List of case studies and statistics for Hazards topic in AQA geography A level. This includes case studies of volcanoes, earthquakes, tropical storms, wildfires, the multi-hazardous environment case study- Indonesia, and a local scale case study- Port-au-Prince Haiti.
- Sinabung, Indonesia, 1st Feb 2014
o Plate boundary: destructive - Indo-Australian subducting beneath the Eurasian plate
o Stratovolcano
o Number of deaths: 16
o The reasons for the impacts:
▪ Recent period of dormancy- 400+ years, with lack of historical evidence to aid
prediction
▪ Not as closely monitored as other volcanoes in Indonesia
▪ Inaccurate perception of risk- regular eruption since September 2013 but was
quiet during January and the residents had just been allowed to return home
▪ Farming- dominant livelihoods and farmers keen on returning home
▪ A tourist attraction
▪ Pyroclastic flows responsible for many of the deaths
▪ Government reliant on outside support for management
o Response:
▪ Volcano Disaster Assistance program
• International volcano crisis response team
• The CDAP staff and colleagues train Indonesian centre for Volcanology
and use instrumentation for volcanic gas monitoring
▪ Monitoring equipment installed at Sinabung in 2016
- Mount Ontake, Japan, Sept 2014
o Plate boundary: destructive- Philippines beneath Eurasian
o Number of deaths: 63
o Causes of destruction
▪ Nature of the eruption:
• Phreatic
• Fairly small- VEI 3 with no visible signs = both making it hard to predict
▪ Tourist attractions: over 250 tourists were present that day
▪ Only 10-20% of hikers register with tourism officials that records who is hiking at
any one time
• Difficult to know how many people were affected
▪ Lung damage by tephra- speed of over 300km/h
▪ Delay in rescue due to Typhoon Phanfone as well as high levels of poisonous
hydrogen sulphide (can be used to show weakness in the Park model)
- Mount Mayon, Philippines, 2018
o Stratovolcano
o Destructive plate boundary- part of the Pacific Ring of Fire
o Ash emissions and basaltic eruption followed by longer term, andesitic lava flows from
the central crater
o Phreatic eruptions
o No deaths
, ▪ Well organised emergency procedures- PHIVOLCS alert
o $3.4 million worth damages to agriculture affecting 10,000 farmers- lava flows
o Some roads impassable due to landslides and ash falls
o Some flights in and out of Legaspi cancelled
o Local and national response:
▪ $1 million for a cash for work programme as well as provision of hygiene
packages and food packs for 50,000 families by the government
▪ Army enforcing the evacuation
▪ The Philippine Red Cross set up first-aid stations and welfare desks to provide
psychological support to affected individuals
▪ The national council of churches provided immediate relief assistance
o International response:
▪ US, UK and Canadian government advised its nationals against travelling to
Mayon
▪ USAID committed over $100,000 which was used to distribute vouchers for
families to buy essential items and hygiene kits to help reduce illness in
evacuation centre
- Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, 2010
o Iceland sits on Mid Atlantic Ridge as well as over hot spot
o Stratovolcano
o Covered by icecap
o VEI 4
o No deaths
o Primary hazards:
▪ Tephra/ ash
• 50% fell in iceland
• Around 5 trillion tonnes
• 20% of lava water transported
▪ Lava
▪ Gases
• 30,000t CO2 a day
• Not as much as expected
o Secondary hazards
▪ Flooding
• 2000-3000 cm3/s
▪ Lahar
• 60% sediment concentration
o Perception of volcanoes
▪ Adaptation: education
▪ Avoidance
▪ Fear especially for older participants
o Community preparedness
▪ Local authorities built a school nearby the sea
▪ Education
, ▪ Local government planned landuse
▪ Social connectivity
▪ District communicator
▪ Always assume there will be warning time (challenge)
▪ Assume everyone will evacuate (challenge)
o Local impacts
▪ Livestock taken inside to escape ash
▪ Local flooding as glacier melts
• Main road route had to be breached to let the surplus water flow safely
▪ Fresh fish exports a major local industry; badly affected with loss of income
o International impacts:
▪ Highest level of disruption to air travel since WWII
▪ All flights cancelled- 1000 flights were cancelled in Heathrow alone
• Icelandic ash is fine, so was hard to see and travelled far, and is glassy-
58% silica
• This can get into jet engines and causes it to fail
▪ Shares in airline companies and travel businesses fell
• 11.7% drop in air passenger numbers
• $1.7 billion loss to the airline industry
• Europe loses $2.6 billion of GDP due to the eruption
▪ 40,000 British stranded worldwide
▪ Reduction in aircraft noise around major airports- temporary improvement in
QoL
▪ Political impacts: presidents and prime ministers unable to attend international
summits/ events or cannot return home e.g. Norway
▪ 2.8 million tonnes of less carbon dioxide emitted
o Management after the event
▪ Short term
• 800-1000 people evacuated within 5 hours
• Wearing gas masks and keeping windows shut to prevent ash from
entering their homes or causing long term health problems
• Airline grounded as a precaution
• The national emergency coordination centre in Reykjavik was activated
and 3 red Cross mass care centres were set up in local villages
▪ Long term
• Review of insurance to cover volcanic ash
• R and D into airplanes and effect of ash on airplanes
• Insurance claims and court cases to fight for compensation for
disruption
Seismic hazards
Anak Krakatau volcano, 2018
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