Natural Disaster

In the North Indian Ocean Basin, the cyclone season runs from April to December, with peak activity between May and November. Widespread deaths and property destruction are reported every year in exposed coastal states such as Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. India's western coast bordering the more placid Arabian Sea, experiences cyclones only rarely. These mainly strike Gujarat and less frequently Kerala.

The difference between a blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind, not the amount of snow. To be a blizzard, a snowstorm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts that are greater than or equal to 56 km/h (35 mph) with blowing or drifting snow, which reduces visibility to 400 meters or a quarter mile or less and must last for a prolonged period of time, typically three hours or more.

A tropical cyclone is a rapidly-rotating storm system characterised by a low pressure center, strong winds and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water.
The term "cyclone" refers to their cyclonic nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis force.

El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation is a band of anomalously warm ocean water temperatures that occasionally develops off the western coast of South America and can cause climatic changes across the Pacific Ocean.The extremes of this climate pattern's oscillations cause extreme weather (such as floods and droughts) in many regions of the world. Developing countries dependent upon agriculture and fishing, particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean are the most affected.

Ground blizzard refers to a weather condition where loose snow or ice on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. The primary difference between a ground blizzard as opposed to a regular blizzard is that in a ground blizzard, no precipitation is produced at the time, but rather all the precipitation is already present in the form of snow or ice at the surface.

The 2001 Gujarat earthquake occurred on January 26, 2001, India's 51^st Republic Day. The epicentre was about 9 km southwest of the village Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch district of Gujarat, India. The earthquake reached a magnitude of between 7.6 and 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale.

Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. A mid-oceanic ridge, for example: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has examples of volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates pulling apart. The Pacific Ring of Fire has examples of volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together. By contrast, volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past one another.

A whirlpool is a swirling body of water produced by the meeting of opposing currents. The vast majority of whirlpools are not very powerful. More powerful ones are properly termed as maelstroms. The most powerful whirlpools are created in narrow, shallow straits with fast flowing water.

Large eruptions can affect temperature as ash and droplets of sulphuric acid obscure the sun and cool the earth's lower atmosphere or troposphere. However, they also absorb heat radiated up from the earth, thereby warming the stratosphere. Historically, so called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines.
Barren Island is located in the Andaman Sea, one of the most easterly of the Andaman Islands. It is the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia.

After initiation, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they entrain more snow. Avalanches are not rare or random events and are endemic to any mountain range that accumulates a standing snowpack. Avalanches are most common during winter or spring but glacier movements may cause ice and snow avalanches at any time of the year. In mountainous terrain, avalanches are among the most serious objective natural hazards affecting life and property, with their destructive capability resulting from their potential to carry enormous mass of snow at high speed.

The Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS) or the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS) classifies hurricanes, i.e. Western Hemisphere tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms, into five categories distinguished by the intensities of their sustained winds.

The United Nations General Assembly designated the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Its basic objective was to decrease the loss of life, property destruction, and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, droughts, locust infestations and other disasters of natural origin.

A 'Lahar' is a type of natural disaster closely related to a volcanic eruption.

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction is a United Nations conference bringing together government officials, non-governmental experts and other specialists from around the world to discuss the growing trend of people affected by natural disasters. WCDR conference was held in Kobe, Japan from January 18–22, 2005. This conference took on particular poignancy coming almost 10 years to the day after the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe and less than a month after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.
Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane over the warm Gulf water, but weakened before making its second landfall.