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STEP 25 HazardassessmentROOTS 9REDUCING RISK OF DISASTER IN OUR COMMUNITIES5.2 Assessing hazardsFocus groups are the best way of facilitating communities to have discussions about the specifichazards affecting their local area. If there is more than one important hazard, the communitywill need to decide which one is the most significant.Communities can only describe hazards which have occurred in the past. Predictive assessmentis needed also for the future. This is where additional sources of information, particularlyclimate change science, need to be used.Hazard assessment involves an examination of the nature and behaviour of each of the mainhazards, starting with the one chosen as most significant by the community. The followingtemplate can be used for asking questions and recording answers in the hazard assessment.Supplementary questions may be asked by the team, but avoid the temptation to take up toomuch time: half an hour is generally enough.QuestionAnswer1 TYPE What hazards/disasters commonly affectyour community?2 SIGNIFICANCE Which would you consider to bethe most serious hazard, in terms of impact uponthe community? (Do a ranking exercise.)3 HISTORY What was the last significant disasterevent to affect this community, and when was it?Answer Questions 4–9 for the worst hazard4 FREQUENCY How often does this hazard occur?(eg every year, one year in three, etc).Is this changing over time?5 SEVERITY How do you measure the severity of thehazard? (eg depth of water, wind speed, lack of rain,damage). What would you observe in a good yearand a bad year?6 DURATION How long does the hazard persist?(hours, days, weeks). Is this changing from year toyear?7 LOCATION / AREA Which parts of the communityare worst affected? (Could show on map.)8 SIGNS Any early warnings, traditional or fromgovernment? How quickly (or slowly) does thehazard appear?9 TRENDS What changes are happening infrequency, duration or severity of hazard? Any newhazards?44 T E A R F U N D R O O T S R E S O U R C E S