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Online Geography Resources |
Factors Affecting Adjustments and Responses |
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Starter |
| Brainstorm the factors that affect the choice of adjustments and responses to natural hazards. |
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Activity |
The IB DP Geography syllabus requires you to: Examine the factors that affected the choice of adjustment before, and responses to, actual hazard events or disasters. We are going to do this by focusing on the Sichuan (2008), L'Aquila (2009) and Haitian (2010) earthquakes and the following four factors:
The following table gives quotes from and links to associated news stories. |
Factor |
Sichuan (2008) |
L'Aquila (2009) |
Haitian (2010) |
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Adjustments |
Responses |
Adjustments |
Responses |
Adjustments |
Responses |
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Recent significant extreme natural events |
1976: Songpan-Pingwu earthquake, resulted in 41 deaths.
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Reconstruction of public service facilities such as schools and hospitals our priority ... and turning them into extremely safe and solid structures.
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Much of the city's historic centre dates back to the early 18th Century when it was rebuilt following the last major quake in 1703.
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4,449 new, modern, earthquake-proof and ecologically responsible apartments have been constructed.
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1946
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Ensure a strip of land 30m-40m wide is kept clear of buildings on both sides of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault.
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Governance of the community and nation |
China's quake code is adequate, if not the most up-to-date.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised China's "extraordinary leadership".
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No law in Italy that stipulates applying seismic building codes retroactively to existing buildings.
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Silvio Berlusconi refused foreign aid for the emergency
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There aren't any building codes as we would recognise them.
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There is no point rebuilding if people aren't accountable and they don't build to the right standards.
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Resource base of the community and nation |
The PLA is the world's largest military force, with approximately 3 million members.
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Chengdu Military Area Command dispatched 50,000 troops and armed police.
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The Italian Red Cross rescue teams were on the scene of the disaster within an hour after the earthquake struck.
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The government spent $441 billion dollars on relief and reconstruction efforts.
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Haiti's army was dissolved in 1994.
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There is an acute shortage of drinking water in areas affected by the earthquake.
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Level of economic development of the community and nation |
HDI: Medium Human Development, ranked 92nd with a value of 0.772
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Providing new houses for 3.9 million refugees, replacing schools and creating jobs for 1 million people
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HDI: Very High Human Development, ranked 18th with a value of 0.951
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It will cost more than eight billion euros to rebuild L’Aquila and the surrounding region?
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Haiti from the mid-1700s...has been a microcosm of virtually every development problem.
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Expensive measures are beyond the means of Haiti, one of the world's poorest nations
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Task One |
| The level of economic development is a key factor in the choice of adjustment and responses. Produce a brief development factfile that illustrates the economic development differences between China, Italy and Haiti. |
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Task Two |
| Describe and explain the patterns shown in the image above (Number of deaths, injuries and homeless) using your development factfile and the resources linked to from the table above. How have factors that affect the choice of adjustments and responses impacted upon the numbers of deaths, injuries and homeless? |
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Task Three |
| Explain why there is such a difference in the number of people rescued, linking it to the factors that affect the choice of adjustments and responses. Don't forget to make links to the magnitude and amplitude of the quakes within your discussions. |
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Task Four |
| How will the economic costs of a hazard event impact upon future choices of adjustments and responses? |
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Review |
Exam style question: For one or more hazards of your choice, explain the factors that affected the choice of either the adjustment before or the responses to the hazard event [10 Marks] |
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