Explain the increasing frequency of Hydro-meteorological Hazards.

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B. Explain the increasing frequency of Hydro-meteorological Hazards.

        Hydro-Meteorological hazards result from atmospheric or hydrological processes; they are caused by the movement of water in some shape or form, and by weather patterns. Examples can include floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, blizzards and more. They are natural hazards, which mean they can rarely be predicted, and they also not be controlled or stopped by humans, this can result in more severe damage.

By the year 2100, the global mean temperature is expected to have risen from 2.5F to 10.4F (1.4-5.8C) since 1900. This is mainly due to global warming, and the increasing pressure the human race is placing on our planet. One major consequence of this rise in temperature is a rise in erratic weather patterns, which appears to have already begun.

        There is no official data for the total death toll related to natural hazards from all over the world, only for those events, which are large enough, and reach the destruction scale of a ‘disaster’.  Total death tolls vary from year to year, there is an average of fewer that 100,000 deaths recorded, this is 30 times fewer than the total number of people who die from HIV or AIDS, and also 50 times less than the number of smoking-related deaths, however, it has to be taken into account that, this total figure is only taken from the Natural hazards, which are classed as ‘disasters’.

        Floods happen when prolonged rain, intense storms, or meting snow release more water than rivers or land can contain, without causing damage, as a result they over-flow their banks, usually into low lying surrounding areas. More than one third of deaths caused by natural disasters are from serious cases of flooding. Some areas are more prone to flooding than others. For example; melt waters that originate in the mountainous regions of its neighbours India and Nepal regularly inundate the relatively low-lying nation of Bangladesh. Of all the natural disasters, floods are most frequent and are by far the worst in terms of total amount of lives they claim, injuries they cause, and also the high amount of property damage. There can be different types of floods, which begin in different ways, a flash flood occurs when rain is very heavy and rivers break their banks, or sewers quickly become overwhelmed, they often create a sudden and unexpected flow of water. More wide spread devastation is caused by broad scale floods, in which water builds up over a series of weeks. An example of this is in Quindici, Italy, May of the year 1998, two days of torrential rain caused the local rivers to burst their banks, the flood left 3,000 people homeless and around 50 people dead. Floods not only cause damage through their water flow, but also by mud deposits and landslides. High levels of precipitation affects soil on steep hills and mountains, as it irrigates down and loosens up everything which is holding it together, as when water and mud mix on the hillside, gravity pulls the heavy mud, and anything else with it downwards. An example of this happening is in Scarborough, 1993, a hotel on the coastal resort collapsed, as the ground beneath it was turned into mud. Global warming does not affect the total amount of rain falling on earth, but it can have huge impacts on local climates by exaggerating pre-industrial patterns of rainfall. Climate change can be the reason floods occur, yet there is no conclusive evidence for this.

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        Hurricanes form over warm, tropical seas where the temperature is higher than 26C, as they form over the warm, moist air; energy is generated from the rapidly evaporated water. The warm air expands and rises, creating an area of low pressure as the rising air cools and water vapour condenses, huge amounts of heat is produced, this provides enough energy to drive the storm. A hurricanes lifespan is about 7-14 days; however it only stays in any certain place for a few hours. The central part of the hurricane is the eye, it is 30-50km across, and is produced by ...

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This answer includes some of the key ideas which should be discussed in response to the question. However, it could be significantly improved by focusing more on frequency, including providing some data on this. It contains lots of unnecessary detail about hazards such as hurricanes. It could also mention the idea that hazards always have a human element - and as there are more people and more human activity on the planet, it is likely that the same number of hazard events will actually have a bigger impact as there are more people to be affected in more places. This might explain some of the apparent increase in frequency.