Introduction to Natural Disasters

Dr. Mark A. McGinleyProfessor, Head of Science Unit

Core Curriculum and General Education OfficeLingnan University

What is a Natural Disaster?• Let’s come up with a list of examples

What is a Natural Distaster?• Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either

by rapid or slow onset events which can be geophysical (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic activity), hydrological (avalanches and floods), climatological (extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires), meteorological (cyclones and storms/wave surges) or biological (disease epidemics and insect/animal plagues).

https://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/about-disasters/definition-of-hazard/

Why Teach a Course About Natural Disaster? They are Cool!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW2qCK0I6cw - Watch

Why Take a Course About Natural Disasters? Allows you to learn about a number of important areas of science

• Geophysical• Geology

• Hydrological• Hydrology

• Climatological• Atmosphere and climate science

• Biological• Ecology

Why Take a Course About Natural Disasters?• Natural disasters affect both natural and human systems

Economic Damage• Between 1970 and 2013, over $2.8 trillion in economic losses were

reported globally from natural disasters• Asia and the Pacific alone reporting $1.15 trillion of that total• This region now accounts for almost half of the world’s losses from natural disasters• For comparison, the GDP of Hong Kong was 290.90 billion US dollars in 2014

• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-27/counting-the-economic-cost-of-natural-disasters

Recent DisastersThe U.S. Geological Survey initially estimated economic losses from the recent earthquakes in Nepal (April 2015) as 9 percent to 50 percent of its gross domestic product, with a best guess of 35 percent

Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean, just had a hurricane (late August, 2015). “Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a televised address late Friday that the island has been set back 20 years in the damage inflicted by the storm, which dumped some 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain on the mountainous island”.http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/puerto-rico-braces-ts-erika-dead-dominica-33372829

Loss of Life• An average of 73,000 fatalities

occurred each year between 1980 and 2010.

http://www.worldwatch.org/losses-natural-disasters-reach-new-peak-2011

Ecological Damage

Forest Fire Hurricane

Ecological Damage

Volcano Tsunami

Do We Need to be Worried About Natural Disasters in Hong Kong?• How worried are you?

• What types of natural disasters have, and potentially can, strike Hong Kong?

Hong Kong• Hong Kong has the highest natural disasters risk in Asia

• “Hong Kong, 26 May 2015 – Hong Kong tops Asia’s ranks as the city with the highest natural disasters risk, according to the recently released inaugural Sustainable Cities Index from ARCADIS, the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm. “

• “Hong Kong’s natural disasters risk is mainly caused by storms, floods and wildfires”

http://www.arcadis.com/press/Hong_Kong_has_the_highest_natural_disasters_risk_in_Asia.aspx

Disaster Risk- Asian and Global Rankings

Overall Asia ranking City Overall Global ranking

1 Hong Kong 3

2 Wuhan 4

3 Tokyo 9

4 Manila 10

5 Beijing 11

6 New Delhi 15

7 Jakarta 16

8 Mumbai 24

9 Shanghai 26

10 Kuala Lumpur 27

11 Seoul 29

12 Singapore 50

Hong Kong is ranked #3 Globally…. What two cities do you think are ranked #1 and #2?

Natural Disasters- Hong KongFor lots of good info about the costs of natural disasters in Hong Kong check out this link• http://www.preventionweb.net/

countries/hkg/data/

We, and the government, need to be aware of the risk and plan accordingly.

• CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR NATURAL DISASTERS (INCLUDING THOSE ARISING FROM SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS)

• Emergency Support Unit, Security Bureau

• http://www.sb.gov.hk/eng/emergency/ndisaster/cpnd-e092007.pdfhttp://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2010/01/24/new-remarkable-

animation-video-of-the-po-shan-road-landslide-in-hong-kong/