Why Do Smilar Kindso Hzards Hav Different Impacts

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Why do similar kinds of hazards have different impacts in different places? (10 marks) Hazards affect different places in different ways this is due to certain factors including, economic stability, location, capacity to cope, population density etc. A hazard is an unexpected threat to people and/ or their property, a hazard turns into a disaster when a natural hazard has serious impacts such as a major loss of life or property. A country’s economy is probably the main factor which affects the impact of a hazard. Richer countries are not impacted as badly as poorer countries. This is because they generally are better prepared with a better standard of living so their building structures are higher quality and stronger in order to withstand any impacts of disasters. Their health care systems/services will be of a much higher standard. For example in the san Francisco earthquake in 1989, only 63 people were killed due to most structures being earthquake proof and are designed to absorb the vibrations. This significantly reduces the impact of an earthquake as the number of deaths and injury’s will decrease as building won’t collapse and crush people, roads will not be blocked so the emergency services can quickly get to casualties. In comparison the Armenia earthquake in 1988, where 25 000 deaths occurred, the poorly constructed buildings crumbled completely crushing thousands of people/cars. Both of these earthquakes measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. Developed countries also reduce the impact of disasters because they are always better connected. Richer societies that own televisions, radio’s and mobiles are able to communicate faster between each other and the rest of the world, so people are able to get out of buildings, emergency services can be alerted and rescue response programmes can begin. In a less connected area it takes longer for the rest of the
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