Introduction a Disaster Can Be Defined As an Emergency of Such Severity

Introduction A disaster can be defined as an emergency of such severity and magnitude that the resultant combination of deaths, injuries, illness, and property damage cannot be effectively managed with routine procedures or resources. These events can be caused by nature, equipment malfunction, human error, or biological hazards and disease. Public health agencies must be concerned about the universal risk for disaster, the increase in natural disasters across the United States, the negative impact of disasters on public health, and the likely increase of actual and potential effects of manmade disasters. Disasters pose a number of unique problems not encountered in the routine practice of emergency health care. Examples include the need for warning and evacuation, widespread urban search and rescue, triage and casualty distribution, and coordination among multiple jurisdictions, government offices, and private sector organizations. The effective management of these concerns requires special expertise. However, hospitals and other health care agencies must be able to address these situations quickly and effectively to meet the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the regulations of the Occupational and Safety Health Administration. TYPES OF DISASTER Generally, disasters are of two types – Natural and Manmade. Though, all kinds of disaster require more or less similar skill-sets and rescue-efforts at least a few days after the event, it is important to understand various kinds of disasters. Depending upon the actual nature of disaster, the immediate reaction needs to be different. Also, the first few moments of disasters are distinctly different for each kind of disasters. Thus, understanding of each kind of disaster might also help in identifying the onset of a disastrous event, so that a trained person can undertake some key actions, during the initial few moments. This could have a major impact on the final outcome in terms of amount of final loss. Natural Disasters Natural disasters can be categorized as "acute" or "slow" in their onset. They are predictable because they cluster in geographic areas. Natural hazards are unpreventable and, for the most part, uncontrollable. Even if quick recovery occurs, natural disasters can have long term effects. Natural disasters with acute onsets include events such as earthquake, flood, hurricane or typhoon, tornado, fire, tsunami or storm surge, avalanche, volcanic eruption, extreme cold or blizzard, and heat wave. Natural hazards with a slow or gradual onset include drought, famine, desertification, deforestation, and pest infestation. The most important natural disasters and examples of their environmental effects are listed in. Technological or manmade disasters include nuclear accidents, bombings, and bioterrorism. Increasingly, agencies involved in disasters and their management is concerned with the interactions between man and nature, which can be complex and can aggravate disasters. The severity of damage caused by natural disasters is affected by population density in disaster-prone areas, local building codes, community preparedness, and the use of public safety announcements and education on how to respond correctly at the first signs of danger. Recovery following a disaster varies according to the public's access to pertinent information (e.g., sources of government and private aid), pre-existing conditions that increase or reduce vulnerability (i.e., economic or biological factors), prior experience with stressful situations, and availability of sufficient savings and insurance. Manmade Disasters Manmade disasters are unpredictable, can spread across geographical boundaries, may be unpreventable, and may have limited physical damage but long-term effects. These are mostly caused due to certain human activities. These include road, rail, river, marine and aviation accidents, oil spill, building and bridge collapse, bomb blast, industrial and chemical accidents etc. These also include the threats of nuclear, biological and chemical disasters. Some disasters in this class are entirely manmade, such as terrorism. The disasters themselves could be unintentional, but, are caused due to some intentional activity. Most of these (barring coordinated terrorist activities) are due to certain accidents – which could have been prevented – if sufficient precautionary measures were put in place. Other technological disasters occur because industrial sites are located in communities affected by natural disasters, equipment failures occur, or workers have inadequate training or fatigue and make errors. The threat of terrorism is categorized as a potential technological disaster and includes bioterrorism, bombings, civil and political disorders, riots, and economic emergencies. Bhopal gas tragedy is a grim reminder of the colossal damages that single industrial and chemical disasters can bring to life and society Road accidents are common in India due to reckless driving, untrained drivers and poor maintenance of roads and vehicles. At least 67 people were killed and 50 injured when two firebombs went off on the New Delhi-Wagah Samjhauta Express just before midnight on 18 February. A significant proportion of Americans are at risk from only three classes of natural disasters: floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. Twentyfive to 50 million people live in floodplains that have been highly developed as living and working environments. Another 110 million people live in coastal areas of the United States, including the Great Lakes region. By the year 2010, 60 percent of the US population may be living within 50 miles of the East or West Coast. A category 4 hurricane has an 80 percent chance of hitting the coastal area from Maine to Texas. Technological disasters include a broad range of incidents. Routes of exposure are water, food and drink, airborne releases, fires and explosions, and hazardous materials or waste (e.g., chemical, biological, or radioactive) released into the environment from a fixed facility or during transport. Fires, explosions, building or bridge collapses, transportation crashes, dam or levee failures, nuclear reactor accidents, and breaks in water, gas, or sewer lines are other examples of technological disasters. WHAT IS DISASTER? Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, and destruction and devastation to life and property. The damage caused by disasters 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 in the concerned areas, 1. It completely disrupts the normal day to day life 2. It negatively influences the emergency systems 3. Normal needs and processes like food, shelter, health, etc. are affected and deteriorate depending on the intensity and severity of the disaster. It may also be termed as ―a serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources.‖ Thus, a disaster may have the following main features:- o Unpredictability o Unfamiliarity o Speed o Urgency o Uncertainty o Threat Thus, in simple terms we can define disaster as a hazard causing heavy loss to life, property and livelihood. e.g. a cyclone killing 10,000 lives and a crop loss of one crore can be termed as disaster. Based on the devastation, these are further classified into major/minor natural disaster and major/minor manmade disasters. Some of the disasters are listed below, Minor natural disasters: Major natural disasters: Cold wave Flood Thunderstorms Cyclone Heat waves Drought Mud slides Earthquake Storm Major manmade disaster: Minor manmade disaster: Road / train accidents, riots Setting of fires Food poisoning Epidemic Industrial disaster/ crisis Deforestation Environmental pollution Pollution due to prawn cultivation Chemical pollution. Wars Natural These are primarily natural events. It is possible that certain human activities could maybe aid in some of these events, but, by and large, these are mostly natural events. When Nature unleashes her fury, humanity can seem instantly frail and subordinate. Cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes can kill thousands in moments. Often the final death tolls are never truly known. It is impossible to compare modern and historical disasters and develop any objective list of the worst, yet a subjective list can prove instructive. Here are the challenges: Loss of life can be the most traumatic aspect of one terrible event, such as the catastrophic Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar this week, whereas financial cost and remarkable devastation can be the more notable signatures left by another, as was the case with Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The world's population has increased dramatically in the past century and a far higher percentage of people live near dangerous coastlines, so coastal storms and tsunamis stand to kill more people nowadays than in the past. Finally, records of events long ago are typically much less accurate. All that in mind, here we present 15 of the worst disasters of all time in reverse chronological order, with no attempt to rate one in comparison to another. We recognize the list is weighted heavily with modern events and that other disasters — both in modern times and in the distant past

Load more