Local Hazards

Local hazards can result from natural and human-made factors, or a combination of both. Broadly, there are two types of natural local hazards. Climate and weather-related local hazards are called hydrometeorological hazards: cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes; sea surges, tidal wave, flood (river and coastal), and flash flood; drought and heat/cold waves; thunderstorms and lightening; dust and hail storms; blizzards and fog; and avalanche, landslide, or mudslide. Earth movement-related hazards are called geological hazards: earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruption. Some hydrometeorological local hazards have been attributed to global warming and climate change, and more controversially, to human-induced processes such as greenhouse gas emissions. These hazards are considered human induced natural phenomena.

In contrast to natural local hazards, human-made local hazards can include technological hazards such as transportation accidents such as road and rail accidents, aircraft crashes, and shipwreck; nuclear and space-satellite hazards; and chemical disasters. The other human-made local hazards include environmental hazards, such as industrial oil spills, mining hazards, biological accidents, and pollution and contamination; epidemics/disease outbreaks, such as human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), cholera, measles, plague, and tuberculosis; fire, such as forest fires, bush fires, wildfires, and urban fires; building/bridge collapse; economic disasters; and civil disasters, such as riots, war, cyberattacks, terrorists attacks, and bombings.

Both hydrometeorological and geological local hazards can also be categorized as primary and secondary types. The primary hydrometeorological local hazards include cyclones, floods, and drought; and secondary hydrometeorological local hazards include landslides, blizzards, and lightening. Similarly, the primary geological local hazards include earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and secondary geological local hazards include tsunamis and landslides.

Examples of the worst disasters that occurred in the recent past include the Armero volcanic tragedy in Colombia in 1985; the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Soviet Union, in 1986; the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004; Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005; the [Page 390]Sichuan earthquake in China in 2008; and the bush fires in Victoria, Australia, in 2009. According to the World Disaster Report 2009, published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, over a million people were reported killed and nearly 2.6 billion people were affected globally by disasters in the last decade. The number of people hit by climate-related disasters is projected to rise by 50 percent, to reach around 375 million a year by 2015.