1.4A

• A natural hazard is a natural events that has the potential to harm people and their property. 
• A disaster is the realisation of the hazard, i.e. harm has occurred. 
• Some large insurers define a disaster as economic losses of over $1.5 million
• A threshold level is often used to determine whether the impact of an event is large enough to be considered a disaster, such as:

  • 10 or more deaths
  • 100 or more people affected
  • US $1 million in economic losses