THE IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS REVIEW TECTONIC PLATE

THE IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS

REVIEW: TECTONIC PLATE MOVEMENT CAUSES • Earthquake: A sudden movement of the earth's crust caused by the release of stress collected along fault lines or by volcanic activity. (Can be convergent, divergent, or transformative. ) • Tsunamis: An unusually large sea wave produced by a seaquake or undersea volcanic eruption. • Volcanos: A vent in the earth's crust through which lava, steam, or ashes are expelled, either continuously or at irregular intervals.

LOOKING AT THE IMPACT • We can assess the impact of a disaster by considering the following criteria: • • Economic consequences Political consequences Social consequences Environmental consequences

ECONOMIC IMPACT • • • Economic Impacts are effects on the level of economic activity in a given area. They generally deal with money or costs. Some examples of economic impacts from natural disasters include: • The destruction of local business • The loss of property, land crops, or possessions • Any others?

POLITICAL IMPACT • Political Impacts are the effect on systems of power and government. • Some examples of the political impacts of natural disasters include: • Political instability • Creating need for or changes to policy • Any others?

SOCIAL IMPACT • Social Impacts deal with the effects of a disaster on people and society. • Some examples of the social impacts of natural disasters include: • Unemployment • Poverty • Loss of life or quality of life • Any others?

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT • Environmental Impacts are the effects of a disaster on the environment. • Some examples of environmental impacts of natural disasters include: • Collapsed buildings • Fires or property damage • Loss of habitats • Freshwater contaminated • Any others?

LIVING IN A DISASTER AREA • A hazard is something that has the potential to cause a dangerous situation. • A risk is a measure of how dangerous a hazard is. • Thus, wherever there is a hazard, a risk assessment needs to be performed to: a. measure the size of the risk and b. try to find ways to reduce it.

LIVING IN A DISASTER AREA • • Not all places that have hazardous environments are heavily populated. In some places where volcanoes and earthquakes and storms brew, the population density is very low. • But in many places where natural hazards occur, people live there in large numbers. • THINK ABOUT: Why?

LIVING IN A DISASTER AREA People make decisions on the basis of : • • Physical / Environmental The climate is good (warm enough and wet enough), soil is fertile, the natural resources for fishing, farming are there to make a good living, so it might be worth it! • • Human / Social Family has always lived there, there is a community, it is a pleasant place to be, do not have or see a choice, lack of education to do other work. There are things that can be done to reduce the risk. • • Economic Work, farming, tourism, fishing, it is where property is owned.

THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT • • How hazardous is the environment? Does danger occur often? • In most cases the answer to this is no. • The San Andreas Fault had an earthquake in 1906, but did not have another serious one until 1989. • Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines erupted in 1991, but before that it was more than 600 years since it erupted. • In many cases, the danger is something that is likely to occur sometime, but if life is sufficiently attractive, the population is unlikely to move. • If conditions are good, people are more likely to stay as the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

SUSTAINABILITY AND DECIDING: REBUILD OR RELOCATE? • Sustainability: development that meets the needs of the present without negatively affecting the ability of future generations to meet their needs. • Determining whether rebuilding or relocating is the more sustainable choice after a community has been severely damaged by a natural disaster you must look at why people might decide to rebuild and why they might decide to relocate. • THINK ABOUT: What are some reasons someone might choose to rebuild and what are some reasons someone might choose to relocate?

THE FOUR-PART DISASTER CYCLE • STEP 1, MITIGATION: Long-term efforts to prevent hazards from becoming disasters or make them less damaging. Examples include: structural measures such as creating flood levees or reinforcing buildings, as well as non-structural measures such as risk assessment and land-use planning. • STEP 2, PREPAREDNESS: Planning for when disaster strikes, including developing communication strategies, early warning systems, and stockpiling supplies. • STEP 3, RESPONSE: Implementing plans after a disaster. This includes mobilizing emergency services, coordinating search and rescue, and mapping the extent of the damage. • STEP 4, RECOVERY: Restoring an area, often through rebuilding and rehabilitation, then returning to mitigation measures.

DISASTER MITIGATION Earthquake Building stock assessment; Hazard mapping. Flood Volcano PREPAREDNESS Measuring strain accumulation. RESPONSE RECOVERY Planning routes for search and rescue; damage assessment; evacuation planning; deformation mapping. Damage assessment; identifying sites for rehabilitation. Mapping flood. Flood detection; prone areas; early warning; Identifying floodrainfall mapping. plains; Land-use mapping. Flood mapping; evacuation planning; damage assessment. Damage assessment; spatial planning. Risk modelling; hazard mapping; digital elevation models. Mapping lava flows; evacuation planning. Damage assessment; spatial planning. Emissions monitoring; thermal alerts.

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