Natural Hazards China v's' USA

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Natural HazardsChina v.s. USA

• by
• Andreja Brilej
• Simona Verita
• Kristin Sigurjonsdottir
• Maria De La Riva Caballero

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Statistics

• Andreja Brilej

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Causes for increased Vulnerability

• Environmental degradation (deforestation,
  drainage of wetlands, destruction of coastal
  dunes, development in flood areas)
• Rapid population growth (in high risk areas e.g.
  seismic areas, flood plains, hillslides)
• Poverty (poor get poorer after a disaster)
• Migration and uncontrolled urbanization
• Improperly constructed and/or located
  infrastructures and critical facilities (quality
  of construction USA much more reinforced
• CHINA
  bricks)
• Growing economic interdependence of businesses,
  communities and nations. Disasters are shared
  events and may create social and political
  turmoil.

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Natural Hazard Vulnerability

• Natural disasters have a disproportionate impact
  on very poor and very rich societies.
• Though economic losses are highest in monetary
  value, in industrialized nations, the greatest
  burden from natural disasters falls on developing
  nations - about 95 of the deaths occur in the
  developing countries.
• In developing countries its typical for poor
  people to live in the most dangerous and
  unhealthy locations society is differentiated
  into groups with different levels of
  vulnerability to the hazards.

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Comparison
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• Cases in China
• 1851-1866, total of 40-50 million people killed,
  in cyclone induced flooding along Yangtze River
  flood plain.
• 1187, 1.5 million people drowned along Yangtze
  River as a result of cyclone flooding.
• 1922, 50.000 people killed because of storm surge
  around Shanton.
• 1931, 3-4 million people drowned on the Hwang Ho
  River floodplain as a result of cyclone flooding.
• Case in USA
• 1900, 6000 people killed by a hurricane.

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World distribution of disasters by triggering
hazards 1994-2003
Numbers of natural hazards appearing in USA and
China 1994-2003
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Population 1,306,313,812 (July 2005 est.) GDP
purchasing power parity - 7.262 trillion (2004
est.) Population below poverty line 10 (2001
est.)
Population295,734,134 (July 2005 est.) GDP
11.75 trillion (2004 est.) Population below
poverty line 12 (2004 est.)
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Case studies

• Simona Verita

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Relative vulnerability to earthquake
1-10 million people per year
1-10 million people per year
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Tangshan earthquake

• 28 July 1976
• 250,000 people dead

Before the earthquake Tungshan was thougth to be
a region with relative low risk of
earthquake Very few building have been build to
withstand on earthquake.
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Los Angeles earthquake

• 17 January 1994
• 50 people dead
• 1500 were seriously enjured

The damages were limitaded because the house were
constucted incorporate a structural design
intended to reduce the risk of structural collaps
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Relative vulnerability to floods
10-100 million people per year
100-1000 million people per year
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China flood 1998

• 3,400 dead
• 14,000,000 people homeless
• 5,000,000 destroyed houses

• Cause
• deforestation
• bad use of land scape
• citizen totally lacking in preventing the flood

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Great USA Flood 1993

• 50 deaths
• 100,000 damaged houses

Loss of live were limited using forecasting models
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Mitigation

• Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir

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Mitigation

• What is mitigation?
• Actions that are taken before, during and after
  natural disaster to minimize the impact
• Why is mitigation important?
• To reduce loss, caused by natural disaster

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Mitigations in 4 steps

• Determining the location and nature of the
  potential hazards
• Characterizing the population and structures that
  are vulnerable to specific hazards
• Present and future
• Establishing acceptable levels of risk
• Adopting mitigation strategies based on an
  analysis of realistic costs and benefits

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Mitigation in USA

• Stop development in an area with high risk
• Building out of the way of hazard
• floodplains, active volcano, snow avalanche
  zones, faults ...
• Active warning systems
• Evacuation planning
• Testing building and structures
• Consulting with land users before development
• Strengthening structure

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USA flood mitigations
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Top down - bottom upApproach
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Conclusion

• Maria de la Riva Caballero

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Science and technology

• To support warning and distribute of, and
  response to, warning
• With the newest technology such as high-speed
  computing and communications systems and GIS,
  makes the warnings accurate and in time
• Better forecast methods
• Emergency response team
• Education and training

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Solutions

• USA share their knowledge with China
• Connection between society, government and
  science
• To learn from the disasters
• GPS technology
• Warning systems

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Conclusion

• China has higher loss of live
• USA has higher economical loss
• Joint forces

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How can WE minimize the financial losses and loss
of lives in the US and China ?