Risk is a measure of the probability of an adverse event occurring.
In the context of Emergency Preparedness Week it is used to describe the likelihood of suffering personal injury or loss due to the occurrence of an unforeseen event, such as an emergency or disaster. These emergencies can be natural occurring phenomena or be caused through technological failure or human error. A disaster is the result of an emergency situation that has an overwhelming effect on the lives, safety, welfare or well-being of the people and environment of a community, and where the impact and resources required to recover are beyond the means of the community to cope with on its own. In fact, every Canadian faces a certain degree of risk everyday. For example, there is always the possibility that we can cut ourselves.