Tectonic Processes and Hazards EQ3 Flashcards
What do the overall longer term natural hazard trends show?
total number of recorded hazards has increased over past 50 years
number of reported disasters seems to be falling
number of deaths lower than in recent past, but there are spikes with mega events
economic costs increase significantly since 1960
number of people affected is increasing for some hazard and disaster types
Why are disaster statistics controversial?
depends on whether direct or indirect deaths from subsequent hazards/associated diseases are counted
local or regional events in remote places often under-recorded
declaration of disaster deaths and casualties may be subject to political bias
statistics on major disasters hard to collect, particularly in LICs
time trend analysis is difficult
What is a mega disaster?
A high magnitude, high impact, infrequent disaster, characterised by impacts extending beyond the country immediately affected
What are the key characteristics of tectonic mega-disasters?
large scale disaster (either spatially or in terms of human/economic impact)
due to scale, pose serious problems for effective management
scale of impact means communities but usually government as well, require international support in immediate aftermath as well as longer term recovery
What is a HILP event?
A high impact, low probability event
What are the consequences of HILP events?
Impacts spread rapidly across both economic and geographic boundaries leading to other impacts which are difficult to plan for
What is a multiple hazard zone?
A place where a number of physical hazards combine to create an increased level of risk for the country and it’s population. Often made worse by vulnerable population or if area suffers repeated events
What is a disaster hotspot?
A country or area that is extremely disaster prone for a number of reasons
What are the characterstics of a hazard hotspot?
Intersection of tectonic and hydro-meterological hazards and vulnerability, leading to a hotspot which is likely to be where plate boundaries intersect with major storm belts in areas of high human concentration in low or medium developed countries
Why are large urban areas often zones of multiple hazard risk?
economic cores
centres of growing population due to rapid urbanisation
many countries have huge areas of unplanned, poor quality housing where the growing numbers of urban poor live - located on marginal land
Can scientists forecast earthquakes?
Earthquake risk can be forecast since it is based on a statistical liklihood of an event occurring at a particular location
Can earthquakes be predicted?
Currently, it is not possible to make accurate predictions of when and where earthquakes will happen. For this to happen, it would be necessary to identify a diagnostic precursor - a characteristic pattern of seismic activity or another change that indicated the onset of an earthquake
What are the 4 stages in the hazard management cycle?
Response
Recovery
Mitigation
Preparedness
What are the 4 stages of Park’s Model?
pre - disaster
relief
rehabilitation
reconstruction
What does Park’s disaster response curve demonstrate?
It can be used as a framework to better understand the time dimensions of resilience, from when a hazard strikes to when a place or community returns to ‘normal’ operation
