Deck 1: Introduction to Natural Hazards

Question 1

Determining the "acceptable risk" level is complicated because

A) we do not know the consequences of a particular hazard.
B) we cannot predict when an event will occur.
C) we do not know how many hazards are linked to one another.
D) different people have different attitudes about what is acceptable and what is not.
E) risk is never acceptable.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following natural hazards cause(s)the greatest number of deaths per year in North America?

A) tornadoes and windstorms
B) lightning
C) car crashes
D) earthquakes
E) expansive soil

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What drives the hydrologic cycle?

A) evaporation
B) energy from the Sun
C) geothermal energy
D) precipitation
E) gravity

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following reservoirs contains the largest volume of water on Earth?

A) oceans
B) ice caps and glaciers
C) rivers and streams
D) freshwater lakes
E) groundwater

Question 5

Which of the following socio-economic factors in a given area tends to lead to greater loss of life and property damage in the event of a disaster?

A) aging population
B) increase in population density
C) urbanization
D) diversification of infrastructure
E) increase in population density and increased urbanization

Question 6

Which of the following natural hazards gets its energy primarily from forces external to planet Earth?

A) hurricane
B) earthquake
C) landslide
D) tsunami
E) volcano

Question 7

How many earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above does the Earth experience each year?

A) 1
B) 150
C) 17
D) 300
E) less than 1

Question 8

Which of the following hazards might increase due to global warming?

A) earthquake frequency
B) volcanic eruption frequency
C) hurricane frequency
D) tsunami frequency
E) earthquake intensity

Question 9

Which of the following is a natural service function?

A) earthquake toppling condemned buildings
B) volcanic eruption creating new land
C) flood eroding fertile land
D) storm surge flooding coastal fields with salt water
E) seawalls protecting beach houses

Question 10

A hypothesis is

A) an opinion.
B) a possible explanation that can be tested.
C) a set of observations that need explanation.
D) an experiment to test an idea.
E) an idea that has been rejected.

Question 11

What is the approximate residence time of water in the atmosphere?

A) minutes
B) days
C) weeks
D) months
E) years

Question 12

Which of the following "spheres" is the biogeochemical cycle NOT directly connected to?

A) the hydrosphere
B) the atmosphere
C) the asthenosphere
D) the lithosphere
E) the biosphere

Question 13

In the past 100 years,human population growth has been exponential.What is predicted for the next 100 years?

A) continued exponential growth
B) accelerated exponential growth
C) linear growth
D) slowing population growth
E) population crash

Question 14

Which of the following is an indirect effect of a natural disaster?

A) human fatalities
B) crop failure
C) injuries
D) property damage
E) flooding

Question 15

Why were so many people killed by the 2010 Haitian earthquake?

A) Haiti has never had any previous earthquakes.
B) The earthquake hit the most densely populated area of Haiti and buildings were not constructed to withstand earthquakes.
C) Most of the fatalities were due to a tsunami.
D) Most people died because of landslides.
E) Most people died in flooding that followed the earthquake.

Question 16

Which of the following is the most difficult to forecast?

A) when a certain river will reach peak flood stage
B) when a tsunami will arrive, if the source of the tsunami is known
C) when an earthquake will occur
D) the damage an earthquake of a particular size is likely to do
E) where a hurricane will strike land

Question 17

Which of the following reservoirs in the hydrologic cycle has the longest residence time of hundreds of thousands of years?

A) oceans
B) lakes
C) ice caps
D) the atmosphere
E) aquifers

Question 18

Which of the following hazards is most likely to occur with little or no warning?

A) volcanic eruption
B) flood
C) hurricane
D) tsunami
E) landslide

Question 19

Which of the following processes is NOT part of the rock cycle?

A) erosion
B) weathering
C) lithification
D) faulting
E) melting

Question 20

In order to quantify risk associated with a particular hazard we need to know

A) where and when it will occur.
B) the probability of it occurring and the possible consequences of the event.
C) the size of the population in the hazard location.
D) what other events could occur with it.
E) the kind of precursor events that may happen before it.

Question 21

Which of the following geological materials are least prone to landslides?

A) unconsolidated volcanic debris
B) massive granite
C) fractured and jointed rocks
D) sloping beds of shale
E) unconsolidated glacial sediments and soils

Question 22

Which of the following is an indirect effect of disaster?

A) property destruction
B) injury
C) loss of employment
D) displacement of people
E) death

Question 23

The recurrence interval of a hazardous event,also known as the return period is

A) the average time separating two hazardous events of the same magnitude.
B) the probability of a hazardous event repeating itself in the next 50 years.
C) the maximum time separating two hazardous events.
D) the average time of recovery following a hazardous event.

Question 24

Which natural hazard is the largest killer of people,worldwide?

A) volcanic eruptions
B) earthquakes
C) flooding
D) windstorms
E) heatwaves

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT a proactive response to a natural hazard?

A) land use planning
B) reconstruction
C) insurance
D) evacuation
E) artificial controls

Question 26

Which Canadian city is at greatest risk for an earthquake and tsunami?

A) Vancouver
B) Montreal
C) Toronto
D) Calgary
E) Halifax

Question 27

Rocks can be classified into three general types or families according to how they formed; these are 1)igneous,2)sedimentary,and

A) magmatic.
B) eroded.
C) granitic.
D) volcanic.
E) metamorphic.

Question 28

During burial,a sediment is converted to a sedimentary rock by a process called

A) fractionation.
B) melting.
C) lithification.
D) metamorphism.
E) cementation.

Question 29

In Canada,the number of deaths from natural disasters per year is decreasing,but property damage is increasing.

Question 30

Hazard is the probability that a specific damaging event

A) will happen within a particular period of time.
B) will cause significant financial damage.
C) will lead to loss of employment
D) will happen in a particular region.
E) will lead to significant casualties.

Question 31

Which of the following natural disasters is estimated to be the most expensive in world history?

A) 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami
B) 2012 superstorm Sandy
C) 2010 earthquake in Haiti
D) 2005 hurricane Katrina

Question 32

Which of the following reservoirs is NOT involved in the biogeochemical cycling and transfer of elements?

A) atmosphere
B) asthenosphere
C) lithosphere
D) biosphere
E) hydrosphere

Question 33

Death and destruction from natural hazards is increasing because

A) events are getting larger and more frequent.
B) events are getting harder to predict.
C) human populations are growing.
D) human populations are growing and human communities are spreading into more hazardous areas.
E) events are become less frequent and are harder to predict.

Question 34

Natural disasters in developing countries tend to cause more fatalities than similar natural disasters in developed countries.

Question 35

Four of the worst natural disasters in recent years: hurricane Mitch in 1998,flooding along the Yangtze River (China)in 1998,the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,and hurricane Katrina in 2005 were exacerbated by

A) poor forecasting.
B) increasing population.
C) poverty.
D) poor land use practices.
E) global warming.

Question 36

Which of the following hazardous natural processes are NOT high risk on the west coast of North America?

A) earthquakes
B) volcanic eruptions
C) tornadoes
D) landslides
E) tsunamis

Question 37

A lightning bolt expends more energy than a tornado.

Question 38

A sandy beach is an example of a sedimentary rock.

Question 39

Risk is a function of four factors: hazard,vulnerability,coping capacity,and

A) poverty
B) history
C) population density
D) location
E) exposure

Question 40

If a massive rockslide occurred in northern British Columbia and completely covered the floor of a mountain valley with rubble,the event would be called a natural disaster.

Question 41

If a severe flood occurs on average once every 20 years,it is still possible for two severe floods to occur within the same year.

Question 42

Wildfires in unpopulated regions can help maintain the overall health of forests and wildlife.

Question 43

Only the most recent history of natural hazards are considered in evaluating the risk of an event.

Question 44

Some flood-control measures intensify the effects of flooding.

Question 45

To reduce risk,avoiding building human infrastructure in hazard-prone areas is usually more cost-effective than is artificial technological control of hazards.

Question 46

Natural disasters are independent of their environmental and social context.

Question 47

Every area of the globe is subject to at least one natural hazard.

Question 48

Mapping is an essential tool in understanding many natural hazards.

Question 49

All hazards are disasters.

Question 50

The recycling of rocks in the rock cycle is driven by the earth's internal heat and is independent of hydrologic and biogeochemical processes.

Question 51

Population growth is linear.

Question 52

Most natural disasters can be forecast from past history of similar events.

Question 53

The growth in global population is exponential and expected to double by the year 2050.

Question 54

Global warming will result in warmer oceans and may affect the magnitude of storm events.

Question 55

Most of the Earth's fresh water is present in the ice caps (Greenland and Antarctica).

Question 56

Many of the world's largest cities are concentrated in areas vulnerable to large earthquakes.

Question 57

Warnings should be issued in all cases of possible disaster,no matter how likely.

Question 58

The effects of the 1998 ice storm in southern Quebec and Ontario were amplified by the loss of electricity to millions.

Question 59

The residence time for water in ice sheets is hundreds of thousands of years.

Question 60

Acceptable risk is based on the consensus of a community of people living with the threat of a particular hazard.

Question 61

The hydrologic cycle is driven by solar energy and the earth's internal heat.

Question 62

Give three examples of hazardous natural processes that can trigger other,related hazards.

Question 63

How are precursor events helpful in hazard mitigation?

Question 64

About which aspects of hazard forecasting can we feel most confident?

Question 65

What are the three sources of energy for natural hazards and give an example of one of each.

Question 66

What hazardous processes are driven by gravity?

Question 67

What are the four sub-cycles that constitute the geologic cycle.

Question 68

List two natural hazards that can be influenced by human activities.

Question 69

List two natural hazards over which human activities have no influence.

Question 70

How can studying recent geologic deposits help with risk assessment for natural hazards?

Question 71

List the three stages of recovery following a disaster.

Question 72

Risk is a function of what four factors?

Question 73

How is the frequency of a natural hazard related to its magnitude?

Question 74

What is meant by exponential growth (of population)?

Question 75

Explain the concept of residence time,within the context of the hydrologic cycle.

Question 76

How are igneous rocks formed?

Question 77

The frequency of natural disasters is increasing.

Question 78

Explain how the boundary between natural hazards and man-made ones has become blurred.

Question 79

What is the relationship between damage and/or loss of life to socioeconomic status?

Question 80

The size and frequency of many physical processes are inversely related.