naturaldisaster

Natural disasters are substantial adverse events resulting from natural processes that cause significant damage, disruption, or loss of life. They are distinct from natural hazards; a hazard becomes a disaster when it overwhelms a community's capacity to cope and recover. Natural disasters arise from weather, climate, geological, or ecological processes and can occur suddenly or gradually.

Major categories include weather- and climate-related events (hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires), geomorphological events (earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, mudslides), and biological events (epidemics linked to environmental changes). The impacts depend on magnitude, duration, vulnerability, exposure, and response capacity, and can include loss of life, injuries, displacement, infrastructure destruction, and economic disruption.

Causes are natural but outcomes are shaped by human factors such as population density, poverty, urban planning, and climate change, which can increase frequency or intensity of some events and the severity of impacts.

Management emphasizes risk reduction: monitoring, early warning, preparedness, resilient infrastructure, land-use planning, and effective emergency response. International frameworks like the Sendai Framework advocate reducing disaster risk through governance, knowledge sharing, and investment in resilience, especially for vulnerable communities. Recovery involves relief, reconstruction, and long-term resilience-building, with emphasis on reducing future risks through improved planning and adaptation.

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