CCHU9004

Catastrophes, Cultures & the Angry Earth

Coordinator: Professor J. Charles Schencking Email: schencking@hku.hk

Change the Way You See a Natural Disaster

Learn How We Can Respond to Future Calamities

Gain Knowledge and Skills to Rebuild Our World

Semester 2, 2014

Why Study Disasters?

Natural Disaster: Working Definition

Part 1 of your first assignment due next week

Tohoku Disaster of 2011

The Cascadia Earthquake of 1700

The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004

Hurricane Katrina 2005

Seismic Risk, Preparedness, & Corruption

M 8.8; 900 M 7.0; 125,000+

Old & New Lisbon, 1755

The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923

How and why do we construct a disaster?

How do we commemorate disasters?

How do we remember disasters?

Why do governments sometimes not want us to remember or commemorate a

disaster?

Not Just a Series of Disaster Studies, but also . . .

Disasters: Revealers Disasters: Helping us understand what it is to be human Disasters: Events of trauma, reflection, opportunity and contestation We will become students of society, past and present

To Understand Disasters and Human Responses to them we will use many types of material

evidence Visual sources (drawings, photos, maps, etc.) Written sources (survivor accounts, newspapers, government documents, song lyrics etc.) They will help us understand how people have understood, comprehended, interpreted, constructed, and attempted to use disasters

Premier Li, Sichuan, 20 April 2013

President Hu, 29 December 2009

Chairman Hua, Tangshan 1976-77

How, where, and what we rebuild after calamity also tells us a lot about society What does it tell us . . .

Sri Lanka after the 2004 Tsunami

Natural Disaster: Working Definition

A . . . (assignment for next week)

Hazard: Working Definition

The latent danger or an external risk factor of a community, state, society or exposed individuals.

Examples include: Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, etc. . .

Deforestation & Vulnerability in Haiti

60% of Haiti Forested in 1923

1.7% of Haiti Forested in 2006

Vulnerability

Vulnerability is the characteristics of a person, community, society and their situation(s) that influence their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard.

Vulnerabilities can be influenced by physical, political, economic, social, environmental, & educational factors

Politics, Economics & Vulnerability in Haiti

80% of Population Below Poverty Line Unemployment Rate: 52%

Literacy Rate: 52.9%

6% of Population has HIV/AIDS

38% of Nations Budget is from Foreign Aid

Risk

A Unit of Measure

Risk is often measured by examining the vulnerabilities of a society along with the possible hazards it is exposed to at any one time

LE Event 65 Million Year Ago

Hurricanes (Typhoons)

Mega-Thrust Earthquakes Columbia, 1906: M~8.8

Chilean, 1960: M~9.5

Indian Ocean, 2004: M~9.2

Japan, 2011: M~9.1

Cascadia?

Nankai?

Satsop Nuclear Power Plant

Emphasis on Skills Acquisition

Critical Thinking

Creative Thinking

Problem Solving & Research

Confident Articulation of Ideas & Opinions