Hazards

• Hazard


  A potential threat to human life and property caused by an event
• Hazards can be human caused or occur naturally (natural hazards)
• Disaster


  Will only occur when a vulnerable population (one that will be significantly disrupted and damaged) is exposed to a hazard
• Major types of geographical hazard

  • Geophysical
  • Atmospheric
  • Hydrological
• 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)
• 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
• Wealth


  The financial situation of a person will affect how they perceive hazards
• Experience


  Someone who has experienced more hazards may be more likely to understand the full effects of a hazard
• Education


  A person who is more educated about hazards may understand their full effects on people and how devastating they can be
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Incidence


  Frequency of a hazard
• Distribution


  Where hazards occur geographically
• 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
• 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
• The Park Model


  A graphical representation of human responses to hazards, showing the steps carried out in the recovery after a hazard
• The Hazard Management Cycle


  Outlines the stages of responding to events, showing how the same stages take place after every hazard

  
• Stage 3 - Reconstruction

  1. Restoring the area to the same or better quality of life

  2. Area back to normal - ecosystem restored, crops regrown

  3. Infrastructure rebuilt

  4. Mitigation efforts for future event
• Control line


  A model to compare hazards
• An extremely catastrophic hazard


  Would have a steeper curve than the average and would have a slower recovery time than the average
• The Hazard Management Cycle

  1. Preparedness

  2. Response

  3. Recovery

  4. Mitigation

  
• Preparedness


  Being ready for an event to occur (public awareness, education, training)
• Response


  Immediate action taken after event (evacuation, medical assistance, rescue)
• Recovery


  Long-term responses (restoring services, reconstruction)
• Mitigation


  Strategies to lessen effects of another hazard (barriers, warning signals developed, observatories)
• Hazard models are useful, but the unpredictability of hazards makes the models less effective at accurately representing human responses to hazards