Tectonic Processes & Hazards - EQ2 - 1.4A&B Flashcards
Define Resilience and Capacity to Cope
- The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to adapt, absorb and recover e.g protect lives, livelihoods and infrastructure from destruction, and to restore areas after a natural hazard has occurred
Define adaptation
- changes to ways of doing things so future hazards have less impact
Define vulnerability
- The ability (or lack of) to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from a natural hazard
- It is based on the human geography of a community or area
What is the UN’s definition of a distatser
- A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts,
- which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources
Define hazard
- A threat (whether natural or human) that has the potential to cause loss of life, injury, property damage, socio-economic disruption or environmental degradation
Define risk
- The exposure of people to a hazardous event
- More specifically, it is the probability of a hazard occurring that leads to loss of lives and/or livelihoods
Who are CRED
The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
What do CRED define disasters as
- hazards become a disaster when:
- 10 or more people are killed, and/or
- 100 or more people are affected
A natural tectonic event that does not affect people in any way is not a ……….
hazard
describe the shift from hazard to diaster
- A natural tectonic event that does not affect people in any way is not a hazard
- As soon as an event disrupts normal daily home or work routines, then it becomes a hazard and the level of severity may increase to cause the destruction of property and death
- In a world that is considered to be overcrowded, it is now rare for a tectonic event not to become a hazard in some way
How are tectonic hazards profiled?
- DEGGS MODEL
- DISASTER RISK EQUATION
- PRESSURE RELEASE MODEL
- HAZARD PROFILES
How is vulnerability categorised?
- physical vulnerability - Physical location and time
- economic vulnerability - Cost of damage & loss of earnings (insurance)
- social vulnerability - Demography (population structure: elderly vs young)
- knowledge vulnerability - Education & literacy
- environmental vulnerability - Climate change/ sea level change / pollution already putting pressure on communities
What is a hazard profile
- a simple diagram that shows the main characteristics of different types of tectonic hazards
What do hazard profiles not tell you
- They tell you nothing about the impacts on people (vulnerability) or anything about the capacity to cope
What are hazard profiles developed for
- Hazard profiles are developed for each/multiple natural hazard and are based on various criteria such as frequency, duration and speed of onset
What are hazard profiles used for
- analyse and assess the physical characteristics of hazards which take place in contrasting locations or at different times
What are different things hazad profiles do
- compares the physical characteristics that all hazards share
- helps decision makers to identify
- rank the hazards that should be given the most attention and resources
Hazard risk involves…
- potential loss of life and injury, and destruction and damage to buildings and infrastructure in an area
What is the hazard risk equation
Risk (R) = Hazard (H) x Vulnerability (V) / Capacity to Cope (C)
What is meant by the term acceptable risk
- The perception of risk varies from place to place,
- so the term ‘acceptable risk’ can be used to define the toleration limits of a society to possible harm and damage
The greater the vulnerability and the lower the capacity to cope, the greater the risk to the …………………….
- The greater the vulnerability and the lower the capacity to cope, the greater the risk to the population, environment and economy
The greater the hazard magnitude and the lower the capacity to cope, the greater the risk of ……………
disaster
The hazard risk equation allows a…
- judgement to be made regarding an area’sresilience
Explain the utility of the hazard risk equation for how earthquakes can be similar in magnitude but have such different impacts
- Nepal (2015) earthquake and the New Zealand (2016) earthquake
- Almost 9,000 people died in Nepal whereas only 2 people died in New Zealand
What are factors affecting resilience
- the location of settlements
- people’s knowledge and understanding
- people’s ability to prepare, react to and withstand the effects of a hazard
- the presence of advance warning systems
- the involvement of local people in planning and preparation.
- Population density
- Size of hazard
Give examples of recovery
- stockpiling potential hazard essentials (food,water, medicines)
- resources for repairing and rebuilding
Give examples of adaptations
- identifying the risks of a potential hazard
- planning what to do before a hazard occurs
- implementing plans to for repairing
The pressure and release model takes into account the…
- socio-economic context of a hazard
What does the pressure and release model suggest
- The socio-economic context of a hazard is important
- In poor, badly governed (root causes) places with rapid change and low capacity (dynamic pressures) and low coping capacity (unsafe conditions), disasters are likely
- It show how root causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions combine with a natural hazard to create a disaster
What is the pressure model
- The pressure model demonstrates how there are a range of factors which increase vulnerability and why some areas lack resilience
Within the pressure and release model, there are:
- Root causes- related to resources, decision making and governance, these lead to dynamic pressures
- Dynamic pressuresrelate to education, urbanisation and population change which create unsafe conditions
- Unsafe conditions- poor quality housing and infrastructure, poverty
- These are then combined with the hazard itself to increase the risk
PAR model
What is the release model
- The release model demonstrates vulnerability can be reduced and resilience increased by addressing:
- Safety
- Reducing the pressures
- Addressing the root causes
- Hazard mitigation
- The release model demonstrates vulnerability can be reduced and resilience increased by addressing:
What is Degg’s model
- Venn diagram stating that a disaster is the intersection of a hazardous geophysical event, and a vulnerable population
PAR Model
Therefore, the number of people affected will increasece…
Therefore, the number of people affected will increase** the closer the factor is to the root
cause.**
Define physical vulnerability
- physical vulnerability concerns Physical location and time
- Individuals live in a hazard-prone area, with little protection
naturally or through mitigation.
- Individuals live in a hazard-prone area, with little protection
Define economic vulnerability
- economic vulnerability - Cost of damage & loss of earnings (insurance)
- People risk losing their employment, wealth or assets
during a hazard. MEDCs tend to be more economically vulnerable than LEDCs
Define social vulnerability
- social vulnerability - Demography (population structure: elderly vs young)
- Communities are unable to support their disadvantaged or
most vulnerable, leaving them at risk to hazards
Define knowledge vulnerability
- knowledge vulnerability - Education & literacy
- Individuals lack training or warning to know the risks of a
hazard or how to safely evacuate. - Alternatively, religion and beliefs may limit their understanding of hazards; hazards are an act of God, so individuals don’t mitigate or
evacuate (known as fatalist belief).
Define environmental vulnerability
- environmental vulnerability - Climate change/ sea level change / pollution already putting pressure on communities
- A community’s risk to a hazard is increased due to
high population density in the area
The Pressure & Release Model suggests that a series of ………………… vulnerability
factors leads to a population’s
What are common examples of root causes that can affect the vulnerability of a society in the PAR model
- Weak Governance
- Mismanagement by Industry, NGOs or IGOs
- High reliance on products easily affected by hazards (local agriculture near to the hazard, imports by airduring a volcanic eruption)
What are common examples of dynamic pressures that can affect the vulnerability of a society in the PAR model
- lack of training/knowledge in locals.
- rapid urbanisation
- poor communication between government and locals
- natural environment degraded (mangroves removed, rivers &
channels filled with debris) - lack of basic services (health, education, police)
What are common examples of unsafe living conditions that can affect the vulnerability of a society in the PAR model
- lack of infrastructure (clean water, sewage removal, electricity)
- dangerous location of settlements (close to nuclear stations or the natural hazard itself)
- no warning system for locals
What are limitations of the PAR model
- doesn’t look at impacts –> only lists vulnerability
- it only tells you aboubt 1 disatser event so you need multiple models to make comparisons
