The Concept Of Hazards

Question 1

What is a natural hazard?

Answer 1

An event that is perceived to be a threat to people, the built environment and the natural environment.

Question 2

What are the 3 categories of hazards?

Answer 2

Geophysical
Hydrological
Atmospheric

Question 3

List 6 examples of geophysical hazards.

Answer 3

Tectonic: caused by internal earth processes. Eg volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Geomorphological: caused by external earth processes. Eg landslides, rockfalls and rockslides.

Question 4

What are geophysical hazards caused by?

Answer 4

Caused by earth processes.

Question 5

List 2 examples of hydrological hazards.

Answer 5

Floods and mudflows.

Question 6

What causes hydrological hazards?

Answer 6

Caused by the occurrence, movement and distribution of surface and underground water.

Question 7

List 6 examples of atmospheric hazards.

Answer 7

Tropical storms, thunder storms, blizzards, droughts, wildfires and sand storms.

Question 8

What causes atmospheric hazards?

Answer 8

Processes operating in the atmosphere resulting in extreme weather or atmospheric conditions.

Question 9

What is soil liquefaction?

Answer 9

Ground failure or loss of strength that caused otherwise solid soil to behave temporarily as a viscous liquid.

Question 10

What is a fissure?

Answer 10

Localised ground displacement that develop during and immediately after an earthquake.

Question 11

What is a natural disaster?

Answer 11

A naturally occurring process or event which has the potential to cause loss of life or property.

Without people it is just a natural event.

Question 12

What does the Dregg’s Model show?

Answer 12

The Dregg’s Model shows that a natural disaster only occurs if a vulnerable population is exposed to a hazard.

Question 13

What does the UN define as a natural disaster?

Answer 13

10+ people are killed
100+ people are affected
A state of emergency is declared
International assistance is called for

Question 14

List 6 factors that may alter a population’s vulnerability to natural hazards.

Answer 14

Wealth of people
Technical ability of country
Education levels
Rural location
Age of population
Urban location

Question 15

How is risk measured?

Answer 15

Risk (R) = Frequency or magnitude of hazard (H) x vulnerability (V)
/ capacity to cope or adapt (C)

Question 16

What is risk?

Answer 16

The probability of harmful consequences, or expected losses (deaths, injuries, property, livelihoods, economic activity disrupted or environment damaged) resulting from interactions between natural or human-induced hazards and vulnerable conditions.

Question 17

What is a hazard?

Answer 17

A potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon or human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.

Question 18

What is vulnerability?

Answer 18

The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards.

Question 19

What is capacity?

Answer 19

A combination of all the strengths and resources available within a community, society or organisation that can reduce the level of risk, or the effects of a disaster.

Question 20

What is fatalism?

Answer 20

An optimistic or accepting approach, where people may believe that hazards are part of life or ‘acts of God’.

Question 21

What is domination?

Answer 21

This perspective suggests that hazards are predictable and that they can be better understood by scientific research.

Question 22

What is adaptation?

Answer 22

The perspective that’s the view that hazards are influenced by natural and human events and so we can change our lives to reduce impacts.

Question 23

Advantages of the Risk Management Cycle

Answer 23

Emphasises preparation BEFORE which can reduce loss once hazard occurs.

Can help in assessing how good hazard management has been - lays out what SHOULD happen, which can be compared to what actually happens.

Reduces stress and anxiety - people are assured that hazard mitigation is happening.

Question 24

Disadvantages of the Risk Management Cycle

Answer 24

More applicable to HICs, who are wealthier and can more easily adapt their policies.

Generic and unquantifiable

Question 25

What are the 4 stages of the Risk Management Cycle?

Answer 25

Preparedness
Response
Recovery
Mitigation/ prevention

Question 26

What does the Park Model (1991) plot?

Answer 26

The Park Model plots the quality of life after a disaster against the time after the disaster has occurred.

The curve shows how fast human responses are.

Question 27

Evaluate the usefulness of the Hazard management cycle.

Answer 27

Takes into account the steps taken before a hazard to minimise impact.

Considers how one hazard leads to the next - they are not always isolated events.

Focuses more on the management of the event than the impacts it has.

Provides a model of action designed to speed up the recovery process as well as minimise the impact.

No indications of time scale.

Question 28

Evaluate the usefulness of the Park Model.

Answer 28

Allows us to compare the significance of the event with ‘normality’.

Can indicate the magnitude or severity of the event.

The speed to which things return to normality helps us understand how prepared a community was for the event and how successful it has been in responding to crisis.

Could be used to directly compare two events (eg with two lines).

Doesn’t specify the steps taken before the hazard.

Question 29

Evaluate the usefulness of the Park Model and the Hazard Management Cycle.

Answer 29

Helps to chart the stages following a disaster/hazard.

No quantitative ‘data’ to show the specifics of each situation.

Doesn’t take into account the complexity of secondary hazards/impacts (eg Cholera outbreak after Haiti earthquake).

No account of spatial variation eg within or between countries.

Overly simplistic compared to reality.