Geographic information systems (Gis) and natural hazards

Understanding the natural hazards is one of the most important issues in the earth science field. This is useful not only for analyzing a natural process from the scientific point of view, but also for understanding the link between the human system and natural and potentially dangerous phenomena. In the last two decades, the GIS technology (commercial, open source, and also web-based) offered to the scientific and technical community a powerful tool to analyze natural processes. Natural hazards, such as landslides, debris flows, floods, volcanic and seismic activity, hurricanes, coastal erosion, and wildfires, but also droughts and human diseases (e.g., malaria and cholera), are now more easier to manage and understand, thanks to the introduction of GIS. In the field of natural hazards, the increasing availability of GIS coupled models and decision-support tools offers even more efficient support for governmental agencies and decision makers to help in risk management and protection activities.