Paper 1- Natural Hazards: definitions, types, factors Flashcards
what makes a natural hazard different to other kinds
the risk is due to naturally occuring processes
Three categories of natural hazards
Geological, climatic, biological
Examples of geological hazards
Earthquakes
Sinkholes
Landslides
Tsunamis
Examples of climatic hazards
Hurricanes
Flooding
Mid-Latitude storms
Droughts
Tornadoes
Examples of biological hazards
Wildfire
Disease
Pests
Why is a natural disaster never completely natural?
Always requires interaction between the environmental process and people
E.g. A volcanic eruption far from human settlement that affects no people is not a natural disaster
How natural disaster vary in how natural they are…
size of a flood can be humanly controlled
What do we mean by risk?
Probability of an event happening and the scale of its possible damage
What determines the risk level in a place?
The distribution of the hazard, the frequency of the hazard, the scale, and can it be predicted
What determines the size of a disaster?
Magnitude of the event and vulnerability of the population
What are some human factors that affect the level of vulnerability?
Pop. density
Supply of reliable resources
Quality of defences e.g. flood barriers
How can “vulnerability” be reduced?
Raise awareness
Through preventative or precautionary actions
Active steps taken to either prevent or predict the hazard
Plans for coping with the impact
