AS Geography Hazards Case Study: California as a Disaster Hotspot

DISASTER HOTSPOTS

DISASTER HOTSPOT: 

An area prone to tectonic hazards, hydrometeorological hazards, and vulnerability. Hotspots are likely to be where plate boundaries intersect with major storm belts in areas of high human concentration in LICs or HICs. 

CASE STUDY: CALIFORNIA

Subject to:

earthquakes

wildfires

landslides

flooding

coastal flooding

fog and smog

drought

EARTHQUAKES

The San Andreas Fault is on a conservative strike slip margin between the Pacific and north American Tectonic plates. It also shares a destructive subduction margin with the Juan de Fuca Plate. Both the Pacific and the North American plate move in the same direction, however the pacific plate moves faster. This results in increased friction, causing earthquakes. 

California is the 6th richest economy in the world, therefore economic damages are high. 

• More than 10,000 quakes a year
• Network of 300+ active faults, mostly parallel to the main fault
• 5 Major earthquakes over the last 100 years
  • 1906 San Francisco, 8.2 on the Richter Scale
  • 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter Scale, IX on Mercalli
    • 64 deaths
    • $6b damage
  • 1994 San Fernando Valley, 6.4 on the Richter Scale
    • 72 deaths
    • $12b damage
• Expecting the ‘Big One’

REDUCING THE IMPACT

• the…