Take this Exam: A-Level Geography: Hazards and Tectonics | Zestly

Question 1

Two invented regions experience earthquakes of identical magnitude. In Region X the damage is widespread and the disruption lasts for years; in Region Y a few buildings are damaged and normal life resumes within days. Region Y has enforced building codes, a warning system and settlement away from the steepest slopes; Region X has none of these. What is the most accurate conclusion?

Accepted Answer

A disaster is a hazard meeting a vulnerable population, and it is the vulnerability rather than the size of the event that differs here.

Answer

Region X must in fact have experienced a larger earthquake than Region Y, whatever the recorded magnitude says.

Answer

The hazard in Region X was different in kind from the hazard in Region Y.

Answer

Outcomes of this sort are decided by the physical shaking alone, so the human arrangements described make no difference.

Question 2

A national agency does three things. First, it announces that an earthquake will strike a named fault at a stated hour next Tuesday. Second, it publishes a figure for the chance of a damaging earthquake on that fault within the next thirty years. Third, it funds building codes, stockpiles supplies and runs drills in schools. What are these three, and what should be said about the first?

Accepted Answer

The first is prediction, the second is forecasting and the third is preparedness — and the first is not something seismology can currently do, since no method reliably gives the time and place of an earthquake in advance, which is why the effort goes into the other two.

Answer

The first is prediction, the second is preparedness and the third is forecasting, and all three are equally well established.

Answer

All three are forms of prediction, differing only in how far ahead they look.

Answer

The first is forecasting and the second is prediction, the third is preparedness, and the first is routine work for a seismic agency.

Question 3

Eight months after an invented earthquake, a district has water, power and a working hospital again, temporary housing is occupied, and permanent rebuilding has barely begun. On the hazard response curve set out by Park, which stage is this, and what separates the stages on either side of it?

Accepted Answer

Rehabilitation — the relief stage before it is about the first hours and days, keeping people alive, while the reconstruction stage after it is permanent rebuilding, where quality of life returns to what it was or better.

Answer

The pre-disaster stage — the curve has come back to its starting level, and the district is now preparing for the next event.

Answer

Relief — this is the stage of search, rescue and emergency aid, and it gives way directly to reconstruction once the immediate danger has passed.

Answer

Reconstruction — permanent rebuilding has begun, and what comes before it is relief, with no separate stage in between.

Question 4

A community continues to live in a high-risk volcanic zone. They have fertile soil, generations of family history, and limited economic opportunities elsewhere. What does this demonstrate about human response to hazards?

Answer

The community is clearly unaware of the risks they face and needs better education.

Answer

The community is acting irrationally because the risk of death outweighs the economic benefits.

Answer

The decision to stay is a rational trade-off between the benefits of the location and the perceived risk.

Answer

The community is forced to stay by government policy, regardless of their own preferences.

Question 5

During an earthquake, the initial ground shaking caused only minor cracks in buildings. However, the shaking triggered a massive landslide that destroyed a nearby village. What does this illustrate about hazard assessment?

Answer

The earthquake was not the cause of the damage; the landslide was an independent event.

Answer

Secondary hazards can often cause more damage than the primary hazard itself.

Answer

The primary hazard is always the most dangerous element of a tectonic event.

Answer

Landslides are not considered hazards because they are triggered by other events.