Short answers, pulled from the story.
A natural disaster is the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community. This concept emerged from 1994 publications by Terry Cannon which argued that disasters result from the combination of hazards and vulnerable communities rather than nature alone.
Between 1995 and 2015, the greatest number of natural disasters occurred in America, China and India. The Asia-Pacific region remains the world's most disaster prone region where a person is five times more likely to be hit by a natural disaster than someone living in other regions.
During the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami more women died than men partly due to the fact that fewer women knew how to swim. Women are at increased risk of being affected by gender based violence during and after a natural disaster due to disrupted police enforcement and lax regulations.
The 1985 Armero tragedy was caused by a lahar as was the 1953 Tangiwai disaster. An estimated 23,000 people were killed when the town of Armero was buried by volcanic ash which forms a concrete-like material when mixed with water.
In January 2025 megafires destroyed several sectors of Los Angeles. On land heat waves coupled with severe winds are now causing hundreds of major wildfires every year burning thousands of square kilometers of forests.