Geography EDEXCEL B Case Studies

PAPER 1

HAZARDOUS EARTH

DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS 64 marks

DEVELOPED country - Hurricane/Typhoon

term-15

What is it?

Details...

Category

Storm Surge height

Deaths

Cost

USA, Hurricane Katrina 2005

Category: 3

Storm surge height: 6m

Number of deaths: 1800

Economic Cost: US$100 billion

Katrina Prep

Forecasting:

• Over 20 weather satellites operate each day

• Warnings issued on TV, Radio

• National Hurricane Center in Miami issues forecasts, warnings, educate people about tropical cyclones

Storm surges and defences:

• Soft management (beach nourishment) and saltmarsh development dissipate wave energy

• Four-metre high surge in New Orleans. The city flooded, artificially built river levees collapsed during the storm surge. 80% flooded for weeks

Risk and Evacuation:

• 80% evacuated in 2005 (Hurricane Katrina)

Katrina response

• Some evacuated to Superdome, trapped with very little food or water

• FEMA unprepared for the scale of destruction

• Worst affected in the poorest regions

• The poor, elderly, homeless and prisoners were left to die

• Survivors felt betrayed by their government

• New Orleans's 400km of levees made much higher and much stronger.

• City's 78 floodwater pumping stations have been made floodproof.

Emerging country - Hurricane/Typhoon

What is it?

Details...

Philipines, Typhoon Haiyan

Category: 5

Storm surge height: 5m

Number of deaths: 7000

Economic cost: US$3 billion

Haiyan Prep

• Japan assisted tracking

• Public Storm Warning Signal (PSWS) system warned people across the country

• Evacuation took place for areas under threat of flooding or landslide

• Warning began as a Level 1 and only grew when the Typhoon reached landfall

• Government-provided shelters, many not high enough to escape 5 meter storm surge

Haiyan Response

• Seven provinces placed under "state of national calamity"

• Some areas remained isolated for days

• Burst pipes and contaminated water meant people without fresh water for weeks

• Some areas felt abandoned due to relief reaching them slower than Tacloban

• Efforts made to improve satellite and computer monitoring to improve prediction in future.

• Soft engineering schemes like creating mangrove plantations being introduced, reduces the impact of waves, provides windbreaks.

• Government worked to improve warning systems and emergency plans for next time, internet being used more to inform people.

Earthquakes: EMERGING - Haiti

What is it?

Details....

Haiti 2010 Earthquake

Place: Port-au-Prince, Haiti 2010

Magnitude: 7.0

Focus: 13km deep on a conservative plate boundary

Epicentre: 25km from Port-au-Prince (population 2.5 million)

Haiti Earthquake Impacts

Primary:

· 316 000 people died and a further 300 000 were injured.

· Many houses were poorly built and collapsed instantly. 1 million people made homeless.

· The port, communication links and major roads were damaged beyond repair. Rubble from collapsed buildings blocked road and rail links.

Secondary:

· The water supply system was destroyed - a cholera outbreak killed over 8000 people

· The port was destroyed - making it hard to get aid to the area.

· Haiti's important clothing factories were damaged. These provided over 60% of Haiti's exports. 1 in 5 jobs were lost.

By 2015 most people displaced by the earthquake had been re-housed.

Haiti Earthquake Management

Prediction:

- US Geologists said in 2008 that concluded Port-au-Prince could be hit by a 7.2 magnitude but couldn't say when.

Preparation:

- There were no building regulations in Haiti which contributed to many Buildings in Haiti being built with poor quality, cheap materials and these simply crumbled when the earthquake shook.

- 80% of education in Haiti was provided in often poor-quality private schools, the state system generally provided better education but provided far too few places

- Half of people in Port-au-Prince had no access to latrines and only one-third has access to tap water

Earthquakes: DEVELOPED - Japan

What is it?

Details....

Japan - Tohoku, 2011

Place: Tohoku, Japan 2011

Magnitude: 9.0

Focus: 30km deep on a convergent plate boundary

Epicentre: 70km from the coast in Sendai Bay

Tohoku Earthquake Impacts

Primary:

· 1 dam collapsed, 2 nuclear power stations fractured, and an oil refinery set on fire by damaged gas pipes.

· Tohoku motorway badly damaged in northern Japan. Sendai airport closed by the tsunami. One rail link near Sendai badly damaged.

· US$ 235 billion of damage caused by earthquake and tsunami combined - the costliest disaster in history.

Secondary:

Secondary effects (caused by the tsunami)

· 15 900 people died 350 000 homeless. Most were at work or school when it struck at 2:46 pm.

· 93% of deaths caused by drowning.

· Two nuclear reactors went into meltdown because flooding damaged the cooling systems. Local people were evacuated and had not returned by 2015.

· Businesses disrupted by damage, clearance and rebuilding.

· Homelessness, disrupted schooling, unemployment and increased stress lasted for years as the authorities struggled to cope with damage.

Tohoku Earthquake Management

Prediction:

- The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and local governments monitor seismic activity all over the country.

- If an earthquake is detected, people are warned immediately.

Preparation:

- Strict building laws help prevent major damage during an earthquake.

- Buildings are reinforced with steel frames to prevent them from collapsing.

- High-rise buildings have deep foundations with shock absorbers to reduce shaking in the building.

- Japan has early warning systems to alert residents to earthquakes and tsunamis.

- High-speed 'bullet' trains automatically brake in the event of an earthquake to stop them derailing.

DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS- Development of the emerging country is influenced by its location and context in the world

- India

India Social

- The world's second largest population, 1.25 billion in 2015

- The world's 4th and 5th largest cities - Mumbai (16 million) and Kolkata (15 million).

- Some of the world's worst urban slums, housing 40 million people, a quarter of its urban population.

- Indian society is divided into social ranks known as 'castes' - a person's caste is determined at birth by their parents' status. The bottom of the groupings are known as 'untouchables'. They have no caste and do the most menial of jobs. The system is very controversial

- India is a former British colony; this has helped India become important globally due to the millions of people who speak English.

- There are 20 million Indian people living in over 100 countries (a diaspora). In 2014, they sent back $71 billion in remittances. This is a very important source of income for India's economy.

India Political

Politically India is:

- The world's largest democracy - in 2015, 672 million people registered to vote.

- A growing global influence. One of the founding members of United Nations and of the G20 industrial nations.

Takes part in UN peacekeeping missions and contributes the second-largest number of troops to the UN.

India Cultural

- Is the birthplace of four of the world's religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

- Is diverse. In 2011, 78% of the population practiced Hinduism, 15% Islam, 2.5% Christianity, and 2% Sikhism.

Now has the world's largest film industry, Bollywood, producing over 1200 films each year

India Environmental

- Richest biodiversity. While elephants and tigers (shown in Figure 4) are well known, its diversity includes 6% of the world's bird and plant species. However, population and economic growth threaten them.

- Worst environmental problems, with land, air and water pollution. India is the world's third greatest emitter of greenhouse gases.

India has a range of landscapes and climates with a powerful monsoon.

Globalisation causes rapid economic change in the emerging country

In 1991 the government introduced 'Economic Liberalisation'. Before 1991 the government decided which industries produced what and where. Liberalisation changed it to a market economy where the 'market' decided: What people will buy based on demand; Where goods can be made most cheaply; Where investment in products will make most profits

India is one of the few emerging countries that gives more aid than receives it. It gives to Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal and still receives some 'technical assistance' from the UK.

- Globalisation has helped the economic growth as a result of India's connectivity.

- Containerisation and shipping developments have helped the trade of textiles, clothing and footwear from India

- India now produces more sophisticated and valuable items e.g. computer software and hardware.

- The low cost labour and high-level technology are attractive for Western countries and The tourism sector is growing rapidly - 39 million people are employed in tourism.

How TNCs operate in India

- BT have located their call centres in Bangalore. Indian graduates are paid £3000 a year (20% of what they pay in the UK). Call centre workers earn more than doctors and teachers so a 'brain drain' is feared. The workforce are cheaper, well-educated and can speak very good English.

- TNCs are attracted to Bangalore as the Indian government offers reduced taxes.

- The expertise in areas such as software development has encouraged Samsung, Microsoft and Intel to locate there.

- Communications technology like Skype can help BT and other TNCs have business meetings with India without having to fly their employees there.

- Other industries include Manufacturing (Toyota) and Aerospace (Boeing).

- Walmart (ASDA), Gap and Zara all use Indian labour to make their clothes as the minimum wage for garment factories is 87% lower than the UK.

India has the second largest wireless network after China.

Rapid economic growth results in significant positive and negative impacts on people and environment in the emerging country

Economic

Economic changes

- Since 1991 (Economic liberalisation) TNCs were attracted to India. By 2015 clothing was India's largest manufacturing industry, employing 80 million people and earned $300 billion in GDP.

- People are willing to work 100-hour weeks for average wages of £35.

- No equal pay between men and women - 70% of garment workers are women on the lowest pay.

- The growth of IT in places like Bangalore has created increasing numbers of well paid 'middle classes' in India - estimated to be 200 million by 2020!

- India's economy has grown by 7% per year since 1997.

- India is likely to have the 2nd biggest GDP in the world by 2050.

- Between 1991 and 2014 India's GDP per capita went from $1150 to $5800.

- HDI has risen from 0.496 in 2000 to 0.609 in 2014.

- Agriculture is no longer as important to the GDP - fallen from 37.2% in 1980 to 14.5% in 2011. Manufacturing has fallen slightly from 16.9% in 1980 to 18.4% in 2011. Services have risen rapidly in importance from 45.8% in 1980 to 67.1% in 1991.

- Key exports are now petroleum products, gems and jewellery, pharmaceutical products and transport equipment. Over 50% of exports go to Asia.

- Key imports are oil, gold and silver and electronic goods. The largest source of imports are from China.

- FDI is increasing with over $250 billion worth of investment into India from foreign companies like BT and over $120 billion worth of investment overseas by Indian TNCs like Tata.

- Changes in health and education has seen: Increased access to safe water supplies; Rapid expansion of hospitals in rural areas

India social changes

- Urban expansion increases the number of single professionals living alone.

- Large scale rural to urban migration is occurring but the level of urbanisation is way behind the global average (India - 32.7% in 2015, World - 54% in 2015)

- For educated urban women, they choose to develop a career and marry later. As a result, birth rate has fallen from 30 (per 1000) in 1991 to 19.9 in 2014. Also, fertility rate has fallen from 4 in 1991 to 2.5 in 2014.

- Life expectancy has increased from 60 years in 1991 to 68 in 2014.

- India's infant mortality rate has fallen since 1991 by over 50%.

- Average no. of years in school has increased from 2.4 in 1991 to 12 in 2011.

- 40 million people live in urban slums in India.

- India's population was 1.25 billion in 2015. This has increased by 48% since 1990.

- Adult literacy has increased from 50% in 1991 to 72 in 2011.

India environmental changes

- Air pollution reduce life expectancy by 3 years for the 660 million urban residents in Indi

- Delhi is the most polluted city in India

- 275 rivers in India are polluted with sewage

- Deforestation is becoming a major problem with the ever-rising demand for forest-based products

- In 2014 the Indian government stated that 25% of India's land is experiencing desertification.

- 68% of the country is prone to drought.

- India is the world's third largest emitter of carbon dioxide - due to it being heavily reliant on coal.

- India is looking to create a carbon sink by planting large areas of forest.

- Climate change is a big threat to India's economy. The increasingly erratic monsoon rains threatens the farming sector worth $370billion and hundreds of millions of jobs.

2.7 - Rapid economic development has changed the international role of the emerging country

- India is now a major international player

- It is part of the emerging country groups called the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)

- The BRICS account for 42% of the world's population and ¼ of the global GDP.

- India is a member of the G20 (alongside the UK, USA, France, Germany etc) and also supports the World Bank and Asia Development Bank.

- India wants to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council and more global organisations such as the IMF and WTO.

PAPER 2:

UK Physical

UK Human

Fieldwork (20 marks)

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How the interaction of physical and human processes is causing change on one named coastal landscape including the significance of its location.

Holderness Coast

Physical processes causing changes to the coastline: Cliff erodes at 1.5m/yr. 2 million tonnes of material is eroded/yr. Abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition.

Human factors causing changes to the coastline Groynes have been put in place at Hornsea which starve beaches further south of sediment. Therefore, beaches are narrow. Offshore dredging has reduced the amount of sediment available to build up beaches. Many settlements have been build on unstable cliff tops which are now very vulnerable. Easington Gas Terminal is also vulnerable (it supplies 25% of Britain's gas supply).

How do physical and human factors interact? Property prices have fallen due to the erosion risk, people have lost their homes, farmers have lost their farms, people can't afford repairs or protection, hard to get insurance. Fewer people visit the area, jobs are lost because caravan sites etc. have been lost to the sea. Much hard engineering has been installed such as rip rap, groynes and sea walls.

Significance of location: Coastline made from soft boulder clay left behind after ice age. Exposed to large fetch, high energy waves, exposed on the north east coast of the UK facing the North Sea

How the interaction of physical and human processes is causing river flooding on one named river, including the significance of its location

----------> Tewksbury 2007 floods

Rivers: Tewksbury 2007 floods

Physical processes causing flooding:

Tewkesbury is vulnerable to flood events due to its geographical location with two sizeable rivers, the Severn and the Avon, meeting in the town which both overflowed their banks. The summer of 2007 in England and Wales was the wettest since records began in 1766 due to a low pressure system over the UK with 1 months worth of rainfall occurred in 2 days, La Nina influenced the low pressure. Global warming could be influencing rainfall patterns. Intense rainfall led to sudden flooding conditions.

Human factors causing flooding:

Lots of building on floodplains making impermeable surfaces resulting in a shorter lag time and flash flooding. No flood defences in Tewkesbury

How do physical and human factors interact?

13 people lost their lives and hundreds had to be evacuated. Significant damage to most properties in the area with nearly 50,000 homes affected, with people losing treasured, personal belongings and made homeless- staying with friends or relatives and 850 families had to stay in caravans, some up to Christmas 2008

Significance of location: Tewkesbury is vulnerable to flood events due to its geographical location with two sizeable rivers, the Severn and the Avon, meeting in the town, this can result in shorter lag times.

UK Human - The context of the city influences its functions and structure

BIRMINGHAM

Site - dry point site on a south-facing sandstone ridge overlooking a crossing point of the river Rea. Water supply, routes to timber, iron and coal.

Situation - 18th century: Jewellery (low bulk, high value) due to canals. 1830's: urban growth due to industry growth. Recent: central situation in the UK led to economic growth (due to M1 linking to London, Birmingham Airport to 150 national and international locations).

Global importance - Europe's largest library. Financial centre. International Conference Centre (ICC) constructed in 1991, £1.5 billion added to the local economy. Three universities.

Structure:

CBD - Bull Ring finished in 2003, Selfridges,

Inner City - 19th century, redeveloped in 1970s through Comprehensive Development Areas.

Suburbs - most built in 1930s, 50s and 60s. Council housing and private estates

Industry - radiate out from the centre. Located close to main roads

Rural-Urban fringe - northern and southern edges

5.4 - The city changes through employment, services and the movement of people

BIRMINGHAM

Changes in employment:

- UK as a whole has declined in the manufacturing industry since the 1960s. Inner city Birmingham declined due to decentralisation, outsourcing and deindustrialisation. Growing importance of the finance and business services.

Changes in Services:

- Studentification and gentrification. Three universities. Bull Ring

Changes in movement of people:

- Causes: Push and pull factors within the UK - North to South Drift; Urbanisation; Rural to urban migration. Push and pull factors internationally - movement to Sparkbrook, Small Heath and Ladywood - cheap terrace housing; existing international communities; places of worship; shops and services.

5.5 - The changing city creates challenges and opportunities

BIRMINGHAM

Gentrification - Mosely - large houses originally for factory owners now made in to fashionable flats and renovated buildings. Only three miles from the city centre, two miles from the University of Birmingham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

- Positives - house prices increase. Services improved. Quality of Life Improved.

- Negatives - house prices increase. People forced in to cheaper, more deprived conditions.

Studentification - Selly Oak - Near to the three universities. Student accommodation. Services changing

- Positives - increased spending on arts events, concerts and performances. Some buildings improved for student accommodation. Inflation of redeveloped buildings

Negatives - social replacement displacement of older generations. Some buildings becoming poorer quality/ degeneration. House prices fall in areas of high anti-social behaviour levels.

Ways of life in the city can be improved by different strategies

BIRMINGHAM

Redevelopment: improving an area

Regeneration: improving an existing use of the land

- MG Rover car factory, Longbridge. 1960s - employed 25,000. Regenerated in 2000s to industrial uses such as Bournville College

Rebranding: Changing the image and use of the land

- Millennium Point was former Science Museum. Rebranding began in 2002. Park land, homes, museum, education centre, student housing.

Recycling: One glass bottle recycled saves enough energy to power a computer for 30 minutes.

Green Transport: Bus lanes. Bike lanes. Electric Car charging points.

Green Spaces: 571 parks in B'Ham, more than any other European city. National Nature Reserve. Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves

Eco - housing: Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust development in Northfield. 400 homes built to increase energy efficiency

Sustainable Birmingham: 2010 - 15th in the list of most sustainable cities in the UK. CABLED project - electric vehicles used. Greener offices for council staff

The city is interdependent with rural areas, leading to changes in rural areas

BIRMINGHAM

Commuter villages - Alvechurch, Belbroughton

Produce links, links of manufactured goods, water supply, services supplied in urban areas for rural areas

Changes:

- Rising cost of land in the accessible rural areas

- New homes being built in the countryside

- Farmers making money from the sale of their land to developers

- Cost of houses rises because so many wealthy people from the city move to rural areas

- People in villages use bigger, cheaper shops and supermarkets, leaving local shops to close

The changing rural area creates challenges and opportunities

BIRMINGHAM

Rural Worcestershire:

Opportunities - Rural areas become popular for leisure activities - Lickey Hills is an area of 200 hectares of forest, grassland, moorland which attracts over 500,000 people a year.

Employment in rural areas increase.

Some rural areas have low crime rates because of volume of retired people in the area

Challenges - Belbroughton's population has grown from 603 in 1960 to 2400 in 2015 because of commuters. House prices have increased, forcing some younger generations away from the area. Transportation and traffic is difficult to manage as 65% of all households in the UK have regular use of a car. In Worcestershire, this figure is 82%. Some areas are considered deprived because of their proximity to services such as hospitals and schools.