Date: 13-Apr-15
Multiple hazard
zones (MHZ) :
California &
Philippines
AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Date: 13-Apr-15
AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Aims
To identify and define hazard hotspots.
To understand the issues regarding managing MHZs.
To look at the hazards in California, their effects and how they are being
managed.
To consider the hazards affecting the Philippines, their effects and
management.
To look at the links between the two case studies
Date: 13-Apr-15
AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Multiple Hazard Zones or
‘Hotspots’ – a greater
challenge?
What are multiple hazard zones or hotspots?
• Traditionally multiple hazard zones (MHZs)
are considered to be regions or parts of the
world that are exposed to a range of
hazards (often a combination of
meteorological, climatic and geomorphic
impacts).
• These are not only at the country level, but
also within a country.
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• In 2001 the World Bank and Columbia
University began to try to identify disaster
hotspots.
• They looked at risk in terms of 6 natural
hazards (volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides,
floods, drought and storms).
• Historical data (from 30 years) was combined
with potential vulnerability based on size,
density and poverty of the population(as
measures of mortality) and GDP per unity area
(as a measure of potential economic
damage).
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Identification of a hazard
hotspot
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Top ten countries most at risk
from multiple hazards
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• Identifying the hotspots has huge implications
for the development, investment planning,
disaster preparation and loss prevention.
• However many countries that are hazard
prone have priorities that come before risk
management, such as poverty management
and fighting HIV/AIDS. They may not be able
to afford the technology to cope with multiple
hazards.
• We will consider in detail: California and the
Philippines.
Date: 13-Apr-15
•
•
•
•
AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Compulsory Case Study 1 – The
Californian Coast
The state of California has approx. 40 million
people and has an economy the size of a
high income country!
25 Californian counties have per capita
incomes of US$ 65,000 pa – so it is one of
the world’s wealthiest places!
But this means that a disaster may comprise
high financial losses.
It is home to the megacities of Los Angeles,
San Diego and San Francisco.
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• Only sophisticated management prevents California
from becoming a disaster zone (in terms of
mortality).
• NB prediction of earthquake activity is not possible
even with technology.
• Parts of the population are vulnerable - around 20%
of the residents in Los Angeles live below the official
poverty line. These people have the lowest capacity
to cope when affected by a hazard.California also has
3.5 million people (many semi-legal migrants) who
live in hazardous locations.
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Likelihood of hazards map
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Geophysical hazards: Earthquakes
• The San Andreas fault (part of a broader fault zone) marks a
conservative plate boundary where two coastal plates slide
past each other, parallel to the plate margin at differential
speeds.
• More than 70% of California’s population live within 50km of
a fault line.
• An earthquake of Richter Scale 7 or above would have
massive impacts.
• The soft basin sediments in LA lead to rapid shaking with 5
major earthquakes being recorded in the last 100 years.
• Earthquakes are shallow and so more destructive.
• San Francisco Bay has experience several large earthquakes
too.
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• There is a lot of building on unstable land – this
can lead to soil liquefaction during earthquakes
(where the ground can become more like a
liquid), which damages buildings and increases
the risk of landslides.
• This was a major problem during the Loma
Prieta earthquake in 1989.
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Probability of an earthquake and likely
magnitude
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• Studies of their frequency and magnitude
of past earthquakes show that there is a
good chance of an earthquake of
magnitude 7.0+ hitting the San Francisco
Bay area before 2025.
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California Earthquakes
P 28 photocopy Oxford
• The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in San
Francisco
• The 1994 Northridge earthquake in LA
• A)What were the causes of these earthquakes?
• B)What were the effects of these earthquakes?
• C)How are the people of California dealing with
the threat of earthquakes?
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Volcanoes
• There hasn’t been a volcanic eruption in
California since 1915 (Lassen Peak)
• But there are volcanoes being monitored
for potential eruptions, e.g. Lassen Peak,
Mount Shasta, and the volcanoes around
Mammoth Lakes.
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Tsunamis
• A tsunami is a series of large waves that can
flood coastal areas and they can be caused by
earthquakes on the sea bed, or landslides into
the sea.
• Earthquakes under the Pacific Ocean could
cause a tsunami along the California coastline.
• An earthquake off the coast of Alaska in 1964
caused a tsunami to strike the coast of northern
California, killing 12 people in Crescent City.
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Hydro-meteorological hazards in
California
River flooding
• El Niño La Niña oscillation: winter storms,
especially during El Nino years lead to
floods in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel
rivers (with deforested hill sides).
• Even though rivers are now heavily
channelised floods can still take place
(mainly between October and January)
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Coastal flooding
• Risk of erosion along coast near Malibu
and Santa Monica .
• Also the area around Long Beach is
subsiding and sometimes floods in heavy
storms.
• The impacts are likely to worsen as sea
levels rise in the future.
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Drought
• Summer drought is a potential problem in a
Mediterranean climate, especially in Southern
California.
• Droughts in California can be caused by
anticyclones (long-lasting periods of high air
pressure with sinking, dry air. Dry, sinking air
means no rain
• Drought can also be caused by La Nina events
(periods when the surface water in the eastern
Pacific Ocean is cooler). This means less
evaporation, so there is less precipitation.
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• Another cause of drought is increased
wind blowing westward from the desert
areas that are east of California, e.g.
Arizona. The dry air has no moisture to
cause precipitation.
• The problem is exacerbated as the
population of LA is increasing so rapidly
and there is a lack of water supply.
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El Nino and El Nina in California
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Wild fires/Bush fires
• The most devastating effect of drought in
California is wildfires – dry vegetation is
extremely flammable, so fires spread
quickly over wide areas
• In the dry Santa Ana wind period there
are more fires.
• The wildfires in Southern California in
October 2007 killed 22 people and
destroyed 1300 homes.
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• As people move out of LA and San
Francisco into the hills fires are likely to be
an increasing problem.
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Landslides/Mudslides
• The risk of landslide disasters in California is high
because of building on and around steep slopes,
as well as building on coastal land overlooking the
ocean, E.g. La Conchita.
• Landslides take place in heavy winter storms
where hillsides have been burnt by wildfire
and eroded.
• The risk is high along the coast near Malibu and
Santa Monica.
• It is a growing problem as the climate becomes
more unpredictable in all coastal areas.
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Fog/Smog
• Advection fog occur when cool air from
cold offshore current drifts inland and
meets warm air (especially in Summer).
• Climate conditions combine with car
pollution to generate photochemical smog
which collects in the basin.
• It is especially bad in cities in late summer
and autumn.
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Exam Question
Explain why California is considered a disaster hotspot.
(15 marks).
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Compulsory Case Study 2 Philippines
• The Philippines is situated South East of
mainland Asia, North of Indonesia.
• The country is made up of more than 7000
islands. Many are very small and difficult to
reach.
• Manila is the capital city and in 2007 there
were 91 million people in the Philippines.
• And the country was formed in 1946.
• The islands are at latitudes 5–20°N of the
equator.
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• It is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the
world.
• The Philippines is a hazard hotspot for a number of
different reasons.
• It is situated on a major plate boundary.
• Its north and east coast faces the pacific (seismic and
world’s greatest tsunami risk.)
• A tropical monsoon climate is experienced there, and
it is subject to heavy rain.
• The country lies in SE Asia’s typhoon belt.
• So it gets typhoons, storms, earthquakes, floods,
volcanic eruptions and droughts (and more!).
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• The Philippines is a lower middle income
country and it is developing fast.
• It has a rapidly increasing young population.
• Average population densities across the
country are high with 240 people per sq km.
• In Manila there are up to 2000 people per sq
km.
• Many people are very poor and are residents
near the coast.
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• http://www.emdat.be/country-profile
• Check out up to date facts for the Philippines
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Tectonics of the Philippines
• The dense oceanic Philippines plate is being
subducted beneath Eurasian plate at a
destructive plate boundary.
• Creating the Manila Ocean trench.
• Both volcanoes and earthquakes are occurring.
• Read p 25 Oxford
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Geophysical hazards: Volcanic
eruptions
1900-2012
• 25 events
• 2,996 killed
• 1,734,907 affected
• Losses of US$ 232 million
EM-DAT (2012)
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Mount Pinatubo eruption 1991
• P 24-25 Oxford
• http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1997/fs113-97/
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Earthquakes
1900-2012
• Events 24
• Killed 9,693
• Affected 2,543,574
• US$ 528.5 million
(EM-DAT)
• One earthquake in 2006 killed 15, injured 100 and
damaged 800 buildings. It generated a local tsunami
3m high and triggered landslides of material from the
Parker volcano into the Maughan Lake making a flood
which washed away houses 
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Tsunamis
• 1900-2012
1 event 1976
32 killed
(EM – DAT)
• Small locally generated waves could be
problematic
• The Pacific Ocean has the largest potential
for tsunamis in the world
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Hydro-meteorological hazards:
Typhoons
1900 -2012
• 267 events
• 38,238 killed
• 114,006,747 affected
• Economic losses US$ 7 billion (EM-DAT)
• Some years 10 typhoons occur in a season
• Approx 6-7 major storms per annum.
• It is the belt of SE Asian typhoons
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Storms
Unspecified type of storm 1900-2012
• 26 events
• 812 killed
• 3,110,501 affected
• Economic losses US$112 million
Local storm 1900-2012
• 4 events
• 9 killed
• 24,704 affected
• Economic losses US$ 5000
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Floods
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Unspecified type of flood 1900-2012
• 33 events
• 1,440 killed
• 7,680,373 affected
• Economic losses US$ 352 million
Flash flood 1990-2012
• 38 events
• 1,147 killed
• 5,700,690 affected
• Economic losses US$1 billion
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General Flood 1900-2012
• 45 events
• 539 killed
• 6,028,676 affected
• Economic losses US$116 million
Storm surge/coastal flood 1900-2012
• 11 events
• 149 killed
• 125,931 affected
• Economic losses US$ 2,6 million
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Land slides
Mass movement dry 1900-2012
Landslide
• 2 events
• 311 killed
Rockfall
• 1 event
• 50 killed
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Mass movement wet 1900-2012
Avalanche
• 1 event
• 6 killed
• 1,200 affected
Landslide
• 28 events
• 2,148 killed
• 313,508 affected
• Economic losses US $33.3 million
Subsidence
• 1 event
• 287 killed
• 2,838 affected
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EM-DAT
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The Guinsaugon landslide 2006
• P 26 Oxford
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Droughts
1900-2012
• 8 events
• Killed 8
• Affected 6,553,207
• Damage US$ 64.5 million
EM-DAT
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Wild fire
1900-2012
• 1 event
• 2 killed
• 300 affected
EM-DAT
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Government response
• Several organisations have been established to
forecast, warn, risk assess, disaster train and
educate:
• National disaster co-ordinating council
• Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
astronomical services
• Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seimology
(PHIVOLCS)
• Land use planning
• Building regulations
• Structural programme of defences
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AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Saffir Simpson
scale
Typhoon
Tropical
The
Storm season JuneTsunami
storm
Philippines is
November, Peak
located on the
month August
Hazards
in
Pacific Ring of
Volcanic
Drought
the
Fire
eruptions
Philippines
Earthquake
Modified
18 out of the 37
Landslide Flood
Mercalli
volcanoes in the
s
scale
Philippines are
active
Physical causes
•La Niña-cyclic ocean and wind
current affecting South East Asia,
which can cause rainfall
•Earthquake- the movement may
trigger a landslide
•Torrential rain
•Rapid snow melt
•Volcanic eruption
•Surface runoff
Human causes
•Deforestation-forest life
protected the soil
•Reducing soil protection by
replacing forest life by
shallow rooted trees, such
as coconuts
•Land use change
•Water management
•Mining andQuarrying
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Food for thought!
• When thinking about the 2006 earthquake
and the Guinsaugon landslide, why is it
difficult to classify the causes and effects
of hazards?
• Is the damage done by hazards in the
Philippines mainly social or economic?
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• Exam Question
• Explain why the Philippines is considered a
disaster hotspot. (15 marks).
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Comparing 2 casestudies
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Need social, economic, environmental Venn diagram for California, then another
one for the Philippines.
Compare the causes and the impacts of hazards in California and the Philippines.
Date: 13-Apr-15
Bulb
AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Bulb
Bulb
Battery
Player 1 begins by playing
“bulb” for 1 point
Player 2 plays safe
with “battery” no
adjacent ideas, no
linking ideas 1 point.
Energy
Battery
Player 1 places energy
next to bulb and offers
the link that bulbs give off
energy as heat and light
2 points
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Bulb
AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Energy
Bulb
Metal
Energy
Bulb
Player 2 goes for a big
score with metal. Bulbs
and batteries are partly
made of metal; energy is
needed to make metal 4
points
Copper
Heat
Metal
Metal
Battery
Energy
Battery
Player 1 plays copper.
Links to metal 2 points.
Copper
Battery
Player 2 plays heat for 3
points.
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AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Hazards: risk, trends and hotspots
How could you annotate the risk equation with facts
from both case studies?
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AS Unit 1 Topic 1
Expanding sentences for California
California has many earthquakes
Bush fires can endanger movie stars
Some houses are built on hills
El Nino bring floods
Deforestation does not help smog
Expanding sentences for Philippines
The Philippines has many volcanoes
Landslides are problematic in the Philippines
Tectonically the Philippines is very active
Tsunamis are a threat to many Philippinos
Extension Can you make a table of “opposites” – to contrast between the two
case studies.