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A-Level Geography Multi hazard essay
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An A-Level AQA Geography example answer on Multi hazardous environments, based off of practice questions from paper 1
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With reference to a multi-hazardous environment that you havestudied, assess the view that the underlying cause(s) leading
to the hazards is human activity rather than physical factors. (20
marks)
(Edits)
Natural Hazards are natural events. In recent years climatic hazards such as Hurricanes and
Wildfires have been influenced by climate change and anthropogenic activity.
An example of this can be seen in Haiti, an LIC, island nation located in the Caribbean. Haiti
is a multi-hazardous environment which has been negatively impacted by their climate and
location on a complex set of plate margins resulting in a hindered economic development
and a GDP per capita of $730. The frequency of hazards in Haiti has meant that they are
unable to recover and respond to each hazard, resulting in a quality of life that will never
return to its previous state prior to each event and that will worsen with each hazard.
In 2010, Haiti experienced a magnitude 7 earthquake southwest of its capital Port au Prince.
The earthquake was caused by movement of the convergent boundary of the Caribbean and
North American plates. 86% of people in Port au Prince live in slums, because of the poor
infrastructure of the slums 60% of Port au prince was destroyed and 200,000 people died
mostly due to landslides as deforestation in the area is high due clearing for charcoal which
has resulted in unstable soils. Additionally, the country’s poor governance meant that no
emergency plan was put in place and recovery was slow.
Earthquakes are mostly caused due to tectonic movement rather than human intervention.
Anthropogenic activity such as fracking can impact the frequency and intensity of
earthquakes however in Haiti no fracking occurs and therefore the earthquake occurred as a
result of tectonic movement. This is also supported by the fact that large earthquakes do
not occur frequently in Haiti, the most recent earthquakes prior to this event were in 1942
and 1946 both were above magnitude 7.
On the other hand, tropical storms in Haiti are very frequent and often intense. In 2008, 4
tropical storms hit Haiti in one month alone, all 4 hurricanes were above category 3 and
resulted in 98% of Haiti’s forests being destroyed which led to mass flooding and landslides.
Over 3000 people died due to the lack of recovery and aid after each storm. The large slum
communities of Haiti in particular Port au prince were impacted the most, with water
supplies becoming contaminated and diseases such as cholera being spread on a national
scale. The 2008 storm season was one of the most frequent and intense storm seasons that
Haiti experienced. Haiti is experiencing a trend of increasingly frequent and intense storm
seasons as a result of rising temperatures and climate change which has been caused by
anthropogenic activity. Haiti’s government fears that with the rising frequency of storms,
sea level rise and floods that Haiti will soon be submerged or destroyed to a point of
unrepair. Additionally, the threat of increased intensity and frequency of storms means that
Haiti’s economic position will worsen as people are unable to work and infrastructure
repairs become too expensive.
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