Study Figure 7

(a) Using Figure 7 and your own knowledge, explain why some places have a high level of landslide and avalanche hazard risk. Landslides and avalanches are one of the world’s major natural hazard type, they cost the US $3.5 billion per year in repair damage. They cause between 25 and 50 deaths in the US each year Hazard: A received natural event which has the potential to threaten both life and property. Landslide: the sliding down of a mass of earth or rock from a mountain or cliff. Avalanche: a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside. There are many reasons to why some places have a high level of landslide and avalanche hazard risk. Firstly, in the Appalachian Mountains, there is a very high potential risk of avalanches, due to the Appalachian Mountains been at such a high altitude; it will gain snow and build up, this well then eventually give way and a devastating avalanche will occur. At the San Andreas Fault, there is a high chance of a landslide to occur; the reason being due to it been on a plate boundary, mini earthquakes will take place frequently, and because it’s low lying, it is also endangering the people below surrounding the fault line.

As seen on figure 7, the Rocky Mountains are high lying, therefore prone to snow and glacial ice, because of climate change; this will heat up and melt, this will then cause a massive avalanche and cause harm to the villages and towns surrounding it and possibly the skiers/snowboarders on the slopes. In a summery season, the Rocky Mountains will have a lot of landslides; because this mountain is ‘rocky’ it will then cause mass destruction of rocks falling down the mountain damaging the villages and towns. The Pacific coastline has a high potential to landslides, this is due to erosion, and the rocks will start to erode way from the sea withering the rock, and then will eventually cause a landslide; affecting and damaging homes that surround The Pacific coastline. Also, this is prone also due to earthquakes, this will only increase the chance of the loose rock tumbling down, and in turn, causing a landslide. Moreover, the increased risk of hydro-meteorological hazards will cause the slopes on the Appalachian Mountains and The Rocky Mountains to have an increased risk of landslides in the summery season due to the climatic conditions, and in the winter, an increased risk of avalanches.

The hazard risk is a lot more significant in places with people, lives can be lost, the expenses will also be a lot more fluctuated due to homes destroyed, businesses lost, livelihoods destroyed, these kinds of things would occur at low-lying places in the US such as the Rocky Mountains. Overall, across the US, the Appalachian Mountains, The Pacific coastline, The Rocky Mountains, and the San Andreas Fault are all very much prone to landslides and avalanches.