The big idea: After a geophysical hazard (earthquake, eruption, landslide), management moves through a disaster cycle: response (the emergency phase - rescue, aid, shelter), then recovery (rebuilding and restoring normal life), and finally building resilience so the next event does less harm.
Resilience is the ability of people and places to absorb a hazard, recover, and adapt so future events cause less damage. Strong resilience lowers vulnerability - the susceptibility of a community to loss when a hazard strikes.
Key terms for this micro
- Response - the immediate emergency actions after an event (search and rescue, medical aid, emergency shelter).
- Recovery - the longer process of rebuilding homes, services and the economy and restoring normal life.
- Resilience - the capacity of a community to withstand a hazard, bounce back, and adapt for the future.
- Vulnerability - how exposed and susceptible people are to harm; resilience reduces it.
- Pre-event management - actions taken BEFORE a hazard (prediction, preparation, building codes) - see 10.4.1.
- Post-event management - actions taken AFTER a hazard (rescue, aid, reconstruction, retrofitting).
- Adaptation - adjusting land use, buildings or behaviour to live more safely with a known hazard.
Response vs recovery vs resilience: Response = the first hours and days (rescue, aid).
Recovery = the months and years of rebuilding.
Resilience = the long-term capacity that means the NEXT event causes less harm. Each strategy you name should be tied to one of these phases.
How this is tested: Paper 1 Option D tests post-event management with short Explain questions - for example, Explain how one strategy used after an earthquake lowers human vulnerability [3], or Explain how two communications technologies support post-event management [6]. You name a valid strategy then develop how it reduces harm, ideally with an example.
| Strategy | How it reduces vulnerability | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Search and rescue (SAR) | Coordinated teams free trapped survivors fast, before injuries become fatal | Haiti 2010 - international USAR teams flown in within days |
| Emergency communications | Drones, satellite imagery and social media map damage and coordinate aid | Tohoku 2011 - satellite/remote sensing assessed the tsunami zone |
| Medical aid + sanitation | Field hospitals and clean water prevent disease outbreaks after the event | Haiti 2010 - cholera spread where sanitation failed (a recovery lesson) |
| Reconstruction + retrofitting | Rebuilding to higher codes makes the next event survivable | Christchurch 2011 - rebuilt with stricter seismic codes |
| Insurance + financial aid | Payouts let households and firms recover quickly without falling into poverty | Japan - high insurance coverage speeds recovery |
| Updated hazard mapping | Re-mapping the danger zone guides safer rebuilding and land-use zoning | Post-event liquefaction maps in Christchurch |
Communications technology in the response
- Drones - fly over collapsed or cut-off areas to find survivors and map damage where roads are blocked.
- Satellite / remote sensing - compares before-and-after imagery to locate the worst-hit zones and direct aid.
- Social media - lets survivors signal they are alive and lets agencies crowd-source where help is needed.
IB-style questionExplain[6 marks]
Explain, for two different communications technologies, how each one supports the management of a geophysical hazard after it has occurred.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Name the strategy AND the mechanism: A bare list (rescue, aid, rebuild) scores 1 each. To reach full marks, develop how the strategy cuts harm: search and rescue -> frees trapped survivors before injuries turn fatal -> fewer deaths. Add a named event for the top mark.
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Recovery is where resilience is built or lost. A community that rebuilds to higher standards (better codes, safer sites, insurance, education) emerges more resilient; one that simply restores what was there stays vulnerable. Personal resilience matters too - what households do can decide who survives and recovers fastest.
Haiti 2010 - low resilience, slow recovery: A magnitude-7.0 earthquake near Port-au-Prince killed around 220,000 people. Poor building quality, weak governance and limited emergency services meant high vulnerability and a slow, aid-dependent recovery; a later cholera outbreak added to the toll. It shows how poverty and weak preparation deepen a disaster.
Tohoku 2011 - strong response, costly lessons: A magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami struck north-east Japan. Strict building codes and drills limited quake deaths, but the tsunami overtopped sea walls and triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Recovery used satellite mapping, mass evacuation and rebuilding on higher ground - resilience improved by re-zoning the coast.
Eyjafjallajokull 2010 + Nevado del Ruiz 1985: Eyjafjallajokull (Iceland, 2010) erupted with few deaths but its ash cloud grounded European flights for days - resilience here meant economic contingency planning, not rescue. Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia, 1985) shows the opposite: ignored warnings let a volcanic lahar bury Armero, killing around 23,000 - a failure of preparation and response.
IB-style questionExplain[6 marks]
Suggest three things an individual or household can do to recover faster from an earthquake, and explain how each strengthens their personal resilience.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Personal vs community resilience: Watch the scale the question asks for. Personal resilience = kits, insurance, apps, family plans. Community/national resilience = building codes, hazard mapping, SAR teams, reconstruction. Match your strategies to the scale named.
Why risk rises in some places and falls in others: Hazard risk = hazard x exposure x vulnerability. Over time, risk can rise where more people move onto fragile slopes or coasts, cities grow, and climate change brings heavier rain that triggers landslides and lahars. Risk can fall where places invest in prediction, building codes, land-use zoning, slope stabilisation and education - reducing vulnerability faster than exposure grows.
| Risk RISES because... | Risk FALLS because... |
|---|---|
| Population pressure pushes settlement onto fragile slopes | Slope stabilisation, terracing and drainage cut landslide risk |
| Rapid urbanisation concentrates people and assets in danger zones | Land-use zoning keeps building off the highest-risk land |
| Climate change brings heavier rainfall + permafrost melt (more mass movement) | Better prediction and warning systems give time to evacuate |
| Deforestation and slope undercutting destabilise hillsides | Stronger building codes + retrofitting make structures survivable |
| Poverty leaves communities unable to prepare or insure | Education, drills and insurance build community resilience |
How this is tested: Future-risk data often arrives as a line graph of recorded mass-movement disasters over time, sometimes with a dashed projection. Read the axes and key first, then Describe the trend or Estimate a value before the markband part.
The section usually closes with a 10-mark essay - Examine, Evaluate or To what extent - on how risk or impacts change across places. Top band needs accurate terms, named events with data, a balanced weighing of factors raising vs lowering risk, and a justified conclusion.
Read the axes and key first. Is the trend rising or falling, and by how much?
Interactive diagram
Explore the labelled diagram, charts and maps for this topic in full study mode.
IB-style questionDescribe[2 marks]
Using the graph, describe the trend in recorded landslide disasters and estimate the projected figure for the 2020s.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
IB-style questionTo what extent[10 marks]
Discuss how far the impacts of mass-movement hazards such as landslides are likely to grow in the future in different places.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.