Y12 MB - Hazards (General)

Question 1

What is a natural hazard?

Answer 1

A natural event or process which has the potential to affect people by causing loss or life or injury, disruption to people’s lives, economic damage or environmental degradation

Question 2

What is the United Nations definition of a natural disaster?

Answer 2

When a hazard kills over 10 people, affects over 100 people and the government declares a state of emergency with a request from national government for international assistance

Question 3

What are the three types of natural hazard?

Answer 3

Geophysical - driven by the Earth’s internal energy sources e.g the heating of the earth’s core
Atmospheric - driven by processes at work in the atmosphere
Hydrological - driven by processes in bodies of water, mainly oceans

Question 4

Give an example of a natural hazard for each of the three type

Answer 4

Geophysical - volcanic eruptions, earthquakes
Atmospheric - tornados, thunderstorms
Hydrological - flooding

Question 5

What is risk?

Answer 5

The probability of a hazard event occurring and creating loss of lives and livelihoods

Question 6

What is vulnerability?

Answer 6

How exposed you are and how exposed an area may be to a natural hazard

Question 7

What are the reasons why people put themselves at risk of a natural hazard?

Answer 7

Hazard events are unpredictable
A lack of alternatives due to social, economic or political circumstances
Changing levels of risk
Benefits of living there

Question 8

What are the benefits of living in areas at high risk of a natural hazard?

Answer 8

Access to natural resources e.g sulphur on the slopes of volcanos
Natural beauty
Fertile soils for agriculture e.g in Indonesia there are minerals in the soils from volcanic activity
Energy resources e.g geothermal in Iceland
Tourism opportunities

Question 9

What is the risk equation for natural hazards?

Answer 9

Risk = hazard x vulnerability to the hazard / capability to cope with the hazard

Question 10

Using the risk equation, what happens to the risk when vulnerability to the hazard increases?

Answer 10

The risk increases

Question 11

Using the risk equation, what happens to the risk when capability to cope increases?

Answer 11

The risk decreases

Question 12

What is perception?

Answer 12

The way people receive and process information

Question 13

What factors may affect a person’s perception?

Answer 13

Past experience
Socio-economic status
Religion and cultural background
Level of education
Personal values and personality
Family situation

Question 14

What are the different categories of how people respond to a hazard?

Answer 14

Fatalism
Adaptation
Fear

Question 15

What is the fatalism response to a hazard?

Answer 15

Acceptance that natural hazards are a part of living in the area and losses are seen as inevitable (may also include belief in God’s will)
This means that people stay in the area

Question 16

What is the adaptation response to a hazard?

Answer 16

Prevention, preparation, preparedness and prediction are used to mitigate the impacts of a hazard
Local and national government play a key role in helping to mitigate and protect

Question 17

What is the fear response to a natural hazard?

Answer 17

Perception means that people feel vulnerable so they may move away to less risky regions

Question 18

What does the Park Model show?

Answer 18

The changes in quality of life over the course of one hazards event, showing how destructive the hazard was and how effective the responses and mitigation were

Question 19

What does the Park model look like?

Answer 19

A graph with time along the x-axis and quality of life along the y-axis
The line showing quality of life is constant at the pre-disaster stage but then dips from the hours to days after the hazard occurs
After reaching a trough between the hours, days and weeks after the hazard, the quality of life beings to increase again during the reconstruction stage

Question 20

Does the quality of life shown in the Park Model always reach the same level as pre-disaster?

Answer 20

It may return to normal, increase or decrease from the initial value due to the response from the hazard

Question 21

What does the Hazard Management Cycle show?

Answer 21

A general cycle of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery from hazard events

Question 22

What is the difference between the Hazard Management Cycle and the Park Model?

Answer 22

The Park Model is specific to a certain hazard event at a certain time in a certain area whereas the Hazard Management Cycle can be applied to all natural hazards
The Hazard Management Cycle just shows the stages that take place place before, during and after a hazard event (mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery) whereas the Park Model shows the changes in quality of life over time