Iceland is a country in which geologic processes play a large part in daily life. The most common natural hazard is volcanic eruptions. These are a very regular occurrence here, almost constant when looked at in geologic time scale. There was a major eruption going on as recent as late 2014, beginning in August and lasting through september. Read the Newsweek article Here. Balanced against Iceland's volatile geologic activity is it's relatively small population. The island, which is roughly the size of Massachusetts, boasts a population of just over one quarter of a million people. The population has only risen even to these modest numbers in the last half of a century. On top of this, most of the population is concentrated in a small area near the capital city. This is a key factor in how generally harmless Iceland's natural hazards are. A natural hazard is a natural occurrence which threatens the lives or property of humans. There are generally no people, and is no property, around to be damaged. A striking exception to this general rule was the eruption in the Vestmannaeyjar islands off the coast of the main island in 1973. A fairly dense population on the island of Heimay led to over 400 homes being destroyed when that island's volcano opened lava fissures and spewed hundreds of tons of lava onto the island's one village. This eruption left over 700 people homeless, making it one of the worst natural disasters in the country of Iceland's history. A natural disaster is how we classify a natural hazard that has caused significant disruption of human activity, or loss of life. If a natural disaster reaches a certain scale, in terms of damage and loss of life, it becomes classified as a natural catastrophe. To Iceland's credit, the danger of experiencing a natural catastrophe is fairly low. There is simply not a large enough population density in any of the danger areas of the island.