Tectonic Hazards EQ3 - Hazard/disaster management Flashcards

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1
Q

What do the overall longer term natural hazard trends show?

A
  • total number of recorded hazards has increased over past 50 years
  • number of reported disasters seems to be falling
  • number of deaths lower than in recent past, but there are spikes with mega events
  • economic costs increase significantly since 1960
  • number of people affected is increasing for some hazard and disaster types
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2
Q

Why are disaster statistics controversial?

A
  • depends on whether direct or indirect deaths from subsequent hazards/associated diseases are counted
  • local or regional events in remote places often under-recorded
  • declaration of disaster deaths and casualties may be subject to political bias
  • statistics on major disasters hard to collect, particularly in LICs
  • time trend analysis is difficult
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3
Q

What is a mega disaster?

A

A high magnitude, high impact, infrequent disaster, characterised by impacts extending beyond the country immediately affected

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4
Q

What are the key characteristics of tectonic mega-disasters?

A
  • large scale disaster (either spatially or in terms of human/economic impact)
  • due to scale, pose serious problems for effective management
  • scale of impact means communities but usually government as well, require international support in immediate aftermath as well as longer term recovery
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5
Q

What is a HILP event?

A

A high impact, low probability event

e.g. 2010 Haiti earthquake

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6
Q

What are the consequences of HILP events?

A

Impacts spread rapidly across both economic and geographic boundaries leading to other impacts which are difficult to plan for

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7
Q

What is a multiple hazard zone?

A

A place where a number of physical hazards combine to create an increased level of risk for the country and it’s population. Often made worse by vulnerable population or if area suffers repeated events

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8
Q

What is a disaster hotspot?

A

A country or area that is extremely disaster prone for a number of reasons

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9
Q

What are the characterstics of a hazard hotspot?

A

Intersection of tectonic and hydro-meterological hazards and vulnerability, leading to a hotspot which is likely to be where plate boundaries intersect with major storm belts in areas of high human concentration in low or medium developed countries

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10
Q

Why are large urban areas often zones of multiple hazard risk?

A
  • economic cores
  • centres of growing population due to rapid urbanisation
  • many countries have huge areas of unplanned, poor quality housing where the growing numbers of urban poor live - located on marginal land
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11
Q

Can scientists forecast earthquakes?

A

Earthquake risk can be forecast since it is based on a statistical likliehood of an event occurring at a particular location

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12
Q

Can earthquakes be predicted?

A

Currently, it is not possible to make accurate predictions of when and where earthquakes will happen. For this to happen, it would be necessary to identify a diagnostic precursor - a characteristic pattern of seismic activity or another change that indicated the onset of an earthquake

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13
Q

What are the 4 stages in the hazard management cycle?

A

Response
Recovery
Mitigation
Preparedness

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14
Q

What are the 4 stages of Park’s Model?

A
  • pre-disaster
  • relief
  • rehabilitation
  • reconstruction
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15
Q

What does Park’s disaster response curve demonstrate?

A

It can be used as a framework to better understand the time dimensions of resilience, from when a hazard strikes to when a place or community returns to ‘normal’ operation

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16
Q

How are earthquake events modified?

A

Micro approaches - strengthening individual buildings and structures against hazardous stress
e.g. schools and hospitals and public buildings strengthened through ‘retrofit’

17
Q

How are tsunami events modified?

A

No technologies can prevent tectonic disturbance, but some regions and communities have put engineering strategies in place - e.g. tsunami walls, replanting of coasts with dense coastal forests to create buffer zones

18
Q

How are volcanic events modified?

A

May be possible to modify a volcanic event once eruption and lava flows have started by diverting or chilling flows - e.g. Heimaey 1973

19
Q

What are some strategies to modify the event?

A
  • land use zoning
  • hazard-resistant design
  • engineering defences
  • diversion of lava flows
20
Q

What are some strategies to modify vulnerability and resilience?

A
  • prediction, forecasting and warnings (hi-tech monitoring)
  • improvements in community preparedness
  • working with groups and individuals to change behaviours to reduce disaster risk (education)
21
Q

What are some strategies to modify loss?

A
  • emergency, short and long term aid
  • insurance
22
Q

What is modifying the event?

A

BEFORE hazard strikes (long term)
Mitigating impacts of hazard by reducing areal extent or magnitude, not always possible (relies on high cost technology)

23
Q

What is modifying the vulnerability?

A

BEFORE hazard strikes (short term)
Get people out of the way (prediction) or help them cope with impacts (build resilience)

24
Q

What is modifying the loss?

A

AFTER hazard strikes (long and short term)
Reduce losses by acting to aid recovery and reconstruction