Historical Hazards
Ecuador is at risk to several natural hazards, including floods, landslides, droughts, and earthquakes. After floods, which are often associated with the El Niño phenomenon, landslides are the most frequent natural hazards in Ecuador. Vulnerability to phenomena like El Niño and related disasters such as floods and landslides is exacerbated by the fact that 96% of the urban population live in the coastal and mountainous regions. Insufficient policies and land use planning instruments, environmental deterioration of the river basins, the expansion of farmland, and poorly constructed infrastructure are factors that contribute to the high vulnerability of the country to natural hazards. Historically, political instability has also been a major component of the country's vulnerability to disasters.
This section provides a summary of key natural hazards and their associated socioeconomic impacts in a given country. And it allows quick evaluation of most vulnerable areas through the spatial comparison of natural hazard data with development data, thereby identifying exposed livelihoods and natural systems.
The charts provide overview of the most frequent natural disaster in a given country and understand the impacts of those disasters on human populations.
Metadata
Climate change is now recognized to have a significant impact on disaster management efforts and pose a significant threat to the efforts to meet the growing needs of the most vulnerable populations. The demands of disaster risk management are such that concise, clear, and reliable information is crucial. The information presented here offers insight into the frequency, impact and occurrence of natural hazards. Source (PDF)