What is a natural hazard?

A natural hazard is accurately defined as an event caused by nature that cannot be prevented. This encompasses a wide range of phenomena, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions, all of which result from natural processes of the Earth or its atmosphere. Natural hazards are typically characterized by their potential to cause significant impact on environments, human populations, and economies. Understanding natural hazards is crucial in fields such as disaster management, urban planning, and environmental science, as it allows societies to develop risk mitigation strategies and emergency response plans.

The other options describe different concepts that do not align with the definition of a natural hazard. For example, disasters caused by human actions fall under the category of anthropogenic events, while risks related to financial investments pertain to the financial sector. Evaluating business risks is a process related to assessing potential threats to a business's operations, which is not applicable to the definition of natural hazards.