NATURAL DISASTERS

DEFINITION:

A natural disaster is the consequence of a natural hazard (e.g. volcanic eruption,

earthquake, or landslide) which affects human activities. Human vulnerability,
exacerbated by the lack of planning or lack of appropriate emergency management,
leads to financial, environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the
capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, their resilience.[1] This
understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet
vulnerability".[2] A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areas
without vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The term natural has
consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasters
without human involvement

KINDS OF NATURAL DISASTERS:

Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Tornadoes & hurricanes
Floods & storms
Tsunamis & droughts

Earthquakes

Some of the most significant earthquakes in recent times include:

• The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the second largest earthquake in recorded
history, registering a moment magnitude of 9.3. The huge tsunamis triggered by
this earthquake cost the lives of at least 229,000 people.
• The 7.6-7.7 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which cost 79,000 lives in Pakistan.
• The 7.7 magnitude July 2006 Java earthquake, which also triggered tsunamis.
• A Sumatran village, devastated by the tsunami that followed the 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake
• The 7.8-7.9 May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, China.
Earthquake centered 92 km northwest of Chengdu. Felt as far away as Beijing
and Shanghai, where office buildings swayed with the tremor. Death tolls at
13,000 as of 0700 UTC May 14, 2008.
Volcanoes

Without doubt, erupting volcanoes are the most awesome and

terrifying sights in nature. In fact, their untamed destructive
firepower has shaped and influenced many ancient cultures from
Pompeii, to Japan.

Tornadoes
With the amount of media coverage dedicated to American storm-
chasers, you'd think the US had the monopoly on these twisters. It
doesn't. It might come as a shock, but the United Kingdom is actually
the world's most tornado-prone nation.

This fact was calculated by the late Dr Fujita of Chicago University. He

devised the standard method of measuring tornado intensity. Fujita
figured that since Britain has an average of 33 tornadoes every year
in an area 38 times smaller than the USA, you're twice as likely to
witness a tornado here.
Floods
Floods can be deadly - particularly when they arrive without warning.
Since 1998, more than 30 people have died as a direct result of
flooding in Britain alone. Actually, it takes less rain than you'd think to
cloud your day.

A mere four inches of water will ruin your carpet. Six inches of fast
flowing water can knock you off your feet, and two feet of flood water
will float your car. But where does it all come from?