Wildfires (1/9)

If your home is in a vulnerable area, start protecting it by impregnating wooden parts with coatings or paint that is fire resistant. Install sprinkler systems, accompanied by good smoke detectors. Fire protection sheets or foils for your doors and windows will also come in handy.

Water supply is crucial. Always make sure that you and your community have enough dedicated water supplies to fight bushfires. Even your own swimming pool or rainwater tank can help save your home. (Source: Reuters)

Volcanic Eruptions (2/9)

Nobody can prevent a volcano from erupting, but accurate predictions help to safe lives. Monitoring seismic activities and good evacuation plans are the first steps.

Once set free, the lava flow can be changed by special channels that are either dug or bombed. Sea water can be used to cool it more quickly, while blockades can be prepared against the spreading of fires.

People living close to active volcanoes should prepare evacuation packages. These contain medicines, water, important documents, and a couple of survival tools like tents or blankets to be able to get away from the danger zone as fast as possible. (Source: Reuters)

Tsunami (3/9)

Coastal regions are major tsunami risk areas. In Japan, for example, these are protected by sea walls, breakwaters, or high-rise river dikes that should stop or at least slow down the wave.

For personal protection, it is absolutely vital to know the height of your living area above sea level. If you live in a coastal area, plan evacuation routes to places that are at least 100 feet (30 meters) above sea level or go as far as two miles (three kilometres) away from the coast. (Source: Reuters)

Avalanches (4/9)

In avalanche prone zones, monitoring the snow conditions is key. Always check mountain weather forecasts and snow conditions before venturing out. Abrupt temperature changes also precede avalanches. Remember to take radio beacons that can signal your location to rescuers if you get caught in an avalanche.

Skiing areas are secured by snow fences or a tree line, and avalanche dams can be build for entire valleys. Deliberately triggering avalanches by targeted explosions also helps to keep the mountains safe. (Source: Reuters)

Cyclones/ Hurricanes/ Tornadoes (5/9)

Check for loose tiles, repair dangling doors and windows, anchor your garbage cans, and remove dead trees and other plants from around your house. Keep wooden boards to block glass windows before a storm, or tape them to avoid splinters flying around. In case of emergency, go to an inside room, preferably without windows.

If caught outside, try to get away from low lying, coastal areas, they may be flooded. In storm prone areas, there are always official public shelters. Look for basements of public buildings, subway stations, or specially designed bunkers. (Source: Reuters)

Floods (6/9)

If you are threatened by high waters, start preparing right away. Coat your basement walls with a special waterproof membrane. Install a pump system: a ditch in the floor will catch the water and it can then be pumped outside. Consider sealed, flood-resistant windows and door frames. Equip your drains with removable plugs to prevent backflow.

After a flood, get rid of standing water as quickly as possible to avoid soaked brick walls or concrete floors–they will be hard to dry. Open all windows and doors, and, if possible, install dehumidifiers in all rooms, and heat your house with additional hot air heaters. (Source: Reuters)

Landslides (7/9)

Landslides are caused by simple gravity or groundwater pressure and a loss of soil structure. Regions with steep slopes and instable soils are especially imperilled.

If you want to build a house in a vulnerable area, consult a soil engineer. If you have a garden, plant trees; the roots will stabilize the soil. Use bendable, elastic pipe solutions for your gas and water supplies. (Source: Reuters)

Blizzards (8/9)

Beware of the wind chill. This is the cooling one experiences due to the combination of wind and cold. Dress properly to avoid frostbite and hypothermia. A gas-driven power generator a couple of gallons of spare gasoline are equally helpful. Stock up on canned food and candles.

Ifa blizzard is approaching, close off all spare rooms in your house and stuff rags or towels in cracks under the doors. If you are outside, try to find shelter and stay dry. Do not eat snow as it will bring down your body temperature too quickly–melt it first. (Source: Reuters)

Earthquakes (9/9)

If your area is prone to earthquakes make sure the electric wiring and the gas lines are in top condition. Heavy appliances like your water heater should be bolted to the walls. The heaviest objects should be on the lowest shelves or in closed cupboards. Remember safe spots inside your home, such as doorframes or sturdy tables.

If you are indoors during an earthquake, take cover and stay away from glass surfaces. If you are outside, try moving to open areas, away from collapsing buildings, trees and utility wires. If you are trapped under debris, do not light matches, there may be gas leaks. (Source: Reuters)

River Floodplains (1/12)

Flood water surrounding Tewkesbury Abbey, in central England in July 2007, the first time that water entered the Abbey in 247 years. Floods are among the most common and most destructive natural disasters.

Homes built on the floodplains of major rivers are always vulnerable. In the UK, there are more than two million homes at risk from coastal or inland flooding, as more and more homes are built on floodplains. (Source: Reuters)

Earthquake Faults (2/12)

A radar image shows the San Andreas fault in the San Francisco Bay area. The fault runs diagonally from upper left to lower right. Many of the world’s largest and fastest growing cities, such as Tokyo, Los Angeles, Istanbul, Tehran, Karachi and Jakarta lie on or near such geological faults.

These overcrowded earthquake-prone cities are vulnerable not just to quakes but also to the landslides and fires that often follow a major tremor. (Source: Reuters)

Steep Slopes (3/12)

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, one month after an earthquake killed over 200,000 people in February 2010. About two million people lived in Port-au-Prince before the 2010 earthquake.

Most of them were housed in overcrowded slums built on steep hillsides and ravines that had been stripped of protective trees and soil, leaving them vulnerable to shaking and collapse. (Source: Reuters)

Wildfire Zones (4/12)

Flames burn along a ridge behind a home in the Big Tujunga Canyon area of Los Angeles in August 2009. Increasing numbers of people are moving into densely forested areas like the Californian hills, attracted by the scenery and lifestyle.

Firefighters call this the 'stupid zone'. When people settle there they often fight small forest fires, but that allows highly flammable dead brush to accumulate and burn bigger and brighter later. (Source: Reuters)

Eroding Cliffs (5/12)

City workers inspect houses teetering on a cliff top in Pacifica, California. In 1998, strong El Nino storms and rains battered the coast weakening the cliffs.

Building with a sea view can be dangerous. Many cliffs are prone to erosion by the sea, depending on the kind of rock and soil. Storms and flooding further increase the possibility of landslides. With climate change the severity and frequency of storms will increase. (Source: Reuters)

Avalanche Areas (6/12)

The snow stream of an avalanche is pictured next to a chalet at the Vallee de la Sionne, Switzerland in March 2008. Heavy snowfall on steep-sided mountains can trigger avalanches that destroy almost everything in their path.

The growing popularity of winter sports and alpine leisure has seen increased building and development in avalanche areas. Trees act as a brake on avalanches. If too many are cut down during development, the area becomes more exposed. (Source: Reuters)

Erupting Volcanoes (7/12)

Smoke rises from Mount Merapi volcano, Indonesia. Millions of Javanese people live at the foot of active volcanoes. The land around volcanoes is often very fertile soil for farming.

Exploding volcanoes spew out scalding hot clouds of ash and gas that can kill everything in their path. Molten hot lava flows also pose a deadly threat, swallowing up whole villages, setting off landslides and starting fires. (Source: Reuters)

River Deltas (8/12)

People look out from their tarpaulin and bamboo hut on the Irrawaddy River delta in Myanmar, which was devastated by Cylone Nargis in 2008.

Flimsy homes perched above the waters of river deltas house tens of millions of poor people in cyclone-prone countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh. Storms and rising seas batter homes, flood farms, and destroy sanitation systems thereby spreading disease. (Source: Reuters)

Tornado Alley (9/12)

A tornado bears down on houses in the American Midwest. Each spring, as the cool, dry air from the Rocky Mountains meets the warm, wet air of the Gulf Coast, tornadoes strike American plains states like Kansas and Oklahoma.

Even with modern prediction capabilities and early-warning systems, there is little people can do to avoid the unpredictable twisters that obliterate all but the very strongest buildings in their path. The best protection is a secure basement below ground. (Source: Shutterstock)

Low Lying Islands (10/12)

A resort island at the Male Atoll in the Maldives, a collection of 1200 sandy coral atolls and islets. 80 percent of this island nation is no more than a meter above sea level. The 2004 tsunami, which occurred at low tide, left 10 percent of the country uninhabitable and one-third of the population homeless.

The Maldives government says that rising sea levels caused by climate change will make the entire islands uninhabitable. Other island nations, most of them poor and unable to afford expensive flood defenses, fear a similar fate. (Source: Reuters)

Drought Prone Regions (11/12)

A Kenyan woman walks to a food distribution centre in Burmayo during a severe drought in 2005. Arid areas such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and parts of South Asia regularly suffer droughts.

Despite their vulnerability and generally weak water supply infrastructure, many of these regions have growing populations. In times of drought they are forced to migrate in search of water, sometimes resulting in conflict as in Darfur. (Source: Reuters)

Shifting Sands (12/12)

A Chinese farmer walks amid a heavy sand storm in Gansu Province. Drought has exposed the region to the advancing Tengger desert. China faces worsening desertification across the country, caused by a combination of dry weather, strong winds, and man-made environmental degradation.

Other vulnerable regions include Central Asia and Africa’s Sahel, both with high birth rates but unreliable water supplies. (Source: Reuters)