Explain the causes of hydrological hazards.

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Explain the causes of hydrological hazards

By, Satvinder Singh Sandhu

Hydrological hazards are hazards associated with water which has the potential to cause loss of life and possessions whether the threat is direct e.g., death, or indirect threats such as loss of crops leading to famine, but it can be considered that the event is not a hazard if there are no influences on humans. The main hydrological hazards that seem to occur more often are those that provide the most severe effect upon people and because 60% of the world's population live within 60km of the coast, hydrological hazards provide a greater threat than any other hazards. The main hydrological hazards are river and coastal flooding and tsunamis, but other hazards such as tropical cyclones, monsoon s and jökulhlaups are all inter-related.

Flooding of river valleys and coastal areas is the most frequent of natural hazards and is one of the most significant for human activity in terms of deaths, injuries and long term social and economic impacts. The numbers affected can be huge and the geographical area relatively large. Flooding regularly claims over 20,000 lives a year and affects 75 million people globally.