Hazards of La Fortuna District, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Abstract

In this paper we examine the characteristic and distribution of natural and man-made hazards in the District La Fortuna, Costa Rica, and show a Hazards Density Map. There are deadly hazards in the territory and both vulnerability and risk have increased, which demands actions to prevent disasters. Our interest is to provide useful results to improve the risk management in the district. We collected information available in scientific papers, technical reports, thesis, and Press releases and used the method Hazard Density Index to produce the Hazard Density Map. The findings point to a concentration of threats in in North of the district and confirm that the main hazard in the studied area is the volcanic eruption.