Disaster
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Adisasteris an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone.[1][2]Natural disasterslikeavalanches,floods,earthquakes,andwildfiresare caused by naturalhazards.[3]Human-made disasterslikeoil spills,terrorist attacksandpower outagesare caused by people. Nowadays, it is hard to separate natural and human-made disasters because human actions can make natural disasters worse.[4][5][6]Climate changealso affects how often disasters due toextreme weatherhazards happen.
Disasters usually hit people indeveloping countriesharder than people in wealthy countries. Over 95% of deaths from disasters happen in low-income countries, and those countries lose a lot more money compared to richer countries. For example, the damage from natural disasters is 20 times greater in developing countries than inindustrialized countries.[7][8]This is because low-income countries often do not have well-built buildings or good plans to handle emergencies.
To reduce the damage from disasters, it is important to be prepared and have fit for purpose infrastructure.Disaster risk reduction(DRR) aims to make communities stronger and better prepared to handle disasters. It focuses on actions to reduce risk before a disaster occurs, rather than onresponse and recoveryafter the event. DRR andclimate change adaptationmeasures are similar in that they aim to reduce vulnerability of people and places to natural hazards.
When a disaster happens, the response includes actions like warning and evacuating people, rescuing those in danger, and quickly providing food, shelter, and medical care. The goal is to save lives and help people recover as quickly as possible. In some cases, national or international help may be needed to support recovery. This can happen, for example, through the work ofhumanitarian organisations.
Definition and types
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The UN defines a disaster as "a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale".[9]: 13 It results from hazards in places where people live in exposed or vulnerable conditions. Some human failures make communities vulnerable to climate hazards. These are poor planning or development, or a lack of preparation.[10]
Disasters are events that have an effect on people. A hazard that overwhelms or injures a community is considered a disaster.[11]The international disaster database EM-DAT defines a disaster as “a situation or event that overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request for external assistance at the national or international level; it is an unforeseen and often sudden event that causes great damage, destruction and human suffering.”[12]The effects of a disaster include all human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.[9]: 13
The scale of a disaster matters. Small-scale disasters only affect local communities but need help beyond the affected community. Large-scale disasters affect wider society and need national or international help.[9]
It is usual to divide disasters into natural or human-made. Recently the divide between natural, man-made and man-accelerated disasters has become harder to draw.[13][14][15]Some manufactured disasters such assmogandacid rainhave been wrongly attributed to nature.[16]
Complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common indeveloping countries.A specific hazard may also spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is anearthquakethat causes atsunami.This results incoastal flooding,damaging anuclear powerplant on the coast. TheFukushima nuclear disasteris a case in point. Experts examine these cascading events to see how risks and impacts can amplify and spread. This is particularly important given the increase inclimate risks.[17]: 143–145
Some researchers distinguish between recurring events like seasonal flooding and unpredictable one-off events.[18]Recurring events often carry an estimate of how often they occur. Experts call this thereturn period.
Related to natural hazards
[edit]Disasters with links tonatural hazardsare commonly callednatural disasters.However experts have questioned this term for a long time.[19]
Example | Profile |
---|---|
Avalanche | The sudden, drastic flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers, such as loading from new snow or rain, or artificial triggers, such as explosives or backcountry skiers. |
Blizzard | A severe snowstorm characterized by very strong winds and low temperatures |
Earthquake | The shaking of the Earth's crust, caused by underground volcanic forces of breaking and shifting rock beneath the Earth's surface |
Fire (wild) | Fires that originate in uninhabited areas and which pose the risk to spread to inhabited areas (see alsoWildfire § Climate change effects) |
Flood | Flash flooding: Small creeks, gullies, dry streambeds, ravines, culverts or even low-lying areas flood quickly (see alsoEffects of climate change) |
Freezing rain | Rain occurring when outside surface temperature is below freezing |
Heat wave | A prolonged period of excessively hot weather relative to the usual weather pattern of an area and relative to normal temperatures for the season (see alsoEffects of climate change § Heat waves and temperature extremes). |
Landslide | Geological phenomenon which includes a range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows |
Lightning strike | An electrical discharge caused by lightning, typically during thunderstorms |
Limnic eruption | The sudden eruption of carbon dioxide from deep lake water |
Tropical cyclone | Rapidly rotatingstorm systemcharacterized by alow-pressurecenter, a closed low-levelatmospheric circulation,strong winds,and a spiral arrangement ofthunderstormsthat produce heavy rain andsqualls(see alsoTropical cyclones and climate change) |
Tsunami | A series of waves hitting shores strongly, mainly caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake, usually caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, underwater explosions, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water |
Volcanic eruption | The release of hot magma, volcanic ash and/or gases from a volcano |
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Anatural disasteris the very harmful impact on asocietyorcommunityafter a natural hazard event. Some examples of naturalhazardevents includeavalanches,droughts,earthquakes,floods,heat waves,landslides,tropical cyclones,volcanic activityandwildfires.[20]Additional natural hazards includeblizzards,dust storms,firestorms,hails,ice storms,sinkholes,thunderstorms,tornadoesandtsunamis.[20]A natural disaster can causeloss of lifeordamage property.It typically causes economic damage. How bad the damage is depends on how well people areprepared for disastersand how strong the buildings, roads, and otherstructuresare.[21]Scholars have been saying that the termnatural disasteris unsuitable and should be abandoned.[22]Instead, the simpler termdisastercould be used. At the same time the type of hazard would be specified.[23][24][25]A disaster happens when a natural or human-madehazardimpacts avulnerable community.It results from the combination of the hazard and the exposure of a vulnerable society.
Nowadays it is hard to distinguish betweennaturalandhuman-madedisasters.[22][26][27]The termnatural disasterwas already challenged in 1976.[25]Human choices in architecture,[28]fire risk,[29][30]and resource management[31]can cause or worsen natural disasters.Climate changealso affects how often disasters due toextreme weatherhazards happen. These "climate hazards"are floods, heat waves, wildfires, tropical cyclones, and the like.[32]
Some things can make natural disasters worse. Examples are inadequate building norms,marginalizationof people and poor choices onland use planning.[22]Manydeveloping countriesdo not have properdisaster risk reductionsystems.[33]This makes them more vulnerable to natural disasters thanhigh income countries.An adverse event only becomes a disaster if it occurs in an area with avulnerable population.[34][35]Unrelated to natural hazards
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Human-made disasters are serious harmful events caused by human actions and social processes. Technological hazards also fall into this category. That is because they result in human-instigated disasters. Human-made hazards are sometimes called anthropogenic hazards.[9]: 18 Examples includecriminality,social unrest,crowd crushes,fires,transport accidents,industrial accidents,power outages,oil spills,terrorist attacks,andnuclear explosions/nuclear radiation.[36]Catastrophicclimate change,nuclear war,andbioterrorismalso fall into this category.
Climate change and environmental degradation are sometimes called socio-natural hazards. These are hazards involving a combination of both natural and human factors.[9]: 18 All disasters can be regarded as human-made, because of failure to introduce the rightemergency managementmeasures.[37]
Faminesmay be caused locally by drought, flood, fire or pestilence. In modern times there is plenty of food globally. Long-lasting local shortages are generally due to government mismanagement, violent conflict, or an economic system that does not distribute food where needed.[38]
Disaster | Profile |
Bioterrorism | The intentional release or dissemination of biological agents as a means of coercion |
Civil unrest | A disturbance caused by a group of people that may includesit-insand other forms of obstructions, riots, sabotage and other forms of crime, and which is intended to be a demonstration to the public and the government, but can escalate into general chaos |
Fire (urban) | Even with strict building fire codes, people still perish in fires |
Hazardous material spills | The escape of solids, liquids, or gases that can harm people, other living organisms, property or the environment, from their intended controlled environment such as a container. |
Nuclear and radiation accidents | An event involving the significant release of radioactivity to the environment or a reactor core meltdown and which leads to major undesirable consequences to people, the environment, or the facility |
Power failure | Caused by summer or winter storms, lightning or construction equipment digging in the wrong location |
Major disasters
[edit]A study by Sheehan and Hewitt in 1969[39]defined major disasters as conforming to the following criteria, based on the amount of deaths or damage:[40]
- At least 100 people dead,
- at least 100 people injured, or
- at least $1 million damage
This definition includes indirect losses of life caused after the initial onset of the disaster. These could be the effects of diseases such as cholera or dysentery arising from the disaster. This definition is still commonly used. However it is limited to the number of deaths, injuries, and damage in money terms.[40]UNDRO(1984)[citation needed]defined a disaster in a more qualitative fashion as:
an event, concentrated in time and space, in which a community undergoes severe danger and incurs such losses to its members and physical appurtenances that the social structure is disrupted and the fulfilment of all or some of the essential functions of the society is prevented.[41]
Like other definitions this looks beyond the social aspects of the disaster impacts. It also focuses on losses. This raises the need for emergency response as an aspect of the disaster.[40]It does not set out quantitative thresholds or scales for damage, death, or injury.[citation needed]
Impacts
[edit]The effects of a disaster include all human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.[9]: 13
The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) records statistics about disasters related to natural hazards. For 2023, EM-DAT recorded 399 disasters, which was higher than the 20-year average of 369.[12]
Economic losses
[edit]Between 2016 and 2020 the total reported economic losses amounted to $293 billion. This figure is likely to be an underestimation. It is very challenging to measure the costs of disasters accurately, and many countries lack the resources and technical capacity to do so.[42]: 50 Over the 40 year period from 1980-2020 losses were estimated at $5.2 trillion.
Human impacts
[edit]In 2023, natural hazard-related disasters resulted in 86,473 fatalities and affected 93.1 million people.[12]Whilst the number of deaths was much higher than the 20-year average of 64,148, the number affected was much lower than the 20-year average of 175.5 million.
According to a UN report, 91% of deaths from hazards from 1970 to 2019 occurred in developing countries.[43]These countries already have higher vulnerability and lower resilience to these events, which exacerbates the effects of the hazards.
Effects of climate change
[edit]Hazardssuch asdroughts,floods,andcyclonesare naturally occurring phenomena.[44]However,climate changehas caused these hazards to become more unreliable, frequent and severe. They thus contribute to disaster risks. Countries contributing most to climate change are often at the lowest risk of feeling the consequences.[45]As of 2019, countries with the highest vulnerability per capita release the lowest amount of emissions per capita, and yet still experience the most heightened droughts and extreme precipitation.[45]
Prevention and response
[edit]Disaster risk reduction
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Disaster-risk-reduction-progress.png/390px-Disaster-risk-reduction-progress.png)
Disaster response
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Disaster responserefers to the actions taken directly before, during, or immediately after a disaster. The objective is to save lives, ensure health and safety, and meet the subsistence needs of the people affected.[49]: 16 It includes warning and evacuation,search and rescue,providing immediate assistance, assessing damage, continuing assistance, and the immediate restoration or construction ofinfrastructure.An example of this would be building provisionalstorm drainsordiversion dams.Emergency response aims to provide immediate help to keep people alive, improve their health and support their morale. It can involve specific but limited aid, such as helpingrefugeeswith transport, temporary shelter, and food. Or it can involve establishing semi-permanent settlements in camps and other locations. It may also involve initial repairs to damage to infrastructure, or diverting it.
The response phase focuses on keeping people safe, preventing the next disasters and meeting people's basic needs until more permanent and sustainable solutions are available. The governments where the disaster has happened have the main responsibility for addressing these needs.Humanitarian organisationsare often present in this phase of the disaster management cycle. This is particularly so in countries where the government does not have the resources for a full response.Etymology
[edit]The worddisasteris derived fromMiddle Frenchdésastrewhich comes fromOld Italiandisastro.This in turn comes from theAncient Greekpejorative prefixδυσ- (dus-) "bad"[50]andἀστήρ(aster), "star".[51]So the worddisaster( "bad star" in Greek) comes from anastrologicalsense of a calamity blamed on the position of planets.[52]
See also
[edit]- Act of God
- Disaster recovery
- Emergency management
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
- Lists of disasters
References
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- ^Ara Begum, R., R. Lempert, E. Ali, T.A. Benjaminsen, T. Bernauer, W. Cramer, X. Cui, K. Mach, G. Nagy, N.C. Stenseth, R. Sukumar, and P. Wester, 2022:Chapter 1: Point of Departure and Key Concepts.In:Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 121–196,doi:10.1017/9781009325844.003
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External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg/40px-Wikibooks-logo-en-noslogan.svg.png)
- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies–IFRC
- ReliefWebof theUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs–ReliefWeb
- United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction–UNDRR
- EM-DAT International Disaster Databaseof theCentre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
- Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System– a joint initiative of theUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) and theEuropean Commission
- UN-SPIDER–UN-SPIDER,the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response], a project of theUnited Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs(UNOOSA)