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Causes and effects of Mass Movement in Hong Kong due to Urbanisation in 1948 to 1998 (landslides)
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Cause and effect of mass movement in Hong Kong due to urbanization in 1948 1998(landslides)
Urbanization involves building of infrastructure so as to develop a community. Before the introduction of urbanization, countries were reliant on agriculture for the sustainability of their community. The introduction of the industrial revolution changed the dynamics in society. Communities now placed emphasis development of all things infrastructure leading to the creation of an urbanized community. One of the countries that has been affected to date is Hong Kong. During the early1940s, the country joined the rest of the world in the urbanization process (Waugh, p. 305).
The focus of the paper is to provide an analysis of the mass movement in Hong Kong. The paper seeks to look into the reason for the need to urbanize the nation at the time. This is followed with reasons explaining the causes and effects of the occurrence. Lastly, the paper provides a concluding paragraph that provides a summary of the paper and the way forward for the nation.
Causes of the steep slopes
The country was not geographically structured to sustain the rising population. One of the ways that the country could make up for its lack of space was the use of the stabilization technique. The government therefore adopted this method due to its success in Japan. This is one of the initial causes responsible for mass movement in the country.
The stabilization technique is known to work for a majority of the counties that have adopted the process. The occurrence of mass movement in Hong Kong was supplemented by other factors. One of the factors in this case is the impermeability of the surface. This makes the land vulnerable when exposed to substances like water and rainfall. This quality makes the stabilization unsafe for urbanization and development.
The fact that the country was reliant on mountainous areas for construction was hazardous enough. Another reason that placed the population at risk was the intense infrastructure constructed on the slopes. The slopes were sensitive and as a result added pressure to the surface of the ground. This situation was further worsened during the intense rainy that contributed to the soil erosion of the entire area.
Another cause of the mass movement was the overpopulation of the people in the affected area. The populous nation needed to cater for their needs by investing in the little land that they had. One of the ways of meeting these expectations was by overcrowding in a small area. Overcrowding of the communities encourages the deterioration of the surface. This in turn decreased the stabilization of the land placing the lives of the people at risk (Waugh, p. 215).
Effects of the steep slopes
The mass movement in Hong Kong affected each and every one in the country. The principal result of the occurrence was the loss of lives. The buildings in the slopes acted as shelter for a large percentage of the population at the time. The movement of the land can be compared to an earthquake. The sliding effect is dangerous to the health of an individual due to the strength of at which the force pushes. Most of the injuries were caused by the concrete used to construct the buildings reducing the chances of survival for the people present (Calcaterra and Mario, p. 125).
One of the effects of the mass movement in the country was the loss of homes of more than half a million people. The incident led to the displacement of a large number of families exposing them to more calamities. The country was thus faced with a national disaster in that its citizens had become homeless. Lacking shelter affected the production of the society thus affecting an aspect of their life apart from their livelihood.
The countries economy felt the effects of the mass movement in the country. Due to the destruction of an entire community, the population could not sustain their needs and wants. Most of the infrastructure housed businesses which contributed to the growth of the country’s GDP. The loss of these businesses thus had a direct effect on both the financial situation of the citizens and the county’s economy (Goudie, p. 134).
In conclusion, the movement of the land is one of the saddest events in the calendar of the people of Hong Kong. The loss of the lives of the people at the time led to the loss of a part of a nation. This weekend the strength of the community due to the reduction of the man power needed to sustain the country. Despite this, the occurrence acted as an educating factor to the world as a whole. Most of the countries that were in the same situation invested in protective measures to prevent a reoccurrence. The country came together so that they could reunite and move forward. This enabled for the fast recovery of the now successful nation. Despite the level of hurt that came with the movement of the land, the loss of lives of the people present at the time was not in vain.
Works Cited
Calcaterra, Domenico, and Mario Parise. Weathering As a Predisposing Factor to Slope Movements. London: Geological Society, 2010. Print.
Goudie, Andrew. The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future. Malden, MA. [u.a.: Blackwell Publishing, UK, 2007. Print
Waugh, David. Geography: An Integrated Approach. Gloucester, U.K: Nelson Thornes, 2000. Print.
Adolescent-Pregnancy1-article-2
Summary of After the Adolescent Pregnancy
Parents, Teens, and Families
Life Span Development SC 506
University of West Alabama
Introduction
In the article, After the Adolescent Pregnancy: Parents, Teens, and Families author Benson provides information to help understand adolescent conditions and decisions during and after pregnancy. Benson focuses on five dimensions and frameworks that are associated with adolescent pregnancy. The five dimensions and frameworks include: pregnancy, abortion, childbearing, adoption, and teen parenthood. Benson addresses the role of social workers in helping adolescents deal with the issues mentioned above. Benson conducted an investigation to determine a solution to help adolescents deal with issues of pregnancy.
According to Benson (2004), most social workers will work with a pregnant or parenting adolescent sooner or later. Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood have many important consequences. Social Workers can provide valuable assistance to adolescents and their families as they deal with these life changing events. Being that most Social Workers have had many different areas of practice relating to the issue, they are able to be more helpful, and informing of the issues to guide adolescents to make healthy decisions. Social Workers play an important role with families concerning common problems, and they are the key concept to helping promote a good outcome.
Dimensions and Framework
The first dimension in the framework is pregnancy. During pregnancy the adolescents are often very stressed and depressed. The support of the family is important to help keep the stress level down. It is important to communicate and encourage good health during the adolescent’s pregnancy. Good health is extremely important for an adolescent, because their body is not fully developed to carry a baby and they have a greater risk of complications; therefore it is important for them to eat health for them and the baby.
The second dimension in the framework is abortion. Most adolescents want to have abortions because they feel their family will not support their decision to conceive a baby. This notion goes back to the first dimension, where it states the importance of family support. The dimension stated that if an adolescent chooses to have an abortion, she has to comply with the state law. It is important to help adolescents cope with the decision to have an abortion. If an adolescent chooses to have an abortion, it is important to support them in any decision they make.
The third dimension is childbearing and adoption. Childbearing for an adolescent is considering being associated with lower likelihood to finish school. Poverty could also contribute to early childbearing, because if an adolescent gets pregnant, and have the baby, she then may have to drop out of school to support them. As a result she will end up with a very low paying job or no job at all. Benson mentions that only 1-2 % of adolescents put their baby up for adoptions. If they don’t have the baby then they have an abortion. Most adolescents are provided with very little information on adoption.
The last dimension is parenthood. Becoming an adolescent parent changes the individual in society. The adolescent is put into a different view. The expectance of the adolescent change from a child to an adult.
Importance
The article is extremely important as it relates to my field of work. The article mentions the important roles of a Social Worker with adolescent pregnancy. Being that I am a Social Worker and I work with young adult’s everyday, I felt this was a very helpful article to gather information from and use as a resource for my clients in the near future. The article shared information about the different decisions an adolescent has, and the importance of family support. Not all adolescents will have family support, or support at all, and that is when my job as a Social Worker will come into play. Also it is important to be knowledgeable of the information in this article, because as a Social Worker we need to be aware of all options available for a client. As the article stated that most adolescent do not know about adoptions, so the Social Worker can share that information with them, and maybe they can use adoption as an option.
Personal
The article discusses the different dimensions of adolescent pregnancy. In my opinion the article was informative. The information from the article will now make me be sure that my clients are aware of all options that are available. I will teach the family the important of family support, and the importance of teaching the adolescent all she needs to know about the issue. The article did raise some questions for me, because it stated that most adolescent that choose to have the baby, will drop out of school. I believe that is when family support comes into play. If the adolescent has a baby, the family needs to work out a plan so that the adolescents life can stay as normal as possible.
Conclusion
Overall, the article provides information to help Social Workers understand conditions and decisions before and after pregnancy. The framework emphasizes individualization, family support, and future orientation. The article provided helpful information.
Reference
Benson, M. J. (2004). After the Adolescent Pregnancy Parents,
Teens, and Families. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 435-455.
Mother Tongue
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Week 1-Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
The main idea of the article Mother Tongue by Amy Tan is that people have different perspectives of the English language. The author is trying to pass across the point that people tend to look down on people that do not speak the perfect English language. This is seen in how the author’s mother is treated by the people she encounters. For instance, people pretended not to understand what her mother was saying at the bank and in stores because her English was broken. The primary purpose of this article is to sensitize the audience against unequal treatment of people based on the language they speak. This article calls out the behaviors of people who mistreat non-native English speakers. The article also aims to explain the author’s experiences and challenges that people who do not speak English as their first language go through. The article is about the conflicts that Amy Tan goes through in her daily life both as a writer and with the family. The language she uses in her profession is not the same language she uses to speak to her mother because it is complex and filled with vocabulary. Tan feels deeply about her mother tongue because she has experienced first-hand her mother being treated unequally because she speaks broken language. She has seen people ignore her presence simply because she cannot communicate as best as she would want to because of her Chinese accent. At times, she was forced to pick up her mother’s calls and pretend to be her.
A good thesis statement for this article would be “while language is important in communication, non-native English speakers struggle to be understood because of their mother-tongue interference making their communication experiences difficult.” The main message of this article is that it is our duty to be accommodative of each other as human beings. At the end of the day, no human is perfect, and as such, we should try to make life experiences of everyone as smooth as possible. The article is important as it addresses an important issue that people rarely talk about unequal treatment of people along the lines of the language they speak. I would describe Tan’s relationship with her mother as a considerate and loving one. Growing up, Tan helped her mother communicate with people by answering her calls. Even as Tan is writing her book, she says she wants to write a book that her mother would read and understand. This is very considerate of her. The target audience for this article is immigrants who do not speak English as their first language and members of the public who might be struggling with language. When giving the presentation, Tan realizes that her mother is part of her audience and so she might not understand everything that she says. This is because Tan tends to use more complex language filled with vocabulary, but when she speaks to her mother, she uses simpler language. The tone used in this article is relaxed and informative. The point of view of this text is that when giving a talk, speakers should assess their audience to ensure that they will understand what they say. Also, the article opines against unequal treatment of non-English native speakers.
Quote Sandwich
Quote 1: Tan writes “I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: so easy to read.”
Paraphrase: Tan explains that she knew she had succeeded when her mother finished reading the book and said it was easy to read.
Explanation: The explanation is that when writing her book, Tan had purposed to write a book that her mother could comfortably read and understand. Tan wanted to show that communicating does not have to be a challenging experience for non-native speakers. She knew she had achieved her goal when her mother confirmed that the book was easy to read.
Quote 2: Tan writes, “Why he don’t send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.”
Paraphrase: Tan explains that her mother was not sent a check by her stockbroker and was angry that she lost money (Tongue, 2).
Explanation: Tan’s mother could not speak perfect English, so she had her speak to the stockbroker on the phone in her place. Her mother was trying to say that she was concerned that she had not received her check and was afraid that she had lost money. Although her mother could barely speak proper English, Tan understood everything she said.
Works Cited
Tongue, Mother. “Amy Tan.” The World is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking about Culture and Its Contexts (2003): 291.