Hazards

There are many known hazards, including natural, man-made, and intentional. The source of risk is the wide range of hazards that are faced in almost every facet of life. The global society must contend with an array of hazards that may seem limitless, but which is actually limited owing to an individual’s genetics, spatial movements, habits, activities, and geographic locations. Physical location is the primary factor dictating what natural hazards a nation faces. Economic, industrial, and sociopolitical factors dictate hazards of technological and intentional origin. Moreover, with globalization, the speed and ease of international travel, and the emergence of global climate change patterns, every nation is connected to every other nation on the planet. This chapter begins with a short description of the disaster management processes of hazard identification and hazard analysis. Following this is a listing and descriptions of many of the hazards that possess catastrophic potential—in other words, those hazards that are capable of causing a disaster. Awareness of the hazards that affect a nation or region and full understanding of the causes and consequences of that hazard “portfolio” are the first steps in the disaster reduction process known as disaster risk management.