tectonics

Question 1

Mt Pinatubo eruption 1991

Answer 1

• Philippines
• VEI of 6 (high)
• lowered global temps by 0.5 between 1991 and 1993
• 847 killed= 300 from collapsing buildings, 100 from lahars
• 1.2 million lost their homes
• United States Geological Survey accurately predicted timing of eruption= 75,000 evacuated
• land use zoning meant that most of the pyroclastic flows went away from the populated areas
• dams were built to control destructive lahars that followed the eruptions
• USGS still helps to monitor 24 of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines
• shanty style housing just reconstructed instead of building more resistant housing

Question 2

Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull eruption 2010 (developed country)

Answer 2

• HILP event
• mega disaster
• constructive plate margin
• VEI of 4
• no deaths
• 500 farmers and their families had to be evacuated from the area around the volcano
• plenty of warning signs
• local population had to be evacuated due to respiratory threats from the ash
• loss of income through fresh fish imports
• disruption to air travel affecting 10 million passengers
• jokulhaups

Question 3

Sichuan earthquake 2008

Answer 3

• magnitude 7.9
• 70,000 deaths
• 5 million made homeless (highest record homeless count from a disaster in history)
• corrupt local government officials often ignored building codes
• school buildings collapsed, killing over 5000 children, while nearby government buildings remained standing
• landslides
• strong central government responded quickly
• within hours 130,000 relief workers and soldiers were sent to affected areas
• government pledged $10 billion for rebuilding works
• Chinese banks wrote of the debts of any survivors who didn’t have insurance

Question 4

Haiti earthquake 2010

Answer 4

• HILP event
• magnitude 7.0 on Richter scale
• intensity level 9 on Mercalli scale
• deaths: primary= 200,000 , cholera= 6,900
• destroyed 60% of Port Au Prince
• fault had been locked for 250 years
• lies on two conservative strike-slip margins
• high vulnerability= physical location, poor living conditions, slums and shanty towns, no building codes, long history of unstable corrupt governments
• response= UN response took 3 months, UN aid led to spread of cholera, whole $10mil sent in aid spent on Presidents mansion, WB cancelled half of Haiti’s debt and gave them 5 years before they had to start repaying the other half, only 1 delivery of safe drinking water per week

Question 5

New Zealand Christchurch earthquake 2010

Answer 5

• 2010= 7.0 mms, no deaths
• 2011= aftershock from previous earthquake, 6.3 magnitude, 180 deaths
• low vulnerability= very good living conditions, very good governance
• response= Australia came in to help within 3 hours of disaster happening
• build back better= rubber dampeners put onto grade listed buildings and bridges

Question 6

Japan earthquake + tsunami 2011

Answer 6

• HILP event
• Mega Disaster
• 9.0 magnitude earthquake under the Pacific ocean
• over 15,000 deaths
• over 300,000 buildings destroyed
• tsunami waves over 40m high
• blackouts= over 4.4mil households left without power
• 7 reactors at Fukushima experienced a meltdown
• prediction of tsunami was 3 mins after earthquake giving people 20 mins to get to safety
• received help from US military
• planting mangrove trees

Question 7

Indian Ocean tsunami 2004 (boxing day tsunami)

Answer 7

• HILP event
• mega disaster
• destructive plate boundary
• magnitude 9.2
• 24m tsunami height
• killed a total of 250,000 people in 14 different countries
• tsunami also caused diseases such as dysentery and cholera to spread due to lack of clean water and sanitation in refugee camps killing an estimate of 150,000 people
• short term responses= bodies buried in mass graves to avoid spread of diseases, over $7bn provided by governments and NGOs in aid, 5 million people relocated into temporary refugee camps
• long term responses= tsunami early warning system costing $20mil installed in Indian Ocean

Question 8

Philippines MHZ

Answer 8

• population= 116million
• convergent/ destructive plate boundary between Eurasian plate and Philippine plate
• emerging country MIC
• northern and eastern coasts face Pacific ocean which is the worlds most tsunami prone ocean
• lies within south-east Asia’s major typhoon belts
• rapid urbanisation and population growth
• 255 of population live in poverty
• lots of people living in coastal areas
• suffer most from storms and typhoons