Natural Hazards Key Terms

Question 1

What does LIC stand for?

Answer 1

Low income country

Question 2

What does HIC stand for?

Answer 2

High Income Country

Question 3

Hazard Risk

Answer 3

The Probability or chance that a natural hazard takes place.

Question 4

Natural hazard

Answer 4

a natural event ( for example an earthquake, volcanic eruption, tropical storm, flood. ) that threatens people or has potential to cause damage, destruction and death.

Question 5

Conservative plate margins

Answer 5

Tectonic plate margin where two tectonic plates slide past each over

Question 6

Constructive plate margins

Answer 6

tectonic plate margin where rising magma adds new material to plates that are diverging or moving apart

Question 7

Destructive plate margins

Answer 7

Tectonic plate margin where two plates are converging or coming together and oceanic plate subducted. It can be associated with violent earthquake and explosive volcanoes.

Question 8

Earthquake

Answer 8

A sudden or violent movement within the Earth’s crust followed by a series of shocks

Question 9

Economic impact

Answer 9

the effect of an event on the wealth of an area or community

Question 10

Environmental impact

Answer 10

the effect of an event on the landscape and ecology of the surrounding area.

Question 11

Extreme weather

Answer 11

this is when a weather event is significantly different from average or usual weather pattern, and is especially severe or unseasonable. This may take place over one day or a period of time. A severe snow blizzard or heat wave are two examples of extreme weather in the UK.

Question 12

Global atmospheric circulation

Answer 12

the worldwide system of the winds, which transports, heat from tropical to polar latitudes. In each hemisphere, air also circulates through the entire depth of the troposphere which extends up to 15 km

Question 13

Immediate responses

Answer 13

the reaction of people as the disaster happens and in the immediate aftermath.

Question 14

Long Term response

Answer 14

later reactions that occur in weeks, months and years after an event

Question 15

Management strategies

Answer 15

Techniques of controlling, responding to, or dealing with an event

Question 16

monitoring

Answer 16

Recording physical changes, such as tracking a tropical storm by satellite, to help forecast when and were a natural hazard might strike

Question 17

planning

Answer 17

Actions taken to enable communities to respond to, and recover from, natural disasters, through measures such as emergency evacuation plans, information management, communications and warning systems

Question 18

Prediction

Answer 18

Attempts to forecast when and where a natural hazard will strike, based on current knowledge. This can be done to some extent for tropical storms ( and volcanic eruptions, but less reliably for earthquakes )

Question 19

Primary Effects

Answer 19

Initial impact of natural event on people and property, caused directly by it, for instance buildings being partially or wholly destroyed by a tropical storm

Question 20

Protection

Answer 20

Actions taken before a hazard strikes to reduce its impact, such as educating people or improving buildings design

Question 21

Secondary effects

Answer 21

The after-effects that occur as indirect impacts of a natural event, sometimes on a longer timescale, for instance impact on access to potable water can lead to the spread of disease

Question 22

Social impact

Answer 22

The effect of an event on the lives of people or community

Question 23

Tropical storm

Answer 23

An area of low pressure with winds moving in a spiral around the calm central point called the eye of the storm. Winds are powerful and rainfall is heavy

Question 24

Adaptation

Answer 24

Actions taken to adjust to natural events such as climate change, to reduce potential damage, limit the impact, take advantage of opportunities, or cope with the consequences

Question 25

Climate Change

Answer 25

A long term change in the Earth’s climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric

Question 26

Mitigation

Answer 26

Action taken reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazard, such as building earthquake -proof buildings or making international agreements about carbon reduction targets

Question 27

Orbital changes

Answer 27

Changes in the pathway of the Earth around the sun

Question 28

Quaternary Period

Answer 28

The period of geological time from about 2.6 million years ago to the present. It is characterized by the appearance and development of humans and includes the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs.