Year 11 Geography Ecological Hazards

What is a hazard?

• A potential danger or risk caused by natural or human causes and has the potential to cause loss of life, injury, property, socio-economic disruption.

• A catastrophic event that causes serious loss of life or disruption to a community.

• Natural factors that cause loss of human life.

• Cultural factors causing a large disruption to the economic and social functioning of an area.

An ecological hazard is best defined as

• Hazards which are driven by biological processes such as infectious diseases or animal invasions.

• a biological or chemical hazard that has the potential to impact adversely on the well-being of people or the environment.

• the loss of an ecosystem brought about by the domination of one animal.

• the destruction of an ecosystem caused by pollution.

The number of times an area experiences the hazard is known as the hazard

• frequency

• magnitude

• duration

• probaility

If a country tries to mitigate the impact of a hazard it

• develops strategies and plans to reduce the severity of the hazard.

• reduces the economic impact of the hazard.

• develops strategies to protect natural vegetation from the hazard.

• reduces the social impact of a hazard.

Another expression for the scale of the spatial impact of the hazard is

• probability

• proximity

• eccentric

• extent

What does risk mean?

• How strong the hazard is.

• A person performing a dangerous act.

• the probability of a hazard causing harmful consequences on people.

• how exposed people are to the hazard.

What factors affect the level of vulnerability?

• Level of affluence ( wealth) of population

• Education concerning hazard.

• Human actions that increase hazard eg. deforestation, building on slopes.

• Emergency infrastructure and warning systems

• All of the above .

Which of the following causes diseases?

• Pathogens

• Poor Environment

• Genetics

• All of the above

This term is used when many people in a local area get sick at the same time.

• Epidemic

• Pandemic

• Diseases

• Pathogens

Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area - an entire country, continent, or whole world. It affects a very high proportion of the population.

• Pandemic

• symptom

• epidemic

• quarantine