SEVERITY OF DISASTERS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING IN DISASTER PREVENTION AND MITIGATION

The occurance of disasters is increasing and has become one of the spot lights of today’s world. Four problems are detailedly discussed in this paper, including: 1. definition, categorization, and gradataion of disasters; 2. characteristics of disasters and the severity of disasters in the world; 3, disasters in China; 4. role of civil engineering in disaster prevention and mitigation. Detail documents and in-depth discussion accompany the four sections.