Geography · Environmental Studies

Natural Hazards and Disasters

1,357 Questions

Natural hazards and disasters involve the study of extreme natural events like earthquakes, floods, and cyclones, alongside their management and mitigation strategies. This geography and environmental studies topic is heavily tested in civil services and state public service examinations. Use these questions to prepare for inquiries on disaster response, community recovery, and tremor causes.

Earthquake and tremor causesDisaster management activitiesFlood management mythsCyclone and severe weatherPost-disaster health problemsCommunity disaster response

Natural Hazards and Disasters Questions

Multiple choice geography endogenetic movements earthquake and volcanoes earthquake earthquakes

A Tsunami can be generated when destructive plate boundries abruptly move and ___________.

  1. Vertically displace the water.

  2. Displace the overlying water.

  3. Vertically displace the overlying water.

  4. Horizontally displace the overlying water.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation
  • Vertical displacement of overlying water causes a stark difference between the elevation of the ocean floor due to which water from higher elevation quickly move towards lower elevation seafloor. 
  • This generates very high waves which travel towards the coastal regions and are known as tsunami or harbour waves. Hence option C is correct.
  • Note- Horizontal displacement does not cause displacement of a very significant amount of water hence cannot generate tsunamis.
Multiple choice geography endogenetic movements earthquake and volcanoes earthquake earthquakes

Mega Tsunami caused by landslide on ________.

  1. July 7, 1958

  2. July 8, 1978

  3. July 9, 1978

  4. July 10, 1978
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

July 9, 1958

On 9 July 1958, a 7.8Mw strike-slip earthquake in southeast Alaska caused 90 million tonnes of rock and ice to drop into the deep water at the head of Lituya Bay. The block fell almost vertically and hit the water with sufficient force to create a wave that surged up the opposite side of the head of the bay to a height of 524 m, and was still many tens of metres high further down the bay, when it carried eyewitnesses Howard Ulrich and his son Howard Jr. over the trees in their fishing boat. They were washed back into the bay and both survived

Multiple choice geography endogenetic movements earthquake and volcanoes earthquake earthquakes

Secondary destructive effect of earthquake includes _______.

  1. fire

  2. tsunami

  3. landslide

  4. all of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation
  • The primary effect of the earthquake- shaking of earth's surface.
  • Secondary effects- effects caused by primary effect i.e. effects caused by the shaking of the earth's surface viz tsunami, landslides, and fires.
  • Hence all options are correct.
Multiple choice geography endogenetic movements earthquake and volcanoes earthquake earthquakes

Collapsing of buildings, bridges and roads are the __________.

  1. Primary Destructive effect of Earthquake.

  2. Destructive effect of Earthquake.

  3. Tertiary Destructive effect of Earthquake.

  4. Secondary Destructive effect of Earthquake.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The primary destructive effect of Earthquakes include the damage to man-made structures, such as roads, bridges, dams, and buildings from the ground motion depends on the type of construction:

1. concrete and masonry structures are brittle and thus more susceptible to damage and collapse

2. damage to wood and steel structures is far less because of its flexibility.

Multiple choice geography endogenetic movements earthquake and volcanoes earthquake earthquakes

Sudden overflow of large volume of water off the riverbank is termed as ______.

  1. flood

  2. tsunami

  3. cyclone

  4. earthquake
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Rainfall over an extended period and an extended area can cause major rivers to overflow their banks. The water can cover enormous areas. Downstream areas may be affected, even when they didn’t receive much rain themselves. High amounts of water flowing in streams often leads to flooding, and flooding is one of the more common types of natural disasters. A flood results when a stream runs out of its confines and submerges surrounding areas.

Multiple choice geography endogenetic movements earthquake and volcanoes earthquake earthquakes

Consider the list of terms given below.
(i) Tsunami     (iii) Floods

(ii) Landslide  (iv) Lightning

Earthquakes can cause ______ from the list given above.

  1. (i), (ii) and (iii)

  2. (ii) and (iv)

  3. (ii), (iii) and (iv)

  4. (iii) and (iv)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation
  • An Earthquake at the bottom of ocean can cause large scale displacement of water leading into very high harbour waves called Tsunami. Tsunamis can in turn cause large scale flooding of the coastal areas. 
  • Also Earthquakes the shaking of the mountaneous regions caused by earthquakes can cause landslides. Hence earthquakes can cause tsunami,flooding and landslides. 
  • Lightening is an atmospheric phenomenon, hence is unrelated to earthquake.
Multiple choice geography properties of natural resources the concept of bernoulli's principle variations in atmospheric pressure air exerts pressure

Cyclones become very destructive in area of Bay of Bengal during early November because of _________.

  1. high temperature conditions

  2. heavy rainfall

  3. low pressure conditions

  4. high humditiy conditions
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

During winter season land areas become cold and adjoining ocean surface becomes comparatively hot. So low-pressure centers develop in the ocean and the winds started blowing from surrounding high pressure to low pressure areas. As it comes to the low-pressure center, it gets warm and rises up. For this mechanism, devastating cyclones originated in the Bay of Bengal during October to early November.

Multiple choice civics road safety rules and regulations road safety education general awareness road safety

Disaster occurring due to human mistake________.

  1. Drought

  2. Flood

  3. Landslide

  4. Road accident
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Droughts, floods, and landslides are generally classified as natural disasters, although human activity can exacerbate them. A road accident is a direct result of human error or mechanical failure, making it a man-made disaster.

Multiple choice zoology ecosystem : structure and function biogeochemical cycles - sedimentary biogeochemical cycle nitrogen and phosphorus cycles

Volcano eruption disturbs

  1. phosphorus cycle

  2. Nitrogen cycle

  3. Carbon cycle

  4. Sulphur cycle
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Volcanic eruptions release massive amounts of sulfur gases, such as sulfur dioxide, directly into the atmosphere, which significantly impacts and disrupts the global sulfur cycle. Unlike gaseous cycles such as carbon or nitrogen, sulfur has a sedimentary and gaseous phase heavily influenced by geological events like volcanism.

Multiple choice physics electric charges and fields conductors and insulators introduction to electrostatics electricity

Earthing is provided in buildings to protect it form

  1. lightning

  2. leakage of electric current

  3. cyclone

  4. thunderstorm
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Earthing means to connect electrical system to earth or soil in such a manner as it ensures an immediate discharge of electrical energy night out any danger. it is essentially done to product the building from any miss happening.

Multiple choice elements of accounts applications of computers in accounting introduction to computer and accounting information system meaning of computerised accounting system application of computerised accounting system

What is a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood?

  1. Disaster recovery plan

  2. Hot site

  3. Cold site

  4. Disaster recovery cost curve
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

A disaster recovery plan is a structured approach that describes how an organization can quickly resume work after an unplanned incident.

Multiple choice geography disaster management: responding to disasters hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster hazards

A ______ is an event which causes enormous physical damage to property, huge loss of life and drastic change in the environment.

  1. mishap

  2. hazard

  3. disaster

  4. accident
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

A Disaster is an event which causes enormous physical damage to property, huge loss of life and drastic change in the environment. The economic, social and cultural life of the people is affected and they need external help for food, shelter, medicine, financial and social support to overcome the disaster. Disaster is classified according to the origin as natural and man-made Disaster.