Natural hazards and risk: The human perspective

Abstract

More and more people worldwide are living in areas at risk from the impact of natural hazards (Dilley et al., 2005). The most publicised events are rapid-onset, high-impact hydrometeorological and geophysical events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, wildfires, tsunamis and landslides. These are often catastrophic and attract global attention (e.g. the Asian tsunami in December 2004). However, hazards also take the form of slow-onset and chronic events, such as drought, heat waves, coastal erosion and other such threats brought about by climate variability and changing landscapes. Ideally, people would not live in areas at high risk of natural hazards. However, a variety of factors, including socio-economic, political, cultural and personal, drive populations to continue to live or even migrate to these areas. It is human factors that are of interest here, with a specific focus on psychological aspects. We seek in this chapter to address the question of why people place their lives at risk by continuing to live in areas of high hazard. In doing so, we will review some relevant bodies of both theoretical and applied literature, as well as utilising illustrative examples of hazard-related behaviours in order to build a better understanding of such behaviours. We go on to offer suggestions as to the direction of future research and possible applications for the reviewed material, which may be of use to practitioners as well as researchers working in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR). We start by looking at some areas within psychology that may help us to make sense of some of the choices made by those living at risk.