Geography Tectonic Hazards

• Haiti 2010: magnitude 7.1
• Haiti: epicentre was 15 miles away from the capital
• Haiti: Port-au-Prince built on loose sediment increasing the risk of liquefaction and buildings collapse
• Haiti: 1/3 of all buildings collapse
• Haiti: Not enough steel reinforcement in the concrete- inadequate construction
• Haiti: Low GDP= root cause of lack of spending on buildings + corruption
• Haiti: 200,000 people died, 1.5 million made homeless
• Haiti: Roads and port was badly damage so aid could not be brought in
• Haiti: By 2015 (five years later) Haiti was still recovering with 80,000 Haitians still living in temporary housing
• Haiti: $13 billion of aid given
• Haiti: Corrupt government meant many organisations were unwilling to channel money through it
• Sichuan 2008: magnitude 7.9
• Sichuan: located in isolated mountainous region causing landslides
• Sichuan: Corrupt government officials often ignored building codes
• Sichuan: China is a wealthy country and therefore has the money available to pay for rescue and recovery
• Sichuan: 5 million people were made homeless
• Sichuan: Thousands of schools fell down killing 5335 children, whilst most government buildings nearby did not
• Sichuan: 130,000 soldiers and relief workers were sent to affected areas
• Sichuan: Government pledged $10 billion to re-build
• Sichuan: Within two weeks temporary housing, roads and bridges were built
• Japan 2011: magnitude 9.0
• Japan: caused a tsunami travelling at 100kmph, reaching 10 metres high and surged 10km inland
• Japan: Strict building codes- 75% built to withstand earthquakes

  
  

  Low levels of corruption means building codes are strictly enforced
• Japan: Evacuations centres have been established and education prepared people (emergency drills)
• Japan: Early warning system in place
• Japan: The Fukushima Diiachi Nuclear Power Plant was damaged releasing radiation. This forced 47,000 people to evacuate + 20km exclusion zone
• Japan: 27% of Japan's energy came from nuclear power but after the earthquake all were shut down in the area of the tsunami
• Japan: 44 nuclear reactors were shut down (1% of energy in 2013) causing the price of electricity to go up by 20%
• Boxing Day Tsunami 2004: magnitude 9.0
• Boxing Day Tsunami: Epicentre was close to densely populated coastal communities in Sumatra (rapid onset leaving little time for evacuation)
• Boxing Day Tsunami: No tsunami warning system
• Boxing Day Tsunami: Low lying countries such as Sumatra and the Maldives meant the tsunami surged inland
• Boxing Day Tsunami: Many mangrove forests along the coast had been removed- no natural protection
• Boxing Day Tsunami: Most countries affected were low income countries
• Boxing Day Tsunami: In Sumatra 1500 villages were destroyed
• Boxing Day Tsunami: 300,000 people died and 1.7 million made homeless
• Boxing Day Tsunami: 60% of Sri Lanka's fishing vessels were destroyed
• Boxing Day Tsunami: Total economic damage= $10 billion
• Boxing Day Tsunami: 12 countries affected
• Boxing Day Tsunami: NGO's sent $7 billion in aid