the concept of hazard in a geographical context

• Hazard


  A potential threat to human life and property caused by an event
• Types of hazards

  • Human caused
  • Natural (natural hazards)
• An event will only become a hazard when it is a threat to people
• A disaster will only occur when a vulnerable population (one that will be significantly disrupted and damaged) is exposed to a hazard
• Degg's model

  • Represents the concept that if the population is not vulnerable, the hazard will not have a significant effect, thus the event will not be disastrous
• Major types of geographical hazard

  • Geophysical hazards caused by land processes, majorly tectonic plates (e.g. volcanoes)
  • Atmospheric hazards caused by atmospheric processes and the conditions created because of these, such as weather systems (e.g. wildfires)
  • Hydrological hazards caused by water bodies and movement (e.g. floods)
• Hazards can also be classed as a mixture of these geographical processes
• Hydrometeorological hazards

  Hazards that are both atmospheric and hydrological
• Hazard perception


  • People have different viewpoints of how dangerous hazards are and what risk they pose
  • These perceptions are dependent on lifestyle factors which include economic and cultural elements
• Wealth


  The financial situation of a person will affect how they perceive hazards
• Wealthier people may perceive a hazard to be smaller as they are less vulnerable, but they may also view a risk as greater as there is more risk of property damage and financial loss than someone less wealthy
• Experience


  Someone who has experienced more hazards may be more likely to understand the full effects of a hazard
• There are also studies suggesting that people who have experienced hazards are likely to have an optimistic and unrealistic outlook on future hazards, almost like a 'lightning never strikes the same place twice' mentality
• Education


  A person who is more educated about hazards may understand their full effects on people and how devastating they can be and have been in the past
• Religion and beliefs

  Some may view hazards as put there by God for a reason, or being part of the natural cycle of life etc. so may not perceive them to be negative
• Mobility


  Those who have limited access to escape a hazard may perceive hazards to be greater threats than they are
• Human responses to hazards

  • Passive (fatalism - hazards are uncontrollable natural events, and any losses should be accepted as there is nothing that can be done to stop them)
  • Active (prediction, adaptation, mitigation, management, risk sharing)
• Prediction


  Using scientific research and past events in order to know when a hazard will take place, so that warnings may be delivered and impacts of the hazard can be reduced
• Adaptation


  Attempting to live with hazards by adjusting lifestyle choices so that vulnerability to the hazard is lessened
• Mitigation


  Strategies carried out to lessen the severity of a hazard
• Management


  Coordinated strategies to reduce a hazard's effects, including prediction, adaptation, mitigation
• Risk sharing


  A form of community preparedness, whereby the community shares the risk posed by a natural hazard and invests collectively to mitigate the impacts of future hazards
• New Zealand is an example of where risk sharing has worked as a multi-hazard environment under threat from earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and weather-related hazards
• The cost of these hazards in New Zealand are huge; the Canterbury Earthquake (2010) alone cost the country 20% of it's national GDP
• There are now attempts in New Zealand to share the risk by insurance investment, so strategies can be put in place before the disasters rather than investing more in a clean up
• Incidence


  Frequency of a hazard
• Low incidence hazards may be harder to predict and have less management strategies put in place, meaning the hazard could be more catastrophic when it does eventually occur
• Low incidence hazards are usually (but not always) more intense than high incidence hazards
• Distribution


  Where hazards occur geographically
• Areas of high hazard distribution are likely to have a lot of management strategies, and those living there will be adapted to the hazardous landscape because it dominates the area more so than in places with low hazard distribution
• Intensity


  The power of a hazard i.e. how strong it is and how damaging the effects are
• Magnitude


  The size of the hazard, usually this is how a hazard's intensity is measured
• Magnitude and intensity are not interchangeable terms
• Level of development

  Economic development will affect how a place can respond to a hazard, so a hazard of the same magnitude may have very different effects in two places of contrasting levels of development
• Even if the hazard is identical, an area with a lower level of development is less likely to have effective mitigation strategies as these are costly
• There are many high income countries that are not as prepared for natural hazards as they should be, meaning they lack the management strategies for an event
• In Canada where wildfires have been increasing over the last few years (as a result of climate change), less money and resources have been available for earthquake and tsunami preparation
• Even detailed evacuation routes and tsunami sirens are not available in popular tourist beaches such as Vancouver Island or Pacific Rim National Park in Canada
• Text message systems are available to act as a warning system to suggest people to evacuate, but many people switch their phones off at night, reducing the effectiveness
• Overall, level of development may not have the biggest part to play in a hazard, and it is more to do with how these countries use their development for mitigation