The hazards presented by volcanic and seismic events have the greatest impact on the world

‘The hazards presented by volcanic and seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people’ to what extent do you agree with this view? (40 marks) Volcanic and sesmin events and activities can take place all over the world and therefore both more economically developed countries (MEDCs) and less economically develop countries (LEDCs) can be affected. In the last 30 years there have been masses of examples of where volcanic and seismis event have had an impact on both MEDCs and LEDCs. Although prevention of either an earthqauke or volcanic eruption isnt possible, it is possible to manage them and reduce the overall impact. This should, in theory, be easier for MEDC’s due to having more money available to spend on management polices. However in some situations it isnt the primary effect of the earthquake or seismic activity that have the greater impact. In this essay I will show how the impact of volcanic and sesmic events have a ‘greater impact on the world’s poorest people’ than on richer countries.
The Jananese earthqauke occurred on the 11th of March in 2011. A massive 9.0 magnitude eathquake struck Japan, Friday afternoon at 5:46 local time, it lasted 6 minutes. This earthquake makes it the fifth largest recorded worldwide since 1900. The quake was centred 130 kilometres to the east of the prefecture’s captial, Sendai. The coast of Japan is highly built up and this in its self caused a massive problem. The seismic event caused a Tsunami, which was sent crashing into the country’s north-eastern coast. The reason behind this catastrophe was because Japan is located on the east edge of the Eurasian Plate, therefore the Oceanic Pacific Plate was subducted under the Eurasian Plate. This plate margin is known as a Destructive plate boundary. The reason behind the huge 9 magintude earthqauke is because when the Oceanic Plate was being subducted under the Eurasian Plate, tension was built up, the tension then became too much for the plates to hold, causing a rapid shift in the plates, with huge amounts of energy being released, in this case about the same as the annual energy output of the UK. Due to the subduction of the plate it caused the ocean to move by 40m creating waves, some of which were as high as 30 metres. Japan is known for being a more economically developed country (MEDCs) with a GDP of 4.92 trillion US dollar, therefore they had more disposiable income to spend on making the buildings and surrounding areas ‘quake proof’. Therefore Japan was largely prepared for the earthquake and many of the buildings remaied standing afterward, however it was not prepared for the subsequeant Tsuanmi. This earthquake did not occur alone, there were many aftershocks, some reaching up to 7.1 magintude, furthermore affecting the buildings and weakening their structure. Two nuclear plants on the Pacific coast in Fukushima were severly hit by the Tsunami, leading to them being automaticlally shut down, however due to the sheer force of the earthquake and tsunami it lead to radiation being leaked into the water and surrounding areas, leading to more problems such as; causing large evacuations and concern over food and water supplies. Overall 15,400 people died due to the Earthquake and Tsunami, 530,000 people were made homeless and were made to stay in over 2,500 evacuation centres, such as schools and public halls. Due to people being made homeless and businesses being damaged, it meant that a lot of people were also made redundent and lost their jobs. This in its self caused a problem, as those people affected by this situation no longer had any income coming in. This led to a spiral of downfall on economic safety for many people, and a huge amount of them had to start their lives again. 1.2 million homes were left without power due to the generators being shut down and the powerlines being damage, this then led to 1.4 million homes being without water, due to the contamination from the powerplants. Over 4,700 homes were destroyed beyond repair and 50,000 were damaged. The cost of the damage was estimated at $120-$230 billion dollars. Due to this high amount of money having to be used in repairing the country, it could not be spent on other factors, such as services and industries. Because the money for services and industries was being placed into other areas, it meant that they werent getting the money they needed to carry on their jobs, and supply them with the equipment needed. This could sometimes result in places such as hospitals reusing supplies such as stiching kits as they did not have the time or money to get new ones, leading to high levels of infection. Due to the high amount of factories being damaged by the disaster meant that there was a direct decrease in supply exports. The fact that exports could no longer go out due to the damage to the coastal line and there could be no imports coming in the country lost money, as they couldn’t get the products out of the country, some of which being food, and by the time they were able to send the exports, the food had been left for too long and was no longer sellable. This therefore cost them more money and put them in even more debt, it also lost them some contractors. Japans has a high amount of income and therefore they were able to restore the country efficently, making them the best prepared in the world for disasters. However they could not restore the country and look after their people on their own, therefore they need AID from other countries. 91 countries offered AID, from blankets and food, to search dogs and military transport.
Overall, the mere fact that the sesimic activity and tsunami was so severe should of resulted in severe damage, but with Japan’s technologically advance systmes the impacts were less severe. Therefore in conclusion, this case study agrees with the title that The hazards presented by seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people, which will be shown in the next paragraph by contrasting this case study to a less economically developed country.
The contrasting case study that I am going to discuss is the earthqauke which occurred in Haiti on the 12th of January in 2010. The earthquake struck in the afternoon at 4:53pm when a lot of the population were commuting from work. The magnitude of the earthqauke was recorded at a 7.0 magnitude on the richer scale. It lasted 1 minute. This earthqauke seems a lot smaller and less severe than the one that happened in Japan in 2011 but because of Haiti’s circumstances it caused incredible damage. The epicentre was located 20km from the nations capital of Port Au Prince and the focus was extremely shallow at only 13km deep. From these two statistical numbers, we can already tell that in ways this earthqauke is going to cause a lot more damage, due to being so close to the main town which is highly populated, meaning a high amount of people are going to be severly effected. The reason behind this earthqauke was down to the fact that Haiti sits between the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate, and is very techtonically active. The earthquake was caused by the North American Plate sliding past the Carribbean Plate, called a Conservative plate margin. Both the plates move in the same direction, but one moves faster than the other. The pressure that was built up because of the friction between the 2 plates and was eventually released causeing the earthqauke. Haiti is known as a less economically develop country (LEDC) with a GDP of 8.459 billion US dollars, which is a considerablly less amount compared to Japans 4.92 trillion US dollars. This therefore meant that they had a lot less money to spend on making their country ‘quake proof’, conseqenting in more damage. Haiti is known for the ‘slums’, meaning that a huge amount of the properties in the area are made out of metal that they have found and are not stable in the slightest, this therefore contributed to the severity of the earthquake as the buildings were more prone to damage. There were many primary impacts of the earthqauke; over 316,000 people were killed and around 1 million people were made homeless. 250,000 homes and 30,000 other buildings, including the President’s Palace and 60% fo government buildings, were either destroyed beyong repair or badly damaged. There were also many secondary impacts from the earthquake. 1 in 5 people lost their jobs because of the high amount of buildings that were destroyed. Haiti’s largest industry, clothing was one of the worst affected. Similarly to the result of the Japan earthqauke, a large amount of people were left without jobs and therefore their income was reduced, which in the short term meant that they had little or no income. Due to the large number of deaths meant that hospitals and morgues became full and bodies then had to be piled up on the streets, this then led to diseases .such as cholera, becoming a serious problem. This then went on to be another problem which killed many people. It also meant that water sorces became polluted with the disease, so many of the people has to find new sources of water, which lead to people becoming undernourised. To deal with this situation, Haiti couldnt fund the whole of the clean up so they relied a lot on AID, $100 million was given in AID by the USA and $330 million by the European Union. This meant that even though Haiti could therefore build up their country again, it was going to take a long time, as they only had the money that they had been given in AID to use, and barely any of their own. Comparing this to the MEDC case of Japan, whose turn around of the situation was farely quick, Haiti took a lot longer to get back on their feet.
Overall, this case study of the Haiti Earthquake again agrees with the begining statement that seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people. Comparing this case study of a LEDC to the Japan earthquake of a MEDC, just further strengethens my view on the opening statement. If Haiti had more GDP coming in and they had better living environments, made by the increase in the money they had, the outcome of this ordeal would not of been as severe. A lot more people would of lived if they had more stable housing and sanitation.
Not only can sesimic events have an affect on MEDCs and LEDCs but so can volcanic events, such as eruptions, which can be triggered by sesimic activity.The Mount St Helens eruption took place on the 18th of May 1980, in Washington State USA. Washinton DC is known as being a MEDC and has a GDP of 93.82 billion US Dollars. It is part of the Cascade Range Mountains. The eruption that took place in 1980 was the biggest and worst eruption to hit the USA. Mount St Helens is a volcano which lies near to a destructive plate boundary where the small Juan de Fuca Plate is subducted underneath the North American Plate. The Juan de Fuca Plate is subducted into the mantle where increased heat and friction cause the plate to melt. The magma produced in the melting rises up through the North American Plate through a crack, and this is how Mount St Helens was formed. The trigger stimulus was a magnitude 5 earthqauke underneath the Volcano. This cause the bulge on the North face of the volcano to become unstable and collapse as an avalance. The colcano then went to erupt ash and produce pyrclastic flow, which is currents of hot gas and ash. There where many affects on the landscape due to the eruption. Around 400 meters was blown off the top of the mountain and a one mile horse shoe-shaped crater was left that was 500m deep, this therefore produced a huge amount of power which killed every plant and animal within a 25km north radis of the volcano,which approximated to 7000 animals. Because of the high amount of animals being killed this affected the economic state of some of the residents. People in the USA live on the income that they get off their production of meat and diary products, therefore due to the death of the 7000 animals, a lot of the farmers lost their catle, and therefore were no longer economically stable and lost a lot of money, weakening the state of the economy. Mount St Helens is known for having snow on the top of its peak, however when the eruption happened large volumes of water was produced from the melting of the snow and the ice, thus creating mudflows. The mudflows choked the surrounding rivers and killed all the fish and water life, 12 million Salmon died. The death of the large quantity of fish, again affected the surrounding people. Villagers live off their production of fish, however with no fish to catch they cant produce any money, again putting them in economic decline. There were many social and economic factors which came from the eruption also, 57 people died, most of which were outside of the evacuated zones. Which posses a question as to why they still died, this is because scientists didnt think that the volcanoe was going to erupt from the North side, they thought it was going to erupt to the South, so they set up an evacuation zone in the South. The Ash produced from the eruption clogged up car engines and farm machinery. The cost of ash damage to farmers crops and machinery totalled £100 million. The biggest problem which affected this area was the lack of toursim after the event. Tourists no longer visited the area, due to the unsafe environments, which caused a reduction in the local economy and for the name of the area. Tourism was one of the biggest inputs into the countries income, so after the event new tourist facilities were built, to try and bring them back as they input a lot of money into the economy.
Overall, this case study disagrees with the opening comment. The eruption of Mount St Helens affected the MEDC area of Washington DC hugely, mostly by reducing the amount of income they got after the eruption, due to the loss of animals, crops and tourism. The loss of tourism played a huge role in how badly this area was affected by the eruption. Therefore this case study goes in a different direction to the opening comment that ‘The hazards presented by volcanic and seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people’, because Washing DC is known for being a wealthy country yet it still had a greater affect on wealther people.
In conclusion, my view on the opening statement has changed throughout this essay. To some extent I believe that The hazards presented by volcanic and seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people, due to the state of the area in poorer places being less stable and less sanitary, also them having less money to retain their environment. However all of these things also happen in wealthier countries, although they have the money that they need to be able to restore their area without getting into serious amounts of debt. However, when talking about the eruption of Mount St Helens it changed my view on the topic as a whole, and made me question whether it is infact the state of the economy that changes the severity of the situation or whether it is down to other factors, such as tourism and what the landscape around is used for. The case study of Mount St Helens proves the point that even more economically developed countries can be severly affected by sesimic and volcanic events, even though they aren’t meant to become severly affected, because they are meant to have the money to deal with it, however they do, and the Mount St Helens case study proves it. Therefore my view as a whole really depends on what the surrounding areas are used for in the area being affected, rather than the economic state of the given place that activity is taking place in, disagreeing with the opening statement.