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A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are routinely divided into either "Natural disaster, natural disasters" caused by Natural hazard, natural hazards or "human-instigated disasters" caused from Anthropogenic hazard, anthropogenic hazards. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, human-made and human-accelerated disasters is difficult to draw.
Examples of natural hazards include avalanche, avalanches, Flood, flooding, cold wave, cold waves and heat wave, heat waves, drought, droughts, earthquake, earthquakes, Cyclone, cyclones, landslide, landslides, lightning, tsunami, tsunamis, Volcanism, volcanic activity, wildfire, wildfires, and Winter storm, winter precipitation. Examples of anthropogenic hazards include Crime, criminality, civil disorder, terrorism, war, industrial hazards, engineering hazards, power outage, power outages, fire, hazards caused by Transport, transportation, and environmental hazard, environmental hazards.
Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95% of all deaths caused by hazards occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP, gross domestic product) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.
Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, man-made and man-accelerated disasters is quite difficult to draw.
Complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing country, developing countries. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal flooding, resulting in damage to a nuclear power plant (such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster). Some manufactured disasters have been wrongly ascribed to nature, such as smog and acid rain.
Some researchers also differentiate between recurring events, such as seasonal flooding, and those considered unpredictable.
Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human hazards. Examples include war, Civil disorder, social unrest, stampedes, fires, transport accidents, industrial accidents, conflicts, oil spills, terrorist attacks, and nuclear explosions/nuclear radiation.
Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of catastrophic climate change, nuclear war, and bioterrorism.
One opinion argues that all disasters can be seen as human-made, due to human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures.Blaikie, Piers, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis & Ben Wisner. ''At Risk – Natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters'', Wiltshire: Routledge, 2003,
Famines may be caused locally by drought, flood, fire, or pestilence, but in modern times there is plenty of food globally, and sustained localized shortages are generally due to government mismanagement, violent conflict, or an economic system that does not distribute food where needed. Earthquakes are mainly hazardous because of human-created buildings and Dam, dams; avoiding earthquake-generated tsunamis and landslides is largely a matter of location.
''Business Continuity Planning (BCP): Sample Plan For Nonprofit Organizations.''
Pages 11-12. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
"The Calamity of Disaster – Recognizing the possibilities, planning for the event, managing crisis and coping with the effects"
Public Safety Degrees
List of Disasters at ReliefWeb
of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The Disaster Roundtable
of the National Academy of Sciences
EM-DAT International Disaster Database
of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System
– The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System is a joint initiative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the European Commission
UN-SPIDER
– UN-SPIDER, the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response], a project of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) {{Authority control Disasters,
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are routinely divided into either "Natural disaster, natural disasters" caused by Natural hazard, natural hazards or "human-instigated disasters" caused from Anthropogenic hazard, anthropogenic hazards. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, human-made and human-accelerated disasters is difficult to draw.
Examples of natural hazards include avalanche, avalanches, Flood, flooding, cold wave, cold waves and heat wave, heat waves, drought, droughts, earthquake, earthquakes, Cyclone, cyclones, landslide, landslides, lightning, tsunami, tsunamis, Volcanism, volcanic activity, wildfire, wildfires, and Winter storm, winter precipitation. Examples of anthropogenic hazards include Crime, criminality, civil disorder, terrorism, war, industrial hazards, engineering hazards, power outage, power outages, fire, hazards caused by Transport, transportation, and environmental hazard, environmental hazards.
Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95% of all deaths caused by hazards occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP, gross domestic product) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.
Etymology
The word ''disaster'' is derived from Middle French ' and that from Italian language, Old Italian ', which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek pejorative prefix - (''-'') "bad" and ('), "star". The root of the word ''disaster'' ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrology, astrological sense of a calamity blamed on the position of planets.Classification
Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, man-made and man-accelerated disasters is quite difficult to draw.
Complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing country, developing countries. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal flooding, resulting in damage to a nuclear power plant (such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster). Some manufactured disasters have been wrongly ascribed to nature, such as smog and acid rain.
Some researchers also differentiate between recurring events, such as seasonal flooding, and those considered unpredictable.
Natural disasters (caused by natural hazards)
Human-instigated disasters (caused by anthropogenic hazards)
Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human hazards. Examples include war, Civil disorder, social unrest, stampedes, fires, transport accidents, industrial accidents, conflicts, oil spills, terrorist attacks, and nuclear explosions/nuclear radiation.
Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of catastrophic climate change, nuclear war, and bioterrorism.
One opinion argues that all disasters can be seen as human-made, due to human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures.Blaikie, Piers, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis & Ben Wisner. ''At Risk – Natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters'', Wiltshire: Routledge, 2003,
Famines may be caused locally by drought, flood, fire, or pestilence, but in modern times there is plenty of food globally, and sustained localized shortages are generally due to government mismanagement, violent conflict, or an economic system that does not distribute food where needed. Earthquakes are mainly hazardous because of human-created buildings and Dam, dams; avoiding earthquake-generated tsunamis and landslides is largely a matter of location.
Responses
The following table categorizes some disasters and notes first response initiatives.Pages 11-12. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
See also
* Act of God * Catastrophic failure * Disaster convergence * Disaster medicine * Disaster recovery * Disaster recovery and business continuity auditing * Disaster recovery plan * Disaster research * Disaster response * Emergency management * Environmental emergency * Human extinction * List of accidents and disasters by death toll * Lists of disasters ** List of man-made disasters in South Korea * Opportunism * Sociology of disasterReferences
Further reading
* Barton, Allen H. ''Communities in Disaster: A Sociological Analysis of Collective Stress Situations'', Doubleday, 1st edition 1969, ASIN: B0006BVVOW * Susanna M. Hoffman, Susanna M. & Anthony Oliver-Smith, authors & editors. ''Catastrophe and Culture: The Anthropology of Disaster'', School of American Research Press, 1st edition 2002, * Bankoff, Greg, Georg Frerks, Dorothea Hilhorst. ''Mapping Vulnerability: Disasters, Development and People'', Routledge, 2004, * Alexander, David. ''Principles of Emergency planning and Management'', Oxford University Press, 1 edition 2002, * Quarantelli, E. L. (2008). "Conventional Beliefs and Counterintuitive Realities". Conventional Beliefs and Counterintuitive Realities in Social Research: an international Quarterly of the social Sciences, Vol. 75 (3): 873–904. * Paul, B. K et al. (2003). "Public Response to Tornado Warnings: a comparative Study of the 4 May 2003 Tornadoes in Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee". Quick Response Research Report, no 165, Natural Hazard Center, Universidad of Colorado * Kahneman, D. y Tversky, A. (1984). "Choices, Values and frames". American Psychologist 39 (4): 341–350. * Beck, U. (2006). Risk Society, towards a new modernity. Buenos Aires, Paidos * Aguirre, B. E & Quarantelli, E. H. (2008). "Phenomenology of Death Counts in Disasters: the invisible dead in the 9/11 WTC attack". International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. Vol. 26 (1): 19–39. * Wilson, H. (2010). "Divine Sovereignty and The Global Climate Change debate". Essays in Philosophy. Vol. 11 (1): 1–7 * Uscher-Pines, L. (2009). "Health effects of Relocation following disasters: a systematic review of literature". Disasters. Vol. 33 (1): 1–22. * Scheper-Hughes, N. (2005). "Katrina: the disaster and its doubles". Anthropology Today. Vol. 21 (6). * Phillips, B. D. (2005). "Disaster as a Discipline: The Status of Emergency Management Education in the US". International Journal of Mass-Emergencies and Disasters. Vol. 23 (1): 111–140. * Mileti, D. and Fitzpatrick, C. (1992). "The causal sequence of Risk communication in the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction experiment". Risk Analysis. Vol. 12: 393–400. * Perkins, Jamey"The Calamity of Disaster – Recognizing the possibilities, planning for the event, managing crisis and coping with the effects"
Public Safety Degrees
External links
List of Disasters at ReliefWeb
of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The Disaster Roundtable
of the National Academy of Sciences
EM-DAT International Disaster Database
of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System
– The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System is a joint initiative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the European Commission
UN-SPIDER
– UN-SPIDER, the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response], a project of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) {{Authority control Disasters,