Introduction to Natural Disasters

Geography: Edexcel A Level, topic 1.2.1

Introduction to Disasters

Hazards and disasters are not the same thing. Risk, vulnerability and resilience of places all play a part in making a hazard into a disaster.

A disaster is when a hazard has a significant impact on people.
I.e. It is the consequence of a hazard happening.
If the damage caused by a hazard exceeds a threshold level, we say that a disaster has happened.

Risk is the probability of a hazard happening and creating a loss of lives and/or livelihoods.
Vulnerability describes the risk of exposure to hazards combined with an inability to cope with them.
Resilience is the degree to which a population or environment can absorb a hazardous event and stay organised and functioning.
I.e. A population or environment's ability to cope with stress and recover.

The hazard risk equation works out how likely it is for a hazard to dramatically affect a place.

Some communities have a high resilience. Features that increase a population's ability to cope include:
Having emergency evacuation, rescue and relief systems in place.
Helping each other to reduce the numbers affected.
Having a hazard-resistant design or land-use planning to reduce the numbers at risk.

The Pressure and Release (PAR) model shows the connections between the nature of a hazard and its wider context.

The PAR says that risk is a function of vulnerability and the nature of the hazard.
The socio-economic context is important. This includes the political system, income levels, economic strength, levels of education, population change and levels of investment.
The nature of the hazard is also key – i.e. whether it is a volcano, earthquake, storm or landslide.
Everything is dynamic (always changing) and so the safety of the people is difficult to manage.

What is the word for the probability of a hazard happening and creating a loss of lives and/or livelihoods?
Risk = (hazard × vulnerability) ÷ capacity to cope
What is the name of this equation?
What does the PAR model stand for?
Which of the following are features of the 'vulnerability' part of the PAR model?