ABSTRACT
The human response to natural hazards seems to be generating or at least permitting an increase in property losses, especially in countries where economic growth is rapid and modern technology is spreading fast. National policies on natural hazards tend to involve four possible approaches, which vary from minimum intervention to full-scale mitigation and emergency planning. These are: disaster relief, technological adjustments, comprehensive damage reduction and multiple hazard management. Global interconnectivity is increasing by leaps and bounds, and a major disaster no longer has purely domestic implications. The importance of Third World countries as sources of raw materials and primary production, and their increasing debt burdens make it imperative that the developed world interest itself in solutions to their disaster problems, by supplying relief, aid and expertise and by sharing technology. Hazards that have low disaster potential may in the end receive little attention from government and be allotted low priority during the apportionment of funds.
