Natural Hazards in Arizona
Natural hazards abound in Arizona. At the top of list: flash floods, severe weather, landslides and debris flows, earthquakes, and earth fissures. Other hazards, include: problem soils - a multi-billion dollar problem annually in the U.S.; volcanism - Arizona has three active volcanic fields and 1000s of extinct volcanoes, some of which are prone to collapse; locally, radon and arsenic can threaten health and human life.
Across America, floods, landslides and severe weather cost billions of dollars annually and result in scores of deaths and thousands of injuries.
Managing Natural Hazards
The best most efficacious way of managing natural hazards is to build a comprehensive historical, and whenever possible, prehistorical (e.g., trenching active faults to document thousands of years of activity), record of hazard events. Civil authorities, land managers, and the emergency management community can leverage that record to stage and deploy meaningful land management and emergency preparedness at the community level.
Hazard preparedness at the family-, business-, and community-level is critical to building a resilient community capable of mitigating the worst of natural hazards events.
Earth fissures and subsidence impact select valleys in central and southern Arizona
Shrink/swell soils cause more damage to homes than do floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined
Landslides in Arizona destroy homes, damage roads, disrupt utilities and infrastructure, and lead to deaths and injuries
Arizona has earthquakes; seismologists like to say, “Earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings kill people”
Haboobs, drought, extreme heat & cold, torrential rains, dust devils and tornadoes, and hurricanes
Addressing earthquake hazards and risk that threaten the safety and resilience of the people, property, and infrastructure of Arizona