State of the Art in Natech Risk Management

There is growing evidence that natural disasters can trigger technological disasters, and that these joint events (also known as natechs) may pose tremendous risks to regions which are unprepared for such events. The recent floods across Europe in the summer of 2002 and the multiple hazardous materials releases triggered by the Turkey earthquake of August 1999 were examples which showed the potential danger of a natech disaster occurring near populated areas. However, there is scarce information available on the interactions between natural disasters and simultaneous technological accidents. This report aims to provide an overview of the natech problem, and to present the state of the art in natech risk management.