Strand
London
UK
Media reports of natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods and tornadoes, often talk about single events that have a major impact on human society. However, for every large event there are often many more medium and smaller ones that occur in the same region over a given period of time − referred to as a ‘population of sizes’. In this talk, Professor Bruce Malamud will discuss his research over the last decade on the statistical distributions of natural hazard sizes within these populations. The key question is this: for a given hazard, how many large vs. medium vs. small events are there and what are the implications for the ‘real’ world? For many hazards, such as wildfires and landslides, these distributions are ‘fat tailed’ for the largest events, where a fat tail has many more extremes than would be expected compared to a ‘normal’ or ‘Gaussian’ distribution (a thin tail), and thus the estimation of risk is much more conservative than for thin tails. Other implications of these statistical distributions for real life − which this lecture will address in a form accessible to all − include inferences for ecology, erosion and informing environmental computational models. The talk will also briefly incorporate Professor Malamud’s personal reflections on having worked in multiple countries (e.g., Niger, Argentina, China, Guatemala, Zambia), being an educator and scientist in natural hazards, and thoughts about the future of the subject.
Inaugural Lecture of Bruce D. Malamud (Professor of Natural and Environmental Hazards, Department of Geography, King’s College London). Bruce joined King’s in September 2000 as a lecturer and was appointed Professor in April 203. This event is open to the public.
Wine reception (also free): After the lecture.
Summary of the Evening: The event will begin at 18:30 and be introduced and chaired by Professor Evelyn Welch, King’s vice-principal for Arts and Humanities. Professor Malamud will discuss some of his research in natural hazards, along with reflections on directions for the natural hazards community in coming years. There will then be a vote of thanks by the King’s Geography Head of the Department, Professor Nick Clifford, followed by a wine reception. It will end at around 20:30.