Why is Less Developed Country more vulnerable than the
More Developed Country in earthquake? (suggested answers)
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 Richter 7.3
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.
over 200 years found in Haiti.
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 square with population of 8.12
million.
Rescue
Farming is the major economic activities.
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 aid 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
Earthquake
Earthquake
Name of plates
Caribbean and North
American Plate
Eurasian Plate and Philippine
Plate
Plate movement
Slide past each other
Collide with each other
Distance to
epicenter
15 km
23 km
Magnitude of
tectonic hazard
7.3
7.2
Number of deaths
200,000 people
5500 people
Number of
people homeless
1,500,000,
100,000
Population
density
293.14 person/ km2
Level of country
development
lower
higher
Impact of
earthquake on
people
Deaths/injuries/homeless/
disease (society)
Building collapse/road
destroyed/economic loss/no
power supply (economy)
Deaths/injuries/homeless
(society)
Building collapse/road
destroyed/economic
loss/traffic jam/no drinking
2535.17person/ km2
water supply/no power
supply/no communication
network (economy)
Short-term aid
Rescue people/allocate the
food and
materials/medical care
Rescue people/supply
electricity
3
Long-term aid
Rebuild/redevelop i.e.
Rebuild/redevelop i.e.
houses and roads after the
natural hazards
International
aid/precaution measures
of earthquake/warning
system/earthquake
resistant facilities
houses and roads after the
natural hazards
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?
In Japan, the precaution measures of earthquake is
2. Why does Less Developed country suffer worse effects of an earthquake than More
Developed country?
The level of development in Less Developed country is lower that it lacks money to
improve the building resistance.
Less Developed country has no holistic strategy on
It is a lack of immediate response to the natural hazards,
3. Discuss the reasons why people choose to live in the area with frequent occurrence of
earthquake.
Family factors: in-born/family bonding/close social network
Economic factors: lack of money/economic centre/nowhere to live
Personal perspectives: excited to witness the earthquake/no other choices/
earthquake don’t happen all the time
4