Hazards, Disasters and Catastrophes
Hazards of the natural variety have the capability to harm mostly anything man made as well as any humans in their path. Some of these hazards include earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, windstorms and hurricanes. There is no location in the U.S that is hazard free. With that being said, all human life and property is at risk by such hazards.
Disasters are considered hazardous events that happen over a limited time period in a select area. The amount of harm done to human beings in such disasters are generally limited to ten or less deaths and 100 or less people affected/harmed. Depending on the severity of the disaster, the region may declare themselves to be in a state of emergency. When in dire need, the area will request international assistance.
Catastrophes are the most severe of natural disasters. They are the type of destruction that is the most deadly to the human race and human property. Such catastrophic events take up to years to recover due to the mass damage and significant amount of money. For example hurricane Katrina, the worlds most expensive catastrophe in the U.S costing an estimated $100 billion dollars.
What differentiates a disaster from a catastrophe is the amount of damage as well as the amount of people injured. As we touched on earlier, catastrophes are cause more damage in a larger area and injure/kill more victims than a disaster does.
