Geophysical Hazards - Part 4: Resilience and Adaptation

Question 1

How much has the number of people living in seismic areas increased by in the last 40 years?

Answer 1

93%, from 1.4 billion in 1975 to 2.7 billion in 2015.

Question 2

How many people live near dangerous volcanoes?

Answer 2

In 2015, 414 million people lived near one of the 220 most dangerous volcanoes.

Question 3

What regions are exposed to risk of tsunamis?

Answer 3

Japan, China, USA

Question 4

How will pop. growth + urbanisation impact global hazard trends?

Answer 4

Higher pop, more exposed to disasters, forced to live in high-risk areas.
Higher pop. = higher poverty = seek arable land is high-risk areas.
Urbanisation = fossil fuels + deforestation = global warming = unpredictable weather.

Question 5

List potential impacts of extreme events

Answer 5

Global economic crises
Deaths
Destruction of megacities
Environmental refugees
Environmental degradation
Global food shortages
Disrupted transport and communication
Climate stress and pollution

Question 6

List the result of the impacts of extreme events

Answer 6

Famine
Disease
Political unrest
Collapse of Social Order

Question 7

What are examples of international action taken to tackle global environmental problems (Protocols)

Answer 7

Montreal Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
Paris Agreement
Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-15

Question 8

Pop. growth statistics by 2030, 2050 and 2100

Answer 8

8. 5 billion by 2030
9. 7 billion by 2050
10. 2 billion by 2100

50% pop growth = concentrated in India, Congo, Ethiopia, USA, Indonesia etc.

Question 9

Urbanization Statistics

Answer 9

2014 - 54% pop. living in urban areas
2050 - reach 66%

North America - 82% urbanized
Africa - 40% urbanized

50% total urban pop. in small settlements less than 500k
1/8th total pop. in megacities with 10 mill+

Question 10

Outline Earthquake Predictors

Answer 10

Seismometers - record micro-earthquakes

Strain meters - monitor surface deformation

Sensors in wells - changes in groundwater levels

Animal behavior

Question 11

Outline Volcano Predictions

Answer 11

Seismometers - tiny earthquakes as magma rises

Chemical sensors - increased sulphur levels

GPS - physical swelling of crater

Ultra sound - lof frequency waves in magma resulting from surge of gas and molten rock

Destructive plates - more explosive

Hotspots - more frequent, less explosive

Question 12

Outline the need for Adaptation: Land use Zoning

Answer 12

Evaluate risk in diff. areas => no dense pop. or hospitals in high risk.
Residents evacuated in certain areas e.g. slopes.
Exclusion zones e.g. Montserrat.

Building codes.

0.2 million move to urban areas each day.

1 billion new dwellings in Africa and Asia by 2050.

HIC’s: risk maps to control land use + damage. Analyse past events, geology and pop. density.

LIC’s: control of land is difficult due to rapid rural-urban migration and lack of resources. Poverty = self-built unsafe homes.

Question 13

Outline the need for Adaptation: Insurance

Answer 13

Mitigates economic cost of large damages

Depends on severity of impact + quality of insurance

HIC’s: can afford insurance, earthquake proof housing reduces need.

LIC’s: cannot afford insurance, unstable companies and mistrust, less educaation

Question 14

Outline the need for Adaptation: Technology

Answer 14

Seismic movements detected
Warn people less than 1 min before quake
Allows them to prepare and reduce loss of life
Short warning time
Relies on Wifi and smart phones

HIC’s: USGS - advanced monitoring system costs 1 billion/annum

Question 15

Briefly define Predicting, Forecast, Preventing and Planning

Answer 15

Predicting - est. year/day/time event will happen.
Forecast - general probabilities. Informing and telling people so they are aware.
Preventing - strategies to decrease the likeliness of an event.
Planning - mitigation and adaptation tactics to prevent and cope with a hazard.

Question 16

Ways of Managing Risk of Landslides

Answer 16

Excavation and filling for stability

Drainage E.G. drilling horizontal drains: to lead away surface water + prevent build up of water in cracks

Structures e.g. gabions + stone walls = keep material behind structure

Erosion control: rock armour and revetments

Question 17

Ways of Managing Risk of Earthquakes

Answer 17

1/3 fastest growing cities are at high quake risk.

Building designs - aseismic:
Single-storey, reduces swaying or soft-storey to reduce impact.
Basement isolation: rubber mounts allow ground to move underneath.

Land-use planning

Safe houses in fault zones: Shear walls: concrete walls reinforced with steel, strict codes. Cheaper alternative: straw, reinforced adobe with plastic mesh to increase time to escape. Old tyres filled with bags of sand = absorb shock.

Interlocking steel frames

Roads for quick access

Open areas for evacuation

Question 18

Managing tsunamis

Answer 18

Sea walls
Early warning systems
Cost restraints dictate height of wall

Question 19

Ways of controlling volcanoes

Answer 19

GPS crater monitoring

Diverting lava flows using dry channels or explosives.

Earth walls to deflect lava.

Pumping water onto the lava front to slow movement - takes time.

Pyroclastic flows - evacuation

Question 20

Outline the short, mid and long-term responses after an event.

Answer 20

Rescue - immediate aftermath priority, search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs, thermal sensors.
Emergency shelter and feeding
Few survive past 72hrs.

Rehabilitation - making homes safe and liveable. Restoration of major services.
Clear rubble.

Reconstruction = rebuilding public, economic systems, infrastructure, governance

Question 21

Factors affecting responses:

Answer 21

Magnitude
Predictability
Level of wealth (individual, national, international)
Perceived level of risk
Information provided by the media
Preparation

Question 22

Outline the use of phones to track missing children

Answer 22

RapidFTR - open-source android app allowing humanitarian workers to register missing children info, which gets uploaded to a database.

Quicker they are found = less vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.

Question 23

Outline the use of phones for hazard mapping

Answer 23

UNICEF training young people to map risks + alert authorities about natural hazards in their home region.