System Reliability and Industrial Safety Laboratory
Institute of
Nuclear & Radiological Sciences & Technology, Energy & Safety
National Centre for Scientific
Research «Demokritos»
Natural Disasters
A disaster is a function of the risk process. It results from the combination of hazards, conditions of vulnerability and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce the potential negative consequences of risk. Disasters often refer to natural catastrophic events caused by natural forces, such as earthquakes, floods, large landslides, and spontaneous wild fires. These events normally involve massive destruction of property, eventual loss of human lives, displacement of populations and loss of services and livelihood. The intensity and duration of such phenomena cannot be a priori foreseen.