Why classify hazards?
Classifying a hazard means that when the risks can be assessed properly. It also means we can
understand how the hazard affects people. Finally, and most importantly, classifying a hazard
aids our understanding of the processes.
In the case of natural hazards, they can be defined using the following
statistics:
- Property damage – must affect more than 20 families or losses must
exceed $50,000.
- Death of more than 10 people and/or more than 50 serious injuries.
- Disruption to social services: communication failure, damage to
infrastructure, severe
stress on police, fire and hospital services.
Geological
Volcano
Drought
Ice/Snow
Anxiety
Earthquake
Blame
Loss of community
Climatic
Hurricanes
Storms
Psycho-social
Occurrence
Deaths
Control
Human input
Classifying
Hazards.
Prediction
Damage
Effects
Long/Short term
Avalanche
Human impact
Geomorphological
/land instability
hazards
Bio-medical
Terrorism
Landslide
War
Hunger
Arson
Rockfall
Longer term
Immediate
Death
Cold