Natural Disasters - Understanding Nature's Hazards

By Author: Leo Nov
Total Articles: 883
Comment this article

Nature is both beautiful and destructive - a clear blue sky turns dark with storm clouds, a soft warm breeze becomes a whirling wind, and the calm ocean can rage and its waters rise to gigantic heights. The powerful forces of nature produce hazards that potentially lead to natural disasters where human lives and properties are put in danger, damaged or lost.
Water-Related Disasters:
The most common water-related natural disaster is flood, which happens when water accumulates and submerges an area. Typically, floods happen when there is heavy rain for a prolonged time and the public sewage system becomes overwhelmed. In other cases, the floodwater comes from storm surges and river overflows. Dam spills and breakage are other causes of flood damage.
Severe flooding can also accompany the worst water-related natural disaster, a tsunami. Tsunamis are like giant ripples of water that get bigger as it reaches land and normally the second wave is bigger than the first one. Tsunamis are triggered by a great disturbance under the sea like an earthquake or volcanic eruption.
Land-Related Disasters:
Land ...
... movement triggers two types of hazards - earthquakes and landslides. Earthquakes are sudden vibrations released with the movement of the earth's tectonic plates. The truth is thousands of earthquakes happen daily but they are too weak to be detected. Earthquakes measuring magnitude 7 on the Richter scale are the ones that cause great damage.
A landslide is the flow of debris down a slope that has become unstable either because of an earthquake, volcanic eruption or heavy rains that has saturated the ground. Landslides can be rapid or slow with either small or large amount of debris. Another land-related natural disaster is a volcanic eruption which can be violent with molten rocks shooting out of the volcano or quiet with only a silent flow of lava that is nonetheless dangerous.
Weather-Related Disasters:
Weather conditions and atmospheric occurrences cause most of the natural disasters that man frequently faces. One of these conditions is a heat wave, which happens when there is prolonged extreme heat and high humidity that can lead to drought and hyperthermia.
Extreme dry conditions in the wilderness can also cause wildfires, another natural disaster that affects extensive areas in many states every year. On the opposite extreme is severe cold weather with heavy snowfall that results to a winter storm, which poses risks of hypothermia and creates problems like road blockage and storm surge.
Atmospheric hazards are some of the most dangerous forces of nature and these include hurricanes, thunderstorms and tornadoes. Hurricanes are massive storms that begin over warm ocean waters and become active as winds and humid air allow it to grow. A storm is classified a hurricane when the wind speed exceeds 74 miles per hour.
Tornadoes, on the other hand, affect a smaller area but they are nonetheless very violent. A tornado begins as a thunderstorm and when warm humid air collides with cold dry air and some winds, a funnel of whirling cloud forms to become a twister or tornado. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm or lightning storm is a weather condition characterized by lightning and thunder with heavy rain and sometimes, hail.
While we cannot control elements of nature nor predict when destructive natural forces will occur, there are ways to make ourselves less vulnerable. Having a basic understanding of different natural hazards is the first step to learning how to prepare for natural disasters in order to reduce their impact.
Leo Nov is an editorial staff member of RestorationSOS.com, a leading service provider for water damage cleanups. To learn more about flood cleanup and water removal services, visit RestorationSOS.com.