The Concept of a Natural Hazard
Classification
Event - no risk to people and property
Hazard - risk to people and/or property
Disaster - affected people and property (10 die, 100 injured, state of emergency, request for aid)
Atmospheric - conditions in the atmosphere cause hazards
Geophysical - ground related processes cause hazards
Hydrological - water related risk (often attached to others)
Factors affecting Natural hazards...
Perception
Severity
Unpredictability of hazards
Natural factors (rock type, shape of coastline)
Multi-hazardous environment
Magnitude of hazard
Frequency of hazard
Population density
Management, prediction, preparation, protection
Education
Time (of day, of week, of month, of year)
Level of development
Lack of alternatives
Changing perception of the level of risk
Cost-benefit analysis
Socio-economic status
Level of education
Occupation/employment status
Family or marital status
Religion and cultural background
Past experience
Personality and values
Characteristic human responses to hazards
Fatalism - ''que sera sera, whatever will be will be''
Fear - leaving an area due to overwhelming stress over a hazard
Domination - mitigating the effect of hazards
Integrated risk management - a regular plan updated according to the socio-economic and political needs of an area to be managed. Nation or regional level cover given to implementing the most suitable strategies to deal with hazards (sort of like an ICZM)
Risk sharing - a form of community preparation where everybody accepts the risk and burdens a part of it so the overall impact is lessened when a hazard occurs. E.g. taking out insurance - some people will never use it, but a few will and these few are protected by the majority community investing together
Monitoring
Prediction
Preparation
Protection
Modelling hazards
The Park Model
Stage 2: event strikes (quick decline)
Stage 3: Immediate response
Stage 1: normality
Stage 4: long term response
Stage 5: return or surpassing of normality
Critique
flexible, but not quantitative. Cannot account for mitigation and adaptation. Difficult to apply to multi-hazardous environments
Disaster response curve (FEMA)
Pre-disaster phase
Immediate response (high media coverage)
Long term response
Post-disaster recovery
Pre-disaster mitigation
Critiques
Implies no improvement (cyclical) or lessening of severity over time. Cannot account for if a phase gets interrupted.