Climate scientists Philip Ward, Marleen de Ruiter and Timothy Tiggeloven (Institute for Environmental Studies) worked together with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the International Science Council (ISC) to gain more insight into how different hazards interact and what consequences this can have for society.
As part of the MYRIAD-EU project, Ward, De Ruiter and Tiggeloven wrote a background report describing different types of interactions between hazards. More knowledge about this is important to effectively reduce disaster risks. The contribution to the report can reduce the number of people who are confronted with the negative consequences of these hazards.
Hazard Information Profiles of essential value
So-called interactions are described in the updated Hazard Information Profiles (HIPs). The HIPs are essential for developing disaster risk reduction strategies. They provide consistent definitions and descriptions of the many kinds of hazards that society faces, from things like floods and earthquakes, to health-related threats, all the way to cyber threats. ''Examples include triggering, where rainfall from a tropical storm triggering a landslide. Amplifying, where drought increases the risk of forest fires, or compound, where coastal and river flooding and rainfall occur in the same region at the same time'', Philip Ward explains. The report provides twenty examples of such multi-hazard events from around the world.
Complex interactions are not isolated events
The HIPs highlight how disasters are often the result of complex interactions between these different hazards. This is important to anchor the understanding that hazards are not isolated events. The report increases the understanding that different hazards and impacts are interlinked. This leads to a more integrated approach to planning for natural hazards, which can help to better prepare for future events