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This article compares the impact and response to earthquakes in Armenia (1988) and San Francisco (1989), highlighting the factors that made people more vulnerable or less vulnerable in each case. It explores the importance of building safety, access to medical aid, education, and financial resources in determining the ability to cope with and recover from earthquakes.
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Earthquakes • Armenia (1988) - San Francisco (1989)
Armenia • Armenian earthquake in 1988 • Measured 6.9 on the Richter scale • 25 000 people killed • 300 000 people injured
San Francisco • San Francisco earthquake in 1989 • Measured 6.9 on the Richter scale • 63 people killed • 3500 people injured
Why were people vulnerable in Armenia • Armenia was more vulnerable because less money was available to spend on protecting people from poorly constructed collapsing buildings, which was the biggest cause of deaths in the Armenian earthquake.
Why were people less vulnerable in San Francisco • People were less vulnerable in San Francisco due to the extensive amount of money spent in constructing safe buildings, in order for them not to collapse, injure and possibly kill many of the occupants.
How did the Armenian people cope? • Poorly constructed buildings collapsed and killed many people which was the biggest cause of deaths as they were probably built on unsuitable ground and constructed poorly from materials such as wood, mud, bricks and thin pieces of metal. • Medical aid took a long time to arrive and there was not enough, because the news of an earthquake took a long amount of time to get out to medical centres in other countries to send help, and even when they were informed of the earthquake it would take a long time to pack all the necessary items and send the helicopters, aeroplanes and cars etc. Because it took a long time for the aid to arrive, people were more prone to getting diseases and less likely for them to survive, hence the large amount of deaths. • Many people left homeless due to the enormous number of collapsed buildings. • People were uneducated and did not know what to do when the earthquake hit, so many people put themselves in more danger as they did not know how to act thus putting them in a vulnerable place. • Not enough money to rebuild homes, hospitals, roads, etc.
How did the people of San Francisco cope? • Majority of buildings did not collapse because they were constructed to withstand earthquakes, which saved many lives because they were constructed with the proper precautions for an earthquake. • Quick arrival of Medical aid, thanks to this many people with cuts and other injuries were attended to quickly which saved their lives as it was acted upon quickly. • People were educated and knew what to do when the earthquake hit. Due to this, people put themselves in the least dangerous place, taking with them the necessary items to survive for a considerable amount of time. • Shelter centres were put into action helping many people. These were put into use to help many other people who had no emergency generators, special bags with rationed food etc. • People were regularly updated about other hazards from the news. This helped inform people about areas which were dangerous and thus these people knew (with a bit of common sense) to not go anywhere near those place, as by doing so they would put themselves in a vulnerable position.
How far does this illustrate the disaster risk equation? • The information in the previous slides prove the disaster risk equation to a large extent. The equation is as follows, • D= Hazard (H) x Vulnerability (V) Capacity (C) As we see, the larger the hazard, the higher the vulnerability and the less availability of suitable land causes the disaster risk to increase. Hence that in the Armenian earthquake many of these factors were true and thus caused the disaster risk to increase which proves the equation.
