the concept of hazards

Question 1

what is a hazard?

Answer 1

something that’s a potential threat and can cause harm to human life or property

Question 2

what are the 3 major types of geographical hazard?

Answer 2

1. geophysical
2. atmospheric
3. hydrological

Question 3

what is a geophysical hazard?

Answer 3

this is a hazard caused by land processes, majorly movement of tectonic plates

Question 4

what are some examples of geographical hazards?

Answer 4

• earthquakes
• volcanoes
• tsunamis

Question 5

what is a atmospheric hazard?

Answer 5

this is a hazard caused by atmospheric / climate processes ( e.g. clouds and convection ) and the conditions created because of these, such as weather systems

Question 6

what are some examples of an atmospheric hazard?

Answer 6

• hurricanes
• typhoons
• cyclone

Question 7

what is a hydrological hazard?

Answer 7

this is a hazard caused by water bodies and movements

Question 8

what are some examples of a hydrological hazard?

Answer 8

• floods
• drought
• avalanches

Question 9

what is a natural disaster?

Answer 9

a disaster will only occur when a vulnerable population ( one that will be significantly disrupted and damaged ) is harmed

Question 10

what is a mega-disaster?

Answer 10

• when over 2000 people die
• over 200,000 are made homeless
• the GDP of a country is reduced by at least 5%
• if there is dependence of aid after the event

Question 11

what is vulnerability?

Answer 11

how susceptible a population is to damage caused by a hazard

Question 12

what circumstances affect peoples perception of hazards?

Answer 12

wealth- richer people may be able to afford to move to areas that are less prone to hazards, or to build their homes to withstand hazards so they may perceive the risk as smaller
education- some people with more education may have better understanding of the risks of hazards and may be able to reduce risks or mitigate the impacts
past experience- people who live in hazard-prone areas may have experienced hazards before which may affect the perceived risk from future hazards
geographical- people may live closer to hazardous areas e.g. the equator

Question 13

what is Degg’s model?

Answer 13

• shows the interaction between hazards, disaster and human vulnerability
• states that disaster will only occur when a vulnerable population is exposed to a hazard

Question 14

what does resilience mean?

Answer 14

a populations ‘capacity to cope’ and the ability of a community to come back from a hazard, event or disaster, both prior to and during times of need

Question 15

what is meant by a risk?

Answer 15

the likelihood that humans will be seriously affected by a hazard

Question 16

what is the equation for risk?

Answer 16

risk = hazard x vulnerability / capacity to cope

Question 17

how do we measure a hazard?

Answer 17

you can measure the magnitude of an earthquake for example using a seismometer

Question 18

why do people live near hazards?

Answer 18

1. lack of alternatives- due to social, political, economic and cultural factors, people cannot simply uproot themselves from one place and move to another, giving up their homes, fertile land and employment
2. changing the level of risks- places that were once relatively safe may become, through time, far more of a risk
3. cost / benefit- there are many hazardous areas that offer advantages that in people’s minds outweigh the risk that they are taking

Question 19

what are the four phases in the hazard management cycle?

Answer 19

1. mitigation
2. preparedness
3. response
4. recovery

Question 20

what is mitigation?

Answer 20

this aims to minimise the impacts of future disasters e.g. building flood defences or adding fire-resistant roofs to buildings in areas prone to volcanic eruptions. mitigation can happen before a hazard occurs or afterwards, when the area is recovering

Question 21

what is preparedness?

Answer 21

this is about planning how to respond to a hazard e.g. making sure there are warning systems in place or educating people about how to evacuate safely if there is a cyclone

Question 22

what is a response?

Answer 22

this is how people react when a disaster occurs e.g. emergency services rescuing people who have been trapped or evacuating people from the danger zone

Question 23

what is recovery?

Answer 23

this is about the affected area getting back to normal e.g. repairing or rebuilding houses and restoring services such as medical care and electricity

Question 24

what is meant by the term perception?

Answer 24

• perception is the way a certain person views something e.g. how and why people perceive a hazard based on if they’ve experienced one before or not

Question 25

what is meant by the risk- perception process?

Answer 25

when there is increasing stress from natural hazards, there may come a point when the population or community has to ‘adjust’

Question 26

what are the 4 different perceptions of natural hazards?

Answer 26

1. domination
2. adaptation
3. acceptance
4. fatalism

Question 27

what is domination?

Answer 27

some people believing that hazards are extreme events and so can be predicted by using scientific and engineering

Question 28

what is adaptation?

Answer 28

some people believe that hazards will continue to occur and magnitude and frequency can be guessed based on experience and so there is need to adjust, prepare and respond flexibility

Question 29

what is acceptance?

Answer 29

belief that hazards are natural events and are random so our actions need to be intuitive and accept the loses

Question 30

what is fatalism?

Answer 30

belief that hazards cannot be avoided, so they must be accepted

Question 31

how can the frequency of a hazard effect a person’s risk perception?

Answer 31

as if the event has occurred multiple times then you may be able to accept that you can survive, however if many people died in your area then there will be more concern

Question 32

what is the equation for risk reduction?

Answer 32

risk reduction= mitigation of hazard x reduction of vulnerability e.g. mobility, education and geographic location

Question 33

what is meant by governance?

Answer 33

the organisation of the government and how effective it’s decisions and implementations are

Question 34

how is governance helpful?

Answer 34

• having a good government is helpful as they can feed money into a country to help people, before and after, with damage, aid and long and short term recovery