Hazards and Risk

Identifying the differences between hazards and risks is key to understanding how we react, mitigate, and live with natural disasters. This unit will begin with a discussion on identifying the differences between hazards and risk. Students will learn that hazards are the phenomenon while risk is the likelihood of that phenomenon affecting a particular region. Next, students will read an article that puts risk into context and participate in an in-class discussion. The unit will finish by having students calculate personal risk using a simple mathematical formula.