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A few weeks ago I was set an essay similar to the title of this post, and through my research for the essay, I came to the conclusion that actually, many reasons behind drastic consequences of earth hazards are caused by human factors, despite it being a NATURAL disaster.
For example, in Venezuela, 1999, a mass movement caused the death of over 50,000 people. Yes, the reasons why the disaster occurred were natural, 914 mm of rain fell over 2 weeks prior to the disaster caused the flash floods and mudslides. However, thousands of people were exposed unnecessarily to the risk of the disaster as homes were built on alluvial fans on the coast - which had formed due to previous floods and mudslides depositing sediment. Despite knowledge of other debris flows, houses were still built in that area, causing thousands of people and buildings to be right in the line of fire. If this had not occurred, then many lives would have been saved and the natural hazard would not have caused such disastrous consequences.
Venezuela debris flow, 1999
Another example is La Conchita, California, where there are constant mudflows, causing damages to buildings and some deaths, yet the locals refuse to move away from the hazard.
Of course, there are many natural hazards where the main consequences are due to physical factors. The Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 main factor was the scale of the disaster and that most of the areas that were affected did not think they would need protection from Tsunamis.
Yet, in many places around the world, people will live knowingly in the risk of earth hazards for simple reasons such as land near a volcano has fertile land, or that floodplains are flat and therefore easy to build on.
A few weeks ago I was set an essay similar to the title of this post, and through my research for the essay, I came to the conclusion that actually, many reasons behind drastic consequences of earth hazards are caused by human factors, despite it being a NATURAL disaster.
For example, in Venezuela, 1999, a mass movement caused the death of over 50,000 people. Yes, the reasons why the disaster occurred were natural, 914 mm of rain fell over 2 weeks prior to the disaster caused the flash floods and mudslides. However, thousands of people were exposed unnecessarily to the risk of the disaster as homes were built on alluvial fans on the coast - which had formed due to previous floods and mudslides depositing sediment. Despite knowledge of other debris flows, houses were still built in that area, causing thousands of people and buildings to be right in the line of fire. If this had not occurred, then many lives would have been saved and the natural hazard would not have caused such disastrous consequences.
Another example is La Conchita, California, where there are constant mudflows, causing damages to buildings and some deaths, yet the locals refuse to move away from the hazard.
Of course, there are many natural hazards where the main consequences are due to physical factors. The Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 main factor was the scale of the disaster and that most of the areas that were affected did not think they would need protection from Tsunamis.
Yet, in many places around the world, people will live knowingly in the risk of earth hazards for simple reasons such as land near a volcano has fertile land, or that floodplains are flat and therefore easy to build on.
