On our planet there are numerous environmental risks that we must take into account since their consequences are quite serious. Its about natural disaster. They are usually events that negatively impact life and human beings in a generalized way and are mainly caused by phenomena that are coming without human intervention. In most cases, the human being has responsibility for the impact of the consequences of bad practices, whether technological or bad planning.
In this article we are going to tell you what natural disasters are, their characteristics, consequences and examples.
What is a natural disaster
Natural disasters are events that occur without human intervention, which have a negative impact on life and human beings. In many cases, humans are responsible for the effects of technical malpractices, negligence, or the consequences of bad plans.
According to the types of natural phenomena causing related disasters, there are many reasons for natural disasters. In general, a natural disaster is caused by climatic phenomena, geomorphological processes, biological factors or spatial phenomena. These phenomena are considered disasters when they reach extreme levels. Natural disasters of climate origin include tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, forest fires, tornadoes, heat waves, and cold waves. On the other hand, we have space disasters that are much less frequent, such as meteorite and asteroid impacts. If you want to learn more about these natural disasters, most devastating natural disasters, you can check out this article about the natural disasters that most affect the world and learn about the characteristics, causes and types of these events.
Key features
A disaster is an event that occurs in a relatively short period of time, is generally unpredictable and has a negative impact on life. Disasters can occur naturally, caused by human factors, or caused by both natural and human factors.
When an event, directly or indirectly, has a negative impact on humanity, it becomes a disaster. When an event occurs without human intervention, it is considered natural in origin. This is an anthropic concept in which humans are located as entities outside of nature. In this way, the human being distinguishes between his actions and the consequences derived from other events in the universe.
Causes
Among the causes that originate these disasters we have the following:
- Climatic causes: They occur with variations in the weather in terms of temperature, precipitation, winds, atmospheric pressure, etc. It is usually these sudden changes in atmospheric variables that cause phenomena such as hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, cold waves, or heat waves. If you want to know more about this topic, you can read about the benefits of hurricanes and its relationship with natural disasters.
- Geomorphological causes: They usually occur when tectonic plate movements and the dynamics of the Earth's crust and mantle cause earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. For more information, see earthquakes and tsunamis.
- Biological causes: Imbalances in ecosystems can lead to the growth of pathogens and their vectors. Thus, the growth of bacteria and viruses can create epidemics or pandemics, as evidenced by several related natural disasters. For a broader perspective, explore drought in Somalia.
- Outer space: Meteorites and asteroids entering the Earth's atmosphere can cause serious damage.
Types of natural disaster
Any phenomenon that affects extreme levels is considered a natural disaster. Let's see what they are:
- Avalanche: it is the fall of a large mass of snow with a steep terrain due to the effect of gravity. If it occurs in areas occupied or traveled by human beings, it can lead to a serious disaster.
- Tropical cycloneHurricanes: These are large, rotating storms. These cyclones are accompanied by heavy rainfall and high-speed winds. The winds can cause unrest at sea, flooding, destroy infrastructure, and can even cause death. To learn more about hurricanes, I invite you to read the article on movies about natural disasters.
- Ground slides: It's a movement similar to an avalanche, but involving land masses on fairly steep slopes. It usually occurs due to intense and prolonged rainfall that saturates the ground with water and causes the landslide. They can also occur due to earthquakes.
- Epidemics and pandemics: Contagious diseases can cause serious problems. Epidemics spread through contagion and can lead to a pandemic.
- Volcanic eruptions: they are massive expulsions of magma, ash and gases that come from the Earth's mantle. The magma drifts into a flow that creeps across the Earth's surface and burns everything in its path.
- Hail: Heavy hailstorms with 5-50mm ice chips can cause significant impact and damage. You can read more about hail measurement.
- Meteorite and comet impacts: they are less frequent but can cause serious damage. The meteorite is a smaller celestial body the size of 50 meters in diameter.
- Forest fires: Most forest fires are caused by humans, although many occur naturally. Extreme drought conditions can cause drier vegetation to spontaneously ignite, starting the fire. In this regard, you can learn more about the damage caused by fires.
- Floods: They are caused by the overflow of large rivers and lakes when there is heavy rainfall. The long slide can destroy infrastructure, sweep away animals and people, uproot trees, etc. If you're looking for a recent case, you can read about floods in Sri Lanka.
- Droughts: It is the absence of rain for a long period of time and the consequent high temperature. Crops are lost, animals die, and humans are forced to leave the area due to hunger and thirst. Cases such as drought in Kenya.
- Earthquakes: They are widely feared for their unpredictability and can have serious consequences. They can collapse structures, cause explosions, break water pipes, dams, and cause other accidents. To learn more about this connection, you can read about .
- Sand and dust storms: They occur in arid and semi-arid areas. Deserts in particular are caused by strong winds that shift sand and form clouds that can cause death to living beings due to suffocation and abrasion.
- Suspended particles- They are caused by the sand and dust storm and can be very troublesome pollutants that cause serious respiratory problems.
- Electric storms: They occur from the accumulation of updrafts of hot and humid air that enters a quite unstable atmosphere. As a result, lightning and lightning are generated accompanied by heavy rain, wind and even hail.
- Tornadoes: it is an extension of cloud that forms a cone of air in revolution. They can destroy infrastructure, damage communication routes and threaten the lives of animals and people.
- Tsunamis: they are also called tidal waves. They are caused by the existence of underwater earthquakes that cause large waves that move at high speed. With impact on the coast they can produce major disasters due to impact and flooding.
- Heat wave: It consists of the regular temperature increase of a region above the average that is normal for this same place and period of the year. Usually well accompanied by droughts.
- Cold wave: It is the opposite of a heat wave and is usually accompanied by bad weather.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about what a natural disaster is and its characteristics.