How Serious Are Natural Hazards?
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 1.1.6
How Serious Are Natural Hazards?
Some natural hazards can be very serious and threaten lots of people's lives. Some are less serious. 3 main factors affect how bad a natural hazard is:
Predictability
- Some hazards are more predictable.
- E.g. earthquakes are less predictable than tropical storms, so governments often can't prepare and evacuate the population.
- In the 2020 Australia bushfires, forecasting the spread of the fires can allow the government to evacuate the population.
Frequency
- The frequency is how often something happens.
- If a volcano erupted violently every day, that would be worse than a volcano that erupted once every 500 years.
Magnitude (size)
- Magnitude is another word for size.
- A volcano erupting violently is worse than one that erupts mildly.
- Some hazards do more damage and injure more people than others.
Test yourself on How Serious Are Natural Hazards?
What factors affect the severity of natural hazards?
Which of the following does NOT affect how bad a natural hazard is?