Risk Assessments & Hazard Mapping
Long Term Planning
- Occurs after the hazard event
- Looks back at the event and evaluate what could be done to reduce the impact of any future hazard events:
- Was emergency aid distributed effectively
- Are there areas which are at particular risk should they be protected more or buildings moved
- Could warning systems be improved
- Are people educated about the risks and do they know what to do during the event to protect themselves?
- Can building codes and planning be improved to reduce the number of buildings which collapse
- Risk assessment and hazard mapping are both part of the long-term planning process
Risk Assessment
- Risk is the probability that a hazard event will have harmful consequences
- The more vulnerable a population is the greater the risk that a hazard event will cause deaths, injuries, damage to buildings and impact the economy
- The number of deaths from earthquakes has increasedÂ
- Increasing populations and urban areas means that more people are living in areas at risk
Hazard Mapping and GIS
- Maps the areas where earthquakes are most likely to occur
- Enables planning of where important services and infrastructure should be located - land use zoning
- Identifies correlation between risk and vulnerability
Exam Tip
In the exam you may be asked to look at GIS or hazard maps. The key things to identify are
- Which areas are most at risk?
- How can they help organisations and government plan?
- Identify the main roads into areas for emergency aid
- To inform land use zoning so hospitals etc... are not built in vulnerable areas
- To coordinate all the agencies involved when there is a hazard event
- To identify if there a link between vulnerability and risk