Australia - Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes

As far as coastal hazards go Australia only faces a single major problem. That issue is coastal erosion. Coastal erosion is due to a high volume of repeated wave action hitting land. As this process occurs the coastal line degrades and slowly begins to fall apart. Coastal erosion causes damage and can completely destroy human infrastructure. Because of this, this is more of an economic issue than a physical safety one. Though this hazard can and has displaced hundreds of people from their homes for the fear of the land eroding from under them. The erosion usually takes place on beaches and dunes, land that isn't dense and compacted. Unfortunately 50% of  Australia's coastline is made up either sand or dunes. These sediments can easily be displaced and washed away giving way to erosion. Not much can be done about a process so natural and that's always occurring. Though some use of seawalls are made to prevent erosion, little is done to prevent it. The government agency Geo- ...

In Australia, extreme weather issues are usually not an issue. With the exception of devastating heatwaves occurring within the country. Heatwaves have always been a natural hazard that has caused deaths all through the country. Since the year 2000 there has been over 550 deaths due to these heat waves. This doesn't count the deaths due to fires  created by heatwaves. The death toll would be in the thousands if this figure was included. The temperatures of a heatwave in Australia can exceed 110 degrees as an average temperature for days at a time. This can particularly be harmful to young children, the elderly and people with certain health issues. During the month of January 2018 multiple cities broke their records for hottest day. Some cities exceeded over 115 degrees during peak times of heat. Radio broadcasts commonly push out incoming news regarding heatwaves and keep the public up to date about current and future ones. Also emergency services are on extra alert on stand...