Natural hazard
Topic: Natural Hazards and Disaster Management in India · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Natural Hazards and Disasters: Causes, Consequences and Management"
Meaning
A natural hazard is a part of nature that could harm people or property. Examples are ocean currents, steep and unstable slopes, and very harsh desert or glacial climates. A hazard is only a possible danger. It becomes a disaster when it causes widespread death, damage and disruption that the community cannot handle with its own resources. How much harm a hazard does depends on vulnerability, which means how likely people, buildings and economies are to be harmed.
Example
The steep, unstable slopes of the young Himalaya in Uttarakhand are a natural hazard. When heavy rain made a slope fail at Malpa in Pithoragarh district on 18 August 1998, the hazard became a disaster. About 220 people died, including Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims.
Don't confuse with
- Disaster: a disaster is the actual large-scale damage. A hazard is the possible threat that comes before it.
- Risk: risk joins the two ideas. In simple terms, risk = hazard × exposure × vulnerability ÷ capacity, where capacity is a community's ability to cope.
Related concepts
- Disaster
- Vulnerability
- Classification of natural disasters
- Human-made disasters
- Bhopal gas tragedy
- Biological disasters