NATURAL AND MANMADE DISASTERS - ACCEPTING AND MANAGING RISKS

The prevention and reduction of risks require understanding, development, and application of engineering solutions. Risk is an important factor in many public policy decisions, insurance policies, and regulatory actions. The risk tolerance of people for various circumstances depends on many factors. The risk of death by natural disasters is relatively small in comparison the various life style related activities and home accidents. However, natural disasters result into significant property damage. Some of the recent natural disasters resulted in significant damage from a cost perspective due to extensive environmental and structural damage. Losses due to disasters are usually measured in dollars for comparison purposes. In most cases there are also significant ecological damages which are difficult to estimate from a cost perspective. Property damages due to disasters can be minimized by careful planning and preparation. However, reducing risks comes at increased cost. What is possible and what is feasible are two different measures that need to be evaluated. The cost of recovery could be significantly reduced if specific disaster planning measures are taken to include land development restrictions in high risk natural disaster areas.