Nic Earthquake – Sichuan Earthquake, China

NIC Earthquake – Sichuan Earthquake, China

Physical:

• The earthquake happened on the 12 May 2008.
• 7.9 magnitude.
• Shaking lasted 5 minutes.
• Shallow focus of 19km.
• Several aftershocks exceeding 6.0.
• 315 million tonnes of water could have weakened the fault increasing stress.

Social:

• Over 5 million homeless.
• 70,000 death toll.
• Landslides caused 1,000 deaths.
•  Heavy rainfall triggered a mudflow killing 158 rescue people.

Environmental:

• A train in the Gansa area spilt 500 tonnes of gasoline the fires it produced took 40 hours to put out.

Economical:

• 80% of houses collapsed.
• $150 billion estimated cost of the damage.
• 5.4 million buildings collapsed.

Management:

• Authorities had to evacuate 250,000 people for fear of them drowning as a result of the water escaping from damns.
•  Earthquake building code set down in 1976 is mandatory in China however many have ignored it.
• 1.3 billion dollars used to reconstruct 2,600 schools.
• 169 new hospitals to be built and 860,000 new city apartments will be built.

Sichuan extra 2013:

• 90% of houses damaged as building regulations still ignored.
• 7 on the richter scale.
• Around 200 dead.
• "100%" of houses in the 9 towns and townships and in the county seat were damaged (Lushan area).
• However, around 60 giant pandas in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Ya'an, were left unharmed by the devastating earthquake. (sorry this just made me laugh as it was on a genuine news report).

LEDC Volcano – Soufriere hills, Montserrat

Background:

• LEDC
• Part of the British Colony.
• Caribbean tourist hotspot.

Physical:

• Early activity like ash emissions, steam explosions and numerous earthquakes.
• The steam and ash reached heights of 2500m.
• March 1996 huge ash cloud and pyroclastic flow happened.
• The climax occurred on the 25th June 1996 4.5 million m³ of ash erupted from the volcano.
• 11th February 2009 40 million m³ of rubble from the north eastern portion of the lava dome collapsed.

Social:

• A lot of post-traumatic stress disorder.
• The pyroclastic flow killed 19 people.
• Between 1995-1999 the population decreased from 10,000 -3,000 growing back to 5,000 after 2006.
• Silicosis a lung disease effected a lot of people.

Environmental:

• Only 40km² out of 100km² was safe to live on.
•  The southern island was completely destroyed.
• The eruption in 1995 effected 63km around the island.
• 1/3 of the tropical rainforests were damaged.
• The soil was enriched with volcanic ash.
• Feral farm animals like cows have caused problems in the exclusions zones destroying native species.

Economical:

• Plymouth was eventually buried in over 10m of ash and mud and the airport and docking facilities were destroyed.
• The construction a new airport cost £11 million known as Gerald’s 2005.
• 1,500 people flocked to the island looking for jobs as they were construction workers.
• Enrolment in all schools dropped from 2,672-620 between 1996-1998.
• 300 fulltime farmers lost their land as a result of the explosions.
• Montserrat is now dependant on food imports.
• In 1997 annual tourists were at 4,000 when they should have been 15,000.
• 400 students left the medical school (American University of the Caribbean).
• Money has also been invested into attracting new sets of tourists to the Caribbean like families or travellers not just newlyweds or nearly dead’s.

Management:

• They set up temporary shelters to the North.
• 7,000/01,000 inhabitants left for the UK or Antigua.
• A new observatory centre has been set up in Montserrat.
• UK government spent £100 million assisting migration.
• Stations with infra-red sensors which detect air pressure which are set of as a result of eruptions have been set up.
• 2004 a 5 million grant from the UK was given by an organisation called international development to build more hotels to boost the tourist industry again.
• 2,000 new homes built as most of the population is still in temporary accommodation.

Tropical Storms – Hurricane Katrina

Background:

• One of the poorest cities in America 1/3 of people are below the poverty line.
• 1927 hurricane the levees broke and 246 people died.
• The city is surrounded by 350 miles of levees.
• Hurricanes are defined by their extremely strong winds that can blow from 75 to 200 miles per hour.
• Before a storm becomes a hurricane, it starts out as a tropical storm. Tropical storms have wind speeds between 39 and 74 miles per hour. Once a tropical storm's wind speeds reach or exceed 75 miles per hour, the storm becomes classified as a hurricane.

Physical:

• New Orleans is 6-10ft below sea level.
• 80% of the town lies below sea level.
• The national hurricane centre had been monitoring Katrina for 3 days.
• August 2005 Katrina made landfall in New Orleans.
• Category 5 hurricane.
• Winds 280km/h.
• Storm surges were 8.2m high.

Social:

• 1,836 deaths due to flooding.
• Rumours of looting and rape of homes.
• 1 million people were left homeless.

Environment:

• The storm surge made it 20km inland.
• Mississippi levees broke in over 50 place 80%in the New Orleans area.
• 5,300km² of forest was destroyed in Mississippi.
• Dauphin Island was breached by the storm and much of the sand was transported into the Mississippi Sound.
• 20% of marshlands were inundated with seawater so breeding grounds for turtles were lost.
• 1.3 million acres of forest land destroyed.

Economic:

• Cost of damage estimated at $150 billion US dollars.
• 3 million people had no electricity.
• Thirty oil platforms were damaged in the Gulf and 9 refineries closed reducing production by 25%.
• Due to 30 petrol facilities being damaged or destroyed it caused petrol cost to rice in the US and UK.

Management:

• In 2004 Hurricane Pam simulation was tested out and the levees were seen to be breached.
• They predicted that 70% would migrate but 127,000 have no vehicles.
• At the Superdome there was food and water for 15,000 people but 26,000 people turned up.
• They would need to spend $20 billion on the levees to protect against a category 5.
• Of the 60,000 people stranded in New Orleans 33,500 people were rescued by the Coast Guard.
• 58,000 of the national guard were activated to deal with aftermaths of the storm.
• 60,000 people moved over 1,200km away and were still there one month after the storm.
• FEMA paid for temporary hotel costs of 12,000 individuals but by July 2006 10,000 people still lived in trailer parks.
• FEMA under Micheal Brown’s orders delayed aid agencies to go into the city.
• Aid didn’t arrive until 3 days after the hurricane struck meaning people were suffering from dehydration.

Responses:

• Many people were evacuated, it was a slow process and the poorest and most vulnerable were left behind.
• $50 billion in aid was given by the government.
• The UK government sent food aid during the early stages of the recovery process.
• The National Guard was mobilised to restore and maintain law and order in what became a hostile and unsafe living environment.

Tsunami – Indian Ocean, 2004

Date: 26 December 2004

Cause of the Tsunami: 

• The Indio-Australian Plate subducted below the Eurasian Plate. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9. This therefore meant that seafloor was uplifted and displaced the seawater above.

Tsunami:

• Is a long, high sea wave caused by the earthquake. Travelled at speeds up to 800km per hour. In some areas the height of the wave was 15 metres.
• A cause of the amount of destruction was the fact that the tsunami hit a low lying area. The tsunami also had so much energy that it carried on inland and travelled 5,000 km to Africa. Many countries around the Indian Ocean affected by the tsunami were LEDC’s so they couldn’t afford sufficient preparation and prevention.                                                                                                                              

Impacts:

• Over 230,000 people died.
• Over half a million injured.
• 2 million were made homeless.
• 14 countries affected (India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, South Africa, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles).
• Short-term aid, such as water purification tablets, temporary housing and medical supplies were given from international countries. 
• Islands reliant on tourism and fishing, such as the Maldives, had to rebuild their industries.
• Ports ruined.
• Fishing industry ruined (60% of Sri Lanka fishing fleet destroyed).
• Communications damaged (roads, bridges and rail networks).

Immediate Responses:

• Search and rescue.
• Emergency food and water.
• Medical care.
• Temporary sheltered-establishing infrastructure and communications.

Secondary Responses:

• Re-building and improving infrastructure and housing.
• Providing jobs and supporting small businesses.
• Giving advice and technical assistance.

Short-term responses:

• In many areas local communities were cut off and had to help themselves.
• The authorities ordered quick burial or burning of the dead to avoid the spread of disease.
• Food aid was provided to millions of people, egg from the World Food Programme. $7 billion (just under £4.5billion) of aid was promised by foreign governments – but there were complaints that not all money pledged was given. The British public gave £330 million through charities.

Long-term responses:

• Reconstruction is still taking place.
• International scale: An Indian Ocean tsunami warning system has now been set up.
• Local scale: some small-scale sustainable development projects have been set up by charities to aid recovery and help local people help themselves to rebuild and set up small businesses.

Impact of international conflict – West Bank/Gaza Strip