Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

Paper 1

N.B: I have put in more detail than is needed in some cases, you need 3 points per subheading as a
rule of thumb but the more you can include the better. Some classes did different case studies so just
switch those out and delete the information you dont want to learn. Some info may seem pointless
but its useful when applied with the theory
LIVING IN AN ACTIVE ZONE
Boundaries:

Destructive: Nazca / S. American, Andes

Collision: Indo-Australian / Eurasian, Himalayas
Constructive: N. American / Eurasian, Iceland
Conservative: N. American / Pacific

SENDAI:

Shallow focus: 32km deep, epicentre 129km east of Sendai

11/03/11; 14:46 local time
Lasted for 5 minutes
9.0 on the Richter scale
Over 300km of plate margin moved, thrusting the N. A. plate 40m higher

The Tsunami:

22 minutes after earthquake

Early warning systems were set off 12 mins after the earthquake so people could evacuate
from low lying regions
Many people were stuck in collapsed buildings or on roads trying to evacuate
Wave travelled up to 10km inland, reaching up to 18m high

Aftershocks:

There were 1000s of aftershocks

Largest measured 7.1, killed 4 and injured 140

Primary Impacts
332,395 buildings deemed unsafe

Secondary Impacts
Landslides in Miyagi

56 bridges collapse

Liquefaction in Tokyo

2126 roads destroyed

Increased dependency ratio

Ambulances couldnt get through debris

Impacts:

500k homeless
Over 25,000 dead
Water system destroyed allowing the spread of disease e.g. cholera
Radioactive dust contaminates food at over 7x legal limit
Oil pollution in the sea
Radioactive water from Fukushima percolated into ground water and sea
Airport runways covered in debris and mud
Repair and rebuilding costs at 185bn
6% damage to Japanese stock exchange at 90bn

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Geography Case Studies

Areas of industry flooded and oil refineries burned

Fukushima means 70,000 people living within the 20km exclusion zone had to be moved
8% of GDP from that area

Risk prevention (PPP):

Japan: messages sent to many electrical devices e.g. box over TV showing effected areas
Counterweight, bird cage lattice, shock absorbers etc. e.g. Transamerica Pyramid, San Fran.
Emergency gas shut offs

MONTSERRAT

Caribbean Sea, ESE of Dom. Rep.

At the start of 1995 the island had 11,000 people living there
Some depended on farming, some in the islands few factories but the majority in tourism
Dormant for 400 years

The Eruption:

th

July 18 1995; Exclusion zone in southern half of island is entirely evacuated whilst Central
zone is until people are allowed back on heightened alert; every inhabitant has a way of
escaping the area 24/7
Inhabitants evacuated to other Caribbean islands
Britain grants 41 million in aid
th
25 June second eruption kills 19 who ignored evacuation warnings to tend to crops; 2/3 of
island buried in ash, Bramble airport destroyed by pyroclastic flows

Impacts:

Capital, Plymouth, evacuated therefore losing the countrys only secondary school,
hospital and university. Mudflows have made return impossible as they have set like
concrete.
Migration has split communities and halved population
8000 homeless, shortage of building land in the north
Breathing problems from airborne ash, methane and sulphur dioxide

60% islanders unemployed; 300 jobs lost from electrical components factory
Extensive crop damage (bananas are a key cash crop)
Collapse of tourism industry due to 2/3 of land being an exclusion zone and the main
airport being destroyed

Local climate change caused by ash clouds

Sulphur dioxide in volcanic gases forms acid rain which damages forests
Ash swept to sea destroyed a coral reef
Pyroclastic flows started forest fires
Vegetation destroyed by lahars
Flooding as valleys blocked by ash

ICELAND

Tourism accountable for 13% of national income

17,000 employed full, 17,000 part time (10% of population)

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

Over 370,000 visitors a year

3 most visited tectonic attractions: Pingvellir, Strokkur and the Blue Lagoon

15.8% energy is geothermal

One of its main exports is the volcanic chemical sulphur
Geothermal water used to provide free heating in homes, for irrigation and to warm
greenhouses

POPULATION
Youthful population:
TANZANIA:

BR: 37
IMR: 45
FR: 5 born per woman
Young age dependents: 44.8%
Between 1 and 2 on Demographic Transition Model
LE: 51
Less than 1/5 use contraception as it is not available nor culturally acceptable

Changes:

Contraception more freely available

70% of children in one are a vaccinated against main childhood diseass
More clinics built to spread this
Education is being recognised as more important however costs are still high as
Tanzania tries to pay off national debts

INDIA:

BR: 22
IMR: 41
FR: 2.7
Young age dependents: 31.1%
Stage 3 of transition model
LE: 66
72.2% live in rural areas
Contraception use lowest in north away from the cities

Changes (Kerala):

Average family size goes from ~6 to ~2

Better healthcare and childhood vaccinations
Literacy rate = 90% vs national 61%
Local government passed laws allowing trade unions and a minimum wage
Clinics offering sterilisation
People begin to see children as economic burdens

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

Ageing Population:
ITALY:

BR: 8.36
DR: 10.61
12.7M pensioners
Abortion legalised in 1982
Italy suffered a recession in the 80s and 90s, esp. in the north
Birth rate lower in N and C than S

Changes:

People encouraged to save for retirement

Government considering raising the retirement age
Nursing homes and careworkers become more prioritised
The government pays 1,285 for every child (costs 500M a year so unsustainable)
Try and encourage educated skilled migrants to come in and work and pay tax

DEVON:

UK has 10M aged over 65

LE is 78
People get married later, BR 10.8
Devon has the 2nd highest concentration of OAPs
Young people leave as few high paid jobs, few facilities for young people, to go to
cities and housing is expensive
54% dependency ratio

Changes:

Specialised buildings, hip height sockets, stair lifts etc

More care homes
Subsidised leisure to keep OAPs healthy and reduce NHS strain
Ring n ride buses, Age Concern Centre offers leisure

RuralUrban migration:
SOUTH AFRICA
Limpopo (rural)
Largest city pop. = 90k
1000 rand is average income
60% below poverty line
High dependency ratio
Counter urbanisation

Gauteng (urban)
3 largest cities; Pretoria, Joberg and
Soweto
7,165 in Joberg
20%
High working age pop.

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS

Modern and affordable housing

Good schools (William de Ferrers rated good by OFSTED)
Good transport links to major towns & London
RIVERS AND FLOODING

RIVER TEES River features and development

Source in boggy Cumbria Moorlands, 600m altitude, 1200mm rain a year

100km course (short)
Cow Green reservoir to control water level during different periods of rain
Also provides drinking water when ran through treatment plants
High Force waterfall; igneous intrusion is hard rock (whinstone), soft is bands of
sandstone, limestone and shale
One of the highest in England; 21.5m
Gorge = ~700m long
Lower course; Teeside
One of the largest concentrations of industry in Europe
Contains areas such as Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Stockton
Metal and chemical industry, oil refineries, nuclear power
Power station provides 2% of GB power
River used to transport products in and out

BOSCASTLE: floods

Hurricane Alex struck the east coast of the US and travelled over the Atlantic
The flood was on 16th August 2004
Had its own weather front causing increased rainfall 60mm in 2 hours (usually a
months worth)
Boscastle is at the confluence of 3 rivers; Valency, Jordan and Paradise (Cornwall)
Drainage basin around Boscastle is large, made of impermeable slate and water
table was already high (due to 2 weeks of above average rainfall) causing increased
size and speed of floods
1 in 400 event but increasing odds with climate change
Water swept through the town damaging houses and caravans
People were stranded in the visitor centre

Flood management:
?????????? get some e.gs of hard and soft techniques I dont have any

Thames barrier

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

DEVELOPMENT

MDGS:

8 in 2000, to be achieved by 2015

In general progress in S. Asia is better than in Sub Saharan Africa
Education: Indian universities produce the third largest no. of engineers each
year
Indian college/uni system one of the largest in the world (>10M students)

MDG1 (poverty and hunger): BANGLADESH

Since 1992: poverty reduced by 2.5%

31.5% poverty
Grameen Bank offers loans to poor so they can profit from agriculture
Allows them to afford to send children to school, healthcare etc.
Members are 36% less likely to live below the poverty line
Success? Partial: some reduction in poverty but still a long way to go

MDG2 (primary education): MALI

72M <15s out of school, 2/3 girls

30% literacy rate, pastoralist lifestyles are common
DFID (dept for international devt) has pledged 8.5bn over 10 years to ensure the
goal is achieved
Oxfam & ADESAH:
43 primary schools: Book ratio 1 book : 5 pupils 2:3
Garden schools; children go to school not collecting water
Grow onions and cabbage which are sold to buy rice and medicine
Get at least 1 hot meal and vaccinations
All incentives for parents to send kids to school
Success? Potentially: S.S.Africa has greatest increase; 25% more children going to
school

MDG3 (gender equality) NEPAL

Girls are 3x more likely to be malnourished

70% of the 1bn in extreme poverty are female
Plan International and SWAN
10-12,000 girls are Kamalari slaves (sold to pay family debts etc)
Helped over 2000 girls in one district alone
Given an education and a place to stay
Given vocational training if aged over 18

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

Regional patterns of development: GHANA

(see your mock controlled assessments for more details, you will need to be able to draw a
map and name key features and regions)

GDP of $520 per year

Cooler climate in south with longer rainy season allows cocoa cultivation
In the north it is drier and people tend to keep goats which are worth less
South -where capital Accra is- is more urbanised
Wages 2.5x higher in the south

CLIMATE CHANGE
Melting Ice

since 1979 more than 20% of the polar ice cap has melted
Between 1912 and 2011 the mass of ice at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro has reduced
by 85% (predicted to disappear completely by 2060)

Sea level (eustatic) changes

IPCC: global avg sea level to rise between 0.5 and 0.9m by 2100
Maldives: 80% of land is only 1m above sea level
The entire population will have to leave by 2100 with predicted rises
In 50 years some islands will be gone
Major damage to key industry of tourism
Effects made worse by storm surges and high tides
Bangladesh: a 1.5m sea level rise would affect 17 million people (15%)
Tuvalu: South pacific, 12,000 inhabitants
10 square miles at risk from swelling seas and storms
Coral island foundations are permeable so flood risk increases
Sea water kills crops, spreads disease and contaminates fresh water
1989 the UN declared Tuvalu as the most likely place to disappear in the 21st C
In 2001 75 environmental refugees were accepted by NZ

Storms, Flooding

BOSCASTLE
(Storm c/s will come with weather)

Heat waves

Global average temperature predicted to rise by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees by 2100 (IPCC)
We have only seen 0.5 increase over the last 100

European heatwave: 2003, temps over 40 degrees in Paris

6 weeks in late JulyAugust
Over 14,000 died
3000 deaths on Black Monday
Extreme heatwaves predicted every 2 years after 2080

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

Ski resorts are affected by rising temps: 15-20cm decrease per year
Slopes below 1200m wont have enough natural snow by 2050

Drought

Sahel region, just below the Sahara (Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti)
Declared a famine by EU on 20th July 2011
2.3M with food insecurity
Estimated deaths between 500,000 and 700,000, the majority of whom were children

A famine is when 3 of these occur:

20% of pop has <2,100 calories per day

Acute malnutrition in more than 30% of children
2 deaths per 10,000 people or 4 per 10,000 children every day
Large scale displacement and pandemic illness

GLOBALISATION
India and SEZs etc

2010 India made $60bn from ICT outsourcing

This industry grows at about 25% a year
India will have the largest pool of English speakers in the world by 2020
SEZs were created by the government
TNCs group together and ensure a pool of skilled labour and good infrastructure and
reductions in communication and transport costs.
Bangalore in Karnataka state has technology unis, engineering colleges and tax
reductions and incentives to attract TNCs
Dedicated technology park with free wifi, AC, 6 office blocks, power plant, 24/7
security

Caravan capitalism

Tata (owns Tetley, Land Rover, Jaguar) and makes the tata nano (p101 WJEC)
Operate in 40 countries
2007 they outsourced to Mexico due to the rising value of the rupee and rising labour
costs

TNC Negatives

Nike: 50M shoes a year

HQ in Portland, Oregon
6000 employed in R&D
Air Max shoes cost $140 but only $3.50 goes to labourers
In 1984 the last MEDC factory closed leaving 65,000 unemployed
In Asia Nike has 9 factories employing 8000 people
350,000 in contractor factories who also work for Vans, Puma etc

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies

Eltri is one of these, poor pay and poor working conditions

13,000 paid $2.50 a day (minimum liveable wage is $4)

Many girls send back remittances
Only see family 3 times a year
70% of workers rent factory dorms, 3 people to 3m2

PAPER 2
Coasts
HOLDERNESS
Place (NS)
Hornsea

Management & Key Details

Tourism is major industry, promenade & hotel frontage
Groyne installation and repairs (5.2M)
Steel doors guard beach entrance
Sea wall raised
Dunes and trees planted in south

Mappleton

Sediment starvation in 90s; 4m lost per year

1991: (2M) rock groynes out of Norwegian granite
Cliff regarding; decreased gradient, increased stability

Cowden Farm
(3km S of Map.)
Withernsea

Sediment starvation; avg 2.5m loss rose to 3.8 between 91 and 07

Easington

Gas terminal handles 25% of north sea gas

(4.5M) Rock revetments

1875 sea wall collapsed, was replaced with recurved wall (6.3M)
Rip rap protects base from scarring

DORSET
Arch: Durdle Door
Stack: Old Harry
Stump: Old Harrys Wife

Weather and Climate

Tourism

Reece Carter

Geography Case Studies