NATURAL DISASTERSDEFINITION:

natural disaster

is the consequence of a natural hazard(e.g.volcanic eruption, earthquake, or landslide) which affects human activities. Human vulnerability, exacerbated by the lack of planning or lack of appropriate emergency management, leads to financial, environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends on thecapacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, their resilience.

[1]

Thisunderstanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meetvulnerability".

[2]

A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areaswithout vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The term

natural

hasconsequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasterswithout human involvement

KINDS OF NATURAL DISASTERS :

EarthquakesVolcanoesTornadoes & hurricanesFloods & stormsTsunamis & droughts

Earthquakes

Some of the most significantearthquakesin recent times include:

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The2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the second largest earthquake in recordedhistory, registering a moment magnitude of 9.3. The hugetsunamistriggered bythis earthquake cost the lives of at least 229,000 people.

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The 7.6-7.72005 Kashmir earthquake, which cost 79,000 lives inPakistan.

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The 7.7 magnitude July 2006 Java earthquake,which also triggeredtsunamis.

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ASumatranvillage, devastated by thetsunamithat followed the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

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The 7.8-7.9 May 12,2008 Sichuan earthquakein Sichuan Province, China.Earthquake centered 92 km northwest of Chengdu. Felt as far away as Beijingand Shanghai, where office buildings swayed with the tremor. Death tolls at13,000 as of 0700 UTC May 14, 2008.

Volcanoes

Without doubt, erupting volcanoes are the most awesome andterrifying sights in nature. In fact, their untamed destructivefirepower has shaped and influenced many ancient cultures fromPompeii, to Japan.

Tornadoes

With the amount of media coverage dedicated to American storm-chasers, you'd think the US had the monopoly on these twisters. Itdoesn't. It might come as a shock, but the United Kingdom is actuallythe world's most tornado-prone nation.This fact was calculated by the late Dr Fujita of Chicago University. Hedevised the standard method of measuring tornado intensity. Fujitafigured that since Britain has an average of 33 tornadoes every yearin an area 38 times smaller than the USA, you're twice as likely towitness a tornado here.