Natural Hazards Flashcards
Hazards
Hazard - A potential threat to human life and property caused by an event
How natural hazards are categorised:
- Geophysical - hazards caused by the movement of the earth e.g. earthquakes, volcanoes & landslides
- Atmospheric - weather related hazards e.g. tropical storms and droughts
- Hydrological - water related hazards e.g. floods and avalanches
Hazard perception
Hazard perception
- People have different perceptions of how dangerous hazards are and what risk they pose
- Wealth - The financial situation of a person will affect how they perceive hazards. Wealthier people may perceive a hazard to be smaller as they are less vulnerable e.g. can easily relocate. However, wealthier people may also view a risk as greater as there is more risk of property damage and financial loss than someone less wealthy (dependent on the person)
- Past experience - If people have experienced hazards before, it will influence their perception of future hazards e.g. if past experience was bad then perception of hazard is worse than if experience was relatively okay
- Education - People with more education may have a better understanding of hazards —> may feel more confident in mitigating the risks as they have more knowledge —> lead to a lower perception of risk. However, people who are less educated may not understand the full extent of a hazard and may not evacuate etc —> low perception of risk
- Religion - Some may view hazards as ‘Gods plan’ so may not perceive them to be negative
- Mobility - Those who have limited access to escape a hazard may perceive hazards to be greater threats than they are e.g. they may live in a secluded location (far from help or emergency services), or they may be have a disability or illness —> those who cannot easily leave an area quickly may feel more at risk
Human responses to hazards
Human responses to hazards:
- Humans can respond to hazards in a passive way (making no efforts to lessen a hazard) or in an active way
Fatalism (passive):
- The viewpoint that hazards are uncontrollable natural events, and any losses should be accepted as there is nothing that can be done to stop them
- Some communities say that it’s apart of ‘Gods plan’ —> they believe that it is meant to happen and that they shouldn’t do anything to stop it
Prediction (active):
* Using scientific research and past events in order to know when a hazard will take place —> allows warnings to be given in advance, helping to reduce the impact of the hazard
* Prediction is more likely in developed counties due to the availability of technology and qualified experts who can give more reliable forecasts
Adaptation (active):
* Attempting to live with hazards by adjusting lifestyle choices (e.g. earthquake proof housing and practising earthquake drills)
Mitigation (active):
* Strategies carried out to reduce the risk and impact of hazards (e.g. sandbags to offset the impact of flooding)
Management (active):
- Includes prediction, adaptation and mitigation
- Typically better organised in developed countries due to greater resources
Risk sharing (active):
- Working together to reduce the risk and sharing the costs of hazard response e.g. buying home insurance —> only some people need to claim but the cost is shared by everyone
What affects how well a place can handle natural hazards?
Incidence:
* Incidence - how often a hazard occurs (also known as frequency)
* The more often a hazard occurs, the more likely that people will be educated and prepared
Distribution:
- Distribution - where hazards occur geographically
- In more hazardous locations, people are more prepared for hazard events because they invest significant time and money to protect themselves e.g. Japan has invested in earthquake-resistant buildings and earthquake drills
Intensity and magnitude:
- Intensity and magnitude - the size and strength of a hazard
- High magnitude, high intensity hazards will have worse effects —> require more management
Level of development:
- An area with a lower level of development is less likely to have effective mitigation strategies as these are costly —> effects of a hazardous event is likely to be much more catastrophic in a less economically developed area// More developed countries are more likely to have mitigation and adaptation strategies in place and will be better prepared to respond to the hazard effectively
Hazard models
The Park Model (also known as the disaster response curve):
- Shows the effects of a hazard on quality of life over a period of time
- Pre-disaster - before the event, the situation is normal
- Disruption - after the hazard occurs - the quality of life drops (duration of the drop depends on the severity of the hazard and the level of development of the country)
- Relief (hours to days) – the immediate response including search and rescue, provision of emergency medical assistance and aid
- Rehabilitation (days to weeks) — once the immediate impacts are under control, temporary restoration of services and infrastructure e.g. temporary schools and shelters are set up —> quality of life starts to improve
- Reconstruction (weeks to years) - this involves rebuilding permanent houses, infrastructure etc. This results in one of two outcomes —> If buildings etc are built to the same standard as before, the area returns to normal// If buildings etc are built to a higher standard than before, the area improves
The Hazard Management Cycle:
- Outlines the 4 stages of responding to events
- Preparedness - being ready for an event to occur e.g. making sure there are warning systems in place or educating people about how to evacuate safely
- Response - immediate action taken after event e.g. emergency services rescuing people who have been trapped
- Recovery - this is about getting the affected area back to normal —> long term responses e.g. reconstruction
- Mitigation - strategies aimed to minimise the impacts of future disasters e.g. building flood defences, building earthquake proof buildings
Typhoon Haiyan Case Study
- 8th November 2013 in the Philippines —> Category 5 storm —> one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, with wind speeds up to 300km per hour
- After crossing the Philippines, Haiyan continued westward towards South East Asia
Vulnerability:
- Many filipinos moved from the countryside to cities such as Tacloban —> moved for better opportunities etc —> lead to overcrowded residential areas —> many people built poorly constructed housing near the sea which meant that they were more vulnerable to storm surges and flooding// others built their houses on steep hillsides —> more vulnerable to tropical storms —> landslides were caused which killed even more people
- A significant amount of people in the Philippines are poor —> more vulnerable as homes are poorly constructed —> cannot withstand the forces of the storm
Primary effects:
- 6,300 deaths
- 1,000,000 homes damaged
- 90% of city of Tacloban destroyed
- 30,000 fishing boats destroyed
Secondary effects:
- Flooding caused landslides —> landslides blocked roads which made relief work almost impossible apart from air
- 6 million lost jobs —> desperate for food etc —> looting and violence broke out
- Ferry services and flights were disrupted for weeks —> slowed down aid efforts and caused even more deaths
- Outbreaks of disease due to poor sanitation —> caused even more deaths
Immediate responses:
- 1200 evacuation shelters were set up (weaknesses: they were often overcrowded and under-equipped)
- The UK provided Shelter Boxes which provided equipment to set up temporary housing (weaknesses: these houses were often not durable or sustainable for long-term habitation —> while they addressed short-term housing needs, they did not provide a permanent solution)
- The Philippines Red Cross delivered basic food packages (weaknesses: while basic food packages addressed urgent needs, they were not a long-term solution to food insecurity —> can’t depend on external aid forever)
Long term responses:
- Charities like Oxfam helped to replace fishing boats which is a crucial source of income for many citizens (weaknesses: while organizations like Oxfam were able to replace many boats, the high cost meant that not every fisherman who lost their boat received a replacement —> left many people unable to earn money for months and years after the event)
- ‘Cash for Work’ programmes paid people to clean up debris (weaknesses: these programmes were temporary, meaning that once the cleanup was completed, many people were left without sustainable job opportunities)
- Rebuilding homes —> some areas focused on building typhoon resistant homes (weaknesses: not all areas were able to implement these typhoon-resistant homes, often due to lack of funding// due to lack of land availability —> some areas still rebuilt houses in hazardous locations)
