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New
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Year 10
AQA

Factors affecting hazard risk

I can understand that several factors affect hazard risk.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 10
AQA

Factors affecting hazard risk

I can understand that several factors affect hazard risk.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Hazard risk is the likelihood of being affected by a natural event.
  2. Physical factors affect risk, such as climate change.
  3. Human factors affect risk, including poverty, urbanisation and climate change.

Keywords

  • Hazard risk - the likelihood that people or property will be harmed by a natural hazard

  • Natural hazard - a natural event that has the potential to cause damage, loss of life or economic disruption

Common misconception

The bigger the hazard event is, the higher the hazard risk will be.

The size of the hazard event is not the only factor that affects hazard risk. For example, a higher income country may have a lower hazard risk for a magnitude 6.5 earthquake than a lower income country, even though the earthquakes have equal power.


To help you plan your year 10 geography lesson on: Factors affecting hazard risk, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The UN's INFORM risk assessment tool is used in this lesson and can be found at https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/inform-index/ The map explorer is a good way of exploring the concept of hazard risk and the factors that affect it.
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Equipment

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
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Supervision

Adult supervision required

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
A natural is a natural event that has the potential to cause damage, loss of life or economic disruption.
Correct Answer: hazard
Q2.
Which of the following are examples of natural hazards?
Correct answer: earthquakes
smog
Correct answer: volcanic eruptions
overfishing
Correct answer: landslides
Q3.
__________ is the likelihood that people or property will be harmed by a natural hazard.
Correct answer: Hazard risk
Natural disaster
Globalisation
Q4.
What term is used for a very powerful low-pressure weather system with strong winds and heavy rainfall that can be disruptive and dangerous?
Correct answer: tropical storm
earthquake
landslide
drought
Q5.
Match the hazard to its type.
Correct Answer:geological hazard,earthquakes
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earthquakes

Correct Answer:hydrological hazard,flooding
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flooding

Correct Answer:atmospheric hazard,tornadoes
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tornadoes

Q6.
A powerful earthquake that occurs in a densely-populated city is likely to cause a natural .
Correct Answer: disaster

4 Questions

Q1.
is the likelihood that people or property will be harmed by a natural hazard.
Correct Answer: Hazard risk
Q2.
What physical factors affect hazard risk?
Correct Answer:magnitude,how powerful a natural hazard is
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how powerful a natural hazard is

Correct Answer:frequency,how often a natural hazard occurs
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how often a natural hazard occurs

Correct Answer:geographical position,the place where something occurs
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the place where something occurs

Correct Answer:physical geography,natural features such as relief, climate, landforms, soil type
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natural features such as relief, climate, landforms, soil type

Q3.
Human factors can have a significant impact on hazard risk...
1 - An earthquake in an uninhabited location
2 - has no hazard risk.
3 - An earthquake in a densely-populated city
4 - has a very high hazard risk.
Q4.
What makes communities more vulnerable to natural hazards?
economic development
level of inequality
economic dependency
vulnerable groups, such as displaced people
Correct answer: all of the above