The frequency and high intensity of the risk phenomena, natural and anthropic, require the permanent revision and completion of the courses with such themes. In addition, scientific debates, research in the field, enrich such complex, theoretical and practical-applied issues of hazards, risks and disasters. Thus, these works are extremely dynamic and subject to reconsideration of concepts, completion of research methods, etc. Here is a brief summary of why the editions are beneficial and I don't think they should be surprising.
In the interval after the publication of the second (in 2004), the third (in 2006), the fourth (in 2009) editions and until now, disasters have taken place on Earth that have resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people. and with immense material damage. Also, new approaches have appeared regarding the phenomenology and / or the research by means of computerized technical means of hazards, vulnerability and natural risks. These extreme phenomena have even led to changes in terrestrial morphology. There are events presented in this paper out of the desire to exemplify the terrestrial dynamics as a whole, all catastrophic phenomena and processes having synergistic triggering and development. Understanding correctly the dialectic of these phenomena, we will have the responsibility of educating and training the inhabitants of the Earth in the spirit of maintaining the natural balance, of the thoughtful intervention in the environment.
We believe that we are not wrong in saying that it is time to learn to live with hazards, to know how to defend ourselves from their effects.
In the paper, some chapters were also developed, by completing the phenomenology, by theoretical and illustrative examples (graphics, maps, photographs, etc.).
We thank all our colleagues for the debates on the issue of risks, for the sincere contributions to the enrichment of the knowledge patrimony in the field.
We hope that this paper - Hazards and Natural Risks - will be useful not only to students, but also to all those interested in the interrelationship between nature and man.
University Professor Doctor Dr. Florina GRECU
Department of Geomorphology-Pedology, Geomatics
Geography College
University of Bucharest