Natural hazards

• Natural Hazard


  A threat to people or property
• A natural hazard is a natural process which could cause death, injury or disruption to humans, or destroy property and possessions
• Natural Disaster


  A natural hazard that has actually happened
• Extreme events which do not pose any threat to human activity are not counted as hazards
• Main Types of Natural Hazard

  • Geological Hazards
  • Meteorological Hazards
• Geological Hazards


  • Caused by land and tectonic processes
  • Include volcanoes and earthquakes
  • Landslides and avalanches
• Meteorological Hazards


  • Caused by weather and climate
  • Examples include tropical storms
  • Extreme weather like heatwaves and cold spells
• Hazard Risk


  The probability of people being affected by a hazard in a particular area
• Factors that can affect hazard risk

  • Vulnerability
  • Capacity to Cope
  • Nature of Natural Hazards
• Vulnerability


  The more people that are in an area exposed to natural hazards, the greater the probability they will be affected
• An area with high population density on a flood plain (like much of Bangladesh) is very vulnerable to flooding caused by extreme weather
• A city at the base of a volcano (like Naples, Italy) is very vulnerable to volcanic eruptions
• Capacity to Cope


  The better a population can cope with an extreme event, the lower the risk of them being severely affected
• Higher income countries (HIC) are better able to cope with flooding because they can afford to build flood defences and evacuate people
• Risk from Natural Hazards

  Some hazards are greater than others
• Tropical storms can be predicted and monitored, giving people time to evacuate
• Earthquakes happen very suddenly, with no warning, making it much harder to protect people
• Frequency


  Natural hazards that occur more often may carry a higher risk
• Magnitude


  More severe natural hazards tend to have the greatest effects
• A magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 killed over 15,000 people
• A 6.3 magnitude earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009 killed around 300 people
• Another natural hazard is forgetting to wear deodorant for PE
• There is more about natural hazards on the way
• Outline one factor that can affect the risk from natural hazards
• Earthquakes are caused by the shifting of tectonic plates beneath the Earth's surface.
• Hazard is the potential threat to people, property, environment, etc., caused by an event such as an earthquake, volcanic eruption, or hurricane.