Natural Hazards - Avoiding Disaster!

Almost all geography syllabi pose questions on natural hazards. Not surprisingly as many of us find natural forces such as earthquakes and volcanoes fascinating. With so many students opting to answer hazard questions, how can you make sure your answer stands out from the crowd?

A. COVER YOUR YOUR CASE STUDIES A tip I pass on to my students is the `Big 7` - 7 key themes which help you to cover all the potential angles a question may come from.

1) HAZARD TYPE/CAUSE - METEOROLOGICAL OR GEOPHYSICAL? 2) MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY? 3) LEDC v MEDC? 3) RURAL V URBAN? COASTAL V INLAND? 4) IMPACTS - SEE - SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL (+/-)? 5) SHORT TERM V LONG TERM IMPACTS? 7) PPRR - PREDICTION, PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, RECOVERY

Think about how you might apply these themes to your case study examples.

B. CHOOSE EXAMPLES WISELY

No doubt you will have studied a range of hazards, but be mindful about which hazards you select to answer questions. Some case studeies are extremely versatile, whereas others will limit your response. When did your hazard occur? Many exam boards credit up-to-datedness, too many students use out of date examples. Also consider scale. Comparing Boscastle floods with Hurricane Katrina, or the Dudley Tremor with the Indonesian Ocean Tsunami will inevitably be limited due to the magnitude of events involved.

c.AVOID PITFALLS!

It is perhaps not surprising in the pressure of the exam that students misread questions - please do not let this happen to you!

Common pitfalls to avoid:

1) Writing about earthquakes when a volcanic event is specified (or vice versa) 2) Only writing about tectonic hazards in an open-ended question - aim for a range (ie volcanic, seismic and meteorological). 3) Writing about an LEDC event when an MEDC event is specified (or vice versa) 4) Writing a summary of everything you can remember about an event rather than focussing on the question. Some questions just require CAUSE, others IMPACTS, others RESPONSES and so on - you are wasting time and marks if you diverge from these aspects. 5) Impacts can be POSITIVE too. Also there are LONG TERM impacts as well as those in the immediate aftermath to consider.

Hopefully this guide can help you to avoid disaster and succeed in your exam. Good luck!