Concept of Hazard

• 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
• If a hurricane hit an uninhabited desert island it would not be classed as a hazard
• Disaster


  Occurs when a vulnerable population (one that will be significantly disrupted and damaged) is exposed to a hazard
• 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
• Mixture of hazards


  • Tropical storm (hydrological-atmospheric hazard as both of these processes contribute to the hazard)
• 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.
• These are the economic and cultural factors of individual people rather than an entire population's views.
• 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 (e.g. they have the ability to evacuate with transport access, build stronger houses etc.) However, wealthier people 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. Those who are less educated may not understand the full extent of a hazard and may not evacuate etc.
• 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. In contrast, those who believe strongly in environmental conservation may perceive hazards to be a huge risk to the natural environment, especially hazards that are becoming more frequent due to global warming.
• Mobility


  • Those who have limited access to escape a hazard may perceive hazards to be greater threats than they are. Whether they are in a secluded location, or if they are impaired with a disability or illness, those who cannot easily leave an area quickly may feel more at risk.
• Fatalism


  The viewpoint that hazards are uncontrollable natural events, and any losses should be accepted as there is nothing that can be done to stop them.
• Active responses to hazards

  • Prediction
  • Adaptation
  • Mitigation
  • Management
  • Risk sharing
• Prediction uses 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. In some cases, hazards may also be prevented when predicted early enough (e.g. predicting wildfires from climatic red flags).
• Adaptation is attempting to live with hazards by adjusting lifestyle choices so that vulnerability to the hazard is lessened (e.g. earthquake proof houses).
• Mitigation are strategies carried out to lessen the severity of a hazard (e.g. sandbags to offset impact of flooding).
• Management is coordinated strategies to reduce a hazard's effects. This includes prediction, adaptation, mitigation.
• Risk sharing is 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, New Zealand is under threat from earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and weather-related hazards. The cost of these hazards are huge; the Canterbury Earthquake (2010) alone cost the country 20% of it's national GDP. There are now attempts 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. This is not affected by the strength of a hazard, it is just how often a hazard occurs.
• 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. Also, 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 and it is important that this is recognised. The magnitude is usually definable and can be a number - this does not change. Intensity, however, is the effects on the person, and can change dependent on the distance from the hazard or the management strategies combating high magnitude risks.
• 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. Therefore, the effects of a hazardous event is likely to be much more catastrophic in a less economically developed area.
• However, 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. This is especially true in multi-hazard environments where resources are spread thinly over a variety of hazards.
• 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. 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.
• The Park Model


  A graphical representation of human responses to hazards. The model shows the steps carried out in the recovery after a hazard, giving a rough indication of time frame.
• Stages of the Park Model

  • Relief (hours-days)
  • Rehabilitation (days-weeks)
  • Reconstruction (weeks-years)
• The steepness of the curve shows how quickly an area deteriorates and recovers. The depth of the curve shows the scale of the disaster (i.e. lower the curve, lower the quality of life).
• Stages of the Hazard Management Cycle

  • Preparedness
  • Response
  • Recovery
  • Mitigation