Question | Answer |
Hazard | A threat that has the potential to cause loss of life, injury, property damage, socioeconomic disruption or environmental degradation |
Hazard Event | The occurrence of a hazard, the effect of which change demographic, economic and/or environmental conditions |
Disaster | A major hazard event that causes widespread disruption to a community is unable to deal with adequately without outside help. |
The Richter Magnitude Scale | Measures the magnitude of an earthquake according to the amplitude of the waves |
The Marcalli Intensity Scale | Measures the intensity of an earthquake in terms of its impacts and recognizes that magnitude is not the only factor in determining this. |
Saffir-Simpson Scale | Looks at hurricane wind speed mainly to determine hurricane intensity |
Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) | Looks at temperature and precipitation, as well as supply and demand of moisture in soil. Only good for predicting droughts over long periods of time |
Magnitude | Size of the event |
Frequency | How often an event of a certain size occurs |
Duration | The length of time an environmental hazard exists |
Areal Extent | Size of the area covered by the hazard |
Spatial Concentration | Distribution of hazards over spaces; whether they are concentrated in certain areas |
Speed of Onset | Difference between the start of the event and the peak of the event |
Regularity (Temporal Spacing) | Some hazards, such as tropical storms, are regular whereas others are much more random |
Constructive plate margin | a plate boundary where the relative movement of the crustal plates is apart from each other allowing magma to rise from the mantle and solidify to construct new crust |
Destructive Plate Margin | a convergent boundary, also known as a destructive plate boundary, is an actively deforming region where two tectonic plates or fragments of lithosphere move toward one another and collide |
Conservative Plate Margin | a plate boundary where the plates move in opposite directions against each other, sometimes at different speeds, causing friction |
Vulnerability | The conditions that increase the susceptibility of a community to a hazard or to the impacts of a hazard event. |
Fatalistic Approach | People that believe that there is nothing they can do about the hazard, they see a lack of alternatives to their situation and they see it and the potential loss of life inevitable |
Aceptance Approach | People that use the cost-benefit analysis, seeing that the benefits are greater than the risk. E.g California's Silicone Valley |
Adaptation Approach | People that believe they can prevent the damage and leesen vulnerability through prevention, protection and prediction. E.g. Japan and their high tech warning system |
Risk | The probability of a hazard event causing harmful consequences |
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