Exposure to Natural Hazards

Synonyms

Elements at risk; Risk inventory

Definition

Exposure encompasses all elements, processes, and subjects that might be affected by a hazardous event. Consequently, exposure is the presence of social, economic, environmental or cultural assets in areas that may be impacted by a hazard.

Overview

Exposure is most commonly understood, in risk and natural hazard research, as the social and material context represented by persons, resources, infrastructure, production, goods, services, and ecosystems that may be affected by a hazardous event. Hence, the term is often used to characterize, in a more general sense, the components of society and environment and respective processes that are exposed to a specific hazard or a variety of potential hazardous phenomena. That means exposure can further be qualified by focusing on the spatial and temporal patterns of exposure of the element at risk.

Temporal aspectsof exposure deal with the questions of when and how long an element at risk...