Class notes
Midterm material
- Course
- Erth 2415 (ERTH2415)
- Institution
- Carleton University (CU )
lectures 1-13. study guide and quiz reviews
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Midterm MaterialMIDTERM INFO
● November 2nd, 9:30-11
● 40 MC, 3 SA
● Will need to answer questions faster than during a quiz
○ Quiz: 1m52 per question
○ Midterm: 1m40
● When studying pay attention to blue orange and red coloured items
● Review quiz questions
● Close browsers and tabs before starting
Lecture 1: introduction
What is a natural disaster?
● Dis-: away, without
● Astro-: star, planet
● Ill-starred
Definition: event causing great and sudden damage, blamed on an unfavourable position of
a celestial body in the sky; disasters linked to the place of planet earth i space and to active
terrestrial processes
Another definition: an extreme natural event in which a large among of energy is released in
a short time with catastrophic consequences for life and infrastructure in the vicinity
Large impact on society
Natural disasters are often triggered when society ignores natural hazards
Natural hazard: a source of danger that exists in the environment and that had the potential
to cause harm
Hazards are POTENTIALLY damaging
Vulnerability: likelihood that a community will suffer (fatalities and physical damage) when
exposed to hazards in the environment
Frequency: number of similar events per unit time
● Example: 4 times per year, canada day occurs once per year
Return period: length of time between similar events
● Example: on average every 4 years (not exactly every 4 years), canada day occurs
every 12 months
● How much time till that event returns?
Magnitude: amount of energy fuelling a natural event
● Low magnitude events occur frequently: small little vibrations, we don't feel them,
everyday, short return period
● High magnitude events are rare, long return period, large impact
,4 energy sources fuel the earth's natural processes: earth's internal energy, solar energy,
gravity, impact energy
Energy from the sun fuels hydrologic cycle (water cycle)
Gravity: force of attraction between masses (m1 and m2) separated by a distance r
Canadian trends
1. Number of ND’s in canada is increasing with time
a. Canadian communities are increasingly vulnerable: population growth,
development in risky areas, over-reliance on technology, better reporting in
the media
2. The number of ND fatalities (results from ND’s) in Canada is decreasing with time
a. Improved engineering, long term prevention, disaster education, warning
systems, rapid responses
3. Economic losses are mostly due to weather related disasters
a. Must be aware of vulnerable communities especially near the water (erosion,
new rules)
Risk: vulnerability x hazard
● A severe hazard associated with low vulnerability has a lower risk level than a severe
hazard associated with high vulnerability
○ Severe hazard + low vulnerability = low risk level
● Seismic risk has to do with the population! (high pop = more risk, affects more ppl)
● Reducing risk: 4 pillars of emergency management
○ Response (911, teams), recovery(middle term activities to put situation back
to normal) mitigation (long term actions taken to minimize the risk associated
with a natural hazard, eliminate hazard, prevention, damage on infrastructure)
and preparedness (human impact, ensure people are ready when a disaster
struck, humans and communities, at-home emergency kits)
○ New term added in response to climate change issues
■ Adaptation (climate change): long term
● Minimize harm
● Ex: using water resources more efficiently
Lecture 2: introduction to disaster and emergency management
For it to be a disaster, there must be great fatalities, casualties, costs, and damage to
infrastructure
Disaster: social phenomenon that results when a hazard intersects with a vulnerable
community in a way that overwhelms that community’s ability to cope
Disaster = hazard x vulnerability
● Structural vulnerability
● Social vulnerability
○ Health, age, gender, language
, ○ Thought it was a good idea to evacuate and protect seniors, although they
were the most prepared out of the populations/demographics
Emergency management
● Prompt response to emergencies, define id it was a disaster later on
● prevention/mitigation: structural or nonstructural
○ Structural: change way reinforce buildings
○ Non-structural: taking out dry debris that would make a forest fire worse
● Preparedness: ready to response to disaster and managing consequences: social
fire, planning
● Response: act during or before a disaster to manage its consequences
● Recovery: repair conditions to an acceptable level through measures taken after a
disaster; more complex to get community back to where we were, domestic violence
increases after natural disasters, need to recognize these trends to deal with them
MPRR
Situation in canada
● Disaster costs are tripling every decade with no foreseeable decline
● 15th more economically exposed country in the world to disaster
○ Higher exposure, not many disasters; funding, higher investment in
prevention mitigation
● Currently: 500-600 million per year
○ Disaster management is unsustainable
Most expensive disaster in canadian history: 2013 alberta floods, 4 fatalities, high costs but
low deaths in developed countries
International situation: globals costs of ND’s are similar to the trends seen in canada, slow
incline
● Sendai framework: international commitment to reduce risk and build resilience in
order to better cope with the hazards that threaten safety, security and sustainability
● Social problem not structural
○ We reinforced infrastructure, beneficial move but insufficient
○ Looked at social spects (interdiscisplicanry approach)
Hurricane katrina: category 5 at sea (maximum level), category 3 at land
● Why did hurricane Katrina cause such disasters if this has happened before?: poor
planning, no maintenance of dykes and dams, people did not want to leave
● Lack of town planning
○ Can’t say hurricane katrina was caused by climate change
The future of emergency management
● Emerging profession, only a few post secondary programs
○ Old versus new stereotype: no conferences, no military or first responders,
less tagnation in ability to deal with disasters, more university educated,
younger, diverse, proactive approach, interdisciplinary
Lecture 3: plate tectonics
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