Natural Hazards and Disasters - Introduction Part 1

The study of natural hazards involves understanding their causes, effects, and potential for future occurrences. This includes analyzing historical data, modeling future events, and developing mitigation strategies.

The Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995 highlights the devastating impact of natural disasters. It resulted in significant loss of life, property damage, and economic disruption.

Canada plays a significant role in the field of natural hazards through its research, response efforts, and international collaboration. The course uses Canadian examples to demonstrate the global impact of natural hazards.

Natural hazards present challenges due to their unpredictability and potential for significant damage. Understanding these hazards is crucial for mitigating risks and preparing for future events.

The Kerala landslides in India demonstrate the devastating consequences of natural disasters, especially in vulnerable areas. This event highlights the importance of preparedness and response.

Japan is a seismically active region, experiencing numerous earthquakes. The Japan Earthquake of 2024 reinforces the need for resilient infrastructure and disaster preparedness.

Hurricane Helene in 2024 illustrates the destructive power of tropical cyclones. Its impact on Florida, Cuba, and Mexico highlights the need for disaster preparedness and response.

Natural hazards pose significant threats to life, property, and economies. The case studies discussed in the course demonstrate the importance of understanding these hazards to mitigate risks and build resilience.

Hurricane Milton was a Category 3 hurricane that hit the west coast of Florida in October 2024. It was the second most intense storm in the Gulf of Mexico and caused significant damage.

Super Typhoon Yagi was a powerful storm that affected Southeast Asia and China in August and September 2024. It caused widespread damage and resulted in over 800 deaths.

The Amazon River Basin experienced severe drought in mid-2024, impacting Colombia's hydroelectric power generation. This led to a shift towards fossil fuels for electricity production, impacting Colombia's climate goals.

India experienced record heatwaves in 2024, affecting nearly all days of the year. The extreme heat caused deaths and a water crisis in several regions.

In February 2024, a wildfire swept through central Chile, causing significant damage and resulting in over 130 deaths. The wildfire was exacerbated by dry weather, potentially influenced by El Niño.

Hurricane Helene is a hurricane that occurred in 2024. It hits Florida, and is categorized as a major hurricane.

A flash flood in Làng Nủ hamlet, Vietnam, caused by Typhoon Yagi claimed the lives of 81 people.

The drought in Brazil, which began in 2024, was exceptionally severe and is considered to be the worst since the 1950s.

The Canadian Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) is a program that provides financial assistance to provinces and territories after natural disasters.

The DFAA program is funded by the federal government and helps provinces and territories recover from natural disasters by providing financial assistance.

In 2015, the thresholds for qualifying for DFAA were tripled, meaning provinces and territories need to demonstrate greater damage to receive assistance.

DFAA aims to ensure fairness in how disaster compensation is distributed to provinces and territories, considering factors like the risk of disasters and income levels of residents.

The program is assessed annually and its effectiveness is continuously evaluated to ensure that it is efficient and responds to the evolving needs of provinces and territories.

Despite the prevalence of natural disasters, there has never been a definitive study conducted to understand the full economic impact of these events on Canada.

Floods are the most frequent and costly natural disaster in Canada, and the government believes that flood insurance should be mandatory in all homes.

The government suggests subsidizing flood insurance premiums in high-risk areas to help those in those areas afford the coverage and encourage proactive measures.

A hurricane's speed across the land.

The amount of rain and precipitation a hurricane brings.

The slow pace of a hurricane can lead to prolonged exposure to high winds and rainfall, increasing damage.

Hurricane strength is measured by its wind speed.

Hurricane Helene was particularly destructive due to a combination of factors: high ocean temperatures, high humidity, and slow movement.

The severity of a hurricane's impact is not solely determined by its initial category but also by its enduring effects. A hurricane that weakens from Category 5 to Category 3 can still cause considerable destruction due to persistent high winds and heavy rainfall.

Due to global warming, the intensity of hurricanes is increasing, leading to questions about expanding the current Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale beyond Category 5. The possibility of a Category 6 or even higher hurricanes is being seriously considered due to the increasing energy available to these storms.

Hurricanes can cause significant damage, even after weakening in intensity. A weakened hurricane can still bring heavy rain and strong winds, which can exacerbate the damage already caused by earlier storms.

A phenomenon where extremely strong winds, similar to hurricanes, are concentrated in a very narrow area, causing localized devastation.

Hurricanes are categorized based on wind speed, and planes are flown into them to measure this. However, there is a risk to planes flying into very strong hurricanes, and this is why a Category 6 or higher hurricane has yet to be officially recorded.

Global warming can cause both droughts and floods, which may seem counterintuitive. This is because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall in some regions but also a drier environment in others.

Super typhoons are extremely powerful storms that occur in the Pacific Ocean, often causing devastating damage and loss of life.

Super volcanoes are so powerful that they cannot be measured using traditional volcano strength scales, because the measurement equipment is destroyed.

Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 hurricane, was notable for producing tornadoes as a result of the additional energy brought by global warming. This suggests that global warming could lead to more extreme weather events associated with hurricanes.

The damage caused by natural disasters like hurricanes can be unpredictable. This is because the strength of the winds and the impact of water contribute to varying levels of destruction. For example, a boat landed in a parking lot during Hurricane Milton, seemingly intact despite the force required to move it there.

Super Typhoon Yagi, a powerful storm hitting Southeast Asia and China, triggered landslides, highlighting the interconnectedness of natural hazards. One type of hazard can often lead to the occurrence of another, potentially causing even more damage.

A flood is simply water in an unwanted location: it doesn't necessarily require a massive volume of water.

A flood doesn't have to be a huge volume of water, it can be caused by a variety of events like a sewer backup or a slow avalanche.

Insurance companies often avoid covering natural disasters like floods by claiming they are "acts of God", an unpredictable event beyond their control.

DFAA is a government program that provides financial assistance to provinces and territories after natural disasters, helping them recover from floods, fires, storms, and other events.

The DFAA program is designed to be equitable, meaning it aims to fairly distribute disaster compensation to provinces and territories, considering the likelihood of disasters and the financial needs of residents.

When the atmosphere is saturated with water vapor due to prolonged heat and evaporation, it leads to heavy rainfall and potentially flash floods.

Colombia, a leader in combating climate change, faced a severe drought in 2023, forcing them to rely more on fossil fuels for power generation.

Extreme heat events can be particularly dangerous for very young and very old people.

India, despite its economic advancements, still faces poverty and limited access to resources, making it difficult for many people to cope with extreme heat.

The Indian heatwave in 2024 broke records and led to over 3,000 deaths in the first nine months.

When the atmosphere holds more moisture due to continuous evaporation, a sudden release of this moisture can lead to intense rainfall and floods.

Droughts result from a lack of rainfall, which can be caused by prolonged hot periods that evaporate moisture from the land and atmosphere.

The Amazon River Basin experienced a dramatic drop in reservoir levels due to the drought, leading to a reduction in hydroelectric power generation.

Colombia's dependence on hydroelectric power, which relies on high water levels, made them vulnerable to the effects of the drought.

The drought in the Amazon River Basin led to a significant decrease in water levels, revealing normally submerged land and impacting natural ecosystems.

A natural phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean characterized by warmer than usual surface temperatures. It causes shifts in atmospheric pressure, influencing extreme weather events like droughts and floods, and impacting winter weather conditions in Western Canada.

A cyclical pattern in the Pacific Ocean with cooler than usual surface temperatures. It's the opposite of El Nino and can also influence weather patterns.

A type of fire that spreads rapidly and uncontrollably in urban areas. This is a different and more dangerous challenge than wildfires in forested areas.

The Canadian Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program provides financial support to provinces and territories for recovering from natural disasters.

The rising frequency and intensity of natural disasters can lead to a cascade of events, where one disaster triggers a series of subsequent problems. These are often complex to predict and manage.

The process of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the DFAA program to ensure it responds to the changing needs of provinces and territories post disaster.

The financial assistance provided by DFAA requires provinces and territories to demonstrate a significant level of disaster damage to qualify. This threshold was increased in 2015.

While the DFAA program aims to allocate compensation fairly, there are challenges in ensuring equity, especially considering differences in disaster risk and income levels between various provinces and territories.

The lack of a comprehensive study on the full economic impact of natural disasters in Canada creates a challenge for effective policy decisions.

The government recommends mandatory flood insurance for all homes in Canada due to the high frequency and cost of flood events.