There is no such thing as a 'natural disaster'
This may be a strange thing to say after the recent devastating landslide in the Meeriyabedde Tea Plantation in Koslanda that occupied our thoughts in the last couple of weeks, but there is no such thing as a ‘natural’ disaster. What we have are natural hazards. The disaster that follows a natural hazard, whether it is a tsunami, earthquake, flood, drought, cyclone or landslide depends on how much impact the hazard has on people, assets and the environment. The numbers of people and assets that are damaged by the occurrence of the natural hazard turns the event into a disaster. The damage of course is largely dependent on the choices we make about how we use our land, how we build our buildings, what kind of government we have, and how our financial system works. Disaster risk is seen as the frequency and severity of the hazard, the numbers of people and assets exposed to the hazard and ...