Explain the Distribution of the Worlds Major Geophysical Hazards

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Explain the distribution of the worlds major geophysical hazards Some parts of our planet are more often and more severely afflicted by natural hazards than others. This is due firstly to the geological structure of the Earth and secondly due to climate zones. Earthquakes like the Kashmir, Haiti and New Zealand occur in areas where oceanic plates and continental plates move against each other and collide. The long arc of islands that make up Japan and the stretch of the Andes located inside the coast of Chile are collision zones and therefore more often affected by earthquakes than in Finland, Brazil or Canada. Haiti is on the boundary of the Caribbean and North American plates and is an example of a conservative plate boundary. Volcanic eruptions are also one the greatest threats among the natural hazards. The active land, volcanoes of the world occupy are only 0.6% of the total land area. Most volcanoes are spread along the coast, in areas that are also earthquake zones. Mid-ocean volcanic ridges are formed where the ocean floors split and move apart. Hawaii have followed a different pattern, forming from magma released from individual hotspots in the mantle. The inner parts of the continents have few volcanoes, almost all the land volcanoes are located on are less than 100 km from the coast. An example of this is Mount Pinatubo, which is located roughly 100km from the coast in the Philippines. Tornados are also unevenly spread. The United States is struck by about 800 large tornados every year, but France, Belgium and the Netherlands are almost never struck. Large cyclones known as typhoons form in the Pacific Ocean and move in over east Asia. In the Atlantic Ocean these storms are called hurricanes and move in over the southeast of the United States, Central America and the West Indies. Flooding occurs in many places on the Earth and for many

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