Geography · Environmental Studies

Natural Hazards and Disasters

1,357 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 geography disaster management: responding to disasters hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster hazards

Which of the following is not an example of natural disaster?

  1. Floods

  2. Earthquake

  3. Terrorist attack

  4. Tsunami
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence by a person or group. The goal is to intimidate or coerce societies or governments in an effort to promote political or ideological beliefs. These attacks can take many forms, and could happen at any time in any place. Terrorists typically exploit vulnerabilities, and may use technology, hazardous materials, biological agents or other methods to create devastating disruptions to the community.

Multiple choice geography hazards hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster natural disasters and hazards

Systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster is called ________.

  1. Biodiversity conservation

  2. Environmental protection

  3. Disaster Risk Reduction

  4. Globalisation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

'Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them. DRR is very wide-ranging. Its scope is much broader and deeper than conventional emergency management. 

Multiple choice geography hazards hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster natural disasters and hazards

People residing in coastal area may face __and___ frequently.

  1. Floods, Cyclones

  2. Drought, Tsunami

  3. Landslides, Tsunami

  4. All of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

People residing in the coastal areas may face Floods, Cyclones frequently. The main effect of tropical cyclones includes heavy rain, strong wind, large storm. The cyclone depends mainly on its intensity, its size, and its location. 


Cyclones act to remove forest canopy as well as change the landscape. Heavy rainfall causes floods which affect coastal areas as they are near to seawater.

Multiple choice geography hazards hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster natural disasters and hazards

_______ is an event resulting in great loss and misfortune caused by both natural and man-made phenomena.

  1. Calamity

  2. Disaster

  3. Catastrophe

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

A disaster is defined as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or society, causing widespread human, material, economic, or environmental losses.

Multiple choice geography hazards hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster natural disasters and hazards

A phenomenon which may cause injury or loss of life, damage to property, economic disruption.

  1. Hazards

  2. Disaster

  3. Calamity

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

A hazard is a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity, or condition that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, property damage, or economic disruption.

Multiple choice geography hazards hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster natural disasters and hazards

Which out of these is an example of man-made disaster?

  1. Volcanic eruption

  2. Tsunami

  3. Industrial hazard

  4. Earthquake
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Manmade disasters: These can be divided into different categories and they include technological hazards, sociological hazards and transportation hazards among others.

Some types of manmade disasters which are just as catastrophic include chemical spill, oil spill, arson and terrorism. There are also some technological hazards which include power outages structural collapse, industrial hazards and fire. In cases of the last example, thousands of kilometers of land can be destroyed and anything else that is in the wake of the fires path.

Multiple choice geography hazards hazards and types of hazards introduction to disaster natural disasters and hazards

Why India is prone natural disasters?

  1. Due to its geological set up

  2. Due to its proximity to Himalaya

  3. Due to seasonal weathers

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

A. Due to its geological set up.

India, due to its, physio-graphic and climatic conditions is one of the most disaster prone areas of the world. It is vulnerable to windstorms from both the Arabian Seaand Bay of Bengal. There are active crustal movements in the Himalaya leading to earthquakes. About 58.7 % of the toatal land mass is prone to earthquake of moderate to very high intensity. Floods brought about by heavy rain and drought in arid and semi arid areas. About 12 % of the o f the total land mass is flood prone and 68 % of the arable land is vulnerable to drought. The Western region of the country is represented by the Thar Desert and the central India by the Deccan Plateau face recurring droughts due to acute shortage of rainfall. India has increasingly become vulnerable to Tsunamis since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. India has a coastline running 7600 km long.