Natural Hazards Revision

-A natural hazard is an extreme natural event or process that causes loss of life and/or extreme damage to property and creates severe disruption to human activities

-They include: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, tropical storms, floods, and droughts

-ONLY when an event affects people is it called a NATURAL DISASTER

-The location of a natural hazard varies according to the type of hazard.

-Some natural hazards occur all over the world; for example, floods caused by heavy rainfall.

-Others, are very limited in area, such as landslides and tornadoes. 

-Yet others are related to certain geological or climatic conditions and are concentrated in certain areas; for example earthquakes, avalanches in mountainous areas, or tropical storms 

-How often a natural hazard occurs can depend on location of the hazard; for example, Bangladesh regularly suffers from river flooding as a result of annual heavy rains caused by monsoons.

-Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons only occur during a certain period of the year, when weather conditions are suitable for their formation. 

-A major earthquakes can produce hundreds of aftershocks, some of which can be almost as powerful as the initial ground shaking.

-More damage tends to happen in MEDCs, because they have more infrastructure and existing things which can be damaged.

- 74% of the world total of 89850 people killed on average, each year in hazards, were in Asia

- 10% of deaths occur in Africa

- 44% of earthquakes occur in Asia

- 54% of drought and famine occurs in Africa