Hydrometeorological hazards

Abstract

Hydrometeorological hazards, mainly floods, storms, and droughts, are the trigger mechanism for most of the “natural” disasters around the world. These events affect hundreds of millions of people and create major economic and social hardships. Scientific research has led to much improved knowledge of these events so they can, with some confidence, be predicted in the short term. With a changing climate, the characteristics of these hazards are changing, mostly in ways to cause more impacts, and these changes raise major scientific challenges that, while being addressed, still need more emphasis. Further, since the disasters result from the impact of a hazard on vulnerable communities and systems, there is a strong need for an integrated approach to understanding and addressing these hazards, vulnerabilities and resultant disasters to reduce the impacts in the future.