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Hazards 9 markers- answers
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9 markers on a range of Hazards, unseen exam questions; combining Human Geography A/A* grade
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To what extent do you agree that seismic events will always generate more widespread and severeimpacts than volcanic events? (9 marks)
Seismic events such as earthquakes and the associated tsunamis as a secondary impact are
generally thought to have a wider spread of impacts than volcanic eruptions. An exception would be
a supervolcanic eruption possible to happen in Yellowstone, USA. Therefore, I agree to some extent.
The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami affected large parts of Japan, hitting main cities like
Tokyo and Sendai as well as some parts of east China and Russia. It is the most powerful earthquake
ever recorded, being 9.0 on the Richter scale, creating a 6m surge of water travelling at 800km/h
and generating 10 billion tones of water, hitting the coastline of Japan and going over the 10m
defence wall. The earthquake itself was not as devastating as the tsunami, which killed over 16 000
people. Another secondary impact of the earthquake was the failure of the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant, resulting in a 30 km exclusion zone and the second greatest nuclear disaster of
all times- a category 7 disaster- the only one after Chernobyl. The aftershocks were also very
powerful, flattening buildings completely as some of the shocks were between 5 and 7 on the
Richter scale.
The 2010 Icelandic eruption of Eijafjallokul, had no casualties. However, a main road was destroyed
by the pyroclastic flows, which were not expected as the volcano was thought to be a typical
Icelandic fissure volcano. The ash cloud was ejected 11km into the atmosphere, being moved to the
south west by the trade winds, reaching all of Europe and some parts of Russia’s Asian territory. In
this case, the extent of regional impacts was not as widely spread, resulting in the closure of the
local dairy business as the land was covered with ash fallouts, killing the vegetation. Despite this, the
international impacts were devastating with the biggest cancelation of flights in Europe after the
Second World War and leading to a loss of $4.7 billion for the global economy as well as the end of
the Nigerian flower industry as they were unable to deliver flowers to its biggest consumer- Europe.
Similarly, Japanese factories all over the world had to close down for days after the seismic event,
leading to an economic loss. The failure of the plant led to estimate of $250-$500 billion damage.
The buildings damaged were over 122 000, having a greater damage on the infrastructure than the
volcanic eruption.
In conclusion, in terms of social impacts all hazards seem to be equally impactful, however in this
case, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami took more lives than the Icelandic eruption. The economic
costs were also bigger as major infrastructure was affected.
Assess the importance of factors in globalisation in supporting the response to major seismic hazards
(9 marks)
Seismic hazards occur when the tectonic plates move under the force of convection currents and
create jolting motions, resulting in earthquakes- the release of seismic waves. Responses to seismic
hazards can include the monitoring of secondary impacts such as the monitoring of tsunami waves.
The Haiti earthquake in 2010 was supported mainly by international aid as Haiti is the most
deprived country in the West hemisphere. This is due to globalisation and global charity initiatives
such as the Red cross and international agencies such as the UN. Iceland sent response troops and
1100 camps were set to accommodate 1.5million people. The UK Disaster Emergency Committee
provided bottled water, to ensure safety, this showed the importance of emergency aid to the
livelihoods of people, which was supplied by international agencies as the local government couldn’t
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