Hazards 1

Natural HazardsNatural Hazards

A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake, or landslide). It leads to financial, environmental or human losses.

What is a ‘natural

disaster’?

Types of hazard

• Tectonic (earthquakes)

• Climatic (hurricanes/ tropical storms)

• LEDC and MEDC case studies

• Important to understand how the impact & management of the hazard differs between countries

The distribution of natural hazardsThe distribution of natural hazards

DroughtVolcanoesEarthquakesTropical Storms (hurricanes)

Match the type of hazard to the correct map & write a justification of why you believe it is this type of hazard.

Make a link to the hazard’s distribution. Use an atlas if needed.

Patterns of distribution

The distribution of a natural hazard is dependent on the natural processes that cause them:

VolcanoesEarthquakesVolcanoesEarthquakes

Tropical StormsDroughtTropical StormsDrought

Plate tectonicsPlate tectonics

ClimaticClimatic

Effects of hazardsEffects of hazards• Primary effects:

Immediate effects caused directly by the hazard, e.g. crushed by falling building, drowning in tsunami, etc.

• Secondary effects:

Caused by subsequent problems triggered by original hazard, e.g. radiation sickness from nuclear power plant explosion in Japan, disease from dirty water in Haiti, etc.

ImpactsIMPORTANT:

The severity of the impact of a natural disaster depends on the level of economic development

MEDCs are likely to have more ………. but less …………….

Whereas LEDCs are likely to have more ………… but less ………………

Enquiry1. Mark on the tropics + the equator on your map.

2. Colour code & annotate the map to show the distribution of these hazards:

Volcanoes Earthquakes

Tropical Storms Drought

3. Describe the distribution of each type of natural hazard on the A3 world map.

4. Justify why these distributions exist. You may use an atlas / netbook to help. Describe the patterns (e.g. narrow bands, etc.)

Distribution of hazards : link to causesDistribution of hazards : link to causes

• Use the textbooks• Create mind-maps for each hazard to

describe basic causes & describe the distributions of where they occur

• Justify and explain why these distributions exist. You may use an atlas / netbook to help.

• E.g. narrow bands along edge of continents, within the tropics, etc. .

Worldmapper • Killed in Earthquakes • Killed in Volcanoes • Killed by drought • Killed by stormsLinks• Killed in Earthquakes • Killed in Volcanoes • Killed by drought • Killed by stormsKML Starterhttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/

Exam Q

i) Name the scale, which magnitude of an earthquake [1]

ii) Describe the distribution of earthquakes shown in Fig.8 [4]

iii) How are the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate (shown in Fig.8) moving in relation to each other? [1]