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Seismic Hazard vs. Seismic Risk

The world is full of uncertainties, ranging from climate change, financial markets, natural disasters, terror attacks, and personal health to the measurements of the most fundamental elements of all: time and space. Dealing with uncertainty is a given in life, and any decision is always made under a certain degree of uncertainty. Risk is one of the most important concepts for dealing with uncertainty in decision making. Another important concept associated with risk is hazard. Hazard is a natural or man-made phenomenon that has the potential to cause harm (i.e., social or economic consequences). Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods, for example, are natural hazards, whereas car crashes, chemical spills, train derailments, and terror attacks are man-made hazards. Risk, on the other hand, is the probability of harm if someone or something is exposed to a hazard. Similarly, seismic hazard and seismic risk are fundamentally different. Seismic hazard is a natural phenomenon such as ground shaking, fault rupture, or soil liquefaction that is generated by an earthquake, whereas seismic risk is the probability that humans will incur loss or damage to their built environment if they are exposed to a seismic hazard. In other words, seismic risk is an interaction between seismic hazard and vulnerability (humans or their built environment). In general, seismic risk can . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Zhenming Wang

Kentucky Geological Survey
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky 40506 U.S.A.
zmwang@email.uky.edu