Our living earth:

Natural Hazards - from the natural phenomena to disaster. Vulnerabilities, risk management and crisis

Earth is a “living” planet where natural phenomena occur that can lead to disorders on the society level and which become disasters when they lead to human losses or loss of their means to subsist.

Manhood is every day, more and more subject to natural hazards that, by their magnitude and intensity, often commit, the balance between natural and social environments.

Natural phenomena, such as floods, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, tsunamis, geomorphologic accidents, storms, cyclones and hurricanes, waves of cold and heat, only reach the scale of disaster or natural catastrophe when they cause significant injuries in societies affected by them.

In addition to human losses, may also occur drastic changes in the routine of people due to the economic destruction of the various communities.

Virtually no community can be considered immune to the threat of natural hazards.

These threats are aggravated or accelerated by human action: the growing settlement of people in areas of potential risk (demographic pressure), the wrongful use of land, weak environmental management and absence or ineffectiveness of regulatory mechanisms of human activities can lead to ruptures in societies, increasingly complex and artificial.

The same type of phenomena may occur with equal intensity in society and distinct places, causing serious damages in some and not affecting others. This question refers to the idea of vulnerability.

The vulnerability of people reflects the existence of socio-economic differences within the society or distinct degrees of preparation between different societies translated in term of housing conditions and unequal access to health services and education, information and culture.

The different levels of development between regions also reflect different degrees of vulnerability.
The exposure of society to the seismic risk is higher in India than in Japan.

The major fundamental differences they pass, by the different perception of risk and in case of less developed countries, for an intense urban growth and in the margin of adequate planning, which integrates sustainability concepts, environmental and life quality and welfare.