Issue 9-1: Effects of natural hazard events

Natural hazard events can adversely affect people, including their social, economic and cultural wellbeing, and the natural and physical resources they rely on, such as property and infrastructure. In particular:
  1. development can exacerbate the risks from natural hazards, particularly flooding and coastal hazards, by placing more people, property and infrastructure in hazard-prone areas and by reducing the effectiveness of existing hazard mitigation measures such as stopbanks,
  2. climate change is likely to cause the hydrological cycle to become more extreme, resulting in an increase in the intensity and frequency of hazards such as droughts, heavy rainfall, cyclones and storm surges, and
  3. predicted sea level rise* is likely to increase the risk of inundation and damage to communities and infrastructure in coastal areas during natural hazard events.