Disasters revision

Lo: to be able to explain the cause, effects and responses to the tsunami

and hurricane Katrina

Tsunami:

Examples of questions:

1. What is the cause of a tsunami (3)2. Why was the 2004 tsunami in South East Asia

so devastating? (6)3. What could be done to help after a disater

like the tsunami? (4)

Two tectonic plates, the Australian and Eurasian plates, meet just off Sumatra's south-west coast, grinding together and sending periodic seismic tremors through the region. At 0059 GMT a violent rupture occurred on the sea floor along a fault about 1,000km long.

Causes

Deadly wave All along the rupture the seafloor was shunted vertically by about 10 metres.

This movement displaced the overlying water, generating a massive tsunami, or tidal wave.

The wave then fanned out across the Indian Ocean at enormous speed.

The power of tsunamis only becomes clear as they approach shallow water along the coast

But from the beaches few people recognised the danger of the white line on the horizon

Their full force is unleashed as they break on to land

Why was the disaster so devastating?

Area affected The 9.0 magnitude quake, which was the strongest in the world for at least 40 years, wreaked havoc across the whole region.

Walls of water, tens of metres high, slammed into coastal resorts thousands of miles apart. Surging seas and floods were reported as far away as east Africa.

The USGS (United States Geological Survey) record of the earthquake

Why was the disaster so devastating?

T:\Geography\a. KS3\year 8\1. disasters\3. what happened during tsunami\Adtastic2001-Tsunami297.wmv

Watch this video and list some of the reasons why the disaster was so devasting.

“Scale of devastation Thousands are reported to have been killed, but there has been little news from the worst-hit areas where all transport and communication links were destroyed. “ bbc.co.uk 27.12.04

The AftermathEarly reports gave no hint of the scale of the disaster…….

Low lying coastal areas were left obliterated and flooded as here in Aceh province in Sumatra, Indonesia

Whole villages were flattened as here in Sri Lanka

Fishing boats, which provide essential food supplies for local people here in India, have been washed ashore

Low lying areas have been left flooded with seawater which quickly becomes contaminated with sewage and decomposing bodies

Male in the Maldives

Banda Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia

Millions of people have been left homeless

Cuddalore, south of Madras, India

Penang, Malaysia

“Paradise Lost”

Idyllic beach resorts like Galle in Sri Lanka, photographed here in March 2004, have been turned into scenes of horror, devastation and death,

All that remains of luxury holiday accommodation on Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Communications have been completely disrupted

Bus station in Galle, Sri Lanka

800 people died in a train derailed by the waves in Sri Lanka – it is the worst train disaster ever recorded.

The human toll is huge – 230,000

Increasing numbers of homeless people need shelter, food and water

Clean drinking water is required to avoid

the spread of disease

Relief efforts, which have been slow to start, gather pace as the enormity of the disaster begins to be appreciated

French relief workers from the Medecins Sans Frontieres organisation

German relief workers prepare to depart for Sri Lanka

In some areas relief supplies are piling up

Disruption of communications means that emergency supplies cannot be distributed efficiently

Tsunami:

Examples of questions:

1. What is the cause of a tsunami (3)2. Why was the 2004 tsunami in South East Asia

so devastating? (6)3. What could be done to help after a disater

like the tsunami? (4)

Hurricane Katrina

Examples of questions:

1. Where do we find tropical storms? (3) 2. What is the cause of a tropical storm (3)3. How could hurricane Katrina have been

managed more effectively? (5)4. How can the impacts of a hurricane be

reduced? (4)

Where do we find tropical storms? (3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjd9Fa1H9dg&NR=1

The Hazards

• Strong winds• Heavy rain • Storm surges

What were the effects of hurricane Katrina?

Task: from the following pictures note down the effects of the hurricane

Hundreds of thousands of people leave the city of New Orleans in the

southern US, in preparation for Hurricane Katrina

Those people who stayed behind gathered at the New Orleans Super Dome.

High winds brought down trees as far inland as the city of Baton

Rouge

The storm was so strong it brought down brick structures,

crushing these cars

Lots of the area is below sea level, so it's in danger of flooding. Flooding was wide spread across New Orleans.

This man waits on his top floor for rescue in New Orleans

Storm surges caused wide spread damage along the coast. In some places waves were up to eight metres high.

Storm surges damaged boats and boat yards

Roads have collapsed which has hampered the rescue operation

There are public heath concerns that disease will spread due to sewage polluted water.

Death toll 1836

As the story unfolds on TV screens across the globe, the American

government seems slow to respond to the scale of the disaster

The police struggle to contain a rising tide of lawlessness

A slow evacuation begins

Some emergency relief begins to arrive in the

city

But with no means of evacuation, conditions continue to deteriorate for most of those still trapped in the city

23,000 people take refuge in the New Orleans Superbowl without running water and adequate sanitation. Reports likened conditions

to ‘a Third World refugee camp’

Convoys of buses evacuate people from the Convention centre in New Orleans

Six days after the storm, the city is almost empty

“The first few days were a natural disaster, the last four days were a

man-made disaster”

Phillip Holt, 51New Orleans evacuee

Photograph credits – ‘Der Spiegel’

Hurricane Katrina

Examples of questions:

1. Where do we find tropical storms? (3) 2. What is the cause of a tropical storm (3)3. How could hurricane Katrina have been

managed more effectively? (5)4. How can the impacts of a hurricane be

reduced? (4)