Disasters: A Simplified Systemic Scale (SSS) for Classifying Magnitudes of Hurricanes and Earthquakes

Abstract

Disasters are themes of growing concern. The number and magnitude of disasters is increasing with time and there are different ways for quantifying the magnitude of the natural phenomena that detonate them. In this paper it is proposed a method for classifying the magnitude of these phenomena in a simpler, systemic and systematic way, which may help to classify the type and speed of the answer to face the menace of a disaster. The actual methods for classifying the magnitude of hurricanes and earthquakes are analyzed and a new Simplified Systemic Scale of only three levels is proposed. It is concluded that the same simplified systemic scale may be used for other natural phenomena that produce disasters.