What a natural hazard is
- A natural hazard is a natural process that could cause death, injury, or damage to property and the environment. When it does cause serious harm, it becomes a natural disaster.
- Tectonic hazards come from movements of the Earth's crust: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Weather hazards come from the atmosphere: tropical storms, droughts, floods, heatwaves and extreme cold.
Hazard risk
- Hazard risk is the probability (chance) that a natural hazard will affect people.
- Population growth puts more people in places at risk. Urbanisation packs people into cities, sometimes built on floodplains or steep slopes.
- Poverty means poorly built homes, fewer warnings and less money to prepare, move away or recover. Farming draws people to risky places with fertile land, such as volcanic slopes and floodplains.
- Climate change may make extreme weather, such as droughts, floods and storms, more frequent or more intense.
Vulnerability
- Vulnerability is how easily people and places are harmed by a hazard. Poorer, older and less prepared people are more vulnerable.
- The same hazard can have very different effects in a rich country and a poor one. Wealth pays for strong buildings, warning systems, emergency services and rebuilding.
Key terms
- Natural hazard
- A natural process that could cause death, injury or damage.
- Natural disaster
- A natural hazard that has caused serious harm to people or property.
- Hazard risk
- The probability that a natural hazard will affect people.
- Vulnerability
- How easily people and places are harmed by a hazard.
- Tectonic hazard
- A hazard caused by movements of the Earth's crust, such as an earthquake.
- Weather hazard
- A hazard caused by the atmosphere, such as a tropical storm or drought.
- Urbanisation
- The growth of the proportion of people living in towns and cities.