Impacts DBQ

Natural Hazards don't have to be Natural Disasters. Its up to us, if we let them. The Pacific 'Ring of Fire is region surrounding the Pacific Tectonic plate. There are many plate boundaries at all sides of this plate, making all the countries nearby disaster prone. Most of these disasters are earthquakes. Additionally, these earthquakes often trigger volcanic eruptions that are also on the Ring of Fire. Developing Countries are affected greatly due to this. Similarly in the Indian Ocean, there are earthquakes that are devastating. These earthquakes aren't as common and numerous as the 'Ring of Fire.' The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, which is considered a 'Great' earthquake. It's epicentre was of the west coast of Northern Sumatra. This earthquake had also triggered a tsunami that was the most devastating in the Indian Ocean's history. Areas as far as Madagascar were affected. There were many Social and Economic impacts due to this Earthquake and Tsunami. The Geographic location of a country influences its potential for natural disasters. Regions located on the Ring of Fire have a history of numerous Natural Hazards. Movement in the tectonic plates in 2004 off the west coast of Sumatra resulted in an earthquake & tsunami that impacted the surrounding regions. Such dangers are also valid in the Ring of Fire, exposing the regions nearby at risk. The countries located on the Ring of Fire are disaster prone. One example of such a Volcano is Krakatoa; it last erupted in 2012 and is still active. Krakatoa is also known as Krakatau Volcano. This Volcano is situated on Krakatau Island off the Southern Coast of Sumatra. This volcano has had much affect on Indonesia. One reason that Krakatau is devastating for Indonesia is that, Indonesia is still a developing country on the Ring of Fire. One notable eruption is the eruption of 1883, which caused the death of more than 36,000 people. Similarly, Mt. Fuji in Japan, is also an active volcano. In addition, document 1 clearly shows Convergent boundaries where the Pacific plate pushing on the Philippine Plate at a rate of 100 mm a year. This is close to Japan; which is part of the Ring of Fire. Japan resides on four tectonic plates, causing it to have to face an earthquake almost everyday. Japan over the years has learnt that Disaster Preparedness is better than Disaster Mitigation. Additionally, the Ring of Fire is situated on Plate boundaries. Document 1 also shows that Indonesia would also be affected by earthquakes that occur along the Pacific Plate. As previously mentioned, Indonesia has several volcanoes including Krakatoa. Which have risen due to the convergent boundary. Similarly, Philippines another developing country on the Ring of Fire has to face, not only earthquakes but typhoons too due to the weather patterns there. Philippines is on a Convergent boundary between the Philippine and Eurasian plate. The constant pushing and subducting leads to minor earthquakes and once in a while a strong earthquake. An example is the Bohol Earthquake in 2013. More than 200 were confirmed dead and about a 1,000 were badly injured. Philippines has difficulty recovering due to its limited Disaster Mitigation ability. Clearly, regions situated on/near the Ring of Fire are at risk. The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake was caused by the slipping of plates. The Indian plate is subducting under the Burma microplate. There is a convergent boundary between the Indian plate and the Burmese microplate. At the subduction zone, friction and stress built up; so that the plate was bending. The energy that had built up over many years, was suddenly released when the Burmese plate suddenly snapped back up. Also, the rebound of the plate instantly displaced much water, which rose, settled and then started travelling across in all directions causing a tsunami. There were many aftershocks that followed after the main shock. Additionally, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck in 2005, some believe this was an aftershock of the 2004 earthquake. However, many people do not,, due to the fact that this was much later on and it produced its own aftershocks. To

add on, Document 2 shows that the epicenter wasnt in Indonesia but in the sea as mentioned. This also shows that there is a Burmese plate, even though it isnt listed in Document 1. The subduction of the Indian plate and tension build up, caused the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami impacted regions socially and economically. Firstly, there was a strong Social impact on the affected areas. Document 4 states that a train named: Samudradevi in Sri Lanka was swamped, which caused the death of approximately 1,700 travellers. This incident was reported as the worst train accident in history. The article also says that many citizens lost their livelihoods, which means they couldn't support themselves. This might have caused their deaths even after the tsunami. Additionally, both documents 2 and 3 show the death toll/fatalities. Here you can see the enormous social impact the tsunami had. It killed about 228,000 people, thats about the amount of people there were in Plymouth, England at that time. A few tribes were completely wiped out from India. Also, document 5 further states that lives have been lost due to other disasters before this. Subsequently, the region was also affected economically. Some countries in the region were heavily affected economically. It was hard for many countries to recover as they had lost a lot of money. The Stock market fell due to this. Document four says that Sri Lankas fisherman lost their livelihoods, meaning they lost their jobs and everything they had. Since fishing could no longer bring in money, the stock market fell. Document 6 has a good point. The last section: Support to livelihoods has projects that decrease the chance of the stock market crashing due to natural disasters. The region was affected economically and socially, due to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Clearly, a countrys potential for Natural Disasters is influenced by its geographic location. Disaster Management is important, because if you had a prospering economy and a great country, but poor disaster management; and disaster struck, everything would be ruined. It would take you a long time, years to recover. Whereas, if you had great Disaster Management abilities, then you could prevent disaster and recover easily. Disaster Preparedness is also an important factor. Being prepared for disasters can save much money, time and lives. Disaster preparedness pays for itself, as disaster preparedness costs less than disaster mitigation. Its up to you to decide.