Characteristics of human response to hazards

Question 1

What is fatalism in terms of human response to hazards?

Answer 1

• Where people accept the risk but choose to do little about it prior to the event
• Response after the event will be quick but the event will often lead to huge loss of life due to there being limited organisational capacity
• This response is more likely in developing countries

Question 2

What is Prediction in terms of human response to hazards?

Answer 2

Predicting the occurrence for some hazards helps prepare places for their impact

Example: Hurricane
Tracking hurricanes + predicting the likely area of landfall can give authorities time to organise evacuation plans and get home + business owners to secure windows etc. Albeit hurricanes can change their course, it’s better to give a warning than not to.

Example: Earthquake
Can be partly predicted if a major one is about to occur, however, this isn’t always the case

Prediction is more likely in developed countries due to the wide availability of monitoring technology and qualified experts who can identify patterns, trends and give more reliable forecasts

Question 3

What is adjustment/adaptation in terms of human response to hazards?

Answer 3

Places which experience regular hazards have a common response of adapting/adjusting their behaviour to better cope with future events.

It’s more likely for developed countries to adapt due to the required cost of providing the relevant adaptation strategies

Example: Tornado Alley
Homes in central USA often have underground tornado shelters which families can use for evacuation

Question 4

What is mitigation in terms of human response to hazards?

Answer 4

Hazard mitigation - Any action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to human life and property from natural disasters

Since hazards can repeatedly occur in the same area, e.g. earthquakes, mitigation strategies can help an area be prepared for the impacts and lessen the impacts when the hazards do occur

Retro-engineering old buildings is an example of mitigating the danger from collapsing buildings and reducing the risk of a fire breaking out in the case of an earthquake

Question 5

What is management in terms of human response to hazards?

Answer 5

Identifying possible risk to human life + property and allocating appropriate resources to tackle the hazard.

This has a higher standard in developed countries

Question 6

What is risk sharing in terms of human response to hazards?

Answer 6

The UN’s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) sets out national + international responsibilities in preparing for disasters.
Sharing knowledge + human response strategies enables countries to better prepare for a hazard event

Magnitude + intensity of hazards can be reduced depending on the implementation of management strategies and how countries take on adaptation strategies