Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Geographical Information, Climatology
and Forest Fires
8.1. Forest fires: associated risks and individual components
8.1.1.
Analysis of the climatic risks and constraints
Climate factors tend to be indirect sources rather than direct sources, of risks and
constraints that can be fatal for people. There is almost only one climatic factor
capable of threatening human life in a short period of time and that is the cold. The
effects of the cold are made even worse by the wind, which increases the loss of
calories experienced by warm-blooded beings, in other words the idea of wind chill,
which is an indication of the cold that is felt by the human body [BES 74].
The number of people who die from the cold each year is very low in
comparison to the number of people who are indirect victims of the different
climatic elements. An individual rain drop or an individual snowflake has never
killed anyone (however, there are cases of deaths caused by large hailstones strikes).
However, heavy rainfall leads to deaths associated with landslides and floods. Other
ways in which people can be affected by the indirect effects of these climatic factors
include fallen trees or other objects that have fallen to the ground, which have been
caused by strong winds from tornados or tropical cyclones, or by winter storms
coming from west in the temperate world.
This notion of the indirect effects that the different weather elements can have
on human life can also be applied to avalanches or to forest fires, but for different
reasons. When it comes to identifying the different risk components that exist, it is
best to choose three different components, instead of the two traditional components
that are normally chosen, in other words the hazard and the vulnerability of the area
concerned [CAR 03]. Whenever natural risks are studied we often hear or read
