Hurricanes A natural hazard is when extreme events which cause great loss of life and or property and create severe disruption to human lives, such as a hurricane. Editor Philip Whitefield brings up an important point in ‘ Our Mysterious Planet’ when he comments; ‘At a time when we know how to aim a space probe directly at Mars and trigger the gigantic forces of nuclear power, we are still at the mercy of hurricanes and volcanoes.’ It seems peculiar how we can be at such an advanced stage technologically yet we are unable to completely stop a natural hazard from causing loss of life and damage