Hazardous Earth - Case Studies

• Primary impacts


  Those that take place at the time of the event itself, and are directly caused by it
• Secondary impacts


  Those that follow the event, and are indirectly caused by it
• Short-term response


  Immediate action after an event
• Long-term response


  Reaction that happens in the weeks, months and years after an event
• Haiti Earthquake 2010


  • When: 4:53pm 12th January 2010
  • Where: Port-au-Prince
  • Magnitude: 7.0Mw
  • After-shocks between 5.5 and 6.0 occurred in the days after
• What caused the Haiti earthquake


  • Contraction and deformation along a fault near the conservative plate boundary
  • Epicentre 25km south-west of capital Port-au-Prince
  • Shallow focus of 13km
• How the Haitian level of development caused such a disaster
• Factors contributing to the Haiti disaster

  • Poverty
  • Unemployment
  • Lack of infrastructure (roads, sewers, electricity)
  • Lack of services (health care, transport, education)
  • Very few earthquake-resistant buildings
  • Buildings and other structures were poorly built
  • Epicentre was near to the capital
  • Few resources to rescue or treat injured people
• Primary impacts of Haiti earthquake


  • Roads damaged and blocked
  • Over 220,000 deaths
  • 300,000 injured
  • 1.3 million made homeless
  • Several hospitals collapsed
  • 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed
  • Businesses destroyed
  • Damage to the main clothing industry
  • Airport and port damaged
• Secondary impacts of Haiti earthquake

  • 2 million without food or water
  • Looting
  • Tourist industry declined
  • Cholera killed 8000 people
  • 1 in 5 people lost their jobs
  • Displaced moved in to shelters and temporary accommodation
• Primary responses to Haiti earthquake

  • Neighbouring Dominican Republic provided emergency water and medical supplies, as well as heavy machinery for search and rescue
  • Emergency rescue teams arrived from countries like Iceland
  • Medical teams began treating the injured - temporary field hospitals set up
  • GIS used to provide satellite images and maps to assist aid organisations
  • People pledged money over their mobile phones
  • United Nations troops and police sent to help distribute aid and keep order
• Secondary responses to Haiti earthquake


  • Money pledged by organisations and governments to assist in rebuilding, but only slow progress made after one year
  • After one year, there were still 1,300 camps
  • 'Cash for work' programs paying Haitians to clear rubble
  • Small farmers being supported so crops can be grown
  • Schools being rebuilt
• Tohoku, Japan, 2011 earthquake

  • When: 2:47pm 11th March 2011
  • Where: Epicentre off the North East coast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean, impacting Tohoku, Fukushima and Sendai
  • Magnitude: 9.0Mw
  • Hundreds of after-shocks between 6.0 and 7.0Mw
• Preparation measures in Japan

  • Monitor seismic activity all over the country
  • If an earthquake is detected people are warned immediately
  • Strict building laws prevent damage - buildings reinforced with steel frames, high rise buildings have deep foundations and shock absorbers
  • Early warning system to alert people
  • Automatic alarms stop mechanical equipment to alert workers and prevent injuries
  • Population educated on what to do - disaster prevention day to practice evacuations
  • Schools carry out earthquake drills
  • Coastal communities practice getting to higher ground
• Primary impacts of Tohoku earthquake


  • Thousands of buildings damaged
  • Severe liquefaction - resulted in buildings tilting and sinking into the ground
• Secondary impacts of Tohoku earthquake

  • Tsunami which killed thousands of people
  • 230,000 homeless
  • Hundreds of thousands of buildings destroyed
  • Power supplies cut off to the Fukushima nuclear power plant
  • Road and rail networks suffered severe damage
• Short-term relief for Tohoku earthquake


  • International aid and search and rescue teams brought in
  • Rescue workers and soldiers sent to deal with aftermath
  • Transport and communication restored a couple of weeks after
  • Power supplies restored in the weeks after
• Long-term planning for Tohoku earthquake


  • Japanese authority gave earthquake and tsunami warning which allowed people to get to higher ground
  • Despite very strong shaking, not a single building collapsed in Tokyo
  • Nobody died on the bullet train network due to the automatic braking system
• Conditions for tropical storm formation

  • Large, still, warm ocean at 26.5°C
  • Strong winds high in the troposphere, 10-12km above the Earth's surface, are needed to draw warm air up rapidly from the ocean surface
  • Form where the rotation is stronger between 5° and 30° latitude north and south of the equator - at the Tropics
  • They can only form in late summer when oceans have warmed up - mid-July to October in the northern hemisphere, and mid-January to April in the southern
• Storm surge


  • A change in sea level that is caused by a storm, can lead to extensive flooding and are dangerous for people living in many coastal areas
  • Main cause is high winds pushing the seawater towards the coast, causing it to pile up there, with a smaller contribution from the low pressure at the centre of the storm "pulling" the water level up
  • The strong winds in the storm generate large waves on top of the surge which can cause damage to sea defences, or spill over the top adding to the flood risk
• Why some countries are more vulnerable to storm surges
• Hurricane Katrina 2005
• What happened with Hurricane Katrina

  • Around the 23rd August 2005 a low pressure tropical depression formed over the warm waters of the coast of Florida
  • Katrina's path took it over the southern tip of Florida but it was over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico that the storm deepened to exceed wind speeds of 282km/h, thereby creating a category 5 hurricane
  • The Hurricane then lost some energy and dropped to a category 3 event before reaching land at New Orleans
  • Despite decreasing in intensity, Katrina was a huge and powerful storm. The accompanying storm surge varied from 3 to 10 m in height and along with the strong winds and intense rain, building damage and flooding was extensive
• Impacts of Hurricane Katrina

  • Storm surges reached over 6 metres in height- flooding 80% of the city- huge property damage and led to loss of lives
  • New Orleans was one of the worst affected areas because it lies below sea level and is protected by levees which were unable to cope with the strength of Katrina, and water flooded into the city
  • People sought refuge in the Superdome stadium, but conditions were unhygienic, and there was a shortage of food and water. Looting was commonplace throughout the city. Tension was high and many felt vulnerable and unsafe
  • 1 million people were made homeless
  • About 1,200 people drowned in the floods
  • Oil facilities were damaged and as a result petrol prices rose in the UK and USA
• Preparation measures for Hurricane Katrina

  • Monitoring system predicting when and where it would hit
  • NHC issued hurricane warning on 26th
  • Embankments/levees failed and flooded New Orleans
  • National Hurricane Centre used satellite images and planes
  • Mississippi and Louisiana declared state of emergency
  • 70-80% of New Orleans residents evacuated before it hit land
• Response to Hurricane Katrina

  • Great forecasting and tracking services - forecasters were able to predict where the hurricane would make landfall
  • Mayor of New Orleans ordered the evacuation of the city- however many unable to leave as they didn't have access to a car
  • Superdome shelter had limited supplies of food and water
  • Levees and barriers overwhelmed- had not been properly maintained or upgraded. 80% of the city flooded
  • Response of local and national government criticised for not being fast enough or effective enough
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) unprepared for the scale of the destruction
  • Poorest worst affected- without cars so struggled to evacuate. Survivors felt betrayed
  • $50 billion in aid was given by the government
• Typhoon Haiyan 2013
• Typhoon Haiyan


  • One of the strongest tropical cyclones on record
  • Category 5
  • Began in the Pacific Ocean and then was blown towards the Philippines
  • Reached a category 5 storm with wind speeds up to 314 km/hr
• Characteristics of the Philippines
• Impacts of Typhoon Haiyan


  • 6,300 dead
  • 1,757 missing
  • 26,136 injured
  • 3.4million displaced
  • 10 to 13 million people are affected
  • 574,392 (90%)houses totally destroyed
  • 225,922 living in evacuation centers
  • 1,069 evacuation centers set up
  • 3,316,448 people outside of evacuation centers receiving aid
• Why is the economic cost so much higher for Hurricane Katrina when the number of lives lost was so much lower than that of Haiyan?
• Storm surge from Typhoon Haiyan


  • A 7.5 metre wave hit the coastline - so powerful it washed bodies from graves
  • Landslides hindered the rescue efforts
• Responses to Typhoon Haiyan


  • 7 provinces in the Philippines placed under a 'state of National Calamity'
  • Relief effort slowed by blocked roads and major damage to airports
  • Some areas were isolated for several days
  • Many without source of clean water due to burst pipes and contamination from seawater
  • Due to lack of power evacuations could only take place during daylight hours (11 hours)
  • Big focus on relief in Tacloban - lots of smaller remote areas felt abandoned
• Preparation measures for Typhoon Haiyan

  • Assisted in tracking the typhoon by Japan
  • Government used the public storm warning signal (PSWS) - originally only a level 1 warning given to some eastern areas, level of warning increased when it made landfall
  • Areas at risk of flood and landslides evacuated
  • Military sent planes and helicopters to regions most at risk to help with aid
  • Government emergency shelters were not on ground high enough to escape the massive 5 metre storm surge
• Was the preparation for Typhoon Haiyan effective?
• Was the response to Typhoon Haiyan effective?