Managing Tropical Storms

Question 1

How can people be prepared for tropical storms? Give 2 ways.

Answer 1

• Education and public awareness campaigns. Letting people know what to do in a tropical storm. eg posters, radio, TV. Things can include: preparing emergency supplies, planning evacuation routes, stronger doors and windows.
• Tracking and prediction. Can monitor the formation, size and path of storms with technology. Satellites observe cloud formation and patterns, radar images give information about density of rainfall, special aircraft and drones can fly through storms to collect air pressure, rainfall and wind speed data. Data then fed to supercomputers which run models to predict path etc, and early warnings can be issued by hurricane centres. National Hurricane Centre in Miami use SLOSH to estimate storm surge heights.

Question 2

How can you mitigate the impact of tropical storms, in terms of structural responses?

Answer 2

• Cyclone shelters - good for LICs as they are cheap to build, strong, and need little maintenance. Triangular shaped, facing coast, on stilts. Can double as clinics, schools or tourist shelters.
• Building sea walls.
• Planting trees - eg mangroves.
• Building up beaches.
• Maintaining reefs.

Question 3

How can you mitigate the impacts of a tropical storm, in terms of insurance?

Answer 3

Often in HICs, people in tropical storm prone areas (eg USA, New Orleans), encouraged to to take out insurance against wind damage and to follow building codes and regulations eg on windows and doors. Only good for richer people in HICs who can afford insurance; many of the poorer people in New Orleans who were most severely affected did not have insurance.

Question 4

How can you prevent tropical storms?

Answer 4

In past, have tried to use cloud seeding in order to dissipate tropical storms; didn’t work, can’t prevent them as of now.

Question 5

How can people adapt to tropical storms?

Answer 5

(overlap with mitigation, such as strengthening homes).
Also:
- Land use zoning
- Regular inspection and maintenance of infrastructure
- Trimming trees

Question 6

How to add complexity to an essay on this?

Answer 6

• Depends on capital (LIC or HIC)
• If strategies are maintained
• Public attitude, perception of risk
• Other hazards