UNIT 7 (Impact&Management of ND & tectonically active areas)

• Natural hazard


  A natural event that can cause social and economic impacts
• Natural hazards are created by nature while man-made hazards are created by people (radiation leaks, oil spills)
• For an event to qualify as a natural hazard, it must have social and economic impacts
• Most well known natural hazards


  • Climatic (created by the weather AKA atmosphere)
  • Geological (created by processes taking place inside our planet AKA tectonic)
  • Tropical storms
  • Droughts
  • Heatwaves
  • Tornadoes
  • Flooding
  • Wildfires
  • Earthquakes
  • Volcanoes
  • Tsunami
• Geo-physical processes


  • Tectonic: Relating to the structure of the earth and the large-scale processes that happen in the earth's crust
  • Geomorphological: Relating the information of and landforms and features of the earth
  • Atmospheric: Relating to the atmosphere of the earth
  • Biological: Relating to living things
• Deggs disaster model


  Explains what makes communities vulnerable to natural disasters
• Factors that make communities vulnerable


  • Wealth and level of development
  • Time
  • Population
  • Weather and climate
  • Hazard perception
• Wealth and level of development


  Richer countries have better infrastructure, weather monitoring, more money for preparation and rescue teams, so poorer countries will be more vulnerable
• Time


  Time of day, how long it takes to get help, recovery time, how long the disaster lasts
• Population


  Ageing population, uneducated, poor, density of population, increase number of orphans
• Weather and climate


  Blocked routes, heavy rain is dangerous and could lead to other hazards, phone signals will be down
• Hazard perception


  Socioeconomic factors, exposure to mass media and communication tools, experience from past hazardous events
• Hazard event


  Exposure x Sensitivity ± Resilience and coping capacity = Disaster
• Exposure


  The nature of the area in which people live - how hazardous it is
• Sensitivity


  Some groups of people are more at risk than others, for instance the elderly or infants
• Coping capacity


  The resources available to individuals and societies to cope with a threat or resist the impact of a disaster
• Resilience


  The ability of individuals and societies to cope with the sudden impact of disasters and to restore as quickly as possible their ability to function