1. Hazard perception and response.
Perception is what we believe or understand about something.
It means not only scanning & perceiving but also correct appraisal and seriousness to avert the danger.
This not only demands situation awareness, but also self-assessment.
At an individual level our perception of risk often fails to match the reality because we receive filter and distort information.
Therefore responses to hazard risks at an individual, community and national level may be significantly influenced by perception.

2. External stimuli & signals
receipt
interpretation
assessment
response
External stimuli & signals I N D V U A L
Operational
environment
Geographical
environment
Behavioural
environment
Perceptual
environment
Increasing distance
& impersonality
THE INDIVIDUAL AND HIS COGNITIVE ENVIRONMENT.

3. Behavioral Environment
The perceived environment; the impression people have of their environment.
Compare, for example, one young person's view of Florida—Disney World—with another's—‘full of old people’—and with its image for the elderly and rich. How you perceive Florida will affect whether you decide to go there.

4. Perceptual Environment
The way in which an individual perceives the environment; the process of evaluating and storing information received about the environment.
It is the perception of the environment which most concerns human geographers.
The nature of such perception includes warm feelings for an environment, an ordering of information, and an understanding, however subjective, of the environment.

5. Operational Environment
An operating environment is the environment in which an individual or a group runs their ideas.
This may not be a complete system as it rests between the operation and application of the ideas.

6. Action
threshold
Awareness
threshold
Intolerance
threshold
ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
Absorb
losses
Search for
effective adjustments
Change use
or location
Accept or
share losses
Absorptive
capacity
Adjustment
necessary
Thresholds of perception and response.

7. Characteristics Acceptance:
Natural events, acts of God, events random & part of everyday life.
Domination:
Hazards predictable through scientific research, controllable with technology.
Adaptation:
hazards influenced by human & natural systems. Magnitude and frequency may be estimated-based on experience & research.

8. Perception & Response Links.
Acceptance.
Do nothing. Accept losses.
Dominance.
The technological fix- building dams, forecasting technology , earthquake proofing etc.
Adaptation.
At traditional level lifestyle may be adapted to environmental risks
e.g. nomadism.
Modern level means changing human behaviour as well as trying to control environment.

9. PREDICTION OF DISASTERS
A prediction  is a statement about the way things will happen in the future.
The more predictable the event, the fewer the loss occurs.
Certain events are known to occur in certain areas.

10. Predicting Catastrophe
Forecasting/Warning
Recurrence Interval
Precursor Events

11. Forecasting/Warning
Based on linear projections of past experiences, forecasts can be made which indicate that a future hazardous event will occur in a certain area within a given span of time with an approximate percentage of probability.

12. Recurrence Interval
Statistical prediction based on past data over a long period.
Defined as the expected time interval between a hazard of a given magnitude.
It is a statistical probability that a natural event of a particular size will happen within a certain period of time.
Attempts to predict when a natural disaster of a given magnitude most likely will occur.

13. Estimations of recurrence intervals are made by plotting a graph of each event size versus the time interval between sequential individual events.
Plotting on a logarithmic scale leads to a st. line graph that can be extrapolated if needed.

15. Precursor Events
Some natural Disasters are directly related to or the direct consequence of another event.
Sometimes major natural disasters are preceded by a series of smaller precursor events which may warn of the impending disaster.

17. ADJUSTMENTS TO HAZARDS
Potential adjustments - the options available are
corrective (or remedial) measures and
preventative measures

18. Corrective measures for
reducing river flood losses include flood control schemes
dams and reservoirs,
channel improvements and
watershed land-use changes etc.,
evacuation, flood forecasting and urban redevelopment.

19. Preventative measures include
Floodplain regulation (such as by zoning land-use),
Tax adjustments and
Flood insurance schemes.

20. Second distinction is between adjusting nature (technological measures) and adjusting people (behavioural or structural measures).

21. (A) Modify the cause of the hazard.
Cloud-seeding can reduce the velocity of hazardous hurricanes and thus influence the location of intense rainstorms.
Orchards can be heated to prevent frost from cold air.
Seismic stresses in some fault zones can be reduced by pumping down a lubricating fluid to prevent high- intensity movements.
Planned land-use changes and integrated watershed management can be used to modify flood hazard potential.

22. (B) Modify vulnerability to the hazard
Engineering measures
Retaining walls to stabilise unstable hillslopes.
Sea-wave barriers to protect threatened coastlines, and
Flood control dams to protect settlements downstream.
Pile foundations and extra reinforcement of walls and floors are common in earthquake-affected cities.
Hazard loss potential can also be reduced through
Early-warning systems,
Emergency evacuation procedures,
Adoption of appropriate building designs and conventions,
Planned land-use changes or
Permanent evacuation of threatened sites.

23. (C) Redistribute the losses
Hazards are common, and loss and damage (to people and property) occurs whether or not it has been possible to minimize vulnerability.
Burdens - particularly to finances, resources and lifestyle - are much more tolerable if they are shared broadly.
Public relief and subsidized insurance schemes seek to spread losses from the people directly involved in a hazard event over a wider group of policy holders and tax payers.
Insurance and reserve fund schemes are also often available - the "pay now, suffer (and be compensated) later" principle. In other cases, responsibility for bearing losses falls on the individual, who may or may not have sufficient reserves to cope with the hazard losses.