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Nature’s fury
What are natural disasters?
Physical events like volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, landslides, floods, and
hurricanes are called natural hazards.
They become disasters when they cause
death or destruction.
What is their impact? A natural disaster is the consequence of a natural
Different natural hazards affect us in hazard, which affects human life and destroys vegetation.
different ways. While some are giant
killers, others damage houses and
property. Earthquakes raze entire cities to the ground; tsunamis kill thousands with lashing
walls of water; avalanches bury people in sheets of snow; and flows of searing lava burn
everything in their path. Extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, and floods can
cause crops to fail and displace people from their homes.
How big is the disaster?
The intensity and magnitude of the natural phenomena determine how big a disaster can
be. For instance, an earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale is considered mild,
while an earthquake of intensity 8.0 is likely
to cause massive destruction. Hurricanes
are rated from 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Did you know?
scale. A Category 5 storm is the deadliest
of all. In the list of deadliest natural
disasters, the top three spots
Big natural disasters occur on a larger scale. They have belong to those that occurred
high intensity and magnitude. in China, with two floods and
one earthquake.
And the winner is...
TICKER Over the past decade, the total number of people affected by natural disasters has tripled
What are natural disasters?
Physical events like volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, landslides, floods, and
hurricanes are called natural hazards.
They become disasters when they cause
death or destruction.
What is their impact? A natural disaster is the consequence of a natural
Different natural hazards affect us in hazard, which affects human life and destroys vegetation.
different ways. While some are giant
killers, others damage houses and
property. Earthquakes raze entire cities to the ground; tsunamis kill thousands with lashing
walls of water; avalanches bury people in sheets of snow; and flows of searing lava burn
everything in their path. Extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, and floods can
cause crops to fail and displace people from their homes.
How big is the disaster?
The intensity and magnitude of the natural phenomena determine how big a disaster can
be. For instance, an earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale is considered mild,
while an earthquake of intensity 8.0 is likely
to cause massive destruction. Hurricanes
are rated from 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Did you know?
scale. A Category 5 storm is the deadliest
of all. In the list of deadliest natural
disasters, the top three spots
Big natural disasters occur on a larger scale. They have belong to those that occurred
high intensity and magnitude. in China, with two floods and
one earthquake.
And the winner is...
TICKER Over the past decade, the total number of people affected by natural disasters has tripled
