Hazards, general Flashcards
What is a hazard?
A threat which has the potential to cause injury, death, damage to property, socio-economic disruption or environmental degradation.
What is a disaster?
A hazardous event that causes an unacceptable number of deaths or overwhelming property damage.
What’s the UN threshold for a disaster?
10+ deaths
100+ affected
Declaration of ‘state of emergency’ by government
Request for international assistance
What categories do we classify hazards? Give some examples of each.
Tectonic - Earthquake, volcano, tsunami (most).
Atmospheric - Tropical storm, floods, tornado, drought, blizzard.
Mass Movement - Landslide, rock fall, mudflow, tsunami (some), avalanche.
Is the world becoming more hazardous?
No reason to think geophysical hazards are increasing, but there may be more atmospheric or meteorological due to climate change. There may be more hazards as population and infrastructure has grown, and communications have increased.
