TYPES OF HAZARD
WORLD AT RISK
What you should
achieve this lesson
• Know some key terms in relation to the topic
• Understand how to classify different hazard types
• Recognise the difference between a natural hazard and
a disaster
Key terms
• With a partner I want you to try to come up with and write
a definition of the following:
• Natural Hazard
• Disaster
• Risk
• Vulnerability
• Hydro-meteorological hazard
• Geophysical hazard
Natural hazard
• A natural hazard is a naturally occurring
process or event which affects people, e.g.
causing loss of life or injury, economic
damage, disruption to people’s lives or
environmental degradation.
• Without people it is just a natural event not a
hazard, it needs the interaction of people to
make it a hazard.
Natural hazard
NO NATURAL HAZARD
Hazardous
geophysical
event e.g.
flood or
earthquake
Vulnerable
population:
susceptible to
human and
economic loss
No interaction of human and
physical systems
Natural hazard
(Dregg’s model)
NATURAL HAZARD
DISASTER
Hazardous
geophysical
event e.g.
flood or
earthquake
Vulnerable
population:
susceptible to
human and
economic loss
Interaction of human and physical
systems
Disaster
• “The realisation of a hazard, although there is
no universally agreed definition of the scale on
which loss has to occur to qualify as a
disaster.”
(Smith 1996)
Risk
• Risk is the exposure of people to a
hazardous event which may present a
potential threat to people or their
possessions, including buildings and
structures.
Vulnerability
• Vulnerability is the degree to which you
are susceptible to physical or emotional
injury or attack
What is the
connection?
GROUP 1
ALL ARE HYDRO-METEROLOGICAL HAZARDS
What is the
connection?
GROUP 2
ALL ARE GEOPHYSICAL HAZARDS
What is the
connection?
GROUP 3
COULD FIT INTO EITHER
Hydro-meteorological
hazard
• Discuss with your partner what you think this means
• Hydro-meteorological Hazard
• Natural processes or phenomena of atmospheric,
hydrological or oceanographic nature, which may
cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social
and economic disruption or environmental
degradation
HYDRO-meteorological
hazards
• Examples:
• Cyclones, droughts, floods, storm surges,
thunder/hailstorms, rain and wind storms, blizzards
and other severe storms; desertification, wildland
fires, temperature extremes, sand or dust storms;
permafrost and snow or ice avalanches.
• Hydrometeorological hazards can be single, sequential
or combined in their origin and effects.
Geophysical hazards
• Discuss with your partner what you think this
means
• Geophysical Hazard
• Natural hazards where the principal causal
agent is geological, geomorphological (e.g.
landslides, tsunamis, volcanoes and
earthquakes). They do not include biological
hazards.
Chronic hazards
• Discuss with your partner what you think this
means
• Chronic Hazard
• A hazard that is long-term and persistent
• Examples:
• El Nino
• Global Warming
What do you think?
Are hazards really
‘natural’?
homework
• Create a mini case study on Hurricane Irene
• Watch the news
• Read the papers
• Look online
• Where and why
• What impacts have there been (short and long term;
local, national, international)
• Cost
• Were any precautionary measures in place