Impacts DBQNatural Hazards don't have to be Natural Disasters. Its up to us, if we let them. The

Pacific 'Ring of Fire is region surrounding the Pacific Tectonic plate. There are many plateboundaries at all sides of this plate, making all the countries nearby disaster prone. Mostof these disasters are earthquakes. Additionally, these earthquakes often trigger volcaniceruptions that are also on the Ring of Fire. Developing Countries are affected greatly dueto this. Similarly in the Indian Ocean, there are earthquakes that are devastating. Theseearthquakes aren't as common and numerous as the 'Ring of Fire.' The 2004 IndianOcean earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, which is considered a 'Great'earthquake. It's epicentre was of the west coast of Northern Sumatra. This earthquake hadalso triggered a tsunami that was the most devastating in the Indian Ocean's history.Areas as far as Madagascar were affected. There were many Social and Economicimpacts due to this Earthquake and Tsunami. The Geographic location of a countryinfluences its potential for natural disasters. Regions located on the Ring of Fire have ahistory of numerous Natural Hazards. Movement in the tectonic plates in 2004 off the westcoast of Sumatra resulted in an earthquake & tsunami that impacted the surroundingregions. Such dangers are also valid in the Ring of Fire, exposing the regions nearby atrisk.

The countries located on the Ring of Fire are disaster prone. One example of such aVolcano is Krakatoa; it last erupted in 2012 and is still active. Krakatoa is also known asKrakatau Volcano. This Volcano is situated on Krakatau Island off the Southern Coast ofSumatra. This volcano has had much affect on Indonesia. One reason that Krakatau isdevastating for Indonesia is that, Indonesia is still a developing country on the Ring ofFire. One notable eruption is the eruption of 1883, which caused the death of more than36,000 people. Similarly, Mt. Fuji in Japan, is also an active volcano. In addition,document 1 clearly shows Convergent boundaries where the Pacific plate pushing on thePhilippine Plate at a rate of 100 mm a year. This is close to Japan; which is part of theRing of Fire. Japan resides on four tectonic plates, causing it to have to face anearthquake almost everyday. Japan over the years has learnt that Disaster Preparednessis better than Disaster Mitigation. Additionally, the Ring of Fire is situated on Plateboundaries. Document 1 also shows that Indonesia would also be affected byearthquakes that occur along the Pacific Plate. As previously mentioned, Indonesia hasseveral volcanoes including Krakatoa. Which have risen due to the convergent boundary.Similarly, Philippines another developing country on the Ring of Fire has to face, not onlyearthquakes but typhoons too due to the weather patterns there. Philippines is on aConvergent boundary between the Philippine and Eurasian plate. The constant pushingand subducting leads to minor earthquakes and once in a while a strong earthquake. Anexample is the Bohol Earthquake in 2013. More than 200 were confirmed dead and abouta 1,000 were badly injured. Philippines has difficulty recovering due to its limited DisasterMitigation ability. Clearly, regions situated on/near the Ring of Fire are at risk.

The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake was caused by the slipping of plates. The Indianplate is subducting under the Burma microplate. There is a convergent boundary betweenthe Indian plate and the Burmese microplate. At the subduction zone, friction and stressbuilt up; so that the plate was bending. The energy that had built up over many years, wassuddenly released when the Burmese plate suddenly snapped back up. Also, therebound of the plate instantly displaced much water, which rose, settled and then startedtravelling across in all directions causing a tsunami. There were many aftershocks thatfollowed after the main shock. Additionally, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck in 2005,some believe this was an aftershock of the 2004 earthquake. However, many people donot,, due to the fact that this was much later on and it produced its own aftershocks. To

add on, Document 2 shows that the epicenter wasnt in Indonesia but in the sea asmentioned. This also shows that there is a Burmese plate, even though it isnt listed inDocument 1. The subduction of the Indian plate and tension build up, caused the 2004Indian Ocean Earthquake.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami impacted regions socially and economically. Firstly,there was a strong Social impact on the affected areas. Document 4 states that a trainnamed: Samudradevi in Sri Lanka was swamped, which caused the death ofapproximately 1,700 travellers. This incident was reported as the worst train accident inhistory. The article also says that many citizens lost their livelihoods, which means theycouldn't support themselves. This might have caused their deaths even after the tsunami.Additionally, both documents 2 and 3 show the death toll/fatalities. Here you can see theenormous social impact the tsunami had. It killed about 228,000 people, thats about theamount of people there were in Plymouth, England at that time. A few tribes werecompletely wiped out from India. Also, document 5 further states that lives have been lostdue to other disasters before this. Subsequently, the region was also affectedeconomically. Some countries in the region were heavily affected economically. It washard for many countries to recover as they had lost a lot of money. The Stock market felldue to this. Document four says that Sri Lankas fisherman lost their livelihoods, meaningthey lost their jobs and everything they had. Since fishing could no longer bring in money,the stock market fell. Document 6 has a good point. The last section: Support tolivelihoods has projects that decrease the chance of the stock market crashing due tonatural disasters. The region was affected economically and socially, due to the 2004Indian Ocean tsunami.

Clearly, a countrys potential for Natural Disasters is influenced by its geographiclocation. Disaster Management is important, because if you had a prospering economyand a great country, but poor disaster management; and disaster struck, everything wouldbe ruined. It would take you a long time, years to recover. Whereas, if you had greatDisaster Management abilities, then you could prevent disaster and recover easily.Disaster Preparedness is also an important factor. Being prepared for disasters can savemuch money, time and lives. Disaster preparedness pays for itself, as disasterpreparedness costs less than disaster mitigation. Its up to you to decide.