PAGE\*MERGEFORMAT7NaturaldisasterAnaturaldisasterisamajoradverseeventresultingfromnaturalprocessesoforeffectingtheEarth,forexamplefloods,tsunami,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado"\o"Tornado"tornadoes,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane"\o"Hurricane"hurricanesandcyclones,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_eruption"\o"Volcaniceruption"volcaniceruptions,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake"\o"Earthquake"earthquakes,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heatwave"\o"Heatwave"heatwavesandHYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought"\o"Drought"droughts,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_fire"\o"Wildfire"wildfires,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landslide"\o"Landslide"landslides,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard"\o"Blizzard"blizzards,HYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_storm"\o"Icestorm"icestormsandHYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche"\o"Avalanche"avalanches.Anaturaldisastercanincludelossoflife,injury,economicloss,andenvironmentalloss.TheseverityofthelossesdependsontheabilityoftheaffectedpopulationtoresisttheHYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard"\o"Hazard"hazard,alsocalledtheirHYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resilience_(ecology)"\o"Resilience(ecology)"resilience.Thisunderstandingisconcentratedintheformulation:"disastersoccurwhenhazardsmeetHYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulnerability"\o"Vulnerability"vulnerability."Thusaneventwillnotconstituteanaturaldisasterifitoccursinanareawithoutvulnerability,e.g.anearthquakeinanuninhabitedarea.Thetermnaturalhasconsequentlybeendisputedbecausetheeventsarenotpurelynaturalbutresultfrominteractionbetweennaturalforcesandhumanity.Aconcreteexampleofthedivisionbetweenanaturalhazardandanaturaldisasteristhatthe1906SanFranciscoearthquakewasadisaster,whereasearthquakesareahazard.Thisarticlegivesanintroductiontonotablenaturaldisasters,refertotheHYPERLINK"http://en.wikipedia.or