What is a Disaster?

Daniel Curry

Disaster is a term often used very loosely to describe unfortunate events and situations. However, the true meaning of disaster is still debated over by experts in various fields. When we think of disasters, an assortment of events come to mind, such as natural occurrences like earthquakes, volcano eruptions, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme weather, heatwave, tsunamis, landslides etc. as well as human influenced situations such as explosions, war, vehicle incidents, electrical failures, mechanical failures, computer or network crashes, political corruption and civil unrest, chemical or hazardous material leaks, nuclear exchanges or nuclear power station meltdowns. These are all immediate threats and cause widespread damage and loss at a fast pace. We must also take into consideration situations which will take time to mature into a disaster such as climate change, food shortage, drought, disease pandemics and the threat of terrorism to name but a few.

When looking at all of these events or situations, we can outline a number of key characteristics that they all contain in their immediate aftermath. There may be high human losses, such as death and serious injuries to many. When reported in the media, news about events such as those above are often accompanied by an up to date death toll, which can rise significantly as the true extent of the loss unfolds.

There may be structural damage and destruction whereby vast numbers of people lose their homes and workplaces. This presents two dangers in that it leaves many without shelter or a means to earn a living, but also in the immediate stages of the event, falling structures pose a grave risk to human life.

The economic cost of an event may be so severe that it takes years for a population to recover and to begin earning what they once did.

The fear of living in a disaster area may also set in, and huge numbers of people may migrate to live in other areas, leaving behind the people who cannot afford or have no means to do so. This will ruin those left behind financially and will leave them little hope of recovering.

It must be said that an event like those listed above can occur, even in highly populated areas, and not cause a disaster. In these cases, it can be said that the event is simply a hazard that people face when living in that area. If and when an event happens, the population have prepared themselves and are able to minimize the effects. In many cases, they can simply get on with life after a small local clean up operation. Such an example of this would be cities like Los Angeles. Being built upon the San Andreas fault leaves it susceptible to earthquakes and tremors. However, the buildings have been constructed with this is mind, and people are prepared against the threat. When an earthquake occurs, the damage is usually fairly minimal, and human losses are often superficial or very low.

In some cases though, an event is highly unexpected and the population is overwhelmed. It can take them entirely by surprise and will cause huge losses, many deaths and in some cases total destruction and collapse of the population. An example of this would be the earthquake that struck Bam in southern Iran in December 2003. The area affected was a 2000 year old ancient citadel, and the structures were mostly dried mud. When the earthquake hit, there was total destruction of buildings, and the human loss was severe – over 26 000 deaths and 30 000 injuries. The population is unlikely to recover even now many years on, even with large amounts of aid from other regions of Iran.

The difference occurs if a population are unable to recover from an event on their own, and using their own resources. If emergency services and supplies are overwhelmed, and external assistance is required, then the situation can be deemed a disaster.

Therefore, we can formulate a definition for disaster by using the above information:

‘An event, or series of events, that are unexpected or uncontrollable and cause severe disruption, loss or damage resulting in the affected population being unable to recover using their own resources and thus require external aid and assistance.’

With the rate of disasters increasing, new technologies leading to new types of disaster and also the threat of ‘mega-disasters’ occurring due to long term issues like climate change this definition could soon be outdated. However, the nature of disasters will not change from causing huge loss, death and destruction when they occur, and efforts must be stepped up to protect the world’s most vulnerable people.

References and Sources

No direct quotes were used in the text, but the information obtained to write the report came from the following locations:

• http://www.dec.org.uk/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster

• http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0361-3666

• http://www.pitt.edu/~epi2170/lecture15/sld007.htm

• http://www.farsinet.com/bam/

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_kjEG4u04

• http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/18/LA-area-earthquake-prompts-fault-concerns/UPI-43301242620535/