Mitch vs Floyd

Key Ideas - Impacts ( social, economic and environmental ) vary between HICs and LICs when hurricanes hit  - LICs are more vulnerable, so impacts tend to be magnified  - HICs have better response, prediction and infrastructure, so impacts tend to be less

Hurricane Mitch - Most destructive storm for 200 years ! - Developed in Caribbean Sea in Oct 1998  - Winds gusted over 200mph - Cat 5 storm - Hit LICs such as Honduras  - Rainfall totals of 25 inches in Honduras in 36 hours - Very slow moving storm - caused maximum damage.

Impacts of Mitch - 20,000 in total died and over 3 million homeless - 7000 dead in Honduras, 11000 missing - $5 billion damage to region and could take decades for fragile, primary industry-based economy to recover - Major mudslides and flooding destroyed thousands of homes - 25 villages in Honduras swept away - 80 % of vital banana crop destroyed in Honduras

Response to Mitch - USA scaled back debt owed by Honduras and $80 million provided in US emergency aid. Also $100 million from Spain ams $200 million from Sweden - NGOs and charities also assisted in recovery  - New Central American Trust Fund set up for long term development and recovery - creation of jobs, repair to schools and hospitals.

Evaluate Mitch - Unable to predict landfall accurately, so no real evacuation could take place = more deaths  - Poor warning systems and planning = more deaths  - Heavily reliant on aid for recovery = can cause dependency on other countries - Little property insurance, so economic impacts severe

Hurricane Floyd - developed off east coast of USA in Sept 1999 - 145mph winds - Cat 4 storm - Tracked northwards from Caribbean towards Florida Air, also passed over Bahamas - Very wide storm - rainfall was the biggest problems

Impacts of Floyd - Flooding of 13 states and evacuation of 4 million people - 70 people killed - highest since 1972  - $6 billion in damages - 3m storm surges flooded many low lying areas  - 7000 homes lost - Roads swept away and many farm animals were killed - Electrical supplies disrupted

Response to Floyd - Huge evacuation of coastal communities to inland areas  - 10000 people into emergency shelters after flooding  - US provided $2 billion in own aid  - Re- housing took place within months - Congress, insurance companies $ private business helped with funding - much capital available for recovery

Evaluate Floyd - Community of warning TV, radio = rapid evacuation - Strong economy, good transport and infrastructure, money put into planning = less human impact  - High economic losses due to loss of expensive assets  - Lower vulnerability of HICs = quicker recovery from impacts of natural disasters

Exam Question Explain why tropical storms in LIC’s like Honduras usually do more damage than similar storms in HIC’s like the USA. Give examples to support your answer.

Answer LIC’S such as Honduras are less prepared to disasters compared to the USA who invest in preparing the population in order to reduce the impacts of a hazard. The USA has good planning, thorough preparation and an efficient disaster plan can help limit the worst effects of a tropical storm but these need resources and large sums of money to implement, which the USA is fortunate to have compared to Honduras that has higher levels of poverty. In Honduras, people cannot afford to leave the danger zone to live elsewhere and the government is unable to fund adequate disaster plans. Without help from HIC’s in the form of aid and support, there is little hope of reducing the impact of such storms in the future.