9.8.3 What are natural hazards? Australia faces natural hazards like droughts, bushfires and floods, often as part of the weather cycle. However, human activities — burning fossil fuels, overgrazing, deforestation and altering waterways — can worsen them. Natural hazards differ from natural disasters: hazards are events that could cause harm, while disasters occur when hazards seriously impact a community. The four main types of natural hazards are: 1. Atmospheric — includes events like cyclones, hailstorms, blizzards and bushfires.
2. Hydrological — includes flooding, wave action and glaciers. 3. Geological — includes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 4. Biological — includes disease epidemics and plagues.
SkillBuilder discussion Concluding and decision-making 1. How can being unprepared turn a hazard into a disaster? 2. What happens to people with vulnerable livelihoods during a disaster? 3. How does being prepared help people recover quickly from a disaster?
FIGURE5 The link between vulnerability and disaster
Unprepared
Vulnerable livelihoods
Destitution/ slow recovery
People
Disaster
Hazard
Secure livelihoods
Coping/ quick recovery
Prepared
Some natural hazards involve both water and weather systems. These are called hydrometeorological hazards , and they include events such as floods, cyclones, and droughts. These hazards sit across the
atmospheric and hydrological categories. Australia’s costliest natural disasters The following are some of Australia’s costliest natural disasters since 1970.
• Floods, Queensland and New South Wales, 2022: 22 deaths, estimated $10 billion cost. • Bushfire, ‘Black Summer’, Australia-wide, 2019–20: 34 deaths, $103 billion cost. • Drought, Australia-wide but mainly in New South Wales, 2018: $12 billion cost. • Floods, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, 2010–11: 35 deaths, 20 000 homes destroyed in Brisbane alone, $5.6 billion cost. • Bushfire, ‘Black Saturday’, Victoria, 2009: 173 deaths, 2029 houses lost, more than $4 billion cost. • Earthquake, Newcastle, 1989: 13 deaths, 50 000 buildings damaged, more than $4 billion cost. • Cyclone, Cyclone Tracy, Darwin, 1974: 65 deaths, 10 800 buildings destroyed, $4.18 billion cost. World’s most deadly recent disasters The following are the world’s most deadliest disasters so far in the twenty-first century: • Earthquake, Haiti, 2010: estimated range 100 000 to 316 000 deaths.
• Tsunami, Indian Ocean, 2004: approximately 230 000 deaths. • Cyclone, Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar, 2008: at least 146 000 deaths. • Earthquake, Sichuan, China, 2008: approximately 87 400 deaths. • Earthquake, Kashmir, Pakistan, 2005: approximately 79 000 deaths. • Earthquake, Türkiye-Syria, 2023 , at least 59 488 deaths.
294 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator