Review and Analyzing Natural Hazards

Floods:

Environmental Effects:

Although many people think of floods as all negative but there are a few positive impacts floods have on the environment.

A positive is that the water from the floods can spread silt and sediment that contains rich minerals and nutrients which have been washed down. This improves the fertility of the land.

But there are mostly negative impacts like:

• Loss of habitat for both plant and animal life, which causes a reducation of biodiversity in the area, and may cause some species to become endangered.
• Severe erosion and destabilisation of the soil and hillsides.
• As rivers flood, they carry huge amounts of rubbish, debris and other forms of pollution down to the river mouth, where they empty out into the sea. This can be devastating for the marine life there.

Economic Effects:

There are many reasons as to why floods cause economic effects in a nation, however there 5 major ones are these are:

• Can destroy large amounts of crop i.e a banana crop making banana prices soar
• Temporary decline in Tourism - hotels, attractions could be destroyed 
• Rebuilding costs - rebuilding major infrastructure i.e trains, railways, docks, homes and business
• Federal & State budgets - emergency payments for flood victims and money devote to the regrowth of the town or city
• GDP growth falling - if a nation like Australia depends on mining, if for a month or two mining ceased in one of the major areas it would effect our economy greatly. 

Social Effects:

Loss of lives and property: Immediate impacts of flooding include loss of human life, damage to property, destruction of crops, loss of livestock, non-functioning of infrastructure facilities and deterioration of health condition owing to waterborne diseases..

 Loss of livelihoods: People loose communication links and infrastructure. Some of these things are as power plants, roads and bridges are damaged and disrupted. Life changes for the normal person, everything is gone.

Decreased purchasing and production power: Damage to infrastructure. This also causes long-term impacts, such as disruptions to clean water and electricity, transport, communication.

Mass migration: Frequent flooding, resulting in loss of livelihoods, production and other prolonged economic impacts and types of suffering can trigger mass migration or population displacement.

Psychosocial effects: The huge psychological effects on flood victims and their families can traumatize them for long periods of time. The loss of loved ones can generate deep impacts, especially on children.

Ways local councils, state governments, emergency services and insurance companies find GIS mapping useful

Local Councils

Local Councils benefit from GIS mapping of natural hazard areas as it allows them to plan and warn residents of the area what to do when a natural hazard occurs. There are 5 main reasons why Local Councils benefit from GIS mapping these are:

• Allow the council to set aside water supply's devoted to natural hazards- in case of bush fires or lack of water there is an emergency supply
• Councils can order large amounts of trees to be cleared to reduce the risk of a serious bush fire from occurring
• Councils can inform a builder or architect of an area which is at risk from natural hazards

State Governments

 the information in 2.3 would help state governments in making tactical decision about to deal with situation in their state. An example of this would be, the NSW government would be able to pick areas of the state which would be effect. In this case Bush fires are the most prominat near area of Southern NSW. They can also make tactical decision. Where to put fire bans and also danger signs so people in the area could be better prepare if a major disaster broke out. They can also protect local wild life from fires and give people warning when Natural Hazards are coming

Emergency Services

There are many reasons as to why emergency services would benefit from GIS mapping of natural hazard areas. This mapping would enable the emergency services to pre-pare and plan for natural hazaerds so loss of life is minimal. There are 5 main ways which emergency services use GIS mapping to help them, they are:

• Easily calculate emergency response times 
• Be able to assess hot spots where emergency vehicles and teams must be on standby 
• Warn people of danger due to a  natural hazard area
• Map out dangerous areas were unexpected dangers lurk - flash flooding, earthquakes, bush fires etc
• Be able to set up a emergency rescue team ready to move out home owners and people who are in danger from the natural hazards.

Insurance Companies


There are many reasons as to why insurance companies would benefit from GIS mapping of natural hazard areas. This mapping would enable insurnace companies to:

•  prepare and set up plans for people living in most effected areas 
• can help a lot of people for certain hazards. 
• They could also warn consumers about the certain natural hazards that could effect there area.
• Set out areas were insurance isn't available due to the high risk of a flood occurring