Disaster

Disaster is a crisis situation. Human life is always vulnerable to disasters. Almost every country is prone to disaster. In French, word disaster means “a bad or a evil star” & in Greek, word disaster means “bas star”. Occurrence of disaster causes ecological destruction, loss of human lives, deterioration of heath services.

US office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), 1995:

According to OFDA, there are some instances that are declared a disaster by recognized organizations. As an example,-

People Killed & Injured	Events
25	Earthquake & Volcano
50	Weathered related disaster
100	Man-made accidents

Sheehan & Hewitt (1969):

      i.         At least 100 people will die.

     ii.         At least 100 people will be injured.

   iii.         At least 1 million US dollars property will be damaged.

Definition of Disaster:

Disasters are sudden unfortunate extreme events or hazards which cause great damage to human beings as well as plants & animals.

-       Prof. Sarvindra Singh (2001) 

Characteristics of Disaster:

      i.         Disasters are natural or man-induced hazards.

     ii.         Disaster occur rapidly, instantaneously & indiscriminately.

   iii.         Disaster are always viewed in terms of human beings i.e. severe damage to human life & property.

   iv.         The intensity of disaster is weighed in terms of the quantum i.e. severe damage to human life & property.

     v.         Disasters cause several socio-economic & health problems etc.

   vi.         Hazardous environmental processes always create extreme events but not all the extreme events become disasters; they become disasters when they occur in the inhabited area, & adversely affect human society.

  vii.         Disasters are such uncontrollable extreme events that disrupt social structure & impair essential functions which are necessary to support human life system.

Fig: Mortality from Natural Disasters & Hazards Worldwide 1945-85.

Classification of Disaster:

(1).Natural Disaster:

o      Humans have absolutely no role in the origin of natural disasters. The earth’s internal & external energy is the main cause of its origin. 

o      A natural disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.

o      Various phenomena like earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, tsunamis, and cyclones are all natural disasters that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. 

o      However, the rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration often in hazardous environments has escalated both the frequency and severity of disasters. 

o      With the tropical climate and unstable landforms, coupled with deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation, non-engineered constructions make the disaster-prone areas more vulnerable. 

o      Developing countries suffer more or less chronically from natural disasters due to ineffective communication combined with insufficient budgetary allocation for disaster prevention and management.

o      The different types of natural disasters are given in the following list-

a)     Geological in nature, e.g. earthquake, volcanic eruptions, landslides, etc.

b)    Environmental disasters, e.g. cyclones, floods, drought, forest fires, cloud burst.

c)     Biological disasters, e.g. pest infestation.

(2).Man-made Disaster:

o      Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human hazards. Examples include stampedes, fires, transport accidents, industrial accidents, oil spills, terrorist attacks, nuclear explosions/nuclear radiation. War and deliberate attacks may also be put in this category.

o      Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of catastrophic global warming, nuclear war, and bioterrorism.

o      One opinion argues that disasters can be seen as human-made, due to human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures. 

o      The different types of man-made disasters are given in the following list-

a)    Failure of technology or negligence/blunder, e.g.

Ø  Vehicular (Airplane crash, Train or Road Accidents)

Ø  Collapse of building & other structures like Bridge & Dam burst, etc.

Ø  Fires accidents (e.g. Uphar Cinema in Delhi)

b)    Man induced disasters, e.g. wars or battles, nuclear explosion, sabotage or terrorist activities/militancy including siege, etc.

Causes of Disaster:

      i.         Geological: Earthquake, Landslides, etc.

     ii.         Metrological: Global warming, Sea level rising.

   iii.         Environmental: Environmental pollution, Deforestation, Desertification, Pest infection, etc.

   iv.         Technological: Industrial Accidents, Dam burst, Rail or Road Accidents, Collapse of big buildings, etc.

     v.         Biological: Human epidemics, Pest attack, Food poisoning, etc.

Disaster Management Cycle:

Disaster Risk Management includes all activities, programmes, & measures taken up before, during & after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses. The three key stages of activities that are taken up within disaster risk management are:

(i).Before a Disaster (Pre-disaster):

Activities taken to reduce human & property losses caused by a potential hazard. For example, carrying out awareness campaigns, strengthening the existing weak structures, preparation of the disaster management plans at household & community level, etc. Such risk reduction measures taken under this stage are termed as mitigation & preparedness activities.

(ii).During a Disaster (Disaster occurrence):

Initiatives taken to ensure that the needs & provisions of victims are met & suffering is minimized. Activities taken under this stage are called emergency response activities.

(iii).After a Disaster (Post-disaster):

Initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve early recovery & rehabilitation of affected communities, immediately after a disaster strikes. These are called as response & recovery activities.

Impact of Disaster:

      i.         Physical Impacts of Disasters: 
The Physical impacts of Disaster include causalities earths and injuries and 
property damages and both vary substantially across hazard agents. It is difficult to 
say that how many of the deaths and injuries occurs due to a disaster. In some cases it 
is possible to say how many persons are missing and if so whether this is due to death 
or because of not proper maintenance of records. Also are important measures of 
physical impacts include damages people, society, and health, to cropland and wood
lands. 


     ii.         Social Impacts: Social impacts, which include psychosocial socio demographic, socio economic and socio-political impacts can develop over a long period of time, can be difficult to assess when they occur. Despite the difficult in measuring these social impacts it is nonetheless important to minor them because they can cause significant problems from the long – term functioning of specific types of households and business in an affected community. A better understanding of disaster is social impacts can provide a basis for pre-impacts predication and the development of contingency plans to prevent adverse consequences from occurring. 

   iii.         Psychosocial Impacts: One type of social impacts not measured by certain data consists of psychosocial impacts. Such as fatigue, gastro intestinal upset and tiles as well as cognitive signs such as confusion, impaired concentration impacts include emotional signs such as anxiety depression and grief as well as behavioral effects such as sleep and appetite changes such as sleep and appetite charges ritualistic, behavior and substance abuse. 

   iv.         Socio Demographic Impacts: Perhaps the most significant socio demographic impact of a disaster on a stricken community is the destruction of households dwellings such an event initiates what can be a very long process of disaster recovery from some population segments The first stage is emergency shelter which consists of unplanned and spontaneously sought locations that are intended only to provide protection from the elements. The next steps is temporary shelter, which includes food preparation and sleeping facilities that usually are sought from friends and relatives or are found in commercial lodging although “Mass Care” facilities in school gymnasiums or church auditorium are acceptable as a last resort the third step is temporary housing which allows victims to re-establish house hold reclines is non preferred locations or structures. The step is permanent housing which reestablishes household routines in preferred locations and structures. 

     v.         Socio economic Impacts: The property damage caused by disaster impact causes direct economic losses that can be thought of as a loss in asset value, the Ultimate economic impact of a disaster depends upon the disposition of the damage assets some of these assets are not replaces and so their loss causes a reduction in consumption and thus a decrease in quality of life or a reduction in investments and thus a decrease in economic productivity other assets are replaced either through in kind donations. E.g.: Food and clothing or commercial purchases. In the latter case, the cost of replacement must come from some source of recovery funding, which generally can be characterized an either inter temporal transfer to the present time from part savings or future from one group to another at a given time. 

   vi.         Political Impacts: There is substantial evidence that disaster impacts can cause social, economic damages, these activities resulting in political disruption especially during the period of disaster recovery and rehabilitation. Some of the catastrophic disasters in recent times have led to changes in disaster management policy and creation of new organization. Policy changes include the enactment of disaster management Act 2005 and development of the national disaster management response frame work. 

Disaster Trends:

Disaster risks changes over the time. The extent of the disaster is increasing as a result of the observation of events & world familiarity. According to UNEP, in the 120 year time table, many people in the world are alarmed by the eruption. In modern times, we have the impression that the evidence of disaster is gradually decreasing.

Reduction of Disaster:

      i.         Population growth reduction.

     ii.         Reduction of land pressure.

   iii.         Reduction of urbanization.

   iv.         Reduction of inequality.

     v.         Reduction of climate change related cause.

   vi.         Change of political view.

  vii.         Economic growth.

viii.         Technological innovation.