Health risk

Health risks are often linked to other potential risks or calamities. The health risk can be seen as a qualitative variable representing the potential for an external factor to harm the population's health. The likelihood of this occurring serves as a measure of the risk, indicating the impact it could have.

This type of risk can be:   

• anthropic, if caused by human activities like industrial accidents, industrial and agricultural activities, transportation, and waste;   

• natural, if caused by natural events like earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, sandstorms.

Anthropic variables that lead to health risks can affect human health by causing temporary and permanent damage or effects. These variables can be biological, like bacteria, viruses, and pollens; chemicals, like asbestos, benzene, heavy metals, and dioxins; and physical, like UV radiation, ionizing radiation, noise, and too-low or too-high temperatures.  

On the other hand, natural variables include all types of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, landslides, floods, or other phenomena of a natural kind.