In hazard and disaster research, the terms hazard and disaster are not interchangeable. A hazard is understood as a potentially harmful event or physical phenomenon — such as an earthquake, hurricane or heat wave — that has the capacity to cause damage. A disaster, by contrast, occurs only when that hazard intersects with vulnerable human populations, infrastructure or systems in ways that overwhelm their ability to cope. Put simply, disasters are not “natural” in and of themselves; they result from the interaction of hazards with the social, political and economic conditions that determine who and what is at risk.
