Tectonic Hazards - PAR Model & Earthquake Case Studies

What The PAR (pressure and release model) Includes:


Development
(Root Cause)
Population & Urbanisation
(Dynamic Pressure)
Housing & Locations
(Unsafe Conditions)
 Disaster
Natural Hazards
How much money the country has (nationally) How many people live in town and cities e.g slums on the hillside in Haiti (local)
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Tsunamis


A Real Life Example: Mount Pinatudo, Volcano, 1991:


Root Cause
Dynamic Pressure
Unsafe Conditions
 Disaster
Hazard
Low-income country High population density in towns Houses built on river bank around volcanoes Volcanoes, ash fall and then lahars.


A Real Life Example 2: Haiti Earthquake, 2010:


Root Cause
Dynamic Pressure
Unsafe Conditions
 Disaster
Hazard
Low-income country or corrupted government, lack of work High population They were not aware of the hazard, no responses. Poorly built houses, lack of food, building on steep slopes Earthquake.


LEDC Case Study: Haiti Earthquake, 2010:
  • 7.0 on the Richter Scale, the epicentre was in the capital of Port-Au-Prince, 250,000 died. The earthquake was expected as big earthquakes have low frequency in Haiti. High magnitude leads to lots of damage.
  • Aftershocks caused by the Conservative boundary between North America and the Caribbean plate. Pressure built up, released as seismic waves and released as secondary and love waves.
  • Hazards included: Landslides, ground displacement, shaking the ground. The vulnerability was high, so buildings collapsed. Most buildings were unsafely built due to corruption. Resilience was also low as response units were poor.
MEDC Case Study: New Zealand Earthquake, 2011:
  • 6.7 on the Richer Scale, fewer people died than in Haiti (183 only died). They were better prepared since the economy is much better.
  • Plate margin was constructive with subducting occurring on the coast
  • Earthquake released energy which caused ground shaking, liquefaction.
  • Buildings didn’t collapse as they had been built correctly. Liquefaction caused the most damage.
  • The focus was shallow so Earthquake was destructive.
  • New Zealand is stable MEDC, high levels of resilience with a better capacity to cope. Good economy services. Low vulnerability as people is healthier in better living conditions than Haiti. 
  • Deaths were lower but the cost of repair was higher as there are more expensive buildings, more insurance claims leads to more compensation payments. 
     
  • Root Cause
    Dynamic Pressure
    Unsafe Conditions
    		 Disaster
    Hazards
    Lack of investment Lots of old buildings, more money needed to repair the damage. Older buildings e.g Churches Earthquake












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