To what extent is a knowledge of physical processes vital in understanding the occurrence of natural hazards?

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To what extent is a knowledge of physical processes vital in understanding the occurrence of natural hazards?

A natural hazard is defined as a natural event or process which affects people, for example causing injury or loss of life, economic damage, disruption to people’s lives or environmental degradation. Physical processes create, maintain, and modify Earth’s physical features and environments. Because the physical environment is the essential background for all human activity on Earth, it can be argued that a detailed knowledge of physical processes is vital in understanding natural hazards as a whole. Examples of physical processes include plate tectonics, climate and meteorology. When talking about how these physical processes help us to understand the occurrence of natural hazards, we mean not just when and how often they are likely to occur, but also where they are likely to occur – their spatial and temporal occurrences. Such hazards can also be measured in terms of magnitude, which is a measure of the strength of the hazard or of the energy released by it. This term usually refers to earthquakes but can also be used to refer to volcanic and other types of hazards.

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An example of where a knowledge of physical processes has helped to understand when a hazard will occur is Hurricane Katrina, which struck the south coast of the United States at the end of August 2005. Hurricanes are formed by upper air divergence over an ocean whose temperature is over approximately 26C, which explains why they very rarely occur in this country. The occurrence of Hurricane Katrina was predicted for days before it struck America, but hurricanes are generally very difficult to predict as they have a tendency to change course without warning. However, the knowledge of physical processes that ...

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