Why is Less Developed Country more vulnerable than the
More Developed Country in earthquake? (worksheet)
Name : __________________________ (
Geo Big Daily
)
Class : _____________________
13 January 2010
A1
1. What is the tectonic hazard?
(Use google earth to search what had happened in Haiti on 12
January 2010)
Haiti Earthquake Richter7.3
Capital Port-au-Prince suffer huge loss
On January 12, 2010, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti and its
capital city, Port-au-Prince.
found in Haiti over 200 years.
That is the most severe earthquake in
Although the exact number was hard
to determine, reportedly more than 230,000 people were killed with
1,500,000 people homeless while altogether over 3,000,000 people
team
grasps
the
opportunity to save lives within the
suffered.
The epicenter of the earthquake was just 15km outside the Haitian
capital Port-au-Prince where belongs to shallow earthquake.
This
devastating earthquake is occurred at the most densely populated
area which caused destroyed of buildings, power supply failed,
potential spreading of disease and 30% of people homeless.
Haiti is approximately 27,750 km2 with population of 8.12 million.
Farming is the major economic activities.
Rescue
By most economic
measures, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and one of the
least developed countries.
golden 72 hours, however, there is
no plans in the rescue operation i.e.
lack of machines while rescue team
is required to save people with
their bare hands.
Lots of aid
materials are piled in the airport
without systematic handling.
At
present, lots of medicine, food and
drinking
water
are
urgently
needed.
2. Where is the tectonic hazard?
Several
countries
provide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haiti_(orthographic_projection).svg
immediate resources i.e. money
(Haiti location map)
and materials while international
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/markacey/22525958
aid organizations are arranging
(photo and video of Haiti earthquake)
large donations.
Hong Kong is
one of them.
1
A2
Geo Big Daily
13 January 2010
Haiti earthquake vs Kobe earthquake
Dr Wong Shan, an earthquake specialist is interviewed by Geo Big
Daily and stated that this Haiti earthquake is located between
Caribbean plate and North American plate.
From a geological point
of view, this particular area has frequent earthquakes.
Since the
earthquake occurred is quite near the capital Port-au-Prince, the
damages and causalities are devastating.
3. What is the relationship between the
earthquake and the plate tectonic boundary?
http://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/education_and_outreach/aot
Photo from : ihouse.hkedcity.net
m/interactive/TectonicPlates.swf (global distribution of plates)
To compare, the Great Hanshin earthquake occurred at 5:46 am on 17
January 1995.
The earthquake had a local magnitude of 7.2 that the
duration was about 20 seconds.
south west of Kobe.
The epicenter was 23km away from
The earthquake caused approximately 5500
deaths, over 40,000 injuries and 100,000 houses collapsed as well as
300,000 people evacuated.
The traffic was deadly jammed, water
and communication system were broken down.
Dr Wong pointed out that the earthquakes of Haiti and Kobe in which
the former one caused more number of deaths.
It is understand that
Photo from : ihouse.hkedcity.net
the population density, level of country development, people towards
natural disaster and education of natural hazards as well as the
immediate response and aids to hazards.
Definitely, Japan has an
excellent precautionary measures when facing earthquakes.
Photo from : ihouse.hkedcity.net
2
Part 1 : Read page 1 and 2 and complete the following table.
Comparison : the Haiti and Kobe tectonic hazard
Haiti
Kobe
Tectonic Hazard
Name of plates
Plate movement
Distance to
epicenter
Magnitude of
tectonic hazard
Number of deaths
Number of
people homeless
Population
density
2535.17person/ km2
Level of country
development
Impact of
earthquake on
people
Short-term aid
Long-term aid
3
Part 2 : Referred to Part 1 and answer the following questions.
1. Compare to the population density between Haiti and Kobe, it is found that there are
more people living in Kobe per km2 but fewer people died. Why is this?
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2. Why does Less Developed country suffer worse effects of an earthquake than More
Developed country?
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3. Discuss the reasons why people choose to live in the area with frequent occurrence of
earthquake.
4