Natural Hazards

• What is the difference between a natural event and a natural hazard?

  A natural event is an event which has no impact on people whereas a natural hazard is a natural event which disrupts human life and has huge economic and social impacts
• What are the three main categories natural hazards can fall into?

  Atmospheric:

  -Droughts

  -Heatwaves

  -Tornadoes

  Geological:

  -Earthquakes

  -Landslides

  -Volcanic Eruptions

  Flooding:

  -Avalanches

  -Tsunamis

  -Storm surges
• What is a hazard risk?

  Hazard risk is the chance of being affected by a natural hazard.

  e.g people who live near a river will be at risk of flooding
• What factors increase the risk of natural hazards?

  Urbanisation

  Poverty

  Farming

  Climate Change
• How does urbanisation increase the risk of natural hazards?

  They are densely populated urban areas which concentrates those at risk, exacerbating hazard impacts

  Altering natural landscapes and changing ecosystem dynamics, which increases exposure to natural hazards.
• How does poverty increase the risk of natural hazards?

  Due to the cost of the housing it leads to people building on risky ground and in poorer parts of the world they may not have effective defence systems
• How does farming increase the risk of natural hazards?

  When a river floods it deposits fertile silt on its floodplain, which is excellent for farming. Buy when people choose to live there, they are putting themselves at risk
• How does climate change increase the risk of natural hazards?

  Global warming is causing sea levels to rise and is generating more extreme weather