Disaster risk refers to the potential loss of life, injury, or destruction and damage from a disaster in a given period of time. Disaster risk is usually expressed as a function of three key components:
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Hazards: a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause a loss of life, injury, or other negative impacts
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Vulnerability: the conditions determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors that increase the susceptibility to the impacts of hazards
Some examples of disaster risks in Nordic countries are hazards such as extreme weather events, storms and landslides. Disaster risks can also involve risks related to technology failure, dam ruptures, pandemics or other infrastructure failures, power outages, and water supply disruptions.
Disaster preparedness is knowledge and capacities developed by governments, response and recovery organisations, communities, and individuals to anticipate, respond to, and recover from the impacts of likely, imminent, or current disasters. Preparedness activities aim to build the capacity to manage all types of emergencies effectively and achieve orderly transitions from response to sustained recovery.