1st Assignment blog  by Linda Potter

 

Assignment:  Post wk1: difference between hazards, disasters and catastrophes and intro of your chosen country

 

The difference between hazards, disasters and catastrophes is time.  All include hazards to human life and property, however, a disaster occurs over a limited time span and in a defined area, whereas, a catastrophes is massive and significant expenditure of money and recovery can last for years.

Brazil

Brazil has always intrigued me and I had hoped to travel to this huge magnificent county one day.  I do not think this will ever happen so by studying this country’s geology I can get a look at it.  Brazil is larger than the continental United States and is located on the continent of South America.  A few interesting facts about Brazil:

• The name of the country comes from the name of the tree called ‘BrazilWood’

• In Portuguese, it is called Brasil and the language is called Brazil

• The conventional long form of Brazil is Federative Republic of Brazil.

• Brasilia is the capital city of Brazil.

• It has an estimated area of 8,514,877 sq km and a coastline of 7,491 Km.

• The Christ Redeemer located in Rio De Janeiro is located in Brazil which is one of the new seven wonders of the world.  (WhatThaFact.com)

 

What I Know

I   know that the Amazon basin is covered by rainforest or at least it was.  In the 70’s and 80’s I was taught that this fertile area would feed the world if only it could be farmed.  I know that many Brazilians left the cities to farm this land only to discover that the soil was nowhere nearly as fertile as it was thought to be.  While this was a human disaster caused by false assumption which left so many people homeless and destitute I wanted to know more about what has happened since my studies.

            I looked on the web for answers and the following was what I found:

 Brazil - Disaster Statistics

Data related to human and economic losses from disasters that have occurred between 1980 and 2010.

Natural Disasters from 1980 - 2010

 

Overview

No of events:	146
No of people killed:	4,948
Average killed per year:	160
No of people affected:	47,984,677
Average affected per year:	1,547,893
Economic Damage (US$ X 1,000):	9,226,170
Economic Damage per year (US$ X 1,000):	297,618

 

Natural Disaster Occurence Reported

12213580117133DroughtEarthquake*EpidemicExt. temp.FloodInsect**Mass mov. wetStormWildfire020406080100Occurence1 events

 

Average Disaster Per Year

Drought:	0.39
Earthquake*:	0.06
Epidemic:	0.42
Extreme temp:	0.16
Flood:	2.58
Insect infestation:	0.03
Mass mov. dry:	...
Mass mov. wet:	0.55
Volcano:	...
Storm:	0.42
Wildfire:	0.10

Top 10 Natural Disasters Reported

 

Affected People

Disaster	Date	Affected	(no. of people)
Drought	1983	20,000,000
Drought	1998	10,000,000
Flood	1988	3,020,734
Flood	1983	3,008,300
Flood	2008	1,500,015
Flood	2009	1,150,900
Drought	2001	1,000,000
Drought	2007	1,000,000
Drought	1987	750,000
Flood	2009	680,000

 

Killed People

Disaster	Date	Killed	(no. of people)
Epidemic	1984	300
Flood	1988	300
Flood	1988	289
Flood	2010	256
Flood	1984	200
Epidemic	1991	196
Flood	2003	161
Flood	2008	151
Epidemic	2008	123
Flood	1985	100

 

Economic Damages

Disaster	Date	Cost	(US$ X 1,000)
Drought	2004	1,650,000
Flood	1984	1,000,000
Flood	1984	1,000,000
Flood	1988	1,000,000
Flood	2008	750,000
Drought	1985	651,000
Flood	2009	550,000
Extreme temp.	1994	475,000
Storm	2004	350,000
Flood	1983	338,000

Statistics Per Event

 

Killed People

Drought:	1.67
Earthquake*:	1.00
Epidemic:	55.15
Extreme temp:	23.20
Flood:	40.80
Insect infestation:	...
Mass mov. dry:	...
Mass mov. wet:	40.18
Volcano:	...
Storm:	11.15
Wildfire:	0.33

 

Affected People

Drought:	2,734,333.33
Earthquake*:	11,643.00
Epidemic:	77,701.23
Extreme temp:	...
Flood:	170,934.99
Insect infestation:	2,000.00
Mass mov. dry:	...
Mass mov. wet:	13,969.65
Volcano:	...
Storm:	16,384.00
Wildfire:	4,000.00

 

Economic Damages

Drought:	201,916.67
Earthquake*:	2,500.00
Epidemic:	...
Extreme temp:	95,000.00
Flood:	72,002.13
Insect infestation:	...
Mass mov. dry:	...
Mass mov. wet:	5,058.82
Volcano:	...
Storm:	33,923.08
Wildfire:	12,000.00

 

Statistics By Disasters Type

 

Percentage of reported people killed by disaster type

Epidemic: 14.5 %Ext. temp.: 2.3 %Flood: 66 %Mass mov. wet: 13.8 %Storm: 2.9 %

Percentage of reported people affected by disaster type

Drought: 68.4 %Epidemic: 2.1 %Flood: 28.5 %Drought: 68.4 %

Estimated economic damages reported by disaster type (US$ X 1,000)

DroughtExt. temp.FloodStorm0M2M4M6M8M(US$ X 1000)

*: Including tsunami

More information and data on: www.emdat.be/

Source of data: "EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Universit� catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Bel."
Data version: v11.08

Data displayed does not imply national endorsement

 

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 (Brazil Disasters )

      

This is quite a list and I looking forward to researching the many disasters and catastrophes of this land and moreover the cost to the people and culture of Brazil.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.  BRAZIL DISASTER STATISTICS at Prevention Web  http://www.preventionweb .net/english/countries/statistics/?cid=24

2. WhatThaFact.com : http://whatthafact.com/interesting-facts-about-brazil/#ixzz3RC0flHNs

 

 

The following are definitions of natural; processes hazards, disasters and catastrophes from this week’s power point.

1.     Natural processes (earthquakes, volcanoes., etc. ) only become hazardous when humans are on their path

2.     Natural Hazard= natural process/event that is a potential threat to human life and property Disaster= a hazardous event that occurs over a limited time span within a defined area. One of these occurs: ≥10 people killed, ≥100 affected, Declared state of emergency,  Requested international assistance

3.     Catastrophe= a massive disaster that requires significant expenditure of money and a long time (years) for recovery