Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Natural Disaster
Contents
1. Geological disasters
2. Hydrological disasters
3. Meteorological disasters
4. Fires
5. Health disasters
6. Space disasters
1. Geological Disasters
1.1 Avalanche
An avalanche (also called a
snowslide or snowslip) is a
sudden, drastic flow of snow
down a slope, occurring when
either natural triggers, such as
loading from new snow or rain, or
artificial triggers, such as
snowmobilers, explosives or
backcountry skiers, overload the
snowpack. The influence of
gravity on the accumulated
weight of newly fallen
uncompacted snow or on thawing
older snow leads to avalanches
which may be triggered by
earthquakes, gunshots and the
movements of animals.
Avalanches are most common
during winter or spring but
glacier movements may cause
ice avalanches during summer.
Avalanches cause loss of life and
1.2 Earthquakes
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in
the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. At the Earth's
surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by vibration,
shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. The
vibrations may vary in magnitude. Earthquakes are caused
mostly by slippage within geological faults, but also by other
events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and
nuclear tests. The underground point of origin of the
earthquake is called the focus. The point directly above the
focus on the surface is called the epicenter. Earthquakes by
themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the
secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapse,
fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes, that are
actually the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be
avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning
and evacuation planning.