EARTHSC 2GG3 Midterm: Natural Disasters - Midterm Notes
16 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Physical, chemical, and biological ways in which events affect the earth"s surface. Internal processes come from forces within the earth. External processes come from forces on the earth"s surface. Hazard: any source of potential damage, harm, or adverse health effects on something or someone. Probability that a specific damaging event will happen within a particular period of time. Risk: the probability that a person/thing will be damaged, harmed, or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard. There is a 1/10 chance that if you go down this road, you may be struck by a landslide. Risk is a function of 4 factors: hazard, vulnerability, coping capacity, and exposure. Disaster: a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, economic, or environmental losses that exceeds the community"s or society"s ability to cope using its own resources. A disaster occurs when a hazard impacts on vulnerable people.
