Molecular dynamics is recognized as a powerful method in modern computational physics. This method is essentially based on a factual observation: the apparent strong complexity and extreme variety of natural phenomena are not due to the intrinsic complexity of the physical laws but due to the very large number of basic elements in interaction through, in fact, simple laws. This is particularly true for granular materials in which a single intergranular friction coefficient between rigid grains is enough to simulate, at a macroscopic scale, the very intricate behavior of sand with a Mohr–Coulomb plasticity criterion, a dilatant behavior under shearing, non-associate plastic strains, etc. and, in fine, an incrementally nonlinear constitutive relation. Passing in a natural way from the grain scale to the sample scale, the discrete element method (DEM) is able to precisely bridge the gap between micro and macro-scales in a very realistic way, as it is today verified in many mechanics labs. <...>

Consideration of the nature and occurrence of landslide hazards leads to perspectives on the dominant role of landsliding in the geomorphology of active orogens, and consequently the major role that landsliding plays in determining hazard- and riskscapes both within and downstream of these areas. Discussion of landslide risks suggests that probabilistic analyses are only likely to be reliable in planning location-specific landslide risk management strategies for small, frequent events, and the potential for identifying sites of future landslidesdboth rainfall generated and coseismicdis examined. Finally the role of landslides in triggering consequential hazards, such as tsunami, river flooding, and debris flows, is emphasized. <...>

Few subjects have caught the attention of the entire world as much as those dealing with natural hazards. The first decade of this new millennium provides a litany of tragic examples of various hazards that turned into disasters affecting millions of individuals around the globe. The human losses (some 225,000 people) associated with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the economic costs (approximately 200 billion USD) of the 2011 Tohoku Japan earthquake, tsunami, and reactor event, and the collective social impacts of human tragedies experienced during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 all provide repetitive reminders that we humans are temporary guests occupying a very active, angry, and ancient planet.

Hazards are processes that produce danger to human life and infrastructure. Risks are the potential or possibilities that something bad will happen because of the hazards. Disasters are that quite unpleasant result of the hazard occurrence that caused destruction of lives and infrastructure. Hazards, risks, and disasters have been coming under increasing strong scientific scrutiny in recent decades as a result of a combination of numerous unfortunate factors, many of which are quite out of control as a result of human actions.

Airborne volcanic ash presents a well-publicized risk to aviation, health, and agriculture; for this reason, an important goal of volcano science relates to volcanic ash, including both its transport through the air during volcanic crises and its ultimate distribution over the ground and sea. The state of the science has advanced rapidly in the years since 2010, in large part because of interest generated by the high economic cost of the Eyjafjallajo¨kull eruption in Iceland in that year and the disruption it caused to aviation and aviation-dependent industries.

Water-related hazards—including floods, droughts, rainfall-triggered landslides, soil salinization—and their impacts have increased significantly in the past decades. This increase has spurred research into improving monitoring and prediction, understanding the underlying drivers, implementing various mitigation and adaptation strategies, and identifying interconnectivity with other factors such as climate change, population growth, exposure, and socioeconomic development.

The International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) was established as a means of raising worldwide public and political awareness of the vast, though frequently under-used, potential the Earth Sciences possess for improving the quality of life of the peoples of the world and safeguarding Earth’s rich and diverse environments.

There are about 800 million people all over the world who are exposed to the hazards from volcanic eruptions, according to the 2015 Global Assessment Report by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2015). That assessment takes into account typical impact areas around volcanoes, extending up to tens of km, and in a few cases, to more than 100 km from the vent. People within such areas live under direct menace from a variety of hazardous volcanic phenomena: lava flows, pyroclastic flows, volcanic ash concentrations and accumulation, lahars, tsunamis, landslides and collapses of the volcanic structure, ground deformation, ground shaking, harmful gas concentrations, etc.

Книга освещает новые для наук о Земле междисциплинарные вопросы теории, методологии и практики количественного анализа природных рисков социальных, экономических и экологических потерь общества и природы, обусловленных негативными воздействиями оползней, обвалов, селей, землетрясений, цунами, наводнений, ураганов и смерчей, подтоплением территорий, других опасных природных и техноприродных процессов на население, объекты хозяйства и окружающую природную среду.

Книга посвящена описанию сейсмических опасностей: землетрясений, цунами, вулканических извержений и горных ударов, объединенных причинно-следственной связью. Рассматриваются вопросы распространенности этих природных катастроф на территории России и степень их изученности, основные направления исследований и меры борьбы с этими грозными явлениями, включая методы прогноза. Намечены перспективы исследования сейсмических опасностей в XXI веке. Книга будет полезна широкому кругу читателей — руководителям администраций, планирующих органов, страховых компаний регионов, подверженных воздействию тех или иных типов сейсмической опасности, а также жителям, проживающим на опасных территориях.