Hazards and disasters
- Extreme events are unusual events (from a statistical perspective) that do not necessarily cause harm.
- Hazards are extreme events that cause harm to humans or human infrastructure.
- Disasters are hazards that cause harm in significant amounts and exceed our capability to cope and respond.
Exposure
Exposure to a hazards is the potential of a region to be affected and/or harmed by hazards.
The Aral Sea Crisis (causes)
- Endorheic Lake in Central Asia, between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
- Inflows: the Syr Darya (north) and Amu Darya (south)
- From 1960 to 2014 the sea lost 90% of its water volume
- Causes : the diversion of the inflows' waters for large scale irrigation of cotton by the Soviet Union
- High temperatures resulted in high evaporation (and consequently high salinity levels)
- As there are no outflows, all the pesticides and fertilisers used ended in the Aral Sea
Aral Sea crisis (consequences)
- Loss of biodiversity and shortage of drinking water due to pollution, biological weapons test, low water volume and high salinity.
- Soil degradation (loss of flora, so very little roots to hold the soil together + contaminated/dusty dust blows from the exposed dried lakebed)
- Decreased income and quality of life (decreased fishery, increased morbidity rates, unsuitable conditions for agriculture, shortage of drinking water)