From the time in memorial, natural disasters have been there. However, as the pace of our life gets faster and modern, not only natural but industries many of which involve the storage of toxic gases and chemicals have further contributed to it.
Some days it rains so heavily that we cannot step out of home and go to the office. Other days metro or bus service get disrupted may be due to a bandh and we have to walk home or the office elevator is not working and we have to go to the 10th floor using the staircase. Sometimes there is a minor electrical fire in the office or home we manage to put it off by putting a blanket on it.
Modernization has led to increasing man-made hazards. In addition, there are natural hazards like the overflooding of rivers. As far as possible we try to manage and get out of such disruptions by our individual or community efforts but there are times when the extent of damage or disruption is so huge that we become the sort of helpless. Such situations are called disasters.
Formally speaking, a disaster is a situation when a hazard impacts vulnerable people.
Types of disasters:
Natural disasters:- Physical phenomena that are caused by the rapid or slow onset of events like flooding that have an immediate impact on human health, sufferings, and death are called natural disasters. These disasters can be:
1-Geo physical:-Some examples are-
earthquakes of Nepal in 2015 of magnitude 7.8, the landslide of 2014 in Mahil (Maharashtra), Tsunami like the 2018 Sunda strait tsunami
a volcanic activity like the 2018 stromboli volcanic eruption in Italy.
2-Hydrological:-Some examples are-
Avalanches like the 2017 Gurez sector avalanche
floods like the 2018 Kerala floods.
3-Climatological(Due to extreme changes in temperature):- Some examples are-
Drought like 2019 East Africa drought
wildfires like the 2019 Australian bushfires and 2020 California wildfires.
4-Metrological:- Some examples are-
cyclones like the 2020 cyclone Amphan in West Bengal strong/ wave surges like caused by hurricane sandy in new york in 2012.
5-Biological:-Some examples are-
Disease epidemics like COVID 19 or SARS/MERS 2012
Insect/ animal plagues like rocky mountain spotted fever.
2 . Man-made disaster – These are the events that are caused by humans, many times due to their error of judgment or sheer negligence, which occur in or close to human settlements.
This can include:
a) Environmental degradation
b) Pollution
c) Accident:- Some examples are-
industrial-like 2020 Vizag plant gas leak
Technological like dam failure of the Tiware dam of Ratnagiri district
The transport usually involving the production, use, or transport of hazardous material like the Sanchi oil tanker fire in 2018 in the South China sea.
Pandemic emergencies
An epidemic of infectious disease that has spread across a large region, which can occur to the human population or animal population and may affect health and disrupt services leading to economic and Society costs.
It may be an unusual or unexpected increase in the number of cases of an infectious disease which already exists in a certain region or population or can also refer to to the appearance of a significant number of cases of an infectious disease in a region or population that is usually free from that disease. Pandemic emergencies may occur as a consequence of natural or man-made disasters. These have included the following epidemics:
Covid-19, Ebola, Zika, Avian flu, Cholera, Dengue fever, Malaria, Yellow fever, etc.
The next article will discuss disaster management.