Risk, Hazard, and Disaster

Natural hazard research began as a study of cultural perceptions to extreme naturally occurring events. Since the advent of the study, natural hazard literature has become steeped in terminology that is sometimes confusing to the reader. The concepts of hazard, risk, and disaster are often confused with one another and with the extreme event itself. Although the extreme event is inherent in hazard, risk, and disaster terminology, it is not synonymous with the terminology. The concepts of hazard, risk, and disaster are a function of individual and/or cultural perceptions and what a particular individual and/or culture values. Because extreme naturally occurring events are ubiquitous, the terminology is variable on differing perceptions of the event. 1.