NATURAL HAZARDS AND MITIGATION

NATURAL HAZARDS AND MITIGATION
Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either by rapid or slow onset events which can be geophysical (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic activity), hydrological (avalanches and floods), climatological (extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires), meteorological (cyclones 

What are the causes of natural hazards?
Natural disasters fall into three broad groups: 1. Those caused by movements of the Earth. These occur with the minimum amount of warning and include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.

How can you classify natural hazards?
Natural hazards can be classified into several broad categories: geologicalhazards, hydrological hazards, meteorological hazards, and biological hazards. Geological hazards are hazards driven by geological (i.e., Earth) processes, in particular, plate tectonics. This includes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Hazards generally fall into one of six groups:

• Physical – Slippery floors, objects in walkways, unsafe or misused machinery, excessive noise, poor lighting, fire.

• Chemical – Gases, dusts, fumes, vapours and liquids.

What types of hazards are there?

• biological - bacteria, viruses, insects, plants, birds, animals, and humans, etc.,

• chemical - depends on the physical, chemical and toxic properties of the chemical,

• ergonomic - repetitive movements, improper set up of workstation, etc.,

What is the difference between a 'hazard' and a 'risk'? A hazard is something that can cause harm, e.g. electricity, chemicals, working up a ladder, noise, a keyboard, a bully at work, stress, etc. A risk is the chance, high or low, that anyhazard will actually cause somebody harm

Kashmir Floods

• Year: 2014
• Areas affected: Srinagar, Bandipur, Rajouri etc.
• Death toll: 500 plus

Uttarakhand Flash Floods

• Year 2013
• Areas affected: Gobindghat, Kedar Dome, Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Western Nepal
• Death Toll: 5000 plus

.he Indian Ocean Tsunami

• Year: 2004
• Areas affected: Parts of southern India and Andaman Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka, Indonesia etc.
• Death toll: 2 lakh plus

Gujarat Earthquake

• Year 2001
• Areas affected: Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Kutch, Surat, Surendranagar district, Rajkot district, Jamnagar and Jodia
• Death toll: 20,000 plus

Odisha Super Cyclone

• Year 1999
• Areas affected: The coastal districts of Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Ganjam etc.
• Death toll: 10,000 plus

The Great Famine

• Year: 1876-1878
• Areas affected: Madras, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Bombay
• Death toll: 3 crore

Coringa Cyclone

• Year: 1839
• Areas affected: Coringa district
• Death toll: 3.2 lakh people

Calcutta Cyclone

• Year: 1737
• Areas affected: Low-lying areas of Calcutta
• Death toll: 3 lakh plus

The Bengal Famine

• Year 1770, 1943
• Areas affected: Bengal, Odhisa, Bihar
• Death toll: 1 crore