NATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERS

C AUSES , C ONSEQUENCES AND M ANAGEMENT happened. You may also be aware of the severe earthquake in Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control (LOC). The damage caused to episodes has moved us all. What are these as chapter will attempt to analyse some of these questions. Change is the law of nature. It is a continuous process that goes on uninterruptedly involving phenomena, big and small, material and non- material that make our physical and socio- cultural environment. It is a process present magnitude, intensity and scale. Change can be a gradual or slow process like the evolution of landforms and organisms and it can be as sudden and swift as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes and lightening, etc. Similarly, it may remain confined to a smaller area occurring within a few seconds like hailstorms, tornadoes and dust storms, and it can also have global dimensions such as global warming and depletion of the ozone layer. meanings for different people. It depends upon the perspective one takes while trying to understand them. From the perspective of nature, changes are value-neutral (these are neither good nor bad). But from the human perspective, these are value-loaded. There are