Hazards Case Studies

Question 1

Talk about the context of hurricane Katrina

Answer 1

The costliest hurricane on record due to it causing $125 billion in damage at a category 5. Winds hit 175mph

It began as a low preassure system over the Atlantic and approached Florida on the 25th of August 2005

Question 2

Name the Impacts of Hurricane Katrina

Answer 2

• Storm Surges of over 6m, City of New Orleans under sea level and usually protected by levees became destroyed leading to widespread flooding covering 80%
• 1,200 drowned,1 million homeless, oil facilities damaged- petrol prices
• Damage to communications, transport and 7 mile oil spills

Question 3

Responses of hurricane katrina?

Answer 3

• Evacuation- however many people stayed as couldn’t afford to move, this led to to the superdrome stadium holding people for days- food shortages and unhygenic conditions
• US governmen heavily criticised for their response due to slowness and leaving vulnerable behind- cost $50 billion in aid.

Question 4

Context of Typhoon Haiyan

Answer 4

Typhoon Haiyan (yolanda) was one of the strongest ever recorded tropical storms, made landfall in November 2013 as a category 5 with wind speeds over 196mph

It was exasterbated by eustatic sea level rise and the city of Tacloban being in a funnel shaped coast.

lead to rainfall at 400mm and a 15m high storm surge

Question 5

Talk about the impacts of typhoon haiyan

Answer 5

6,000 deaths, 1.1million lost houses, 4 million displaced
damage of $13 billion
50,000 tonnes of sugar lost
widespread oil leaks and flooding

UN feared huge disease spread due to a lack of resources
21,000 families in evacuation centre 2 months after
$3 billion given for reconstruction

Question 6

Talk about typhoon haiyan responses?

Answer 6

Aid was slow with only 20% getting it and those who did it took 5 days.

12,000 shelters built, red-cross kits,

Question 7

Talk about the context of the Sendai Earthquake

Answer 7

11th March 2011
9.1mms hit 250miles off coast of honshu island
One of most powerful earthquakes ever
Eurasian Plate subducted Pacific
Shallow- 20 miles

Question 8

effects of the sendai earthquake

Answer 8

Ground shaking, ecosystem damag, land subsidence of over 50cm

16,000 deaths, 26,000 injuries- tsunami
nuclear powerplant damage
losses of $235 billion
340,000 displaced
330,000 buildings damaged
4.4 million houses without power

Question 9

Immediate responses of the sendai earthquake

Answer 9

tsunami warning 3 mins after quake with predictions of landfall
safety and search team immediately sent out
20km evacuation zone around plant and iodine tablets given out
help from the US, new zeland and India
temporaty shelters
reconstruction policies with budget of 23trillion yen
restoration of airport after 3 months

Question 10

Context of the Eyjafjallajökull

Answer 10

Iceland volcano completely covered in ice caps of 100sqkm.
erupted for 39 days between march and may 2010. lies on the mid atlantic ridge

3 on VEI however the combination of harsh winds, fine ash and persistant eroptions increased the impact

Question 11

Effects of Eyjafjallajökull

Answer 11

Huge ash cloud: blocked sun, pollution, covered most of England, aircraft standstill causing a loss of $130 million daily- major airine shares dropped 3%, stopped imports,
flooding and local land slides from glacial silt, water and crop contamination

Question 12

Talk about the effects of the iceland eruption on Kenya

Answer 12

laid of 5000 workers as they export 500 tonnes of flowers- 97% of which to Europe

Question 13

Opportunities of the iceland eruption

Answer 13

prevented 2.8million tonnes of Co2 being released
Eurostar trips increased
phytoplankton boom

Question 14

Resoponses of the iceland eruption

Answer 14

area around volcano evacuated with 700 people being evacuated 3x
EU developed an intergrated structure for air traffic management if ever happened again

Question 15

Alberta wildfire context

Answer 15

May 2016, Canadian state of Alberta experienced a series of seperate fires leading to high destruction escpecially in the city of Fort McMurray

Caused by a 12 month long drought combined with higher temperatures toward the date and the strong eastily winds supplying oxygen and allowing fast spread

Question 16

Alberta wildfire impcts

Answer 16

Destroyed 1,600 homes and displaced 88,000 residents towns and power grids severely damaged, unsafe water due to arsenic contamination
Huge damage to oil as central part of sand oil industry- shell canada shut with 1billion barrels haulted costing over $70milion daily-> rising oil prices
spotting- fire blowing and lighting ahead of main fire

Question 17

Alberta canada responses

Answer 17

Canadian armed forces and ontario sent 100 fire fighters and 300 firefighters
incentives to everyone for living expenses

Question 18

Talk about the geographical context of the Philippines

Answer 18

The Philippines is a group of 7000 islands in the South­ China Sea in South ­East Asia. It has a vulnerable population of 104 million people who are at risk from a variety of hazards, including 11 million people in the densely populated coastally situated megacity of Manila, the capital.

Question 19

Talk about the hazards experienced in the Philippines

Answer 19

Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Tsunami’s, Landslides, Droughts

Question 20

Talk about the hazard background of the Philippines

Answer 20

Near a destructive plate boundary where the dense oceanic crust of the philippine plate subducts under the Eurasian plate.

Islands formed by the folding at a boundary and volcanoes formed from magma rising from the mantle

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991, which killed 500 people, and caused crop failure due to the falling ash (from the eruption).

Question 21

Talk about Earthquakes in the Philippines

Answer 21

The Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate can become locked together as the Philippine Plate is being subducted, which can cause the buildup and sudden release of pressure. Earthquakes can also occur at Fault Lines in the area, where the plate has cracked under pressure. e.g. 1990 Earthquake on Luzon Island, magnitude 7.8, killing 1500 people.

Question 22

Talk about landslides in the Philippines

Answer 22

Landslides can be triggered by tectonic activity in the area from Earthquakes Landslides can also be caused by heavy levels of rainfall which lead to cliff saturation if they fall in areas with a steep gradient. e.g. 2006 Landslide on Leyte Island after 10 days of heavy rain, which buried a village and killed hundreds of people subsequently

Question 23

Talk about typhoons in the philippines

Answer 23

he Philippines is situated in the latitudes between 5­20 degrees North of the Equator, so is vulnerable to Typhoons developing in the West of the Pacific Ocean, where Ocean surface temperature is above 26 degrees celsius, the Coriolis effect is strong enough to rotate the low pressure system, and trade winds will move storms Westwards towards the Philippines. The Philippines experiences between 7­10 typhoons annually

Question 24

Talk about tsunamis in the philipines

Answer 24

Submarine Earthquakes in any of the surrounding plate boundaries or fault lines can cause a tsunami local enough to be devastating to the Philippines. e.g. in 1976 a submarine earthquake of magnitude 7.9 caused a Tsunami of 4­5m high which hit the coastline of the Moro Gulf

Question 25

Talk about droughts and flooding in the philippines

Answer 25

Droughts occur when the wet season brings insufficient rain or the dry season is unusually severe. For example, the 2005 Luzon Island drought saw reduced rainfall and river discharge, limiting hydroelectric power and harming the economy. Flooding during the wet season can result from typhoon storm surges or intense rainfall, especially in drought-prone areas with dry, impermeable soil. In December 2010, floods in Eastern Philippines displaced 450,000 people and killed 25.

Question 26

Vulnerability in the philippines

Answer 26

The Philippines is highly vulnerable to natural hazards due to low capacity to cope and dense populations in high-risk areas like Manila and Luzon. Coastal settlement increases exposure to hydro-meteorological hazards, while deforestation for agriculture raises landslide risk by reducing interception and infiltration. Poorer communities often live in vulnerable locations, such as Angeles near Mount Pinatubo (thought dormant before its 1991 eruption). Widespread poverty limits investment in hazard-proof infrastructure, education, and disaster response. GDP per capita is just $3,300 compared to $53,000 in the USA.

Question 27

Talk about the location of Japan

Answer 27

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, with four main islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku) accounting for 97% of land area. Population over 127 million, with the Greater Tokyo Area housing 30 million people, making it the world’s largest metropolitan area.

Question 28

Talk about Japan as a multi-hazardous environment

Answer 28

Located at the boundary of 3 plates- Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine Exposed to Earthquakes, Typhoons, Tsunamis and Landslides destructive oceanic- continental boundary with Japan getting 30% of the world's earthquakes every year The Pacific Plate is being subducted under the Eurasian Plate at a rate of 8 cm per year

Question 29

Talk about the 2011 earthquake

Answer 29

Occurred on Friday 11th March 2011 at 2:46 pm local time. Measured 9.0 on the Richter scale — the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan. Released energy equivalent to powering every home in the USA for 50 days, and was 600 million times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. Shifted Earth’s axis by 25 cm and moved Japan's east coast 4 metres eastward. The quake lasted six minutes.

Question 30

Talk about the Tsunami in Japan

Answer 30

The sudden uplift of the seafloor displaced a vast volume of water, triggering a massive tsunami. Tsunami waves travelled at speeds up to 800 km/h, like a jetliner. As they reached shallower waters, they slowed but grew in height — up to 15 metres in places. Japan’s 10-metre-high sea walls (covering 40% of the coastline) were overtopped. The tsunami was made up of 10 waves spaced 1 km apart. First wave hit 24 minutes after the quake; the last wave arrived 3.5 hours later. Waves reached 10 km inland in some areas.

Question 31

Talk about impacts in Japan

Answer 31

Loss of Life and Displacement: 16,000 confirmed deaths 6,000 injured 3,000 missing Over 300,000 still in temporary housing one year later. Millions lost homes and livelihoods. Damage to Infrastructure: 300,000 buildings destroyed, 1 million damaged Damage to 4,000 roads, 78 bridges, and 29 railways 25 million tonnes of debris created Total estimated reconstruction cost: £181 billion (23 trillion yen)

Question 32

Talk about earthquake preparedness in Japan

Answer 32

Education: Earthquake drills from a young age; people trained in emergency procedures. Emergency Supplies: Households encouraged to store food, water, and medical kits. Building Regulations: Modern structures designed to sway and withstand seismic waves. Early Warning Systems: Detect initial (P) waves Issue alerts giving up to 1-minute warning before the destructive (S and surface) waves Triggers include stopping trains and escalators, shutting gas mains, and public announcements