WHAT IS DISASTER?

A disaster is a natural or man-made (or technological) hazard resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment. A disaster can be ostensively defined as any tragic event stemming from events such as earthquakes, floods, catastrophic accidents, fires, or explosions. It is a phenomenon that disasters can cause damage to life, property and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of people. WHAT ARE THE COMMON TYPES OF DISASTER? Earthquake Earthquake is an unexpected and rapid shaking of earth due to the breakage and shifting of underneath layers of Earth. Earthquake strikes all of a sudden at any time of day or night and quite violently. It gives no prior warning. If it happens in a populated area, the earthquake can cause great loss to human life and property. Tornado Tornado is one of the most violent storms on earth. It seems like a rotating and funnel shape cloud. It expands from the thunderstorm to the ground in the form of whirl winds reaching around 300 miles per hour. The damage path could move on to one mile wide and around 50 miles long. These storms can strike quickly without any warning. Flood Flood is also one of the most common hazards in the United States and other parts of the world. The effects of a flood can be local to a neighborhood or community. It can cast a larger impact, the whole river basin and multiple states could get affected. Every state is at its risk due to this hazard. Water Damage Water damage has a huge effect on your home, its neighborhood and your city. It is very much necessary that you should prepare for water damage. You must know what should be done during and after water damage. Hail Hail comes into existence when updrafts in the thunder clouds take the raindrops up towards the extremely cold regions in the atmosphere. They freeze and combine forming lumps of ice. As these lumps can be very heavy and are not supported by the updraft, they fall off with the speeds of about 100 km per hour or more. A Hail is created in the form of an enormous cloud, commonly known as thunderheads. Wildfire Wild forest areas catching fire is a very big problem for the people who live around these areas. The dry conditions caused several times in the year in different parts of United States can increase the possibility for wildfires. If you are well prepared in advance and know how to protect the buildings in your area, you can reduce much of the damage caused by wildfire. It is everyones duty to protect their home and neighborhood from wildfire. Hurricane Hurricane also like the tornado is a wind storm, but it is a tropical cyclone. This is caused by a low pressure system that usually builds in the tropical. Hurricanes comes with thunderstorms and a counterclockwise spread of winds near the surface of the earth. Winter Freeze Winter freeze storms are serious threats for people and their property. They include, snow, frozen rain, strong winds and extreme cold. Many precautions have to be taken in order to protect yourself, your family, home or property. Lightning Lightning is a much underestimated killer. Lightning is an abrupt electric expulsion which comes from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth followed by an emission of light. Lightning is a common phenomenon after heavy rain and can also occur around 10 miles off from rainfall. Most lightning victims are people who are captivated outdoors in summer during the afternoon and evening. Volcano Volcano is a mountain that has an opening downwards to the reservoir of molten rock towards the surface of earth. Volcanoes are caused by the accrual of igneous products. As the pressure caused by gases in the molted rock becomes intense, the eruption takes place. The volcanic eruption can be of two kinds,

quiet or volatile. The aftermaths of a volcano include flowing lava, flat landscapes, poisonous gases and fleeing ashes and rocks. WHAT ARE THE GENERAL EFFECTS OF DISASTER? 1.loss of life 2.injury 3.damage to and destruction of property 4.damage to and destruction of subsistence and cash crops 5.disruption of production 6.disruption of lifestyle 7.loss of livelihood 8.disruption of essential services 9.damage to national infrastructure and disruption of governmental system 10.national economic loss, and 11.sociological and psychological after-effects WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT? Firstly we need to look at what can go wrong and introduce preventive or control measures to reduce risk. This process is called a risk assessment. During this assessment, decisions can be made on: 1) the construction of ships / aircraft / buildings (e.g. houses, factories, hospitals, schools) etc. (this will depend on what is being assessed) 2) the storage of materials (e.g. flammable, explosive substances, biological agents etc.) 3) the training of personnel and emergency services 4) communications throughout an emergency Outcomes of the risk assessment will include: 1) how can people be protected 2) how can people be safely evacuated 3) how the emergency services (fire, ambulance etc.) gain access 4) how to return the situation to normal. EXAMPLE: A disaster can be either natural (flooding, land-slide, earthquake, tsunami, forest fire, heat-wave, volcanic eruption) or man made [wars, accident (train, air, ship), industrial accidents, explosions]. My example is about flooding. I have included all the components of disaster management. Before any disaster occurs, a DISASTER REDUCTION programme should be carried out. This will begin with a VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT i.e. is a particular area susceptible to a natural disaster such as flooding? This information may be obtained from historical data or from a study of similar locations. If the area is susceptible, then a MITIGATION programme needs to be put in place. This means that when flooding happens, what can be done to eliminate or reduce the losses (of life and property). A RISK ASSESSMENT is carried out. The first consideration is PREVENTION. Can anything be done to prevent or reduce the consequences of flooding, such as the DEVELOPMENT of a levees (sometimes called dykes) and/or the DEVELOPMENT of adequate drainage systems. The RISK ASSESSMENT will also include some PREPAREDNESS planning, i.e. being prepared for the worst. This includes facilities for the safe evacuation of people, access for the emergency services and communications during the emergency. Another element of PREPAREDNESS is regular practices for the emergency services and awareness programmes for the general public. The RISK ASSESSMENT will also include the outline of a DISASTER MANAGEMENT programme outlining the responsibilities of agencies to execute rescue, relief and recovery operations. Once a disaster has occurred, the DISASTER MANAGEMENT programme is initiated. This will initially be concerned with the rescue (bringing people out), RELIEF (taking supplies in) and RECOVERY (getting things back to normal) operations. After the disaster the focus will be on RECONSTRUCTION of any property and services, REHABILITATION of the population and RE-DEVELOPMENT of the area taking account of recent happenings. The original RISK ASSESSMENT is reviewed so that improved MITIGATION measures can be put in place.