♡ Tectonics Case Studies Flashcards
♡ What are some hazard mitigation strategies?
♡ Land-use Zoning:
Process where local government planners regulate how land in a community may be used, in areas with volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, this strategy can be useful to protect people and their livelihoods
The areas at risk are divided into zones based on level of damage from an eruption ( ex. Mount Taranaki in New Zealand )
Land-use planners use hazard maps to find uses of the land, as well as determining evacuation routes
Advantages: Lost cost, removes people from high risk areas
Disadvantages: Prevents economic development on some high-value land, requires strict planning rules
♡ GIS Mapping:
Used to identify potential evacuation routes for areas affected by earthquakes, location and rough population of major towns and cities, locations of airstrips and airports
Helps aid agencies to identify areas most affected by earthquakes
Ex. helped Haiti 2010 and Nepal
♡ What are hazard adaptation strategies?
♡ Crisis Mapping
♡ 2010 Haiti Earthquake - Lack of good infrastructure and communication systems hampered rescue and aid efforts. Members of Ushahidi set up a map site for Haiti, and local people began providing information, such as where people were trapped under rubble ( or where food and water was needed ) via social media sites and text messages. These locations were then plotted onto maps by volunteers, which were then used by rescue and aid workers to decide where to direct resources.
♡ 2015 Nepal Earthquake
Volunteers riding bicycles with GPS trackers went around remote villages mapping them out and taking data about the number of residents and quality of buildings.
Information is now being used to help build up a picture of the vulnerability of these communities and will eventually provide the basis for projects to improve their infrastructure and disaster preparedness
♡ Community Preparedness and Adaptation
♡ People actually living in a community at risk are often best placed to develop suitable preparedness plans and educate local residents, especially in lower-income countries.
♡ Local knowledge is also important, as during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami the elders of Thailand’s Moken tribe noticed unusual movements in the Bay of Bengal, and ordered villagers to run to the hilltops, and due to this only 1 out of 200 died. Some communities have committees formed to coordinate efforts.
♡ Create a list of vulnerable people, such as the elderly
♡ Practice evacuation drills
First-aid courses
♡ Advantages: Low cost, implemented by NGOs, save lives
♡ Disadvantages: Doesn’t prevent property damage, harder to implement in rural areas, high population densities prevent it , disrupts traditions
♡ What impacts vulnerability and resilience?
♡ UNPREDICTABILITY:
Not always predictable when or where an event will take place. Also difficult to know the likely magnitude of the event.
Human activity and physical changes also mean that for example sea level is rising giving a greater chance of lowlands flooding. Moreover deforestation of drainage basins increase the frequency and magnitude of flooding.
♡ LACK OF ALTERNATIVES:
Difficult to uproot and move to another location giving up homes, land and employment. Often the world’s most vulnerable are the poor who are forced to live on unsafe floodplains or steep hillsides.
♡ CHANGING LEVELS OF RISK:
Deforestation can make an area once safe from flooding more susceptible. As can the effects of global warming eg sea level rise
♡ RUSSIAN ROULETTE:
Optimism, turning a ‘blind eye’, ‘acts of god’, part of the living process. People are comforted by the statistics which show that the risk of death is lower than that from influenza or car accidents. They also believe that if a high magnitude event occurs then it may be safe for a few years, this is not always true.
♡ COST V. BENEFIT:
Many hazardous areas offer advantages that in people’s minds outweigh the risk. Flood plains for example have very fertile soils and rich volcanic soils are also attractive.
♡ What increases resilience and what decreases it?
♡ Increases:
Positive attitude of people
Pre-planning
Wealth of a nation
Emergency procedures
Good communications
Healthcare available
♡ Decreases
Lack of revenue
Low Doctor-Patient Ratio
Large-scale rural-urban migration
Unequal trade agreements
♡ What is the Pressure and Release model?
♡ Suggests what should be tackled in order to reduce the risk of a disaster, such as root causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe living conditions.
♡ What is Degg’s model?
♡ Shows that a natural disaster can only occur if it is in contact with a vulnerable population
♡ What are some secondary hazards of Volcanoes?
♡ Pyroclastic Flows: Dense cloud that flows down the side of a steep composite volcano
♡ Gases: Shield volcano, can cause climate change and breathing problems
♡ Lahar: Composite, snow melt and lakes on top of volcanoes mix with ash to create a concrete-like mudflow burying everything in its path
♡ Ash Clouds/Tephra: Composite, enermous clouds of ash can bury crops, contaminate water sources and cause transport issues
♡ Lava flows: Composite/Shield, Shield volcanoes flow faster since they are more viscous
♡ What are some secondary hazards of earthquakes?
♡ Liquefaction: Shaking that occurs in lowland areas causes the ground to act like a liquid
♡ Tsunamis: Created by water column displacement which is due to a part of the seabed being thrust upwards or downwards
♡ What happened at Tohoku, Japan, 2011?
♡ Magnitude 9.1
♡ Death toll of 15,890
♡ 2 years after the event, 300,000 still lived in shelters
♡ Destroyed 45,700 buildings and 230,000 vehicles
♡ $300 billion in repairs
♡ 1.4 million homes without water
♡ Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima
♡ Aging population made effects worse
♡ What happened at Sichuan, 2008? (China)
♡ 5 Million left homeless
♡ Over 1000 schools collapsed, killing thousands of children
♡ 69,000 people killed
♡ $147 million needed to repair
♡ 5 million buildings collapsed
♡ White flake pollution which damaged and killed crops
♡ Builders bribed to take shortcuts
♡ Corrupt Government officials ignored possibilies of an earthquake
♡ What is an example of a Multi-Hazard Zone?
♡ Tropical storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
♡ 80 typhoons develop above tropical waters, with 6-9 making landfall
♡ Ex. Typhoon Haiyan, Category 5 super typhoon, 6340 deaths
♡ Ex. Typhoon Yunya and Mt. Pinatubo 1991, caused rain and ash to mix and collapse roofs up to 9 miles away
♡ What happened in Iceland, 2010?
♡ Explosion of Eyjafjallajokull
♡ 700 residents evacuated
♡ Created jokullhlaups due to glacial meltwater
♡ Flooding of farmland and communications
♡ Over 10 million passengers stranged or unable to board flights travelling to and from Europe
♡ 100,000 Commerical flights cancelled worldwide, $1.7 billion lost in revenue
♡ What happened at Mt. Merapi, 2010?
♡ VEI rating of 4
♡ Pyroclastic flows spread down 3km, killing 353 people
♡ Over 350,000 people were evacuated and 210 evacuation centres set up
♡ 2,682 people had to be permanently moved to a safer location
♡ Prices of vegetables rose dramatically due to crop damage
