Q2 ) Assess the reasons why some communities are more vulnerable than others to tectonic

hazards (12 marks)

Vulnerability refers to an amalgamation of factors affecting a population's preparedness and

capacity to cope with a natural hazard and both social as well as environmental factors can
increase a community’s vulnerability. A multi-hazard zone would foster a more vulnerable
community to that which experiences less frequent, minimal impact hazards and similarly,
but less impactfully, the corruption of a community’s government can substantially affect a
community’s vulnerability. Finally, on a global scale; a country’s international relations can
often partially affect a country’s vulnerability.

A multiple-hazard zone is identified by the characteristic they all share of being exposed to
more than one hazard. This increases a community’s vulnerability as their capacity to cope
is damaged significantly after each disaster. For example in the Philippines a 2006
earthquake triggered a 3-metre high tsunami and due to the islands’ steep topography and
deforestation rates, many landslides were subsequently triggered by both the tsunami and
the initial earthquake. The Philippines were extremely vulnerable to these impacts due to the
frequency of disasters making infrastructure unable to be rebuilt to withstand such a
significant bombardment of hazards, as the archipelago experienced 345 floods and
typhoons between 1960-2015. However, a multiple-hazard zone can also provide more
accurate forecasting and long-term prevention plans when the Governments are organised
enough to act upon the data received by the plethora of disaster profiles available from the
variety of hazards in the community. This organisation is evident in another multiple-hazard
zone: Japan as many evacuation, sea walls and alarms have been implemented to better
tackle life in a multiple-hazard zone. Although, this comparison is largely unfair due to the
disparity in development between the Philippines and Japan.

Having a corrupt government could greatly impact a community’s vulnerability as a corrupt

government could be more relaxed about building regulations as well as possibly being
inclined to miss-spend financial aid after a disaster to repay the debts they have previously
accumulated. Poor governance by a corrupt government substantially increased Haiti’s
vulnerability after the 2010 earthquake as whilst 30-40% of the government budget came
from foreign aid, this financial aid was often spent repaying government debts rather than
helping the community to recover. This made Haiti extremely vulnerable as they weren’t able
to recover from their disaster as the country was still recovering in 2016, and a country’s
ability to recover from a disaster is the greatest long term impact of their vulnerability which
separates vulnerable communities such as those in Haiti to those in the US after Hurricane
Katrina where all foreign aid was designated to helping the vulnerable community become
more resilient in both the long and short-term recovery process. However, thanks to NGOs
and international aid directly from foreign countries such as the UK’s deployment of the red
cross to search for victims in Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake, government corruption can be
curtailed to provide adequate aid to these communities, substantially reducing their
vulnerability due to the political corruption they experience.

A country’s international relations refer to the country’s relationships globally and

subsequently their ability to call upon these relationships to help rebuild communities
affected by tectonic hazards, the better these relations, the less vulnerable a community
would be in the long term as support would hypothetically be swiftly delivered. An example of
frosty international relations contributing to a community's vulnerability was during the direct
aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China where the Chinese government refused
to let international aid enter the Sichuan province up to several days after the initial tectonic
event occurred. This meant that aid was not immediate, which could have possibly
contributed to the ¼ of deaths caused by people suffocating in landslides that were not
reached by rescue services in time to live. This increased Sichuan’s vulnerability as without
poor relations, recovery and rescue would’ve been greatly supported with increased
man-power rather than having the community become isolated after their disaster. However,
the Chinese governemtn were quick to deploy their own 130000 soldiers to aid rescue
attempts from inside their own borders.

To conclude, communities globally experince varying levels of vulnerability during and after a
tectonic hazard and hilst some of these factors are able to be avoided, the physical
vulnerability of certain communities are largely undeniaable, although through the use of an
increwasing globalised network of aid vulnerable communities can start to recover faster and
stronger to decrease their vulnerability to these events in the future.

GLOBALISATION QUESTIONS

Q3) explain one way governments can affect foreign direct investment (4 marks)

Governments, throught the implamentation of policies such as trade protectionism, can

decide on how open or closed their country’s economy is to FDI. these policies such as the
implamentation of subsides on domestic goods (making them more appealing on a global
market increasing the possibility of mmonopolising on that good), such as how the Chinese
government placed large subsides on Steel produced domestically making their prices too
competitive for Indian-owned steel manufacturers in the UK who couldn’t implament the
same subsides omn their steel due to the strict rules of the WTO of which the UK is a
member of. This increased China’s outward flow of FDi into he continent of Africa where
their steel was fuelling developing infrasture projects in the continent. This meant that the
Chinese government could cement China’s place as a global power that supplies as well as
recieves FDI.

Q4) Explain one reason why free trade policies are promoted by international economic
organisations (4 marks)

Free trade blocs encourage cooperation between governments rather than having them
interferring in global economic processes in a protectional way reducing the risk of higher
income countries monopolising on goods that would decrease the net value of trade globally
which could lead to the decreases net value of trade that would passs through international
economic organisations such as the WTO that has a major goal to liberalise world trade by
removing trade barriers making the promotion of free trade policies a significant priority for
these international economic organisations.

Q5) assess the impact of TNCs on creating both winners and losers for people and the
environment (12 marks)