures, survivors huddled in shelters and hoarded supplies
-rescue workers searched mangled coastline
- helicopter crew plucked survivors from rooftops and flooded farmland
- 100,000 soldiers were mobilised to establish order, organise rescue work and distribute blankets, bottled water, food and petrol
- offers of aid came in from countries like USA and china
- UK sent 63 search and rescue specialists, 2 rescue dogs and a medical support team. people rescued after several days being trapped
- exclusion set up around fukushima power plant. homes evacuated and iodine tablets to prevent radiation sickness were distributed
- fukushima explosions prompted a government order shutdown of the majority of japanese nuclear power plants
- no reports of looting or violence
long term responses:
- coped well with earthquake but showed tsunami defences were inadequate against height and strength of wave. future plans must consider if these are built to defend coast well against high magnitude, low frequency events
- 2013, japan reviled new and upgraded tsunami warning systems because lots of people underestimated their risk or thought tsunami would be small like the others they have experienced
- japanese government set up a body called reconstruction design council to plan long term growth along tokoku region. special zones for reconstruction were designated with relaxed planning regulations to encourage rapid rebuild and tax incentives offered to promote new investment in industry and commerce
- prior to 2011, nuclear power provided to 30% of japans electricity- shortfall met through increasing its dependence on fossil fuels, in particular oil and gas. court orders brought about anti-nuclear groups have meant that it was only in 2016 that reactors were issued licenses to restart
- following chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 number of thyroid cases increased after 4 years/5 years had passed. some are of the opinion that because of fukushima disaster, similar increase of thyroid cancer may occur
- 5 years after fukushima explosions, 100,000 residents still have not returned. subject to radiation tests, national governement aimed to withdraw evacuation orders by 2017
- radioactive rubble and refuse still awaiting permanent disposal. no japanese prefecture prepared to accept it
- total damage of earthquake and tsunami are estimated at US $300 billion. most costly natural disaster ever. japan was already most in dept country in the industrial world and repair bill meant more government borrowing
wildfire caste study : California 2018
Key Statistics:
-8th November
-Town effected = Paradise 40,000 people
-Over 50,000 fled for their lives
-Fire travelled at 80 football pitches per minute
-Within 4 hours the whole of Paradise was destroyed
-30,000 homes lost
-85 died
-Wind was 45 mph
-There was a red fire warning in effect due to conditions
-Burned a total of 153,000 acres
-Caused by PG&E powerline breaking
Timings of events:
-6:44 (AM) fire first seen/ reported, difficult to access as its down an impossible dirt track. Recommended it to be put out by air but it was to windy.
-7:10 around 300 acres on fire, heading to Concow (home to 700 people)
-7:21 Paradise was told it was not at risk, even after reports of fire ashes falling on parts of Paradise
-7:45 Fire crossed canyon and now at the edge of Paradise , East side of Paradise evacuated
-8:02 Mandatory evacuations for whole of Paradise
as fire established in East side
Traffic created by evacuation causes gridlock
-12:00 whole of Paradise is burned and the fire can be seen from space
Other information:
-Firefighters prioritised saving people over stopping the fire
-Calfire didn’t think Paradise was under threat so didn’t warn them initially.
-Fires never usually cross the canyon and into Paradise
-When hospital was evacuated , nurses used their own cars to transport patients away
-Smoke became so thick that it blocked the sun and it looked like night
-Winds blew embers and fires sideways not upwards so it travelled faster
-Paradise did have an evacuation plan
-Roads out of Paradise where limited
Advice had been given to widen roads for faster evacuation but Paradise didn’t have the money and thought for it being used once or twice it wasn’t worth it
What Case Study is multi-hazardous
-Haiti
-Local case study is capital Port-au-Prince
-6th most at risk location in the World
Effected by:
-Earthquakes, liquefaction, tsunamis
-Hurricanes, flooding, landslides
