Disaster Management

An Introduction
A disaster is a consequence of a sudden disastrous event which seriously disrupts the normal
function of the society or the community to the extent that it cannot subsist without outside help.
A disaster is not just the occurrence of an event such as an earthquake, flood, conflict, health
epidemic or an industrial accident; a disaster occurs if that event/process negatively impacts
human populations. Disasters combine two elements: hazard, and the vulnerability of affected
people. "A disaster occurs when a hazard exposes the vulnerability of individuals and
communities in such a way that their lives are directly threatened or sufficient harm has
been done to their community's economic and social structure to undermine their ability to
survive. A disaster can be 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. Disaster is
the exposure of a group of people to a hazard, leading to a serious disruption of the
functioning of a society and causing human, material, economic environmental losses which
exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope. A disaster results from a
combination of hazards and vulnerability that exceeds the capacity of a society to reduce the
potential negative consequences of risk. Hazard is an extreme event, natural or man-made , with
a destructive potential to social, economic and human assets. These may include future threats,
and may be “natural” (geological, hydro meteorological and biological) or “man
made” (Conflict, environmental degradation and technological hazards).

Definition
UN: define disaster management as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a
society. Disasters involve widespread human, material, economic or environmental impacts, which
exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies define disaster management as the organization and
management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of
emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of
disasters.
WHO defines Disaster as "any occurrence that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of
human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scale sufficient to warrant an
extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area."

Disaster
Meaning The term “DISASTER” owes its origin to French word “Disastre”, which a
combination of two words “Des” meaning “Bad” and “Aster” meaning “Star” thus the
term Disaster refers to “Bad or Evil Star”. In earlier days disasters were considered to
be an outcome or outburst of some unfavorable star.
Introduction: disasters are highly disruptive events that cause suffering, deprivation, hardship,
injury and even death, as a result of direct injury, disease, the interruption of commerce and
business, and the partial or total destruction of critical infrastructure such as homes, hospitals,
and other buildings, roads, bridges, power lines, etc. Disasters can be caused by naturally
occurring events, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, or tornadoes, or they can be due to
man-made events, either accidental (such as an accidental toxic spill or nuclear power plant
event), or deliberately caused (such as various terrorist bombings and poisonings).
Definition
According to ‘Disaster Management Act 2005’ Disaster means a catastrophic,
mishap, calamity on grave occurrences in any area, arising from natural or manmade
causes or by accident on negligence which results in substantial loss a life or human
suffering or damage to and destruction of property on damage to or degradation of
environment and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity
of the community of the affected area.
WHO defines Disaster as "any occurrence that causes damage,ecological disruption, loss of
human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scalesufficient to warrant an
extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area."

Disaster is a natural or man-made event that negatively affects life, property, livelihood or
industry often resulting in permanent changes to human societies, ecosystems and environment."

Disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread

human, material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to
cope using only its own resources.
Hazard
Introduction A hazard is a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life,
injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or
environmental degradation. Hazards may be natural, anthropogenic or socionatural in origin
Definition
"Those elements of the physical environment, harmful to man and caused by forces extraneous to
him" (Burton et al 1978).
‘A source of potential harm or a situation with a potential to causeloss.’

Hazard is a condition/event that has potential for causing injury/ loss of life or damage to
property/environment.
Hazard refers to an event which has the potential for causing injury to life, or damage to
property and the environment.
Classification of Hazards
I. Natural hazards such as earthquakes or floods arise from purely natural processes in
the environment.
II. Quasi-natural hazards such as smog or desertification arise through the interaction of
natural processes and human activities.
III. Technological (or man-made) hazards such as the toxicity of pesticides to fauna,
accidental release of chemicals or radiation from a nuclear plant. These arise directly as a
result of human activities.
 Difference between Hazard and Disaster

Types of Disaster
Hazards are routinely divided in to natural or human made although complex disasters, where
there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries A specific disaster may
spawn the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal
flooding. Disasters and crises are generally classified as Natural and Man-made. Natural disasters
and crises are caused by such natural calamity like Famine, floods, Storm, ,Earthquakes,
Volcanic eruption. Whereas man-made disasters are the results of human actions, and include
Accidents, Political and complex emergencies and Biological Hazards.

a. Natural Disasters :-
Natural Disaster are caused by natural phenomena are.
Famines: A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several factors including war,
inflation, crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is
usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and
increased mortality. Famine, severe and prolonged hunger in a substantial proportion of
the population of a region or country, resulting in widespread and acute
malnutrition and death by starvation and disease. Famines usually last for a limited time, ranging
from a few months to a few years. They cannot continue indefinitely, if for no other reason than
that the affected population would eventually be decimated. We might naturally tend to associate
famine with drought or other natural phenomena, and indeed most documented famines have
occurred in the context of harvest failures, often due to droughts or flooding. However, in recent
times, aggregate food availability per person has increased dramatically, and given the
comparable ease of transportation and communication, localized shortfalls can – in theory at
least – be met by importing food from surplus areas far quicker and at a much lower cost
nowadays
Flood: A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of
"flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of
study of the discipline hydrology and are of significant concern in agriculture, engineering
and public health. Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water bodies, such as
a river, lake, or ocean, in which the water overtops or breaks levees, resulting in some of that
water escaping its usual boundaries, or it may occur due to an accumulation of rainwater on
saturated ground in an areal flood. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with
seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, these changes in size are unlikely to be
considered significant unless they flood property or drown domestic animals. Floods can also
occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends
or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in
the natural flood plains of rivers. While reverie flood damage can be eliminated by moving away
from rivers and other bodies of water,
Storm: A storm is any disturbed state of an environment or in an astronomical
body's atmosphere especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather.
Storms, a natural phenomenon caused by violent atmospheric disturbances occurring over
land and water, represent a major potential threat to the entire population of the earth
because of their prevalence, the size of areas devastated and the scale of the resulting
damage. There are several different types of storms distinguished by the strength and
characteristics of atmospheric disturbances. These are tropical cyclones (typhoons and
hurricanes), extra tropical cyclones (winter storms and blizzards), monsoon type storms,
tornadoes and thunderstorms. Certain violent winds, which affect limited areas and the
names of which vary from country to country (for example, Bora, Chinook, Foehn, etc.) can
be regarded as storms and calI for special preventive, protective and intervention
measures. The different types of storms, their frequency, the seasons during which they
occur and the areas usualIy threatened can be established with some precision but their
occurrence and trajectory cannot, until they are already developing. The preventive and
protective measures are decisive in such cases and the establishment of meteorological
institutes and observatories in each country is necessary to enable the risks to be predicted
and the political authorities, firms and population to be warned and advised accordingly.
Earthquakes :-
Earthquake is a vibratory movement of the crust of the earth. An earthquake (also known as
a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the
sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. The term
"earthquake" or seismic tremor is a good description of the natural phenomenon which
suddenly strikes an area causing damage that varies according to the intensity of the quake
and local geological conditions. Close to the epicentre of the quake, the damage is direct,
resulting in immediate destruction, such as collapsed buildings and other infrastructure, and
indirect or secondary, resulting, for example, in fires, landslides, ruptured water and gas
mains, interruption of electricity supplies, floods, etc. It should be noted that the main quake
is regularly followed by after-tremors, which may occur a few hours, days or even months
later and which can be as violent as the initial earthquake. These can cause considerable
additional damage which, unless protective measures are taken by the political authorities
and their intervening bodies, can result in numerous victims.

Man Mad Disasters :-

Man Mad Disaster are caused by Human activites.
Accidents: Disaster type term used to describe technological transport
accidents involving mechanised modes of transport. It comprises of four
disaster subsets: accidents involving air, boat, rail transport and accidents
involving motor vehicles on roads and tracks
Examples include industrial accidents, shootings, acts of terrorism, and incidents of
mass violence. As with natural disasters, these types of traumatic events may also
cause loss of life and property. They may also prompt evacuations from certain
areas and overwhelm behavioral health resources in the affected communities.

Biological Hazards
Biological hazards, also known as biohazards, refer to biological substances that pose a threat to
the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include samples of
a microorganism, virus or toxin (from a biological source) that can affect human health. It can
also include substances harmful to other animals. Biological hazards are organic substances that
pose a threat to the health of humans and other living organisms. Biological hazards include
pathogenic micro-organisms, viruses, toxins (from biological sources), spores, fungi and bio-
active substances. Biological hazards can also be considered to include biological vectors or
transmitters of disease

Disaster prevention
These are activities designed to provide permanent protection from disasters. Not all disasters,
particularly natural disasters, can be prevented, but the risk of loss of life and injury can be mitigated
with good evacuation plans, environmental planning and design standards. In January 2005, 168
Governments adopted a 10-year global plan for natural disaster risk reduction called the Hyogo
Framework. It offers guiding principles, priorities for action, and practical means for achieving
disaster resilience for vulnerable communities.
Disaster preparedness
These activities are designed to minimize loss of life and damage – for example by removing people
and property from a threatened location and by facilitating timely and effective rescue, relief and
rehabilitation. Preparedness is the main way of reducing the impact of disasters. Community-based
preparedness and management should be a high priority in physical therapy practice management.

Disaster relief
This is a coordinated multi-agency response to reduce the impact of a disaster and its long-term
results. Relief activities include rescue, relocation, providing food and water, preventing disease and
disability, repairing vital services such as telecommunications and transport, providing temporary
shelter and emergency health care.

Disaster recovery
Once emergency needs have been met and the initial crisis is over, the people affected and the
communities that support them are still vulnerable. Recovery activities include rebuilding
infrastructure, health care and rehabilitation. These should blend with development activities, such as
building human resources for health and developing policies and practices to avoid similar situations
in future. Disaster management is linked with sustainable development, particularly in relation to
vulnerable people such as those with disabilities, elderly people, children and other marginalised
groups. Health Volunteers Overseas publications address some of the common misunderstandings
about disaster management.