THE GEOGRAPHER ONLINE

Hazard Risk and Vulnerability

  • Home
    • How to make a website: Tools and experiences
    • Maps and Regions
    • Travel Photographs and Videos
    • Live: Global Hazards and Disasters
    • Geography in the news
    • The Big Geography Challenge
  • New IB Geography 2017 onwards
    • IB Geography Introduction
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Option B: Oceans and coastal margins >
        • 1. Ocean–atmosphere interactions
        • 2. Interactions between oceans and coastal places
        • 3. Managing coastal margins
        • 4. Ocean management futures
      • Option D: Geophysical Hazards >
        • 1. Geophysical systems
        • 2. Geophysical hazard risks
        • 3. Hazard risk and vulnerability
        • 4. Future resilience and adaptation
    • Part 2: Core Units (SL&HL) >
      • Unit 1: Changing Population >
        • 1. Population and economic development patterns
        • 2. Changing Populations and Places
        • 3. Challenges and opportunities
      • Unit 2: Global climate—vulnerability and resilience >
        • 1. Causes of global climate change
        • 2. Consequences of global climate change
        • 3. Responding to global climate change
      • Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security >
        • 1: Global trends in consumption
        • 2: Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption
        • 3: Resource stewardship
    • Part 3: HL Core Extensions >
      • Unit 4: Power, places and networks >
        • 1. Global interactions and global power
      • Unit 5: Human development and diversity
      • Unit 6: Global risks and resilience
    • Internal Assessment
    • Why should I study IB Geography?
  • IB Geography (Old Syllabus)
    • IB Core >
      • 1. Populations in Transition
      • 2. Disparities in Wealth and Development
      • 3. Patterns in Environmental Quality and Sustainability
      • 4. Patterns in Resource Consumption
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Oceans and their Coastal Margins
      • Hazards and disasters - risk assessment and response
      • Freshwater - issues and conflicts
      • Urban Environments
    • Global Interactions - HL >
      • Measuring Global Interactions
      • Changing Space - The Shrinking world
      • Economic Interactions and Flows
      • Environmental Change
      • Sociocultural Exchanges
      • Political Outcomes
      • Global Interactions at the Local Level
    • IB Guidance >
      • Syllabus Guidance
      • IB Examination Guidance
    • Extended Essay
  • IGCSE Geography
    • Theme 1: Population and settlement >
      • Population Dynamics
      • Migration
      • Settlements
      • Urban Settlements
      • Urbanisation
    • Theme 2: The natural environment >
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Coasts
      • Rivers
      • Weather and Climate
      • Climate and Ecosystems
    • Theme 3: Economic development >
      • Development
      • Food Production
      • Industry
      • Energy
      • Tourism
      • Water
      • Environmental Risks of Economic development
    • GCSE Key Terms
    • GCSE Coursework
    • Alternative to Coursework
    • IGCSE Geography Examination Advice
    • IGCSE Revision Games
  • Key Stage 3
    • Year 6 >
      • My Place
      • Rivers
      • Brazil
    • Year 7 >
      • Maps and the world
      • Rocky Landscapes
      • Settlement
      • Weather & Climate
    • Year 8 >
      • Maps Introduction
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Economic Activity
      • Biomes
    • Year 9 >
      • Map Skills - review
      • Development
      • Coasts
      • Tourism
      • Paradise lost - Tourism in Thailand
  • AS Level Geography
    • World at Risk
    • Crowded Coasts
  • Geography Skills
  • Donations & Contact
  • YouTube Channel
  • Essential computer programs
Content Index
  1. Earthquakes
  2. Volcanoes
  3. Mass Movements
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Key terms - Geophysical Hazards
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Earthquakes

Haiti, 2010

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Britannica Link
Effects
Primary

Destruction after the earthquake at Port-au-Prince, Haiti

  • 220,000 people were killed.
  • 300,000 people were injured.
  • The main port was badly damaged.
  • 8 hospitals collapsed.
  • 100,000 houses were destroyed and 200,000 were damaged.
  • 1.3 million people became homeless.
Secondary
  • 2 million people were left without food and water.
  • Frequent power cuts occurred.
  • Crime increased - looting became a problem and sexual violence escalated.
  • People moved into temporary shelters.
  • By November 2010 there were outbreaks of cholera.
  • ​
Responses
Short-term
  • Crucial aid was slow to arrive due to the damaged port.
  • USA sent rescue teams and 10,000 troops.
  • Bottled water and purification tablets were provided.
  • 235,000 people were moved to less-damaged cities away from Port-au-Prince.
  • The UK government donated £20 million.
Long-term
  • Haiti was dependent on overseas aid.
  • New homes were built to a higher standard although the response was slow. One year after the earthquake over 1 million people were still living in temporary shelters.
  • The port needed rebuilding which required a large amount of investment.
Haiti 2010 - Worksheet
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Extended Reading
The Haiti 2010 – A Study of Vulnerability
File Size: 527 kb
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Haiti Earthquake 2010 - Geoactive
File Size: 408 kb
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Haiti Earthquake 2010 - GeoFactsheet
File Size: 5176 kb
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Japan, 2011

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Seismic intensity map
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Loss of life map
Britannica link
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Further reading
The Japanese earthquake and tsunami - GeoActive
File Size: 597 kb
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Impacts, recovery, environmental and economic repercussions - Geofile
File Size: 1135 kb
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Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Crisis ...
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Volcanoes

anak krakatau, 2018 (LIC)

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Anak Krakatau, 2018 eruption and tsunami (Worksheet)
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On Dec. 22 at 9:03 pm local time, a 64-hectare (158-acre) chunk of Anak Krakatau volcano, in Indonesia, slid into the ocean following an eruption. This landslide created a tsunami that struck coastal regions in Java and Sumatra, killing at least 426 people and injuring 7,202.

Satellite data and helicopter footage taken on Dec. 23 confirmed that part of the southwest sector of the volcano had collapsed into the sea. In a report on Dec. 29, Indonesia's Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said that the height of Anak Krakatau went from 338 meters (1,108 feet) above sea level to 110 meters (360 feet).

Although most tsunamis have a seismic origin (for example, the Sumatra, Indonesia one in 2004 and at Tohoku, Japan in 2011), they may also be triggered by phenomena related to large volcanic eruptions. Tsunamis caused by volcanoes can be triggered by submarine explosions or by large pyroclastic flows – a hot mix of volcanic gases, ash and blocks travelling at tens of miles per hour – if they enter in a body of water. Another cause is when a large crater forms due to the collapse of the roof of a magma chamber – a large reservoir of partially molten rock beneath the surface of the Earth – following an eruption. At Anak Krakatau, a large, rapidly sliding mass that struck the water led to the tsunami. These types of events are usually difficult to predict as most of the sliding mass is below water level.

These volcanic landslides can lead to major tsunamis. Landslide-triggered tsunamis similar to what happened at Anak Krakatau occurred in December 2002 when 17 millions cubic meters (600 millions cubic feet) of volcanic material from Stromboli volcano, in Italy, triggered a 8-meter-high wave.
More recently in June 2017, a 100-meter-high wave was triggered by a 45-million-cubic-meter (1.6-billion cubic-feet) landslide in Karrat Fjord, in Greenland, causing a sudden surge of seawater that wreaked havoc and killed four people in the fishing village of Nuugaatsiaq located about 20 km (12.5 miles) away from the collapse. These two tsunamis had few fatalities as they occurred either in relatively isolated locations (Karrat Fjord) or during a period of no tourist activity (Stromboli). This was obviously not the case at Anak Krakatau on Dec. 22.
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 Eyjafjallajökull, 2010 (HIC)

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Eyjafjallajökull, 2010 (worksheet)
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Eyjafjallajökull, a volcano on the Eastern Volcanic Zone in southern Iceland, began to erupt on 14 April 2010.
A plume of volcanic ash was at times ejected several kilometres into the atmosphere by this eruption, potentially causing a hazard for aeroplanes. UK airspace was closed from 15–20 April, causing significant disruption, and was reopened following new guidelines about ash densities that could be tolerated by aircraft.
Occasional disruption continued when increased explosive activity at the volcano coincided with northerly to north-westerly winds that brought the ash towards Europe.

The first eruption, on 20 March 2010, came from an ice-free area on the north-east side of the volcano, which is 1660 m high (5300 feet), with an ice cap on the upper slopes. This first phase of eruption produced lava, with little explosive activity. A subsequent phase of eruption then began in a 2.5 km-wide caldera beneath the ice cap near the summit of the volcano on 14 April. This eruption caused melting of large amounts of ice, leading to flooding in southern Iceland. Researchers at the University of Iceland estimated that there was around 1 km3 of ice in the summit crater and that about 25 per cent of this was melted in the first two days of the eruption. The interaction of magma with water created a plume of volcanic ash and gas over 10 km (33 000 feet) high, which spread out and was carried by winds south-eastwards towards the Faroe Islands, Norway, and northern Scotland.

On Sunday 18 April researchers from the University of Iceland estimated that about 750 tonnes of magma were ejected from the volcano every second. By 20 April, most of the ice in the crater appeared to have melted, the plume was only reaching heights of up to 4 km (13 100 feet), and the amount of material being ejected into the plume had increased significantly. As the amount of ice available to interact with the magma decreased, the volcano changed from producing ash to mainly producing fire fountains. By the end of April explosive activity had virtually ended, with a weak plume largely made up of steam, but flowing lava had advanced a few kilometres northwards from the crater.

In early May, explosive activity began to increase again, with more ash being ejected into the plume. Plume height was generally around 4–6 km, but reaching at times up to 8–9 km. During the first two weeks of May, the activity became cyclical, and earthquake activity recorded the rise of magma and gas from depth beneath the volcano. The explosive activity was now driven by gas dissolved in the rising magma, rather than by the interaction of magma and water.  Explosive activity gradually decreased and by 23 May little or no ash was being ejected from the volcano.
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The Icelandic volcanic ash hazard, 2010
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Landslides

2006 Southern Leyte, Philippines (LIC)

GeoActive - Leyte Philippines
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Extended Reading
Leyte - Recovery report
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Philippines 2006 Disaster
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9 years after the landslide
What caused Philippines landslide?

California, 2018 (HIC)

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Additional Reading
Wikipedia
Business Insider
New York Times
CNN
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  • Home
    • How to make a website: Tools and experiences
    • Maps and Regions
    • Travel Photographs and Videos
    • Live: Global Hazards and Disasters
    • Geography in the news
    • The Big Geography Challenge
  • New IB Geography 2017 onwards
    • IB Geography Introduction
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Option B: Oceans and coastal margins >
        • 1. Ocean–atmosphere interactions
        • 2. Interactions between oceans and coastal places
        • 3. Managing coastal margins
        • 4. Ocean management futures
      • Option D: Geophysical Hazards >
        • 1. Geophysical systems
        • 2. Geophysical hazard risks
        • 3. Hazard risk and vulnerability
        • 4. Future resilience and adaptation
    • Part 2: Core Units (SL&HL) >
      • Unit 1: Changing Population >
        • 1. Population and economic development patterns
        • 2. Changing Populations and Places
        • 3. Challenges and opportunities
      • Unit 2: Global climate—vulnerability and resilience >
        • 1. Causes of global climate change
        • 2. Consequences of global climate change
        • 3. Responding to global climate change
      • Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security >
        • 1: Global trends in consumption
        • 2: Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption
        • 3: Resource stewardship
    • Part 3: HL Core Extensions >
      • Unit 4: Power, places and networks >
        • 1. Global interactions and global power
      • Unit 5: Human development and diversity
      • Unit 6: Global risks and resilience
    • Internal Assessment
    • Why should I study IB Geography?
  • IB Geography (Old Syllabus)
    • IB Core >
      • 1. Populations in Transition
      • 2. Disparities in Wealth and Development
      • 3. Patterns in Environmental Quality and Sustainability
      • 4. Patterns in Resource Consumption
    • Part 1: Geographical Themes >
      • Oceans and their Coastal Margins
      • Hazards and disasters - risk assessment and response
      • Freshwater - issues and conflicts
      • Urban Environments
    • Global Interactions - HL >
      • Measuring Global Interactions
      • Changing Space - The Shrinking world
      • Economic Interactions and Flows
      • Environmental Change
      • Sociocultural Exchanges
      • Political Outcomes
      • Global Interactions at the Local Level
    • IB Guidance >
      • Syllabus Guidance
      • IB Examination Guidance
    • Extended Essay
  • IGCSE Geography
    • Theme 1: Population and settlement >
      • Population Dynamics
      • Migration
      • Settlements
      • Urban Settlements
      • Urbanisation
    • Theme 2: The natural environment >
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Coasts
      • Rivers
      • Weather and Climate
      • Climate and Ecosystems
    • Theme 3: Economic development >
      • Development
      • Food Production
      • Industry
      • Energy
      • Tourism
      • Water
      • Environmental Risks of Economic development
    • GCSE Key Terms
    • GCSE Coursework
    • Alternative to Coursework
    • IGCSE Geography Examination Advice
    • IGCSE Revision Games
  • Key Stage 3
    • Year 6 >
      • My Place
      • Rivers
      • Brazil
    • Year 7 >
      • Maps and the world
      • Rocky Landscapes
      • Settlement
      • Weather & Climate
    • Year 8 >
      • Maps Introduction
      • Plate Tectonics
      • Economic Activity
      • Biomes
    • Year 9 >
      • Map Skills - review
      • Development
      • Coasts
      • Tourism
      • Paradise lost - Tourism in Thailand
  • AS Level Geography
    • World at Risk
    • Crowded Coasts
  • Geography Skills
  • Donations & Contact
  • YouTube Channel
  • Essential computer programs