PART I
BASIC DISASTER MANAGEMENT ASPECTSChapter 1
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DISASTER
Purpose of the Chapter
1. The purpose of this chapter is to remind the reader of the significance of
disaster in today’s environment, so that individual disaster management
authorities and officials may assess this significance in relation to their own
circumstances,
Introduction
2. The significance of disaster in today’s environment sometimes comes
under question. Why do we need to bother so much? After all, disaster has
been with us as long as recorded history, and presumably even longer.
Generations of people have had to withstand disaster. They have suffered the
consequences and recovered from them, and life has continued on. Basically,
this is true. However, there are certain factors which need to be considered
in relation to the modern challenges which face disaster management.
The Traditional Disaster Threat
3. The first factor is that there has not been very much reduction in what
might be called the traditional disaster threat. Most of the old problems
remain, as threatening as ever. Natural phenomena such as earthquakes,
cyclones, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, wildfires, floods, landslides and
droughts still persist. So do their basic man-made counterparts, such as major
accidents. These disasters continue to cause gricvous human casualties,
economic and social loss, and damage to the environment. It is certainly true
that we have learned to cope with these problems to some extent. But we
have neither eliminated nor contained them. So, whilst we may have modified
their effects in various ways, they continue to inflict unacceptable pressure on4 Disaster Management
a world population which, in terms of total subsistence, is already finding it
difficult to make ends meet.
4. In fact, some of the longstanding threats have grown more severe. For
example, in the 1920s the risk from air disaster was insignificant. Few aircraft
were in the air and a collision between two of them would have killed only a
handful of people at most. Now, as the 20th century comes to a close, the air
disaster risk has increased enormously. More and more aircraft fill the
already overcrowded airspaces of the world, especially around capital cities.
A collision between two of them can amount to catastrophe. In 1977, a
collision in the Azores between two passenger-carrying jets resulted in the
deaths of 561 people; and one of these aircraft was still on the ground at the
time. In 1988, a total of 270 people lost their lives following the terrorist
sabotage of an airliner over Scotland.
5. With some of the other longstanding threats, we ourselves have added to
the risks. Increasing population alone has forced people to live in disaster-
prone areas which, previously, would not have been regarded as habitable.
This fact tends to apply particularly in developing countries. For instance,
human settlement has been allowed to develop in the flood-prone areas of
major river systems; also on Jow-atoll islands which are subject to indundation
from the sea. The chain effects are sometimes disturbing. Sea indundation
can cause over-salinity of crop-growing land, food shortages follow and
populations may be forced into crises of subsistence, or even famine, leading
perhaps to migration and refugee problems.
6. What is often seen as progress can, in fact, represent a backward step.
In some cyclone-prone countries, traditional building construction, designed
to cope with high winds, has been modified. Increased population has led to
the need for more water, so tin roofing has been introduced to enhance water
collection. But a piece of roofing iron, ripped off a house by cyclonic winds,
and moving at 100 kilometres an hour, is a very lethal weapon, just as capable
of killing people as any modern weapons system. Traditional building
materials posed no such threat, mostly being comprised of lightweight wood
or similar substances.
The New Disaster Threats
7, A-second factor which bears upon today’s situation is that new disaster
threats have developed, particularly since World War II.