Enquiry Question 4

Enquiry question 4

Read and take notes from the following books and pages:-

Byrne, P. et al. (2009) 'Edexcel A2 Geography' pg 176-181

Chaffey et al. (1996) 'Natural Hazards' pg 83-90

Bishop (2001) 'Hazard and Responses) pg 47, 71, 91 ( chapters)

Create detailed notes on how we can manage tectonic hazards. Use case studies to exemplify your notes.

Ensure you have answered each of the specific questions and have a focus of case studies of different development levels and different organisations involved.

Once finished you are going to research a past pre-release in preparation for a timed report writing next week. You need to spend at least 3 hours at home researching this question and reviewing your work.

PRE RELEASE

Explore the factors which influence the effectiveness of responses used by different groups of people to cope with tectonic hazards.

Research volcanic and seismic hazards to examine the range of  responses applied to contrasting locations.

4 Response to tectonic hazards

Enquiry question: How do people cope with tectonic hazards and what are the issues for the future?

Sub questions:

• What are the varying approaches of individuals and governments to coping with tectonic hazards in countries at different stages of development including do nothing, adjust and leave?
• What are the Specific strategies involved in adjustment: modifying loss burden, modifying the event and modifying human vulnerability; and the range of approaches and strategies used in locations at different stages of development.
• How effective are different approaches and methods of coping and the way in which approaches have changed over time, and possible future coping strategies.   
  

(Pearsons Education Limited: 'Edexcel Specification GCE Geography' 2013)

From looking at Byrne, P. et al. (2009) 'Edexcel A2 Geography' pg 176-181 I was able to gather information regarding certain topics.
The first being 'Approaches to coping with tectonic hazards'
There are three different approaches to coping with tectonic hazards and these are; 'Do Nothing', 'Adjust' and 'Leave'

Do Nothing
Do Nothing is when people decide or choose to do nothing to help them prepare for or cope with a potential tectonic hazard.
Whereas in other circumstances people also 'do nothing' due to ignoring the dangers within the location and this can often be due to education or awareness.

Adjust
There is little if anything that humans can do to help prevent the occurrence of volcanoes and earthquakes. so therefore if people were to work together and prepare for the risks, as this would therefore help limit the loss and the impact of the hazard can be reduced.
In determining the likely impact of volcanoes and earthquakes, hazard profiles will take into account factors such as;
Location, Frequency, Magnitude, Duration and Areal Extent.

Leave
In some circumstances people choose to leave or abandon their current locations. The can occur as a result of a formal hazard assessment, but more usually it occurs because of the perceptions that are held within the community. Leaving can occur on a variety of levels. People may leave for a short while, for instance during a high risk period of volcanic activity. Some residents will decide to leave temporarily and return at a later date whereas some people will opt to leave permanently.

Specific strategies involved in adjustment

Modifying the event
it isn't possible for humans to actually prevent a natural hazard occurring, however due to technology and accessible resources we are now able to gain sufficient knowledge into predicting when a natural hazard is going to occur. This is difficult to predict the occurrence of either earthquakes and volcanoes and this requires a lot of time, effort, money and resources, the advantage to this is allowing the area enough time to know when it's going to happen to alert the necessary people, so they can evacuate.

Modifying human vulnerability
Making sure that humans are protected as much as possible from the impact of natural hazards is vital. An assessment for disaster in any community should be based on; Risk of hazard, Vulnerability to the hazard and capacity to cope with the hazard.