GEOS 1034 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Volcanic Dam, Bhola District
18 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Assessment of hazards in the us between 1975-1994: 6000 killed, 24000 injured, billion lost due to batural hazards, 6 ddeaths, 48 injuries, per week. Prior to 1989 loma prieta earthquake, no billion dollar disasters: since then, 15 over 1 billion. Dec 2004: indian ocean warthquake and tsunami: >230000 deaths oct 2005: pakistan earthquake, 75000 deaths. May 2008: burma (myanmar) cyclone: 140000 deaths. An occurrence is hazardous if it has an unacceptable impact: acceptability is a fuction of the perceived risk, impact = probability of an occurrence, effect of the occurance. Three factors (proabbiliy, effect and acceptability) to consider. Standing alsongside 1-81; you are struck ny a 1cm raindrop: high probability, effect is very, very low, impact is negligible (probabiliy * effect) Standing alsongside 1-81; you are struck by a 25 cm meteorite: probability very very low, effect is very high, impact is negligible (probabiliy * effect) Negligible impact means risk is acceptable: not a hazard.
