Hazards, Disasters, Catastrophes, oh my!

Located in the North Atlantic ocean just west of the European continent lies the island of Great Britain. Although the country's history of disasters isn't quite as dramatic as some, Great Britain has still had its share of naturally occurring mishaps over the years, including massive storms, floods and earthquakes.

The natural processes which occur in Britain can be categorized into three groups: Hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. 

A natural hazard can be defined as that which threatens the lives and property of people on a small scale. Natural hazards, such as floods, cyclones and volcanic eruptions only have the potential to become dangerous. When a natural hazard actually causes physical damage to human lives or the environment for a limited amount of time, we call is a natural disaster. When a disaster requires large portions of money and greater amounts of time to heal, we call it a catastrophe.