Standard 9 Human and Environmental Interactions: Resources, Hazards, and Health

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• Standard 9 Human and Environmental Interactions
  Resources, Hazards, and Health

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Human and Environmental Interactions
Resources, Hazards, and Health

• Geographic distribution of hazards in the form of
  natural disasters
• Regional resource Issues
• Role of technology in shaping our world
• Diffusion of epidemics

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Spatial distribution of natural disasters
• Asia
• South America
• North America
• Human and physical factors that contribute to
  disasters

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9.1 Natural Disasters
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9.1 Natural Disasters
Major Fault Lines of the World library.thinkquest
.org/.../faultlines.html
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Area where 13 earthquakes have killed over 90,000
people between 1954-1989.
www.forceborne.com/FBW/Tech/fault_line_chart.htm
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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Ten Deadliest Natural Disasters
• Rank Date Event Location Death Toll
• 1. 1931 Yellow River flood, Yellow River,
  China. 850,000 - 4,000,000
• 2. 1887 Yellow River flood, Yellow River,
  China. 900,000 - 2,000,000
• 3. 1970 Bhola cyclone, Ganges Delta, Pakistan.
  500,000 - 1,000,000
• 3. 1201 Earthquake, Eastern Mediterranean.
  1,000,000
• 5. 1938 Yellow River flood, Yellow River,
  China. 500,000 - 900,000
• 6. 1556 Earthquake, Shaanxi Province, China.
  830,000
• 7. 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami.
  250,000 - 310,000
• 8. 1881 Tropical Cyclone, Haiphong, Vietnam.
  300,000
• 9. 1642 Flood Kaifeng, Henan Province, China.
  300,000
• 10. 1976 Earthquake, Tangshan, China. 242,000
• Official Government figure. Estimated death
  toll as high as 655,000.

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Japan
• Earthquakes
• Kobe 1995 (5,000)
• Typhoons
• "Louise" Oct. 9, 1945 Okinawa
• Volcanoes

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Japan

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Japan
• Physical Environment
• Active faults of Kyushu and Kanto
• Kanto Earthquake - 1923 (8.0). Killed over
  140,000 people and destroyed a third of Tokyo and
  most of Yokohama. Region has historically
  experienced a major earthquake about every 70
  years.
• Hanshin Earthquake - 1995 (7.2). Killed 6,433
  people in Kobe and nearby cities. Source
  www.seinan-gu.ac.jp/djohnson/natural/quakes.html
• The Asia Pacific region, home to 53 of the
  world's population and 20 of its land area,
  experiences a disproportionate share of loss of
  life and impact to socio-economic processes.
  According to a recent United Nations' report,
  nearly 70 of all lives lost due to natural
  disasters occur within the Asia Pacific region
  (U.N. Living with Risk, 2002).
• Human Environment
• Densely populated urban areas
• Structural advances

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• South Asia (Bangladesh, India)
• Predominant types of natural disasters
• Earthquakes
• Hurricanes
• Tsunamis
• Floods
• Physical factors
• Fault line
• Human factors
• Densely populated urban areas
• Large subsistent farming and fishing population
  exposed to tsunamis, floods, and typhoons
• Structural materials/design ill-equipped for
  natural disasters
• Poor population unable to leave vulnerable areas

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• South America (Colombia, Ecuador)
• Predominant types of natural disasters
• Volcanoes
• Landslides/Mudflows

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9.1 Natural Disasters
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9.1 Natural Disasters
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9.1 Natural Disasters

• South America
• Physical Factors
• Major geological fault line along the western
  edge
• Deforestation of hillsides leaves large areas of
  land vulnerable to erosion by water
• Topography
• Poor infrastructure not suited to resist hazards
• Human Factors
• Densely populated areas
• Need for harvesting wood for fire

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• United States of America
• Predominant types of disasters
• Hurricanes
• Gulf Coast
• Katrina
• Rita
• Hugo
• Earthquakes
• West Coast (San Andreas Fault)
• Los Angeles earthquake
• Bay Area (1990?)
• Midwest (New Madrid Fault)
• Historic earthquakes at New Madrid
• Tornadoes
• Central/Midwest

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• United States - Physical and Human Factors
• Climatic conditions unique to middle United
  States
• Fault lines
• Natural path of hurricane development
• More affluent society with desirable coast lines
• Unique in that wealthier population is regularly
  affected
• Technological developments such as weather
  forecasting for
• hurricane warnings, as well as tornado sirens,
  and the emergency broadcast system

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Pakistan
• Primary types of disasters
• Earthquakes
• Landslides
• Physical and Human Factors
• Fault lines
• Densely populated urban areas
• Structural codes
• Remote areas difficult to access due to poor
  infrastructure and political divide

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• China
• Predominant types of disasters
• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Physical and human factors
• Fault lines
• Alteration of natural landscape (dams, etc) cause
  flooding
• Densely populated urban areas with restricted
  natural flow
• Many areas with poor structures

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• Physical and human environments in these regions
  have been modified over time in response to
  environmental threats
• In Japan, building reinforced skyscrapers,
  training for emergency in a disciplined society
• United States (hurricanes) response between
  Florida and Louisiana, government aid,
  flood-prone areas in urban environment
• Indian Ocean (earthquakes-tsunamis) lack of
  warning system in the third world countries,
  world-wide relief efforts, foreign-aid
• Colombia (volcanoes) mud-flows, government
  response in remote areas of the world
• Pakistan (earthquakes) remote areas, lack of
  building codes, terrorist activity
• China (floods) deadly floods on the Hwang Ho River

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9.1 Natural Disasters

• International Disaster Relief Efforts
• Types of Aid
• Response (international community)
• Effectiveness/Success of aid efforts
• Hurricane Katrina
• Indian Ocean Tsunami
• Obstacles
• Political challenges (terrorist activity,
  opposition group territory)
• Poor infrastructure
• Financial

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9.2 Regional Resources

• Spatial distribution of natural resources
• Natural resources subject to local and global
  pressure
• Climate and human stressors on resources
• Regional resource issues that may impair
  sustainability, economic expansion, and/or
  diversification
• The impact of these issues on the physical and
  human environments of specific regions

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Sahel Region of Africa Map provided
by www.answers.com/topic/sahel
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9.2 Regional Resources

• African Sahel
• Contains Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and
  Somalia
• Areas affected are Senegal, Mauritania, Mali,
  Burkina Faso, Niger,
• Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and the "Horn."
• The climate is arid and unstable
• Hard to operate agriculture with very little
  precipitation
• Sparse savannah vegetation of grasses and
  shrubs
• 4 8 inches of rainfall per year (between June
  and September)
• A majority of the people are involved in
  nomadic herding
• Large number of livestock have overgrazed
  causing excessive
• desertification
• 1970's - drought that killed 300,000 people and
  five million livestock
• Rapidly growing populations with very high
  rates of natural increase

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9.2 Regional Resources

• African Sahel
• Grassland area south of the Sahara Desert
• Forest and woodland areas are declining by an
  estimated 1 per year, while population grows at
  2.8 per year (Sahel Regional Program/USAID,
  1997). There is a growing lag between food
  production and food needs, and evidence of
  increasing environmental degradation
• Almost 8 million people are currently threatened
  by severe food shortages in the Western Sahel
  region of Africaincluding Niger, Mali,
  Mauritania and Burkina Faso. The famine, brought
  on by two years of low rainfalls and drought in
  the region, coupled with the worst locust
  infestation in 20 years, has led to widespread
  malnutrition.

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9.2 Regional Resources

• Europe
• Dependence on fossil fuels from Persian Gulf
• Gasoline production is declining in Britain,
  which became a net gas importer in 2004. The same
  will be true for oil before the decade is out. By
  2020, Britain will be relying on Russian and
  Algerian gas for half of its electricity supply.
• Spain is the most energy dependent in Europe. 80
  percent of its energy needs are imported, with 99
  percent of its oil and gas being imported. The
  government plans to end use of nuclear power
  (one-fifth of its electricity).
• Politically volatile sources
• Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran
• Consumptive society

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9.2 Regional Resources

• Russia
• Vast natural resource potential
• Petroleum
• Forests
• Minerals
• Poor infrastructure
• Roadless areas with large amount of resources
• Climate, terrain, and distance hinder
  exploitation of natural resources
• Fledgling Democracy with a command economy
• Government controlled natural resource companies
• Gazprom takeover

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9.2 Regional Resources

• While the United States consumes roughly 19
  million barrels of oil a day, mostly to power its
  200 million automobiles, it produces only about 8
  million barrels (or 42 percent) of that total
  domestically. The other 58 percent -- some 11
  million barrels a day -- of our oil has to be
  imported from other countries.

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9.3 Role of Technology

• Humans have always developed and used technology
  to modify the physical environment in order to
  settle areas in different world regions.
• Evaluate the impact of these technologies on the
  physical and human environments affected. Human
  Environment Interactions, Spatial Interaction,
  Change Over Time, Physical Systems

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9.3 Role of Technology

• Human environment interaction
• Modification of physical systems to suit human
  needs
• Dams, levees, irrigation for example

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9.3 Role of Technology

• Technological Efforts
• Netherlands (dams to claim land for development
  and agriculture)
• USA (New Orleans levees and dams for urban
  development and growth)
• China (Three Gorges Dam Displace large
  population, but offer modernization)
• Persian Gulf (Qatar, UAE Develop desert into
  agricultural and urban centers)

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9.3 Role of Technology

• Three Gorges Dam Project, China
• Located along the Yangtze River (3rd longest
  river in the world)
• Proposed width of 1.5 miles, 600 feet high, 400
  miles long
• Hydropower equivalent to 18 nuclear plants
• Offers greater access to interior regions
  agricultural and
• manufactured products.
• Future source of energy in response to growing
• consumption of population.
• Dam will flood more than 100 towns
• 1.2 million people will be resettled
• More fertile soils will be flooded and people
  moved to less fertile
• areas
• Approximately 1,300 archaeological and
  historical sites gone
• May provide up to 1/9 of Chinas electrical
  production
• Reduce extremely high use of coal in China
• Expected completion in 2009

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9.3 Role of Technology
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9.3 Role of Technology
Model of proposed project provided by Wikipedia
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9.3 Role of Technology
View of Three Gorges Dam Project (at left) in 2000
Source NASA Images
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9.3 Role of Technology

• Southwest Asia/Persian Gulf Region
• Dubai, U.A.E.
• Creation of islands for more space in response to
  demand for residential areas, as well as
  increased tourism (resorts).
• Use of technology to shape urban landscape
• Sensitive to natural forces
• Qatar
• Intensive irrigation projects for agriculture
• The country has no rivers or lakes, and besides
  the rainfall received, the primary source of
  fresh water is the ground water

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9.3 Role of Technology
The Palm Jumeirah Resort Dubai, U.A.E.
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9.3 Role of Technology
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9.4 Spread of Epidemics

• Distinguish and assess the human and physical
  factors associated with the spread of selected
  epidemics over time
• Describe the impact of this diffusion on
  countries and regions Change Over Time,
  Diffusion

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9.4 Spread of Epidemics

• Europe
• Bubonic Plague
• Spread from Central Asia during 14th Century via
  trade routes
• Significant loss of life
• North America
• Europeans bringing smallpox and measles to Native
  American population (1500s)
• World
• Cholera (1700-1800s)
• AIDS (1950s)
• Bird Flu
• Influenza epidemic (1918-1919)

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9.4 Spread of Epidemics

• Human Factors
• Health care
• Education
• Ability of government to effectively combat
• Physical Factors
• Remote areas, lack of infrastructure
• Difficult for populations to access suitable care
• Diffusion
• Densely populated regions
• Accelerated spread
• Emigration/Immigration
• Tourism
• Agricultural markets
• Wildlife trade (exotic pets, etc)

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9.4 Spread of Epidemics

• Control Measures and Organizations
• United States Centers for Disease Control
• Efforts to stem spread of Bird Flu
• Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam
• August 2005, WHO provided recommended strategic
  actions
• World Health Organization
• Polio-free world within 18 months of Nov. 2005
• In 2003, Islamic clerics in Nigeria boycotted
  polio vaccine believing it was a western plot
  against muslims (BBC News)
• Initially spread through 15 African states and to
  Yemen and Indonesia
• WHO needs 200m for operations in 2006

Source WHO, www.who.int/en/