DISASTER
A disaster is a serious disruption, occurring over a relatively short time, of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed risk.
These risks are the product of a combination of both hazards and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability will never become disasters, as in the case of uninhabited regions. Researchers have been studying disasters for more than a century, and for more than forty years disaster research. The studies reflect a common opinion when they argue that all disasters can be seen as being human-made, their reasoning being that human actions before the strike of the hazard can prevent it developing into a disaster.
All disasters are hence the result of human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami , resulting in coastal flooding. A natural disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
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Various phenomena like earthquakes , landslides , volcanic eruptions , floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, tsunamis, and cyclones are all natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. However, the rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration often in hazardous environments has escalated both the frequency and severity of disasters.
With the tropical climate and unstable landforms , coupled with deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation, non-engineered constructions make the disaster-prone areas more vulnerable. Developing countries suffer more or less chronically from natural disasters due to ineffective communication combined with insufficient budgetary allocation for disaster prevention and management.
Asia tops the list of casualties caused by natural hazards. Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological hazards. War and deliberate attacks may also be put in this category. As with natural hazards, man-made hazards are events that have not happened—for instance, terrorism. Man-made disasters are examples of specific cases where man-made hazards have become reality in an event.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This is the latest accepted revision , reviewed on 15 December Scientists believe landslides , volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption. To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded. In , in Cameroon , a limnic eruption in Lake Monoun caused the deaths of 37 nearby residents, and at nearby Lake Nyos in a much larger eruption killed between 1, and 1, people by asphyxiation.
Cyclone , tropical cyclone , hurricane , and typhoon are different names for the same phenomenon, which is a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. The determining factor on which term is used is based on where they originate.
Natural disaster - Wikipedia
In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term "hurricane" is used; in the Northwest Pacific it is referred to as a "typhoon" and "cyclones" occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. The deadliest hurricane ever was the Bhola cyclone ; the deadliest Atlantic hurricane was the Great Hurricane of which devastated Martinique, St. Blizzards are severe winter storms characterized by heavy snow and strong winds.
Retrieved 21 June In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote. Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. See instructions at Wiktionary: Archived from the original on Views Read Edit History. Specifically, as used by the U.
When high winds stir up snow that has already fallen, it is known as a ground blizzard. Blizzards can impact local economic activities, especially in regions where snowfall is rare. The Great Blizzard of affected the United States, when many tons of wheat crops were destroyed, and in Asia, Afghanistan blizzard and the Iran blizzard were also significant events.
The Superstorm originated in the Gulf of Mexico and traveled north, causing damage in 26 states as well as Canada and leading to more than deaths. Hailstorms are precipitation in the form of ice, with the ice not melting before it hits the ground. Hailstones usually measure between 0.
An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain.
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National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least 0. A cold wave known in some regions as a cold snap or cold spell is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.
disaster (n.)
National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture, industry, commerce, and social activities. The precise criterion for a cold wave is determined by the rate at which the temperature falls, and the minimum to which it falls.
This minimum temperature is dependent on the geographical region and time of year.
A heat wave is a period of unusually and excessively hot weather. The worst heat wave in recent history was the European Heat Wave of A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia, created conditions which fuelled the massive bushfires in The bushfires, collectively known as "Black Saturday", were partly the act of arsonists.
Natural disaster
The Northern Hemisphere summer resulted in severe heat waves, which killed over 2, people. It resulted in hundreds of wildfires which caused widespread air pollution, and burned thousands of square miles of forest. Drought is the unusual dryness of soil caused by levels of rainfall significantly below average over a prolonged period.
Hot dry winds, shortage of water, high temperatures and consequent evaporation of moisture from the ground can also contribute to conditions of drought. Droughts result in crop failure and shortages of water. Well-known historical droughts include the — Millennium Drought in Australia led to a water supply crisis across much of the country.
As a result, many desalination plants were built for the first time see list. In , the State of Texas lived under a drought emergency declaration for the entire calendar year and severe economic losses. Severe storms, dust clouds, and volcanic eruptions can generate lightning. Apart from the damage typically associated with storms, such as winds, hail, and flooding, the lightning itself can damage buildings, ignite fires and kill by direct contact. Especially deadly lightning incidents include a strike in Ushari Dara, a remote mountain village in northwestern Pakistan , that killed 30 people, [14] the crash of LANSA Flight which killed 91 people, and a fuel explosion in Dronka, Egypt caused by lightning in which killed A tornado is a violent and dangerous rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud , or the base of a cumulus cloud in rare cases.
It is also referred to as a twister or a cyclone , [17] although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider sense, to refer to any closed low pressure circulation. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel , whose narrow end touches the Earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust.
Wildfires are large fires which often start in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson. They can spread to populated areas and can thus be a threat to humans and property, as well as wildlife. Notable cases of wildfires were the Peshtigo Fire in the United States, which killed at least people, and the Victorian bushfires in Australia. Asteroids that impact the Earth have led to several major extinction events, including one which created the Chicxulub crater Scientists estimate that the likelihood of death for a living human from a global impact event is comparable to the probability of death from an airliner crash.
No human death has been definitively attributed to an impact event, but the Ch'ing-yang event in which over 10, people may have died has been linked to a meteor shower. Even asteroids and comets that burn up in the atmosphere can cause significant destruction on the ground due to the air burst explosion: A solar flare is a phenomenon where the Sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation , much more than normal.
Solar flares are unlikely to cause any direct injury, but can destroy electrical equipment. The potential of solar storms to cause disaster was seen during the Carrington event , which disrupted the telegraph network, and the March geomagnetic storm which blacked out Quebec.
Some major known solar flares include the X20 event on August 16, , [21] and a similar flare on April 2, International law, for example Geneva Conventions defines International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , requires that "States shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law , all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including the occurrence of natural disaster.
People displaced due to natural disasters are currently protected under international law Guiding Principles of International Displacement, Campala Convention of According to the UN, Asia-Pacific is the world's most disaster prone region.
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Natural disasters can also affect political relations with countries and vice versa. Natural disasters can also worsen ongoing conflicts within states by weakening the capacity of states to fight rebels. Disasters and responses can dictate political careers; the once popular President Benigno Aquino III of Philippines, following a weak and confused response [32] to Typhoon Yolanda which killed over 6, people and survivors were largely left to fend for themselves , this widely accepted sentiment carried over and the President never recovered his popularity, his hand picked successor Mar Roxas lost the subsequent election to a rival party in a landslide vote.
Post-disaster mishandling can spread despair as bad news travels fast and far, and contribute to the appeal of electing a strongman out of sheer desperation.
Studies on natural events require complete historical records and strategies related to obtaining and storing reliable records, allowing for both critical interpretation and validation of the sources. Under this point of view the irreplaceable role of traditional repositories archives can be supplemented by the use of such web sources as eBay. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This is the latest accepted revision , reviewed on 17 December For the Anathema album, see A Natural Disaster. Types of volcanic eruptions.
List of largest volcanic eruptions.
List of historical tsunamis.