Test yourself on Natural Hazards Overview with exam style questions, marked instantly.
Flashcards that come back just before you would forget them.
A revision plan that remembers what you know and shows what to do next.
See which topics you have nailed and which need another look.
Quiz yourself on Natural Hazards OverviewGet your flashcardsBuild my revision planTrack my progress🛡️ Hazard Management: Reducing Risk Before and After
Understanding why disasters happen is only useful if it leads to action. Geographers and policymakers use several frameworks to think about managing hazard risk. The core principle is that investing in preparedness before a disaster costs far less than responding to a disaster after it strikes. The World Bank estimates that every $1 spent on disaster risk reduction saves $6 in post-disaster recovery costs.
The 4 Cs Framework
Educating communities about hazard risks; running regular evacuation drills; community early-warning systems (e.g. local sirens, mobile phone alert networks); community hazard mapping. Example: Japan's annual earthquake drills on 1 September (the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake).
Enforcing building codes that require structures to withstand expected hazard forces; retrofitting existing buildings (especially in earthquake zones); designing infrastructure like roads, bridges and hospitals to remain functional after a hazard event. Example: Chile's strict seismic building codes, credited with saving thousands of lives in 2010.
Developing and regularly updating emergency response plans; designating and stocking evacuation centres; establishing clear chains of command; pre-positioning emergency supplies in strategic locations. Example: Bangladesh's Cyclone Preparedness Programme maintains over 78,000 trained volunteers who evacuate coastal communities before cyclones strike.
Addressing the root drivers of increasing hazard risk — reducing greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change; restoring natural defences like mangrove forests and wetlands; designing cities to cope with more intense rainfall and heat events. Example: the Netherlands' Delta Programme, which is rebuilding coastal and river flood defences to cope with projected sea level rise.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030)
The Sendai Framework is the international agreement adopted by UN member states in 2015 to guide global disaster risk reduction. It replaced the earlier Hyogo Framework and runs until 2030. It has four priority areas and seven specific targets, including:
- Priority 1: Understanding disaster risk — investing in research, data collection, and knowledge-sharing about hazard patterns
- Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk governance — improving national laws, institutions, and policies on DRR
- Priority 3: Investing in DRR for resilience — funding hazard-resistant infrastructure, early warning systems, and livelihood diversification away from hazardous areas
- Priority 4: Enhancing disaster preparedness — improving response capabilities and "Build Back Better" approaches to post-disaster reconstruction
- Target A: Substantially reduce global disaster mortality by 2030
- Target B: Substantially reduce the number of affected people worldwide by 2030
- Target G: Substantially increase the availability and access to multi-hazard early warning systems by 2030
The Sendai Framework is significant because it shifts the emphasis from disaster response (acting after events strike) to disaster risk reduction (reducing vulnerability before events occur). This represents a fundamental change in how the international community approaches the hazard-disaster relationship.
Quick Check: Explain the difference between a natural hazard and a natural disaster, using a named example to support your answer.
A natural hazard is a naturally occurring physical event that poses a threat to people, property, or livelihoods. A natural disaster occurs when that hazard causes significant damage, loss of life, or disruption beyond a community's ability to cope without external help. The distinction is that hazard describes the potential threat; disaster describes what happens when that threat meets a vulnerable human population. Example: the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in Iceland (2010) was a natural hazard — it disrupted European air travel for weeks — but it was not a disaster in Iceland because the lava flows were in an unpopulated area and no one was killed. Had the same eruption occurred near Reykjavik, it would have constituted a disaster. The conversion of hazard to disaster depends on vulnerability and coping capacity, not just the physical size of the event.
Make this stick
Signing in gives access to all PrepWise features.