EARTH270 Midterm: EARTH 270 MIDTERM
9 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Natural hazard - occurrence of a potentially harmful event resulting from the occurrence of extreme natural geologic, climatic, hydrological, or extra-terrestrial processes. Natural disaster - occurs when the occurrence of an extreme natural hazard process results in sudden and substantial losses involving either loss of life and/or economic losses above a defined threshold. Economic losses include direct costs of immediate damage, insured losses, long term costs of disruption, recovery costs, etc. Great natural disasters: events so overwhelming that it requires international assistance for rescue, clear up and reconstruction. Natural hazards are inevitable, but natural disasters are not. Economic losses: direct losses - actual replacement value of damaged/destroyed property/infra. Insured losses - insurance claims paid out to policyholders to cover damage from 1. Indirect losses - additional/downstream costs (e. g. economic disruption, loss of production, rebuilding/recovery) Total losses = (1-2) + 2 + 3. In the past 30 years, there has been a significant increase in direct overall losses and insured losses.
