World at risk - case studies and examples

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  • Created by: Ett
  • Created on: 26-04-14 13:45

Disaster hotspot - >1 hazard, hazard vulnerability e.g. loss of property + lives

Disaster hotspots: CALIFORNIA

  • Capacity to cope = high (household income = $61,000)
  • Population = 37m
  • Hazards: earthquakes, coastal erosion, floods, wildfires, earthquakes
  • Earthquakes - conservative plate boundary, shallow-focus, San Andreas Fault, LA has soft sediments
  • Flooding + landslides - El Nino winter storms -> San Gabriel river flooding
  • Droughts - arid Mediterranean climate 
  • Coastal erosion - threatens coastal homes

Disaster hotspots: the Philpinnes 

  • Capacity to cope = medium (middle-income = GDP/capita = $4,000)
  • Population = 93m
  • Hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, cyclones

Why are the impacts severe?

  • Vulnerable pop - at sea level in poor buildings
  • Poor disaster mitigation policies
  • High magnitude hazards
  • Isolated islands - no warning
  • Tropical cyclones - 7k islands in tropical cyclone belt, 20 storms/yr. 2011 = Typhoon Washi -> flooding = 1250 deaths (slum housing at riverbank), 500k homes lost

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