Our Future : Our World

Hazards The chapters in this book are: 1. Why risk it 2. The hazard jigsaw 3. Physical Hazards: Their impact on people 4. Technological Hazards: Their impact on people 5. Hazards and the future 6. Investigating hazard

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The intentions of this book

It is distressing that many of the world‘s hazards frequently cause dreadful disasters. The media seems never to be free of reports of disasters of many kinds occurring around the world. Indeed there are more disasters inflicting great harm each decade. There were 523 major disasters reported by the press in the 1960s, 767 in the 1970s, 1387 in the 1980s and by 1995 it was obvious that this number would be far exceeded in the 1990s. The number of hazards themselves may not be much greater, apart from those created by people, but people take increased risks because they must locate many of their activities where the risk is larger.

The examples of hazards and disasters mentioned in this book will date quickly as new events are reported by the news media. This is of little consequence as the purpose of this series of books is to encourage students to find and investigate current and relevant issues.

It is the intention of the Our Future : Our World series to help students to use
the process of investigation
and the values of social justice, ecological sustainability and democratic process
recommended by the 'Statement on Studies of Society and Environment for Australian Schools (1994)'.

This book pays specific attention to issues related to the ways in which people respond to hazards as they seek to avoid or minimize the costs of disasters. It does not explain the processes of the hazards in great detail as there are already several good books that do this and students are encouraged to seek the necessary detail from those sources. Issues relating to hazards may arise when the people involved have different economic ability to respond or where people activities may pose risks because of the physical character of the location. Poor people in hazardous situations anywhere in the world have less available options.

Many such issues are caused by large numbers of people being concentrated in hazardous places and can highlight disagreement about the best kinds of activities for those places. These issues require careful investigation so that as we make decisions about our world and our future we can find the answers to many questions that will allow us to make sound judgements and act wisely. In order to do this we need to know:

• what is the issue needing to be investigated and resolved.
• what is at the particular place we are investigating.
• where the aspects of the issue are located precisely and when they occur.
• who is involved in the issue under study.
• how the issue might be resolved and whose interests may be served by any solution.
• how we would respond in that situation and would be able to justify our stance.

This book, Hazards, is one in the series, Our World : Our Future which introduces a variety of issues that we should investigate and understand if we are to make good decisions about our world and so ensure that our future is one that best serves us, the rest of humankind and the environments in which we live. Most importantly it helps us to know how to research any issue of concern and how to do something about it in effective and democratic ways. Students are encouraged to study issues of local and global concern in such a way that they not only understand how the issue has arisen and aspects of it function, but also how it was, or could be, resolved so that the interests of all are properly considered.

We need to learn:

• why many hazards turn into disasters more frequently and affect more people.
• how people cope with hazards and seek to avoid disasters.
• how people can respond better to the emergencies posed by hazards and disasters.
• how people can better survive the aftermath of such events.

Students may become involved in issues of their own related to hazards and will certainly be concerned for the plight of others in very hazardous locations. From this book they will learn how to inquire into these and thereby discover more about hazards, their effects and how people respond to them. The issues that they study and in which they may be involved will allow them to appreciate whose interests are served by decisions made about particular hazards. Through the investigations suggested by this book they will gain experience in finding fair resolutions to complex and difficult issues involving hazards.

Some of the world's most unique and valuable environments and some of the world's oldest and most interesting cultures and heritage are involved in the discussion of issues related to hazards and deserve our careful consideration. If we are to secure our future in our world we have to ensure that issues related to hazards will be resolved more justly. Several of these issues are included in this book, Hazards.

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