Perception and effects of natural disasters

 Perception of natural hazards and disasters involve intuitive judgments, beliefs, and attitudes adopted by individuals and groups of people about the likelihood and occurrence, and mechanism of development of such phenomenon. The subjective nature of the understanding of natural hazards influences people’s decisions.

Risk perception is influenced by many factors which are firstly related to the nature of the hazard itself and secondly to psychological, social, and cultural components and their mutual interactions. In the case of natural hazards, risk perception analysis has to take into account that they vary immensely from certain events such as flash floods, avalanches, or earthquakes to long-lasting phenomena such as heatwaves and droughts. Most comparative studies focus on human-induced dangers whereas risk perception of natural hazards has been researched less.

Some limitations of human risk perceptions are related to psychological mechanisms. Natural disasters may cause unpleasant feelings of anxiety and lack of sense of security. For this reason, each individual’s emotional and psychological traits have an impact on their perception.

Effects of Natural Disasters

Natural disasters generally affect the physical infrastructural facilities, agricultural productivity, and even lead to loss of life and cause property damage. Various factors influence the effects that are disastrous for a country, like the magnitude of the disaster and geographic location of the affected area and recovery efforts directed towards reducing immediate effects of a disaster. Failure to mitigate various short term economic effects of a disaster affects the long-term economy of the country. The primary effects are direct results of a natural disaster such as collapsed buildings and waste damage. Secondary effects are the result of primary effects. The effect of natural disasters is both short-term including loss of life and damage to property and long-term affecting the economic stability of a region or a country.

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