Natural Hazards Flashcards
Describe the following terms and state their effects: heavy rain, strong winds and tidal surge.
Heavy rain is a surge in rainfall. Makes terrain harder to mobolise due to it being slippery (contact on soil creates mud). Strong winds ceases objects in flight - cause of property damage. Finally, tidal surge is a rising frequency of sea waves and power, resulting in a flood.
How would you prepare amendments to mitigate a wildfire in an MEDC?
Firefighters (emergency services), volunteer groups clearing dry leaves, advertisment and educating the public on where to set campfires.
Give an example of an international effect from a wildfire. Use a case study and your own knowledge.
In Russia, Khakassia, an intentional wildfire that should clear land, had a surge of dry winds that spun it out of control. Because Russia is one of the worlds biggest sources for wheat and barley, 80 Pubs are closed down in the UK and food shortages in Mosambique lead to riots from the masses.
Comapre the preperations to mitigate the damages of a tropical storm, from an LEDC, to an MEDC.
LEDC:
- Educating the public on how to react to a tropical storm via ads, psoters or tuition.
- Reinforce housing just before the storm’s advent.
- Forecasting - usually from an MEDC.
MEDC:
(note that everything from an LEDC, applies to an MEDC, apart from reinforced housing)
- Higher grade housing that resist storms.
- Evacuation shelters.
- Emergency rescue services.
What are the primary and secondary efffects from a topical storm? Use your own knowledge and a casestudy.
Hurricane Mitch, inflicted America from the destruction of housing and people are evacuated in shelters. Resulting in many homeless people; the economy declines to recover these damages which will take years to rejuvinate.
Explain the Social, Economic and Enviormental effects from a wildfire. State a case study, whilst using your own knowledge.
People are left homeless from the ruin of housing, financially, the economy would bare a decline, as it takes years to recover from the desctruction of houses. Thesame is also true for the enviorment: the aftermath of a wildfire dries the soil of rural land, so it is unsuited to yield crops from the soil. Therefore, a dependace for crops will be more frequently exported from foreign countries.
What are Destructive and Collision plate boundaries?
Destructive: an oceanic plate sinks under a continental plate, producing heat due to friction. Lava surfaces from the ground, which succumbs to a volcano.
Collision: a boundary where of two crashing continental plates. Sediment rises, forming a mountain (no volcanoes).
Describe the requirements and locale that form tropical storms.
Sea bodies located closer to the either the tropics (of cancer and capricorn) or the equator. This is because of the heat.
Heat evaporatres the water, causing it to rise, condensing into rain clouds, in which the clouds water content falls back to the ocean. As this process repeats, the accumalated water is afflicted by high winds that form a turbulant spiral; as more winds keep surging, this then forms a tropical storm.
What are the primary and secondary effects of an Earthquake? Use a casestudy and your own knowledge.
In Haiti, an eathquake destroyed housing, which left people homeless and would take years to repair the ruin of houses. Roads also become damaged, likewise shipping goods on land become difficult, reducing the incoming supplies for homeless survivors of the earthquake. Water becomes contaminated, unsuited for drink; diesease becomes frequent.
Define a Conservative and Destructive plate boundary.
Constructive: two plates that move apart, therefore a gap allows lava to surface, which eventually form volcanoes. Lava can also form new land. Conservative: two plates that dont nessecarily collide, but they slide aganist one another - a cause of earthquakes.
What are the socio-economic effects of a volcanic eruption. Use a case study and your own knowledge
At Monsterrat, located at the Carribean, a volcanic eruption destroyed many homes and agricultural land. People had to evacuate into new settlements and the loss of farm land resulted in a defficient economy. Some evacuees decide to move in MEDC’s to find better work.
How do you reduce the impact of a tropical storm?
By forecasting a storm, preperations can be organised to reduce its effect. Emergency services ready to be deployed to recover lives, evacuation shelters to put people in a safe place from danger and adverts infmorming the public on how to react from the advent of a tropical storm.
List and describe human causes of wildfires. Include accidental and intentional.
Slash and burn method gone out of control, poorly set up campfires in places close to vegetation and cigarettes not properly unlit when discarded on rural ground.
Intentional: Using arson to make space for farmland.
State the natural causes of wildfires.
Lightning that ignites dry plantation, hot lava burning plants from a volcano and spontaneous heating - excessive plant material, causing high inner temperatures.
Explain the primary and secondary effects of a wildfire; use a casestudy and you own knowledge.
In California, a wildfire forced people to move at an evacuation shelter. Houses are burnt down, meaning that it would take years to rebuild. The fire causes dry soil, unfit for agriculture, therefore people are more dependant for goods to be shipped from foreign sources. Tourist attractions are also burnt and make California unsafe, therefore tourists have declined to come over.
