Coastal Hazards and Risk

The chapter gives the background to and evidence for the causes and consequences of natural and anthropogenic hazards on the coast, including transitional waters, and links these to disasters (for society). It takes the view that hazard is the potential that there will be damage to the natural or human system and so it is the product of an event which could occur multiplied by the probability of it occurring. The degree of risk then relates to the amount of assets, natural or societal, which are likely to be affected. The review considers there to be 12 types of hazard for the natural system and for the social system and so it introduces the topic with definitions (and perceptions) of hazard, disaster and risk and then gives examples of the types of hazards and disasters and where they occur