Geography 2152F/G Lecture 2: Geo of Hazards Notes 2-6

• School: Western University
• Department: Geography
• Course: Geography 2152F/G
• Professor: Mark Moscicki

Document Summary

Documenting disasters can be difficult because disasters can co occur: hu(cid:396)(cid:396)i(cid:272)a(cid:374)es (cid:272)ause floodi(cid:374)g(cid:859)s a(cid:374)d ea(cid:396)th(cid:395)uakes (cid:272)ause la(cid:374)dslides. Exceptions to the cred threshold: for droughts or families at least 2000 people and technological 5 or more deaths per event. Statistical data is reported in absolute terms (number of casualties, billions of dollars in damage) The impact is different in a smaller village then a huge city. The media tends to concentrate on: human interest, visual impact, events close to home, prioritized according to a north american perspective. Study by adams (1986), the death of one north american = the deaths of: 3 eastern europeans, 11 middle easterners, 9 latin americans, 12 asians. Disasters and impacts impacts vary greatly by disaster type: earthquakes tend to cause more deaths floods affect more people but fewer casualties, droughts lead only to economic losses in developed countries but famine in developing countries. Technological disasters are more likely to occur in industrialized countries.