Geography · Environmental Studies

Natural Hazards and Disasters

1,386 Questions

Natural hazards and disasters involve the study of extreme natural events like earthquakes, floods, and cyclones, alongside their management and mitigation strategies. This geography and environmental studies topic is heavily tested in civil services and state public service examinations. Use these questions to prepare for inquiries on disaster response, community recovery, and tremor causes.

Earthquake and tremor causesDisaster management activitiesFlood management mythsCyclone and severe weatherPost-disaster health problemsCommunity disaster response

Natural Hazards and Disasters Questions

Multiple choice

Earthquake is an example of

  1. catastrophic risk

  2. dynamic risk

  3. marginal risk

  4. speculative risk
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Catastrophic risk is the one where a large number of people are exposed to the risk of a large loss by reason of the occurrence of a peril. It could be a natural calamity in the form of earthquakes, floods, droughts or even terrorist attack resulting in loss of life, destruction of infrastructure on a large scale.

Multiple choice

Which among the following documents is most likely to be requested while examining a cyclone damage claim?

  1. Coroners report

  2. Report from Fire Brigade

  3. Police report

  4. Report from Meteorological Department
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In addition to the claim form, certain documents are required to be submitted by the claimant or secured by the insurers to substantiate the claim. For cyclone damage, a report from the Meteorological office may be called for. 

Multiple choice

Directions: In each question, the word at the top is used in four different ways, numbered 1 to 4. Choose the option in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.

ACT

  1. Accidents caused by tornadoes, perils of the sea, extraordinary floods, and severe ice storms are usually considered acts of God, but fires are not so considered unless they are caused by lightning.

  2. But then I would rather be truthful than to put an act on all the time.

  3. The governor should act on the new energy bill.

  4. The veteran artist was asked to get his act together for a more realistic portrayal of a man in trouble.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

 The correct phrase would be ' get his act ready for'.

Multiple choice

April 10 marks the 200th anniversary of

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Two hundred years after the biggest volcanic blast in recorded history, scientists have ranked the countries most at risk of a deadly volcanic eruption.
Today (April 10) marks the 200th anniversary of the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia. The enormous explosion changed global climate, causing a "year without a summer" in the Northern Hemisphere. Sulfur dioxide from Mount Tambora lingered in the atmosphere for several years, cooling the planet and triggering crop failures, famine and human disease pandemics in North America, Europe and Asia.
"People were eating cats and rats," said Stephen Self, a volcanologist at the University of California, Berkeley and an expert on the Tambora eruption.

  1. 1815 Tambora eruption

  2. 1915 Tambora eruption

  3. 2015 Tambora eruption

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Option (1) is the correct answer. It is given in the first line of the second paragraph.

Multiple choice

The tropical storm that caused flooding in Southern Belize in Central America and Mexico in 2008 is termed as

  1. Fengshen

  2. Arthur

  3. Tsunami

  4. Ike
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Tropical Storm Arthur was the first tropical cyclone of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed in late May 2008 and caused significant flooding and damage in southern Belize and parts of Mexico. 'Fengshen' and 'Ike' were also 2008 storms but affected different regions (Philippines and Caribbean/US respectively). A tsunami is not a tropical storm but a seismic ocean wave.

Multiple choice

As countries ________ the damage caused by the earthquake and the tidal waves that followed, one ________ is developing across South East Asia - the economic damage caused by the catastrophe is nowhere close to the terrible human losses.

  1. tell off, constrain

  2. slack off, citation

  3. tot up, refrain

  4. wind down, exemplar

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The clause - “the economic damage … human losses” - provides the clue for both the blanks. The catastrophe has badly affected the economy of South East Asia, in addition to the terrible human losses. Therefore, (for the first blank) while the countries are adding up the damage caused by tsunami, (second blank), one strain of the intense economic damage than that of human lives is developing in that region. Of all the options for first blank, (1), (2) and (3) seem to fit our prediction. “Refrain” (strain, theme) in (3) is the only option that fits our prediction for second blank. Hence, (3) is the answer.

Multiple choice

Which among the following calamities occurs in Bay of Bengal?

  1. Tornado

  2. Willy-Willy

  3. Cyclone

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Cyclones occur in the Bay of Bengal. Tornadoes are rare in India, while Willy-Willy is a term for tropical cyclones in the Australia/Western Pacific region. The Bay of Bengal is prone to severe tropical cyclones, especially during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons.

Multiple choice

Cyclones caused the flood in the

  1. hilly areas

  2. coastal areas

  3. north plains

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Cyclones cause floods primarily in coastal areas because these regions are where cyclones make landfall, bringing intense rainfall and storm surges. The coastal terrain and proximity to the sea make these areas most vulnerable to the massive water inundation that accompanies cyclonic systems.