To what extent does adaptation have a role in reducing the impacts of hazards? (9 marks)
Adaptation is when people change their habits to cope with living with the hazards
One adaptation that people can do to reduce the impact of storm hazards on a local scale is where people can board up windows. This involves residents placing wooden boards in front of windows to prevent the glass from shattering. This is a short-term solution and reduces the number of people being injured high flying shards of glass.
Secondly, along term solution to reduce the impact of hazards is by building coastal defences to reduce the impacts from storm surges. This can be in the form of levies like in New Orleans. Although, this was not effective in reducing the impact of the storm surges because the levees weren’t properly maintained. Therefore, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the levees, which were designed to protect from a category two storm, gave way. As a result, 80% of the city was inundated which led to much of the 1833 deaths as a consequence.
Finally, another effective adaptation is when there are controlled explosions of screen. This is because it prevents the high winds to dislodge boulders that have carefully balanced on the edge of hills. Therefore, this means this rock fall won’t happen and damage property at the bottom.
Overall, I think that adaptation does have a role in reducing impacts of edges, but they are only effective if active measures are made to maintain these defences.