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NATRUAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTERS

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INTRODUCTION
In September of 2010, there was a major flood in my village after a day of hard rain, causing loose earth to make its way into the roads and drains, blocking the exits and entrances of the trace. This incident has impacted personally on my life. My parents have evacuated the bottom floor of our house and sealed every crack or crease in which water can enter because of the forced entry of the water.

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As reported in the newspaper, business in Port-of-Spain was frequently flooded during the rainy days of the month. Reports have increased from the amount of floodings happening over the years in our country, and it has influenced me to do an investigation into exactly how flash floodings has impacted on the business society. The choice of area of study is City Gates situated in Port-ofSpain.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Are business owners in the City Gates area of Trinidad, affected immensely by the constant flooding of their business environment?
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
How frequently are businesses being flooded? What are the types of business that is mostly affected by the flooding?

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What are the personal responses of business owners to the floodings? Are business owners satisfied by the efforts to reduce flooding in the business place? What else can be done to reduce flooding in the business place?

Educational value
Conducting such an investigation: Will provide information that can enable us to learn, understand and experience the concerns of the business persons on the issue of flooding

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A systematic enquiry as this would clarify issues related to the sustainability of the businesses in the area and more importantly the problems they have to undergo to survive

DEFINITIONS:
Disaster is either a natural or manmade hazard which has to come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent, causing significant

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physical damage or destruction, loss of life or drastic change to the natural environment Natural Environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof Systematic Enquiry is generating research questions and designing appropriate strategies for collecting empirical data (whether qualitative or quantitative) to answer those questions Sustainability is the capacity to endure

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DATA COLLECTION METHODS

METHODOLOGY
PRIMARY RESEARCH questionnaires were distributed in order to gather information from the respondents whom were given. The questionnaire consisted of two (2) open ended questions and nine (9) closed ended. Secondary Research - in order for this project to be a success, research was done to gather sufficient information. This information was acquired through the internet and gathered newspaper clippings. SAMPLING PROCEDURE For this project simple random sampling was used to choose the businesses in which to interview. Such a method was used because in that specific area only a handful of businesses reside so distribution and collection of the questionnaires was very fast and easy.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE
1) Age 20-30 2) Sex MALE FEMALE 31-40 41-50 51-60

3) How long has your business been running in the City Gates area? Recently 1-5 yrs 6-10 yrs 10yrs and over

4) Has your business always been prone to flooding? YES NO

5) Does your business flood? Only During Rainy Season With Any Slight Rain Everytime Rain falls 6) What type of business do you manage?

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Grocery Store Other Fast Food Joint

Lottery ticket booth

7) Why do you think your business is so easily flooded? Location Landscaping Building Structure

8) What do you think is causing you area to be easily flooded? Poor Drainage Improper Garbage Disposal Deforestation

9) Have you ever lost any managerial property due to flooding? YES NO

10) Are you satisfied with the efforts government put in to curb the flooding problem in your business area? YES NO

11) Even so, what are you doing in order to reduce the destruction of the flooding? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 12) What else do you think can be done in order for the flooding problem to be stopped indefinitely? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

PRESENTATION OF DATA
No. of years in business

45% 40% 35% 30% 25%

Males

20%
15% 10% 5% 0%
Recently 1 - 5 years 6 - 10 years 10 years and over

Females

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1) Graph showing the percentage f persons working in the City Gates area and for how long they have been occupying that often flooded area.

0%

YES NO 100%

2) This Pie Chart shows the response of being asked that had their business always been prone to flooding.

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3) TABLE showing the time of year business owners business places are flooded.

TIME OF YEAR Only during rainy season With any slight rain Everytime rain falls

PERCENTAGE OF BUSINESS PERSONS 100% 0% 0%

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80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Series 1

Grocery Store

Fast Food Joint

Lottery Booth

Other

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4) The Line Graph shows the types of businesses being run by the flood victims in the City Gates area

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15

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5 0 Location Landscaping Building Structure

5) Cone Graph representing the reasons as to why the business owners think their businesses are so easily flooded

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YES 0%

NO 100%

6) Pie chart showing the response of the business owners when they were asked if they were satisfied with the efforts government put in to curb the flooding problems in your business area.

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