Natural Hazards.

To properly understand how hazards may be disasters and vice-versa we need to look further into the classification of hazards.

There are many ways in which hazards are classified; these include:

* Classification by the length, regularity and/or intensity of the hazard. I.e. a short frequent intense hazard or a lengthy spatial drawn-out hazard.

* Classification by the location of the hazard. I.e. a drought in an equatorial country.

* Classification based on damage, in terms of money or loss of life, such as Burton in 1978 who stated that a hazard becomes a disaster when either one hundred lives have been lost or one million USD of damage has been caused by the hazard. This classification has come under fire due to its lack of consideration for the location of the hazard and how that may alter loss of money values and also the importance of life to say a whole village!

However, as a Physical geographer, we need to strive to classify hazards in a more complex, comprehensive and relative way, I believe this is done through the breakdown and comparison of each hazard on a Table as such in fig 21.1 (The Global Casino - Nick Middleton)

This table breaks down the umbrella of HAZARD into two subsections, Geophysical and Biological and then into a further more two subsections.

Under Geophysical is Lithosphere and Hydrosphere and under Biological are Atmosphere and Biosphere.

Under these classifications each hazard can be given its individual "sphere of influence" which can be applied to the umbrella breakdown of HAZARD and therefore shows a comparative, understandable and worthwhile classification of hazards.

The largest sphere of influence belongs to that of 'meteorite' as it may affect any of the geophysical or biological factors. Amongst the smallest are Infestations or fog because there effect is very specialised and specific to one aspect of the Biological or Geophysical breakdown.

This breakdown also helps the understanding of how one may manage, the cause and effect of natural hazards because it allows us to recognise the bases upon which the hazards form.

Taking the example of the hazard of forest fires we can begin to understand how to combat and manage them through the use of fig 21.1. We can see primarily that forest fires have little geophysical bases, except for maybe the influence of the ground upon which the forests stand. However we can see that in terms of atmospheric and biospheric values forest fires may be managed or prevented through knowledge of this.

In terms of the responses that may be made we can further breakdown these factors into individual responses, group responses or society/large group responses.

The responses very much relate to past experience, willingness to respond, awareness and perception of a possible hazard and the possible effect of a hazard upon themselves.

If I were to put this into perspective with the forest fire example it would be as such,

Individual - if your land contained trees or was forest land then your individual response would reflect this and possible evasive/preventive action would be taken.

However if you lived in a city or were not concerned as an individual then your response may be nothing or depending on personal motives, you may decide to help out with donations of labour (preventive or effect management) or donations of money (preventive or to support those whom lost earnings etc...)

Small or specialist groups - if your group is a community or specialist group that may be affected/is concerned by the fire then action such as preventive action or fundraising, even such action as political or international awareness raising may be considered. However if you are a group or community not affected/concerned with the fire then you may decided to do nothing or possibly decided to help with awareness or fundraising issues.

Society - If a society or country's well-being is at stake then they may decide to put into plan heavy duty preventive or effect management in order to prevent or manage with the fire as well as possible. They may also decide to raise international awareness, attempt to gain international AID or even attempt to evacuate inhabitants to neighbouring countries. They may also put into place after measures in order to rebuild the society and/or train the members of the society into more effective prevention or management for future fires.

Usually the measurement of the damage of forest fires is either in terms of how much forest has actually been burnt, loss of lives, loss of infrastructure and also by the cost both to society and to those involved. The damage caused is sometimes looked upon as a positive effect of the fire as it helps people respect and understand nature, provides an opportunity for those involved (from individuals through to societies) to learn how to deal with such disasters and also helps some involve realise what may be achieved when people work together.

I have also included a table that I have adapted from table 21.2 that shows possible adjustments to the hazard of forest fires.