Discuss the View That the Impact of Earthquake Hazards Depends Primarily on Human Factors

A natural disaster has the capability to cause large scale damage and destruction to an area. Seismic events have been known to alter landscapes and affect the livelihoods, health and development of communities. No two earthquake events are the same and the level of threat posed by an earthquake can vary due to both the human and physical factors of an area. The 2010 magnitude - 7.0 earthquake that occurred in Haiti is an example of where a natural disaster caused a previously vulnerable area to suffer tremendous loss and debilitating socio-economic impacts, to an already poverty-stricken nation.

Earthquakes have afflicted the world since its inception. The sudden release of energy from volcanoes or displacing of earth plates can result in disasters of extreme magnitude. These usually naturally occurring phenomenon have been responsible from wiping out entire towns throughout history and until today continue to produce major loss of life and infrastructure. It can take years for a city or country to recover from a major event of this kind and when a third world country is involved, the result is usually exponentially worse than in a developed country. In the past decades Japan, Chile and Haiti have suffered the devastation an earthquake produces. This document will concentrate in Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean. On

In Afghanistan people were trapped in their homes, and objects were not properly tied down. Buildings kill people not earthquakes.

Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.

Of all the naturally occurring events on Earth, earthquakes are among the most devastating and bring a lot of truth to the statement, “Just because something is natural does not mean it is not dangerous.” Earthquakes are one of the most natural things I can think of that can cause massive damage and loss of human live in many instances, and the effects are sometimes long term. “Nothing happens without a force. Many geophysicists accept the theory that continents move as a result of the forces generated by mantel convection deep within Earth – motions driven by our planet’s internal heat energy” (Trefil & Hazen, 2010). According to National Geographic (1996-2012), constant movement in the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s

Imagine if you had to restart your life, new shelter, new job, new lifestyle. Well locals or people in the Philippines had to restart their life when an earthquake with an magnitude of 7.1 hit the country and destroyed people’s lives. The earthquake had a devastating 7.1 magnitude. The earthquake hit the Philippines on October 15th, 2013. The likely culprit of the earthquake was the East Bohol Fault because the two tectonic plates were sliding against each other and the creates an earthquake. Sadly, earthquake killed more than 90 people. Ports, schools, and airports were damaged. A hospital collapsed then that lead to a killing of 18 people. Children were also injured at sports complexes because people rushed the exits when the the ground started to shake. Lastly, 5 people were killed in a landslide that was triggered from the earthquake. What really matters though is how people respond to the

Have you ever been in a deadly earthquake? In 2013, the people of the Philippines experienced one. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake that affected around 43,000 people with 2,211 aftershocks that ended up killing a total of 185 people. Earthquakes are known as one of the most dangerous natural disasters. This horrific event happened October 15th, 2013. The earthquake hit hardest in the central Philippines, it was reported to be caused by the East Bohol Fault. People act in a response to a natural disaster by gathering resources, spreading word, and government aid.

A ‘hazard’ can be defined as a geophysical process operating within the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere or biosphere which could potentially lead to the loss of human life or property. However, an earthquake only becomes hazardous and therefore needs management if it occurs within close proximity to a vulnerable population. To some extent, any human settlement around the world situated close to or on top of an area of seismic activity is vulnerable. However, not all nations suffer equal devastation.

A social factor that influenced the severity of the earthquake was where people chose to live. Haiti is located on fault lines, where the epicentre of the earthquake is and where the earthquake is most severe. The earthquake’s epicentre was estimated to be around a mere 25 km away from the Port-au-prince, the capital of Haiti and home to ¼ of the population. The closer the area was to the epicentre, the more intense the earthquake was and the greater the destruction. The area was also urbanised with many buildings, due to the great number of people who resided there which meant that many buildings were destroyed and many people were killed.

On October 15th an earthquake killed nearly 90 people. In the Philippines killed nearly 200 and displacing tens of thousands of dollars. The quake wrecked about more than 45,000 homes. These earthquakes have affected many people, damaging homes and even lives and causes millions of dollars for repairs. The quake, the strongest to hit the disaster-prone country in recent years, struck Bohol on October 15th. Felt across several neighbouring provinces, more than 2,500 aftershock have rippled through the region since.(Documents

A hazard can best be defined as a 'situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property or the environment.' The overall impact of earthquakes as a natural hazard varies greatly from one place and timeframe to another. As do the types of hazards, which are categorised into primary and secondary. Primary hazards are created by the direct seismic energy of an earthquake; this could include liquefaction, slope failure and tsunamis. These primary hazards can in turn trigger secondary hazards such as floods, fires, disease and destabilisation of infrastructure. A number of factors play a part in determining the severity

Discuss the view that the impact of earthquake hazards depends primarily on human factors (40)

     Although it is certain that violent Earth tremors in themselves are destructive, there are often other kinds of Earth movements that are triggered by earthquake shock waves. Thus, the violent shaking that accompanies many earthquakes often causes rockslides, snow avalanches, and landslides. In some areas these events are frequently more devastating than the Earth tremor itself.

While natural disasters such as floods, drought and hurricanes are commonly thought to occur due to environmental forces such as weather, climate and tectonic movements; a deeper investigation into the ‘disaster’ displays other contributing forces. Human factors have a large, if not equal, contribution to the occurrance and outcome of such disasters (Pelling, 2001). As Pelling (2001) argues, there is both a physical and human dimension to ‘natural disasters’. The extent to which the natural occurrence of a physical process, such as a flood or earthquake, impacts on society is constructed by that society, creating a ‘disaster’ as measured by a

It seems that the earthquake brought a trail of things that happen later. So we can learn for this that physical geography and human geography are connected and affects each other almost every time.