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"One man's truth is not another's". Sure thing. However, in this uncertain world plagued with cynics I prefer to know where my personal truth lies. Even if I am shot down for it.
Being true to the text. Of course one man's truth is not another's. "Hazard" in the mouth of a seismic engineer need not be what it is in the ears of the owner of a cliff-top house. Aléa is a couple of steps closer to "neutrality" between bright and dark outlook than is "hazard". It's the same argument as between fauteuil and "armchair", when it boils down to it. Generally speaking one is a translation of the other, but there will be occasions when another word is required, in either language.
Sure Bourth. But how the ordinary person understands "hazard" is their problem, not the translators. I translate what is in front of me, rather than edit what is in front of me or change the meaning too much, I suppose in medical translation this is what I do.
when used in the right context by the right people. But as I say, consider aléatoire and "hazardous" and what the man in the street will understand from "hazard" in light of that, in contrast to what the French man in the street will understand from aléa. While les aléas de la vie CAN be "the hazards of life (if one is pessimistic), more generally it would be "the ups and downs" or "the imponderables of life".
@Bourth. I disagree with your comment that "aléa" does not mean "hazard". All the references I have provided, by an large professional and from the experts, indicate that it means exactly this.
You've made precisely my point with "Were I living in Japan ... I for one would be shouting at the top of my voice "What a b.........hazardous place to live"". Yes, it's hazardous, but that is not the meaning of aléa. Your experts will interpret "seismic hazard" in an entirely different way to the man in the street. And those used to earthquakes will regard them differently to those who are not, more fatalistically perhaps. As my daughter replied to her mother's side of the family exhorting her to abandon her studies in Christchurch NZ and return to the safety of France, "Pour ce qui est des tremblements de terre je sais que c'est difficile pour vous de comprendre ce que c'est de l'autre bout de la terre. Vous avez vu toute la couverture médiatique et les images choquantes mais au final notre expérience à nous à l'université est bien differente. Je sais bien que vous êtes loin et que tout ça est effrayant pour vous mais les désastres arrivent cela ne veux pas dire qu'il faut s'arrêter de vivre tout simplement." Which from what I see is the attitude of the Japanese. They must be British, down deep, those Nippons!
There is no misunderstanding in my mind about the word hazard, nor in the view of professionals with the expertise in the occurrences of earthquakes. Were I living in Japan, God forbid at this terrible time, I for one would be shouting at the top of my voice "What a b.........hazardous place to live" and I'll bet you it is what the Japanese are saying and thinking themselves, as they are having first hand experience of it, and may God give them strength. We cannot run away and pretend people do not suffer from hazards.
and potential misunderstandings by non-professionals (and journalists, who are worse : "So when the f*#@ is this Fukashima thing going to blow Japan out of the water anyway?" is all some of them want to know) that it can be considered advisable to avoid the words. And at the present time, if this map is for general consumption, it might well be worth avoiding them! Particularly since "hazard" (cf "hazardous") carries greater connotations of actual danger than does aléa (cf. aléatoire.
Earthquake Hazard and Risk
Hazard and risk are two fundamentally different concepts. In general terms, hazard is a phenomenon that has potential to cause harm. Phenomena are both natural and man-made. For example, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods are natural hazards; whereas car crashes, chemical spills, train derailments, and terror attacks are man-made hazards. Risk, on the other hand, is the probability (chance) of harm if someone or something that is vulnerable is exposed to a hazard. In quantitative terms, hazard is defined by three parameters: a level of hazard (severity), its occurrence frequency, and location, for example, a fatal car crash (severity) in every month at a specific intersection. And risk is defined by four parameters: a probability, level of severity, time period, and location. For example, in health sciences, risk is defined as the likelihood (probability) of getting cancer (severity) if an average daily dose of a hazardous substance is taken over a 70-year lifeti
say no more. Lern 101 - Bienvenue au Laboratoire d'études sur les risques ... - [ Translate this page ]
Aléa (Hazard in English): Probabilité qu'un danger particulier (menace) se produise durant une période de temps donnée. Remarque: Aussi souvent considéré ...
www.lern.ggl.ulaval.ca/lern101.htm - Cached
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +3