Depending on its purpose, a loss study may include estimates of deaths and injuries, property losses, business interruption, loss of shelter, and long term economic impacts. Loss estimation can be performed deterministically or probabilistically. Deterministic analyses refer to analyses done for a single scenario event , e.g., an earthquake or a hurricane, irrespective of how often that event may occur or its dependency on other events. Probabilistic analyses take into account the probabilities associated with each event. They are based on simulations of thousands of deterministic events convoluted together using probability as a weighing factor for results of interest.
Loss refers to the effect and impact of damage.
Casualty, injury, loss of shelter, business interruption and property losses all fall under losses . Slight damage can translate to high losses, e.g., for historical buildings or due to the demand surge . The former two are those caused by direct and collateral hazards . Indirect losses are longer term losses measured on a regional scale resulting from effects of direct and collateral losses, e.g., slowing down of the economy or a sharp decrease in the stock market in the wake of a major disaster. The conscience and preventative actions undertaken pre-disasters to reduce their adverse effects.