Suggest why many countries find El Niño weather anomalies very challenging.(10)
El Nino is referring to the dramatic change that occurs in the walker circulation cell and in other areas but I am going to focus on this specific area, where the usually south-easterly trade winds going from west of South America to Australia and Indonesia across the Pacific Ocean reverse or severely weaken. This occurs usually every 3-7 years and can last between 12-18 months. During an El Nino the warm sea in the western pacific migrate towards the South American coast because they are being dragged across by the winds. This stops the upwelling near South America and means that there are little nutrients in the sea. This lack of nutrients ruins the South American fishing industry and courses them to loose lots of income and money, for example in 1982/83 El Nino the South American fishing industry lost $290 million. Also as you can sea from figure 7 there is lots of rain fall on the west coast of South America due to the low pressure, this heavy rain fall cause severe flooding and mudslides that result in loss of life, an example of this was in central Ecuador and Peru in 1997 when it suffered rainfall 10 times the average rainfall, this caused extensive flooding and erosion as well as mudslides, there was loss of life and destruction of property as the country wasn’t able to cope with the severe weather.
The Term Paper on South America 2
Maps show the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa providing the evidence that the continents may have being joined together, then broken apart and moved to their present locations. In the earth, a fault is a line of fracture in the rocks where the two sides move by each other. The movement can be up, down or sideways, and it is caused by pressure and tension in the rock. When ...
On the other side of the pacific in Australia and Indonesia the cold weather reduces evaporation, which causes very little rain and therefore drought, for example in the 1982/83 El Nino eastern Australia suffered one of it’s worst drought ever, resulting in a $2000 million loss in agriculture production. It causes crop failure and famine and many people died as a result. The dry spell also causes bush fires and dust storms, and in very severe cases can induce desertification. Other areas of the world that were affected from El Nino are East Asia (china), Mexico and California were there a lot more storms. Southern Africa are dramatically effected by El Nino as it causes that area to be very warm and dry resulting in long sustained drought, for example in 1991/92 El Nino brought about south Africa’s worst drought of the 20centuary which affected nearly 100 million people. Overall El Niño is a world wide phenomenon which affects countries in different ways depending on were they are situated and whether they are a LEDC or MEDC.
(b) Explain why the human and economic costs of global hazards have increased rapidly over time.(15)
Both human and economic cost of global hazards are increasing over time due to one reason, this reason is that global hazards are more frequent in the present day. Global hazards can be split into to groups hydrometeological or geophysical. Geophysical events have occurred at constant frequency throughout the ages as they are formed by tectonic or geological processes, which can’t be affected by human factors, an example of this type of event is an Earthquake or volcano. Where as on the other hand hydrometeological hazards are increasing as they are formed by hydrological or atmospheric processes, which are affected by human factors such as global warming, an example of this type of event, is a Flood or hurricane.
The economic and human cost of global hazards is vast with trillions of dollars being lost due to hazards every year. Firstly we as humans are increasing population at an alarming rate, which means we are putting great pressure on the land which intern causes us to live in high risk areas, such as low-lying flood prone land in Bangladesh. Secondly there are also growing numbers of elderly people in areas that are prone to earthquakes, eg Japan, and to hurricane, eg Florida. These two factors that are to do with vulnerable areas and rapid population growth mean that we are increasing the cost, by living in areas that will result in human death and lots of damaged to property.
The Essay on Human Trafficking and how the Global Community can Mitigate the Practice
Human trafficking is a type of illicit trade in humans which is carried out globally for the purpose of sexual slavery or exploitation and forced labor. It is one of the most booming business and fastest growing criminal enterprise around the world. The most affected population is women and children and the global community is charged with the responsibility of responding urgently to issues ...
The economic and human cost is also increasing as the places that are more at risk of hazard are poorer, meaning they can not cope with it and very often have no pre warning of the an event occurring. Earthquakes that strike in LEDC’S usually have a much higher death toll then those that occur in MEDC, this is so as they can’t afford to prepare for emergencies, for example Bangladesh relies on foreign aid, and poorer country don’t have very good communication technology and they don’t have earthquake-proof buildings. Also some poorer countries have corrupt governments, meaning they may misuse resources or prevent aid reaching their people; these human factors increase the cost of hazard.
It is increasing also due to deforestation and land degradation. Deforestation to provide farm land and source of energy means that the soil is not held together and will not absorb water. This can lead to soil erosion or in the case of heavy rain fall a mudslide and increase the chance of flooding. Also if trees are chopped down in traditionally dry places that are prone to drought it will cause desertification, which ruins the land for agriculture meaning they are losing a huge industry.
Overall the economic and human cost is increasing due to the increased frequency in the occurrence of global hazards, but humans are not helping as they make themselves more vulnerable by having rapid population growth in vulnerable areas, countries having corrupt government and degradation of land, these 3 things causes loss in life and in money due to hazards destroying both sources of income, eg agriculture and property.
