B.

MEANING OF DISASTER (2 hrs)

(https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/97142/10/10_chapter%202.pdf)

1. INTRODUCTION
Disaster is a sudden calamitous event bringing great damages, loss and destruction and
devastation to life and property. The damage caused by disaster is immeasurable and varies with the
geographical location, climate and the type of the earth surface degree of vulnerability. This influences
the mental, socio – economic, political and cultural state of the affected area. Generally disaster has the
following effects.
• It completely disrupts the normal day to day life
• It negatively influences the emergency system
• Normal needs and process like food, shelter, health etc are affected and deteriorate depending on the
intensity and security of the disaster.
It may also be termed as a serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing wide spreads
human, material or environment losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to scope using its
own resources. Thus a disaster may have the following main features:
• Unpredictability -  likely to change suddenly and without reason (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/) The
change is unknown anytime.
• Unfamiliarity - the quality of not being known or recognized. The characteristics are not immediately known.
• Speed - the rate at which someone or something is able to move or operate .
(https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en). This is on how fast the disaster
happens or travels in a given time.
• Urgency – it requires immediate action.
• Uncertainty – this is something that leaves unknown effects or what is yet to happen.
• Threat. – it causes possible harm or danger to the lives of the people and properties.

Meaning of Disaster

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
Ideally, a disaster may be defined or an event concentrated in time and solace which threatens
a society or a relative self sufficient subdivision of a society with major unwanted consequences as a
result of the collapse of precautions which had hitter to been culturally accepted as adequate.
Disaster according to ‘Disaster Management Act 2005’ 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.

Concepts of Disaster

Disasters are extreme events which causes great loss to life and property. They poses a serious
threat to the normal life as well as the process of development and strike with sudden violence, tearing
bodies, destroying lives and structures and throwing apart families. Natural disasters which are both
sudden and powerful, damage national economy and cause hardships to a large section of the
population.
 They are the single largest concern for most of the nations as they take a heavy toll of human
life, destroy belongings and infrastructure and have for reaching economic and social consequences for
communities. Thus the impact of disasters of human life is multi- dimensional, affecting it in all aspects
domestic, social, economic etc. In common parlance, the terms, disaster and crisis, are used
interchangeably, or synonymously. But strictly speaking, they have different meanings. According to the
New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language, the term, disaster,
means crushing misfortune, a calamity, a terrible accident, and the
term, crisis, means a turning point in the progress of an affair, or a series of events, critical moment34.
We shall use these two terms to connote these meanings. However, we would like to highlight the point
that an event becomes a disaster only if and when it results in substantial loss of life or property and a
disaster becomes a crisis when the extent of damage done by it is well beyond the capacity of the victim
to withstand it and the victim is almost at the breaking point.

Enrichment Activity/ies

1. Watch the uploaded video of a disaster

2. Identify the disaster/s on the video.

Answer/s:
1. Tsunami wave
2. Fire Tornado
3. Volcanic Eruption
4. Hurricane Katrina
5. Meteor Attack
6. Typhoon
7. Vulcanic Eruption
8. 2010 Haiti Earthquake
9. Tsunami in india
10. Earthquake in Nepal

Give your reflection or insight to the lesson in 40-50 words.

Valuable information gathered during the hours, days, months, and years following a disaster can
lead to policies and practices that reduce the risk of loss of life, property, and natural resources. We
should be prepared in any disasters that may come into ourlives. Never Underestimate Nature. Like
I said, nature is a force to be reckoned with, and you should never overestimate your abilities
against it or underestimate how dangerous and destructive it can be

Assessment
1. Explain what disaster means to you. 15 -20 words.
- Disaster is a very dangerous and unpredictable. It can kill many people most especially if you are
not prepared for it. The cause of this disasters is due to the climate change that we are also
experiencing right now.
 2. How can disaster affects people? 40-50 words
-  Natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves
some economic damage in its wake, the severity of which depends on the affected
population's resilience and on the infrastructure available. Other disasters such as
wildfires, floods, and tornadoes can completely defoliate forests and cause other
types of structural changes to ecosystems.

3. Why is there a need to study about disaster? Explain in 20 – 30 words.

- For us to know how can we prevent and lessen the bad effect of these disasters by studying their
cause and effect of it in our lives. With this we will know how to prepare ourselves just in case we
experience these kind of disasters.

Suggested Readings: Read the related topic on the books listed below or you can surf in the internet.
1. http://memp.colacotway.vic.gov.au/ch01s04s03.php
2. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19475705.2018.1486891
Assignment: Research and explain in your own understanding what disaster risk means.

- Disaster risk is expressed as the likelihood of loss of life, injury or destruction and
damage from a disaster in a given period of time. Understanding disaster risk
requires us to not only consider the hazard, our exposure and vulnerability but
also society's capacity to protect itself from disasters. The ability of communities,
societies and systems to resist, absorb, accommodate, recover from disasters,
whilst at the same time improve wellbeing, is known as resilience.