Tectonic Hazard Case Studies

Why Compare HIC and LIC Tectonic Events?

The same type of tectonic hazard — a powerful earthquake or volcanic eruption — can have very different consequences depending on where it occurs. The key variable is not just magnitude but the level of development of the affected country: its wealth, infrastructure, governance and preparation.

Case Study 1 (HIC): Christchurch Earthquake, New Zealand, 2011

Background

New Zealand lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at a destructive plate boundary between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate. A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch on 22 February 2011 at 12:51 pm local time — during the lunch hour, maximising casualties.

Causes

• Shallow depth: just 5 km — shallow earthquakes cause more intense ground shaking
• Liquefaction: earthquake vibrations caused water-saturated soils under Christchurch to behave like liquid → buildings sank and tilted
• Aftershock of a larger (7.1) September 2010 earthquake — had already weakened buildings

Effects

• Deaths: 185 people killed (including 115 in the CTV building collapse)
• Injuries: thousands
• Building damage: much of Christchurch's CBD destroyed; the Cathedral spire collapsed; ~10,000 homes made uninhabitable
• Economic: estimated NZ$40 billion ($30 billion USD) in damage — largest natural disaster in NZ history
• Liquefaction: vast areas of eastern suburbs rendered uninhabitable; thousands of homes demolished

Responses

• Immediate: NZ Search and Rescue (USAR teams) deployed within hours; international teams from Australia, Japan, UK, USA responded within days
• Medium-term: NZ Government announced residential red zones (land condemned as uninhabitable) — bought out ~8,000 homes
• Long-term: Christchurch rebuild ($40 billion programme, led by Earthquake Commission (EQC) and private insurance); new low-rise building code; innovative architectural re-use of shipping containers for temporary retail
• Why fewer deaths despite large earthquake: NZ has strict building codes (post-1931 Napier earthquake reforms); good governance and emergency planning; well-equipped hospitals; public earthquake awareness

Case Study 2 (LIC): 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Background

Haiti lies on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone — a transform plate boundary between the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck 25 km west of Port-au-Prince on 12 January 2010 at 4:53 pm.

Causes

• Shallow depth: 13 km — intense ground shaking
• Long history of seismic hazard — but Haiti had never experienced a major earthquake in modern times
• Very dense population of Port-au-Prince (~3 million), much of it in informal/poorly built housing

Effects — Primary

• Deaths: 220,000–316,000 people (estimates vary widely) — one of the deadliest disasters of the 21st century
• Injured: 300,000+
• Homeless: 1.5 million people displaced; tent cities established
• Buildings: 97,000 homes destroyed; 188,000 damaged; Presidential Palace collapsed; government and UN headquarters destroyed

Effects — Secondary

• Disease: cholera outbreak (2010–19) — caused by UN peacekeepers; 10,000+ deaths; over 800,000 cases
• Economic: estimated $8 billion damage — 120% of GDP; one of the most economically devastating natural disasters relative to GDP
• Governance collapse: Haitian government had limited capacity to coordinate relief; many government workers died

Responses

• Immediate: international aid mobilised within days — USA, France, Brazil, China, UN MINUSTAH deployed
• $2.4 billion pledged in emergency aid within weeks; Red Cross raised $486 million
• Criticism of response: recovery was extremely slow; tent cities persisted for years; much international money was poorly coordinated or misspent
• Long-term: as of 2023, Haiti remains in crisis; reconstruction is still incomplete 13+ years later; political instability (assassination of President Moïse in 2021) has worsened the situation

Why So Many More Deaths than Christchurch?

The Importance of Level of Development

The Haiti/Christchurch comparison illustrates the concept of vulnerability — the degree to which people and systems are susceptible to harm from a hazard. The same physical event causes far greater harm in a vulnerable population.

Reducing vulnerability — not just predicting hazards — is the most important goal of disaster risk management. This includes:

• Building stronger institutions and governance
• Enforcing building codes
• Investing in healthcare and emergency services
• Community preparedness and education
• International support for LICs to reduce their baseline vulnerability

WJEC Exam Tips

• Always name both case studies in extended answers — unnamed examples lose marks
• Compare HIC/LIC directly using a table structure in your exam answer
• The key evaluative theme is: why did the same hazard cause so much more death and damage in the LIC? → develop the concept of vulnerability
• Know that Haiti's cholera outbreak was a secondary effect (caused by contaminated water, made worse by poor sanitation) — a WJEC AO2/AO3 favourite