**1. Introduction**

According to the emergency event database (EM-DAT) classification, there are two main types of disasters [1]: natural and human-made or technological. Natural hazards are defined as natural phenomena that have the potential to have a negative impact on humans, societies, and the environment. They are different from other types of hazards such as man-made hazards [2, 3]. Natural hazards can also lead to secondary events, creating additional hazards. For example, a volcanic eruption can trigger other hazards such as ash and lava flow. Although related, natural hazards and natural disasters are not identical. A natural hazard is a potential threat of an event that has the potential to cause a negative impact, while a natural disaster is the actual occurrence of that event, causing significant harm to a community. Natural hazards

and disasters are caused by natural processes throughout the earth's history. However, the risk (the notion of risk is defined as the product of a hazard by a vulnerability) associated with environmental hazards is determined by physical conditions and events and human actions, conditions, decisions, and culture.

Human activities can directly contribute to physical events such as small- and medium-scale flooding, landslides, land subsidence, and drought in rural and urban areas due to environmental degradation, human intervention in ecosystems, and global climate change. These human-induced hazards occur at the intersection of natural and human processes and result in environmental degradation. Climate change introduces a new type of hazard modification, and it is essential to study these human-induced events and how they have affected the frequency of disasters in the past. This knowledge can be used to reduce risk in the future. Additionally, it is important to consider low probability but high-consequence hazards such as impact by near-Earth objects in risk analysis [4].

Natural hazards can be broadly categorized into six groups [1]: geohazards (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions), meteorological hazards (such as storms and extreme temperatures), hydrological hazards (such as flooding and landslides), climatological hazards (such as drought and wildfires), biological hazards (such as epidemics and insect infestations), and extraterrestrial hazards (such as airbursts and space weather). The impacts of these hazards can be classified into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary impacts are the immediate effects of the hazard such as water damage from flooding or building collapse during an earthquake. Secondary impacts are consequences caused by the primary impact such as fires following an earthquake or disrupted electricity and water supply. Tertiary impacts are long-term outcomes resulting from the primary impact such as habitat loss due to flooding, changes in riverbed permeability, and crop failure due to volcanic eruptions.

Technological and human-made disasters can lead to the sudden and uncontrollable release of hazardous and explosive materials [1, 5] such as coal mine explosions, building fires, oil truck accidents in tunnels, train accidents, road accidents, bus collisions, fuel tank explosions, building collapses, shipwrecks involving migrants, plane crashes, bridge collapses, stampedes during concerts, and bomb accidents.

Technological disasters account for a significant proportion of disasters worldwide and demand close attention. However, this study exclusively focuses on natural hazards, analyzing the most significant events in the top ten countries worldwide over the past 123 years (1900–2022). To provide a better understanding of the location and types of hazards worldwide, this study proposes using databases such as EM-DAT as a source of information. The primary data from the EM-DAT database is used to analyze the most frequent, deadly, and impactful natural hazards, aiding earthquake occurrence, identifying high-risk areas, and supporting decisions on safe constructions, settlements, and factories. This paper provides an exemplary model of such a research type.

In this chapter, we will begin with a brief introduction followed by an explanation of the data and methodology used. Next, we will present the most common natural hazards in the world. Finally, we will provide a discussion of the findings and draw conclusions based on the analysis.

## **2. Data and method**

The study aims to present an overview of the most frequent natural hazards that have occurred worldwide from 1900 to 2022. The information presented here was

#### *Perspective Chapter: A Global View of Natural Hazards Related Disasters DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111582*

compiled from the EM-DAT emergency disaster database (public.emdat.be). The eight most common events are earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, floods, droughts, wildfires, storms, and extreme temperatures. Several other hazards have been omitted because they are too localized, and adequate data are unavailable. Additionally, it should be noted that tsunamis, a sub-group of earthquake events, can cause significant destruction to human life and economic losses in affected areas. A list of significant natural hazards in the following as comprehensively as possible is an attempt to present the frequency, deaths, total affected people, and economic losses of natural hazards events in the world.
