Environmental hazards are an unavoidable aspect of contemporary life. Whether they peturb a region, nation or continent, their effects are nonetheless devastating to those involved. Environmental hazards lie at “the interface between the natural events system and the human use system.” (Burton et al, 1978:25), interacting with global change and sustainable development. Disrupting social, economic and political organisations, these hazards are phenomena that damage and strain human infrastructures. Differentiating between ‘natural’ (geologic, atmospheric, hydrologic, epidemic and biologic) and ‘technological’ (industrial, infrastructural and engineering) hazards, Smith (2013) provides a framework through which hazards can be categorised, emphasising their multifarious nature. This essay will argue that humanity must learn to live with environmental hazards, developing methods of prediction and mitigation in order to reduce their effects. Focussing on three key case studies, this essay will analyse Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis, Japan’s Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and India’s Gujarat Hepatitis Epidemic of 2009. These diverse examples demonstrate the extent to which the impacts of hazards vary across different spatial scales, and manifest themselves at differing levels of economic and political development. Located within the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar is an area at risk of severe damage from powerful tropical cyclones (Saito et al, 2010, Bellamy, 2010 & Kishtawal et al, 2013). 2008’s Cyclone Nargis inflicted severe damage, with a 5 metre storm surge inundating 50 kilometres of Burmese territory. In some coastal villages, fatality rates peaked at 80% (Knapp, 2009). Cyclone Nargis’ high water mark is comparable to that of 2005's Hur... ... middle of paper ... ...clone Nargis and the Associated Storm Surge Part II: Ensemble Prediction. Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Vol. 88, No. 3, pp. 547-570 Selth, A (2008). Even Paranoids Have Enemies: Cyclone Nargis and Myanmar's Fears of Invasion. Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 30.3. pp. 379-402 Smith, K (2013). Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster. London: Routledge. pp. 4-12 Ujikane, K (2011). Japan sees quake bill of up to $309 Billion, almost four Katrinas. Bloomberg, March 23, 2011. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/japan-sees-quake-damage-bill-of-up-to-309-billion-almost-four-katrinas.html (Last accessed 5 March 2014) World Health Organisation (2002). Hepatitis B. WHO/CDS/CSR/LYO/2002. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/hepatitis/whocdscsrlyo/20022/en/print.html (Last accessed on 2 Mar 2014).
Regina:The Early Years. (2014). Cyclone of 1912. Regina: The Early Years 1880 -1950. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/regina/central/cyclone.html
The total value of damage and losses caused by earthquake is estimated at US$7.8 billion — US$4.3 billion represents physical damage and US$3.5 billion are economic losses — some 120 percent of the 2009 gross domestic product (GDP) of Haiti
In 2012, 357 natural disasters were registered, 9655 people were killed and 124.5 million people became victims worldwide. Research and statistics have shown that over the last decade India, Indonesia, China, The United States of America and Philippines have been the worst affected countries. What is important to note, is that in the top ten countries in terms of disaster mortality in 2012, six are classified as low income or lower middle income countries. Asia accounted in 2012 for 64.5% of global disaster victims, followed by Africa (30.4%). Compared to their 2002-2011 annual averages, the number of victims in 2012 increased in Africa and Oceania, but decreased in the Americas and Europe. This further puts the spotlight on countries which are not so strong economically as they are the ones which are facing the bulk of the problems. While the richer countries continue to accumululate the technolology needed to help them cope with disasters, it is the poorer countries which are suffering and are in need of help.
The nation of Myanmar, also known as Burma, is currently under the rule of a ruthless totalitarian regime, guilty of numerous human rights violations and target of intense international criticism. Located in Southeast Asia, on the western border of Thailand and Laos, it has been under military rule since World War II. Burma is mired in socioeconomic crisis stemming from the rule of the military junta, and the citizens are suffering. The environment of Burma is being destroyed, the people are treated inhumanely, and the country is notorious for its contribution to global narcotics. The paragraphs below detail the current situations facing the country, why they came about, and the parties that are to blame for sending the country on a dangerous downward spiral. First, however, it is important to understand Burma’s political history.
In March of 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest most powerful earthquakes to hit Honshu, Japan. (“Facts about Japan”) The earthquake registered 8.9 and was the fifth largest most powerful earthquake in the world.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Natural Hazards and the Interaction of Physical and Human Processes The earth has been producing hazards for millennia these include earthquakes and volcanoes caused by the movement of tectonic plates, and also wind and water elated disasters such as tornadoes and tsunamis, these can be varied by a countries location such as suffering drought due to be land locked or an island, also the relief on the land can contribute greatly to the hazards it faces.. All of these cause great destruction and can involves lots of energy, these events do not become disasters unless there are human factors involved, when people live on a fault line they are risking suffering from an earthquake, this combination of physical and human processes can lead to large losses not only in lives but also monetary due to lost land, employment and homes. The problems associated with a hazard may be short lived on continue for decades, drought can effect a region for over 5 years, but the loss of farm land due to volcanic eruption can result in a permanent loss of foodstuffs and thus malnutrition. Providing adequate preparation and protection from a p[physical hazard can mean that the risk is greatly reduced, earthquakes in the Sahara dessert affect nobody, since no one lives there, similarly if a earthquake is expected in Hawaii, the islands can be evacuated and the risk is lessened. Similarly the location of the hazard can also mean large differences in lives lost, if the hazard hits a MEDC which is prepared many buildings will survive and will those living their, if the same hazard hit a LEDC it could cause great atrocity as many homes will no be strong enough to... ...
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Parnini, S.N, Othman, M.R, Ghazali, A.S. (2013) 'The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations. ', Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, vol. 22, p. 134.
Katrina, Charley, Nina, Sandy and Yasi these are some names that will leave the hearts and minds of those devastated by Mother Nature’s sheer power of destruction. According to Lakshmi Kantha, “Hurricanes, more appropriately tropical cyclones, have the potential to be highly destructive to coastal structures, habitats and communities” [1].
Disaster, as defined by Asian Disaster Reduction Center (2003), is "a serious disruption of functioning of society, causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources". In fact, disasters do not only cause loss of life and destruction of public infrastructure; rather, they may also cause interruption of normal of healthcare delivery and appropriate response to disaster victims (Hodge A.J et al, 2009).
Cyclone Nargis was an eastward cyclone moving at low latitude, which is rare. It is classified as the worst natural disaster that has ever hit Myanmar. It caused a storm surge that was over forty kilometers, in the Irrawaddy delta. It led to over 138000 deaths and high destruction worth over $10 billion (Asian bloc to handle Burma aid | Toronto Star). India had speculated Cyclone Nargis about 48 hours earlier. However, the country’s military had uncoordinated rescue efforts leading to more deaths. Nargis attained a peak wind speed of over 105 mph, which gradually decreased as it approached the interior parts of Myanmar.
First, in the short term, due a rise in the average global temperature, Jason Anderson asserts that a direct correlation between climate change and a rising incidence in natural disasters exists (Anderson, 2006). Moreover, natural disasters create global health emergencies due to an immediate lack of food, sanitation, water, and basic health care. Due to the population’s vulnerability, there is great potential for communicable diseases preceding natural disasters. To illustrate, after the December 2004 tsunami that struck Indonesia, in the Aceh Province, because survivors drank from contaminated wells, 85% of residents were diagnosed with diarrhea and cholera within the following two weeks (WHO, 2006). Furthermore, due to the increase in the average global temperature, vector-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever have been reemerging around the world. Greg Guest attributes this increase to a resurgence of factors related to globalization such as urbanization, changing agricultural practices, and most of all deforestation (Guest, 2005). Remarkably,
Flooding of settled areas within Australia has become such an inherent event, it is expected yearly during the rainy season. This is due to a mixture of fact that the severe wet season, running from March-April, and October-November, Features cyclones and heavy monsoon rains(Govt, 2013), as well as the composition of the majority of Australia’s coasts being developed due to their great property poten...
Disaster is a sudden calamitous event that brings huge destruction, damage and loss to property and life. The damage varies depending on geographical location, earth’s surface, and climate. Disasters retard the development of a country, region or area. In this chapter, we shall discuss disasters, their types, impacts, and precautions to reduce the loss.
A natural disaster is an event of nature, which causes sudden disruption to the normal life of a society and causes damage to property and lives to such an extent, that normal social and economic mechanisms, available to the society, are inadequate to restore normalcy. India has faced a number of disasters in recent years in the form of earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones and other oceanic disasters. Floods and coastal disasters have been the most prominent and recurring features in recent past whether they were floods in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Mumbai and Chennai, the Tsunami in 2004 or the recent cyclone Hudhud.