Key Terms:
Hazard
Risk – The probability or likelihood of a hazard occurring.
Disaster
– A hazard becoming reality in an event that causes death and
damage to goods/property and the environment.
Vulnerability
– How easily and badly a place or people are affected
Resilience
– How quickly and well a place or society can recover.
Degg’s
Model:
- A Swiss insurance company described a disaster as “an event in which 20 or more people have died or US$16 million value has been lost”.
Why
Do Risks Vary So Much?
- Unpredictability of hazards
- Lack of alternatives
- Locations vary so much
- Changes through time.
Hazard
Risk Equation:
- Risk = Hazard x Exposure X Vulnerability
Management:
- Natural hazards like volcanoes and earthquakes have a higher risk of becoming a natural disaster in poorer places where the vulnerability of the country is high and communities that are exposure which management strategies therefore low resilience.
Summary:
- Risk depends on the factors like locations, such as: Physical geography, development level
- Countries on or near plate boundaries are most at risk
- MEDC’s have high resilience, less vulnerable and have lower risk but disasters still occur in MEDC’s
- LEDC’s have low capacity to cope, more vulnerable and are more at risk from impacts.