Natural Hazards Flashcards
Natural hazard
Natural process which could cause death, injury or disruption to humans.
Destroy property and possessions.
Social impact
The effect of an event on the lives of people or community
Hazard risk
Probability or chance that a natural hazard may take place.
Earthquake
A sudden or violent movement within the earth’s crust followed by a series of shocks.
Plate margins
The border between two tectonic plates.
Volcano
An opening in the earth’s crust from which lava,ash and gases erupt.
Hot spots
Places within the mantle where rocks melt. To regenerate magma
Constructive (transform)
Tectonic plate Martian where rising magma adds new material to plates that are diverging or moving apart.
Destructive
Tectonic plate margin where two plates are converging and oceanic plate is subducted- there could be violent earthquakes and explosive volcanoes.
Conservative
Managing the environment in order to preserve ,protect or restore it.
Primary effects
Initial impacts of a natural event on people and property, caused directly by it, i.e. The buildings collapsing following an earthquake.
Secondary effects
After effects that occur as indirect impacts of a natural event, sometimes on a longer timescale, i.e. Fires due to ruptured gas ,mains ,resulting from the ground shaking
Immediate responses
Reaction of people as the disaster happens and in the immediate aftermath
Long term responses
Later reactions that occur in the weeks ,months and years after the event
Geothermal energy
Energy generated by heat stored deep in the earth
Management strategies
Techniques of controlling, responding to, or dealing with an event.
Monitoring
- Recording physical changes, i.e. Tracking a tropical storm by satellite, to help forecast when and where a natural hazard might strike.
- Using scientific methods to study coastal processes to help inform management options.
Tropical storms
(Hurricane, Cyclone and Typhoon)
An area of low pressure with winds moving in spiral around a calm central point called THE EYE of the storm- winds are powerful and rainfall is heavy.
Flooding
This is due to the vast geographical distribution of river floodplains and low-lying coastal areas. It is difficult to define exactly a flood is. … Coastal surges are often due to storm surges caused by tropical cyclones or tectonically produced tsunamis.
Extreme weather
When a weather event is significantly different from the average of usual weather pattern, and is especially severe or unseasonal
Weather
state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. … Weather refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time.
Climate
the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period
Fossil fuels
A natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms
Carbon sink
natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration
Natural disaster
Natural hazard that has actually happened
Geological hazard
Caused by land and tectonic processes
E.g. Earthquakes and volcanoes
Meteorological hazards
Caused by weather and climate
E.g. Tropical storms and climate change
