Hazard analyses typically develop a fairly predictable
list of hazards for a locality, hazards that are reasonably obvious.
But if we are going to identify hazards, we need to think
more globally. First,
research on the incidence of disaster events (conducted in the
Disaster Database Project) shows that these events can and do occur
almost anywhere. Obviously,
some types of events are more frequent in some locations than
others. Plate boundaries
spawn more earthquakes than do mid-plate areas.
However, earthquakes do occur mid-plate, tornadoes do occur
in mountainous areas and in cities, airplanes drop from the sky
almost anywhere, and if there is navigable water, a ship can sink in
it.
