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- Title: Natural Hazards – Earth’s Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes, 3rd Edition
- Author: Edward A. Keller, Duane E. Devecchio, Robert H. (CON) Blodgett
- Publisher: Pearson
- Pages: 578
Natural Hazards: Earth Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes, Third Edition is an introductory-level survey intended for university and college courses that are concerned with earth processes that have direct, and often sudden and violent, impacts on human society. The text integrates principles of geology, hydrology, meteorology, climatology, oceanography, soil science, ecology, and solar system stronomy. The book is designed for a course in natural hazards for nonscience majors, and a primary goal of the text is to assist instructors in guiding students who may have little background in science to understand physical earth processes as natural hazards and their consequences to society.
In revising the third edition of this book we take advantage of the greatly expanding amount of information regarding natural hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. Since the second edition was published, many natural disasters and catastrophes have occurred. In 2010 alone, a drought, heat wave, and air pollution from wildfires killed several thousand people in Moscow; a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti killed more than 200,000 people and forced several million more into temporary camps; and flooding in Pakistan killed more than 1500 people and displaced as many as 20 million. Two of these events had a common denominator — the earthquake and flood were catastrophes largely because of human processes interacting with natural processes. In other words they were largely, in terms of lives lost and property dam aged, disasters caused by humans. With proper preparation many fewer lives would have been lost, and damages could have been greatly reduced.
On a global scale, climate change is causing glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost to melt; the atmosphere and oceans to warm; and sea levels to rise more rapidly than originally forecast. These changes are caused in part by human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, which releases vast quantities of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere each day. The interaction between humans and earth processes has never been clearer, nor has the need for understanding these processes as hazards for our economy and society been greater. This edition of Natural Hazards seeks to explain the earth processes that drive hazardous events in an understandable way, illustrate how these processes interact with our civilization, and describe how we can better adjust to their effects.
A central thesis to this text is that we must first understand that earth processes are not, in and of themselves, hazards. Earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and other processes have occurred for millennia, indifferent to the presence of people. Natural processes become hazards when they impact humanity. Ironically, it is human behavior that often causes the interactions with these processes to become disasters or, worse, catastrophes. Most important is the unprecedented increase in human population in the past 50 years linked to poor land-use decisions.
In addition to satisfying a natural curiosity about hazardous events, there are additional benefits to studying natural hazards. An informed citizenry is one of our best guarantees of a prosperous future.Armed with insights into linkages between people and the geologic environment, we will ask better questions and make better choices. On a local level we will be better prepared to make decisions concerning where we live and how best to invest our time and resources. On a national and global level we will be better able to advise our leaders on important issues related to natural hazards that impact our lives.