Hazardous Environment - 3.2 (Reasons for Living in High-Risk Areas; Case Studies)

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Reasons for Living in High-Risk Areas

Volcanic Areas

  • Volcanic soils are very fertile
  • People don't think it's possible for the volcanoes to erupt
  • Some volcanoes are popular tourist destination
  • Tradition and religion
  • A lot of poor people can't afford to move
  • Volcanoes provide geothermal energy
  • Lots of money can be made from minerals
  • Landscapes can be very pretty

Earthquakes Areas

  • Some earthquake prone areas like Turkey and Iceland are popular tourist destination
  • People in MICs feel safe in earthquake zones because of quake proof infrastructure
  • Some places (like California) are beautiful
  • People don't think they'll be hurt
  • Lack of education
  • Some countries are more vulnerable than others to the impacts of natural hazards because they're poorer, their location makes them have disasters all the time or they're not prepared.

2005 Hurricane Katrina 

more like hurricane tortilla

Long-Term Effects

  • 80% of New Orleans was flooded for weeks
  • 30 oil platforms were destroyed, costing the US billions
  • Racial tensions were exposed as many of the victims were African-American
  • Repairs and reconstruction cost over $150 billion
  • Thousands of jobs disappeared due to the area being destroyed
  • 26 million litres of oil were spilled

Short-Term Effects

  • People took protection in the Superdome stadium
  • 1,833 people lost their lives
  • There was a lot of looting of abandoned places
  • Emergency response was slow
  • Flood protection was destroyed

2010 Haiti Earthquake

Long-Term Effects

  • Government buildings were destroyed and the police force collapsed
  • By November (the earthquake was in January) there were outbreaks of cholera
  • Haitian tourist industry declined
  • There was so much damage that aid and reconstruction was prevented from being done effectively

Short-Term Effects

  • 220,000 people were killed
  • 200,000 homes were damaged in Port-au-Prince
  • 1.3 million Haitians were displaced
  • Eight healthcare centers were damaged/collapsed

2010 Indonesia Eruption - Mount Merapi

Long-Term Effects

  • Emergency shelters couldn't be closer than 15 km from the volcano because of ash and dust
  • Nearly 300,000 people had to leave their homes
  • Flights in Australia were grounded because of ash and dust
  • Damage to crops caused food shortages

Short-Term Effects

  • Volcanic bombs landed over 11 km away
  • Pyroclastic flows spreading 3 km down
  • 350 people died
  • Sulphur dioxide was blown all the way to Australia
  • Ash plumes went up to 5 km and landed up to 30 km away

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