A natural hazard is a natural event (for example an earthquake, volcanic eruption, tropical storm, flood) that threatens people or has the potential to cause damage, destruction or death. There are many factors that can increase people's risk from natural hazards:
Location e.g. geology
When an earthquake strikes, shaking in an area of soft soil will be more intense than shaking in an area of hard rock. For example, the September 2017 Mexico City earthquake was made much worse by the city's position on soft sediment, where an ancient lake bed used to be. Read more about how geology affected the earthquake in the New York Times article below: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/22/world/americas/mexico-city-earthquake-lake-bed-geology.html
Population Density
If a hazard strikes an area with a high population density, it is more likely to have a devastating effect than if it strikes an area with a low population density. See the example below reported by Fox News, where an earthquake that hit a sparsely populated area of Iran resulted in very little damage and no casualties: www.foxnews.com/world/2017/11/30/strong-quake-jolts-sparsely-populated-iran-no-damage.html
Level of Development and the 3 Ps
High Income Countries (HICs) have more money to invest in predicting, preparing for and protecting themselves from natural hazards.
Building quality - HICs have stricter planning laws and are better able to invest in technology, such as earthquake proof buildings. In contrast, LICs tend to be less protected than HICs. For example, buildings in Haiti were not built to be earthquake proof, resulting in 230,000 deaths in 2010. In contrast, New Zealand has strict planning laws and has invested in earthquake proof buildings, resulting in 0 deaths in the 2010 earthquake.
HICs, which tend to have stable governments, are also better able to respond to natural hazards e.g. they tend to have better equipped and organised emergency services.
Magnitude
The size of the natural hazard may also affect its impact. For example, a tropical storm of magnitude 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale is likely to have more impact than a magnitude 1 tropical storm. Similarly, as every number up the earthquake Richter scale represents a 10 fold increase in damage, a magnitude 9 earthquake is more likely to cause damage than a magnitude 5 earthquake.
Frequency
If a hazard strikes a place regularly, people tend to be more prepared for it. For example, Haiti wasn’t prepared for the 2010 earthquake, because there hadn’t been any earthquakes there in living memory. In contrast, the New Zealand Earthquake Commission provides public education to much of the country.