Natural Hazards are ubiquitous in the world be they of solely ‘natural’ origin such as earthquakes or perhaps assisted by mankind such as various types of landslides, floods etc. Hazards, in general, are latent although growing with mismanagement of landuse for example deforestation of potentially unstable slopes, but the possible disasters they can provoke may be predicted and hence mitigated or in the best case prevented altogether. UNESCO(*) advocates, vis a vis potential disasters a policy of prevention which have a multi pronged approach:

1. Enhancing the human and technical capacity in disaster prone areas.
2. Education of disaster prone communities.
3. Encouraging preventive measures.
4. Encouraging appropriate sustainable management of the environment.

In our experience, preventive measures taken to negate slope unstability (afforestation, drainage etc.), structural measures to alleviate flash floods are cost effective and safe human lives. Preparatory action toward mitigating the negative effects of those hazards which can not be prevented (e.g. cyclones, earthquakes ,volcanic eruptions) such as aseismic construction in earthquake prone areas and education of communities living in the vicinity of an active, dangerous volcano is life saving and in the long term cost effective.

It is also clear, that environmental degradation in hilly areas as well as on floodplains and in coastal zones reduce nature’s ability to respond to natural hazards and UNESCO hence advocate an environmentally sustainable policy facing the threat of natural disasters.