The difference between hazards, disasters, and catastrophes.

Hello all I seemed to have missed where it said to do this assignment so it is a little late.


By definition:

"A hazard is any natural process that poses a threat to human life or property."

"A disaster is the effect of a hazard on society, usually as an even that occurs over a limited time span in a defined geographic area."

And lastly, "A Catastrophe is a massive disaster, requiring significant expenditure of time and money for recovery."

I would say the differences are pretty clear and lies within the severity of their effects on society. Hazards are your run of the mill things expected in your region like tsunamis, wildfires, storms, droughts etc., disasters are kind of the middle of the road giving us earth quakes floods and hurricanes, and last but definitely not least we have catastrophes giving us the severe versions of all of the above creating the most damage many times resulting in local governments calling for state of emergency like they have for our current wildfires burning in CA.


 Keller, Edward A., and Robert H. Blodgett. "Introduction To Natural Hazards." Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. N. pag. Print.