Differences Between Hazards, Disasters and Catastrophes

A hazard can be considered natural like, a tornado, a earthquake, a tsunamis or a wild fire that can turn disastrous. These are events that happen in nature and can harm human life if their paths cross each other. A disaster is an event that completely disrupts communities and brings on economical and environmental aftereffects because of natural hazards. For example, recently on January 22, 2017, 62 tornadoes touched down from Texas to Georgia killing 19 people and a state of emergency has been issued throughout. Hurricane Katrina is considered the largest financial catastrophe in the U.S. causing at least $100 billion in damages and an estimated 1,800 fatalities. A catastrophe is is a disaster so large that maintenance can cost billions of dollars and years of recovery. The differences between disasters and catastrophes may be in scale, but learning to respect nature and its hazards is best for preparing for the worst outcomes.