Tectonics case studies Flashcards
Social vulnerabilities of Nepal
- High population density
- Poverty and inequality
- Cultural heritage
- Lack of education
- Ageing population (11% over the age of 60 in 2021 which is a 38% increase from 2011)
Economic vulnerabilities of Nepal
- Low GDP
- Highly dependant on international aid
- Weak infrastructure
Environmental vulnerabilities of Nepal
- Deforestation
- Mountainous terrain
- High seismic activity
Political vulnerabilities of Nepal
- Lack of preparedness
- Corrupt government
- Political instability
Social vulnerabilities of China
- High population density
- Poor infrastructure quality
- Not enough knowledge on response
Economic vulnerabilities of China
- Low economic development
Environmental vulnerabilities of China
- Located near major fault lines
- Environmental degradation
- Poorly planned construction
Political vulnerabilities of China
- Poor response and coordination
- Centralised control
Social vulnerabilities of New Zealand
- High urban population
- Poor building standards
Economic vulnerabilities of New Zealand
- Risk of economic disruption
- High level of insurance penetration
Environmental vulnerabilities of New Zealand
- Poor geological conditions (located near the pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plate boundary)
- Liquefaction
Political vulnerabilities of New Zealand
- Poor distribution of resources
- Good international aid
What happened at Mount Pinatubo, Philippines (1991)?
- Ash and sulphur dioxide cloud to a height of 32km
- Ash was deposited far away in the Indian Ocean
- Despite warnings, there was some damage to aeroplanes west of the Philippines ($100 million)
- SO2 aerosol cloud which circumnavigated the world several times
- Over 700 people killed
- 200,000 buildings destroyed
- $700 million in damage
What happened at Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland (2010)?
- Erupted 110 million m3 of ash in one week up to an altitude of 9km
- Distribution of ash was across main flight paths and over airports so flights were largely disrupted
- Considerable disruption to tourism and business, with the total economic impacts over $3 billion
- Tourists stranded away from home
- Airlines lost $200 million per day
What happened at Tohoku, Japan (2011)?
- 9 magnitude earthquake
- Around 3pm local time
- Around 250 miles off Honshu
- 16,000 people died
- 2,000 roads destroyed
- 4.4 million households left without electricity
- Soil liquefaction was responsible for the destruction of 1,000 buildings
- $235 billion in economic damage
- 40m high waves
- 7 Fukushima nuclear power stations meltdown
- Japan meteorological agency issued tsunami warnings 3 minutes after the earthquake
- Japan received help from the US military
- One month after it occurred, the government issued £190 billion to be spent over 10 years
- 98% of services restored later that year
How is California a multiple hazard zone?
- San Andreas fault
- Coast is prone to tsunami’s (40m high waves)
- High concentration of forests
- Lots of landslides due to young mountains
- Along the ring of fire
- Hot, dry summers
- Long open coastline
What is an exception to the prediction of volcanoes?
Mount Ontake eruption in Japan on 27th September 2014 where hikers and walkers were exposed to huge ash clouds whilst attempting a descent, however 56 people were killed by the VEI3 eruption
Pakistan case study on aid
NGOs provided:
- Over 500k
- 6 million blankets
- Safe water for over 700k people
- Food and clothing
Short term aid then took over:
- More permanent shelters were built
- Water supplies re-established
- Roads were rebuilt
Case study lahar
- Town of Armero, Colombia
- Buried by a lahar from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985
- 60km/h
Haiti 2010 case study (developing)
- 7 magnitude earthquake
- Around 5pm local time
- 230,000 died
- 3 million affected
- 1 million made homeless
- Crime increased
- 2 million left without food and water
- Port was damaged and so aid was low to arrive
- £20 million donated by the UK
- Relied heavily on international aid as they are developing
- Homes were rebuilt to a higher standard
- Cholera outbreak
