Understanding Natural Disasters

Ruins from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in United States
history

A disaster is a perceived tragedy, being either a natural calamity or man-made catastrophe. It is a hazard which
has come to fruition. A hazard, in turn, is a situation which poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or that
may deleteriously affect society or an environment.

In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed risk. These risks are
the product of hazards and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability are not considered a
disaster, as is the case in uninhabited regions.

Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by
disasters occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural disasters are 20 times greater (as a percentage of
GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.

A disaster can be defined as any tragic event with great loss stemming from events such as earthquakes, floods,
catastrophic accidents, fires, or explosions

Etymology
The word derives from Middle French désastre and that from Old Italian disastro, which in turn comes from the
Greek pejorative prefix δυσ-, (dus-) "bad" + ἀστήρ (aster), "star". The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in
Greek) comes from an astrological theme in which the ancients used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction
of a star as a disaster.

Classification

For more than a century researchers have been studying disasters and for more than forty years disaster research
has been institutionalized through the Disaster Research Center. 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 disaster management measures. Hazards are routinely divided into natural or human-made,
although complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. 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.

Natural disaster

A natural disaster is a consequence when a natural hazard (e.g., volcanic eruption or earthquake) affects humans
and/or the built environment. Human vulnerability, caused by the lack of appropriate emergency management,
leads to financial, environmental, or human impact. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population
to support or resist the disaster: their resilience. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters
occur when hazards meet vulnerability". A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areas
without vulnerability, e.g., strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas.
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake,
or landslide) that affects the environment, and leads to financial, environmental and/or human losses. The
resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, and their resilience. This
understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability." A natural
hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in
uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or
disasters without human involvement.

Natural disasters
Land movement disasters
Earthquakes

An Earthquake is a sudden shake of the Earth's crust caused by the tectonic plates colliding.The vibrations may
vary in magnitude. The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the "focus". The point directly
above the focus on the surface is called the"epicenter". Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It
is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves)
and volcanoes, that are actually the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better
construction, safety systems, early warning and evacuation planning.Earthquakes are caused by the discharge of
energy accumulated along geologic fault.

Lahars

A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 Tangiwai disaster was caused by a lahar, as was the 1985
Armero tragedy in which the town of Armero was buried and an estimated 23,000 people were killed.

Volcanic eruptions

 An Eruption may in itself be a disaster due to the explosion of the volcano or the fall of rock but there are several
effects that may happen after an eruption that are also hazardous to human life.
 Lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano a material consisting of superheated rock. There are several
different forms which may be either crumbly or gluey. Leaving the volcano this destroys any buildings and plants it
encounters.
 Volcanic ash - generally meaning the cooled ash - may form a cloud, and settle thickly in nearby locations. When
mixed with water this forms a concrete like material. In sufficient quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its
weight but even small quantities will cause ill health if inhaled. Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass it
causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines.
 Supervolcanoes : According to the Toba catastrophe theory 70 to 75 thousand years ago a super volcanic event at
Lake Toba reduced the human population to 10,000 or even 1,000 breeding pairs creating a bottleneck in human
evolution. It also killed three quarters of all plant life in the northern hemisphere. The main danger from a supervolcano
is the immense cloud of ash which has a disastrous global effect on climate and temperature for many years.
 Pyroclastic flows consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air above under its own weight and
streams very rapidly from the mountain burning anything in its path. It is believed that Pompeii was destroyed by a
pyroclastic flow.
Water disasters

Some of the most notable floods include:

 flood of Pakistan in Indus River. this occur in August 2010, damaging crops of Pakistan.
 The Huang He (Yellow River) in China floods particularly often. The Great Flood of 1931 caused between 800,000
and 4,000,000 deaths.
 The Great Flood of 1993 was one of the most costly floods in United States history.
 The 1998 Yangtze River Floods, also in China, left 14 million people homeless.
 The 2000 Mozambique flood covered much of the country for three weeks, resulting in thousands of deaths, and
leaving the country devastated for years afterward.

Tropical cyclones can result in extensive flooding and storm surge, as happened with:

 Bhola Cyclone, striking East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1970,

 Typhoon Nina, striking China in 1975,
 Tropical Storm Allison, which struck Houston, Texas in 2001 and
 Hurricane Katrina, which left most of New Orleans under water in 2005. Much of the flooding was due to the
failure of the city's levee system.

Limnic eruptions

A limnic eruption occurs when a gas, usually CO2 suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of
suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising
gas displaces water. Scientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption.
To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded:

 In 1984, in Cameroon, a limnic eruption in Lake Monoun caused the deaths of 37 nearby residents.
 At nearby Lake Nyos in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800 people by
asphyxiation.

Tsunami

Tsunamis can be caused by undersea earthquakes as the one caused in Ao Nang, Thailand, by the 2004 Indian
Ocean Earthquake, or by landslides such as the one which occurred at Lituya Bay, Alaska.

 Ao Nang, Thailand (2004). The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake created the Boxing Day Tsunami and disaster at this
site.
 Lituya Bay, Alaska (1953). A mega-tsunami occurred here, the largest ever recorded.

(This also fits within the "Land movement disaster" category because it started with an earthquake.)

Weather disasters

Blizzards

Significant blizzards in the United States include:

 The Great Blizzard of 1888

 The Schoolhouse Blizzard earlier the same year
  The Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940
 The Storm of the Century in 1993

Cyclonic storms

Cyclone, tropical cyclone, hurricane, and typhoon are different names for the same phenomenon a cyclonic storm
system that forms over the oceans. The deadliest hurricane ever was the 1970 Bhola cyclone; the deadliest
Atlantic hurricane was the Great Hurricane of 1780 which devastated Martinique, St. Eustatius and Barbados.
Another notable hurricane is Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005.

Droughts

Well-known historical droughts include:

 1900 India killing between 250,000 and 3.25 million.

 1921-22 Soviet Union in which over 5 million perished from starvation due to drought
 1928-30 northwest China resulting in over 3 million deaths by famine.
 1936 and 1941 Sichuan Province China resulting in 5 million and 2.5 million deaths respectively.
 As of 2006, states of Australia including Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland had been
under drought conditions for five to ten years. The drought is beginning to affect urban area populations for the first
time.
 In 2006, Sichuan Province China experienced its worst drought in modern times with nearly 8 million people and
over 7 million cattle facing water shortages.

Hailstorms

Hailstorms (AKA hailstones) are rain drops that have formed together into ice. A particularly damaging hailstorm
hit Munich, Germany, on July 12, 1984, causing about 2 billion of dollars in insurance claims.

Heat waves

The worst heat wave in recent history was the European Heat Wave of 2003.

Hurricane Katrina

A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia, caused the massive bushfires in 2009. Melbourne experienced three
days in a row of temperatures exceeding 40°C. The bushfire, otherwise known as "Black Saturday" was also
started intentionally.

Tornadoes

Different Types of Tornadoes:

Supercell Tornadoes

Some of the most violent tornadoes develop from supercell thunderstorms. A supercell thunderstorm is a long-
lived thunderstorm possessing within its structure a continuously rotating updraft of air. These storms have the
greatest tendency to produce tornadoes, some of the huge wedge shape. The supercell thunderstorm has a low-
hanging, rotating layer of cloud known as a "wall cloud." It looks somewhat like a layer of a layer cake that hangs
below the broader cloud base. One side of the wall cloud is often rain-free, while the other is neighbored by dense
shafts of rain. The rotating updraft of the supercell is seen on radar as a "mesocyclone."

The tornadoes that accompany supercell thunderstorms are more likely to remain in contact with the ground for
long periods of time—an hour or more—than other tornadoes, and are more likely to be violent, with winds
exceeding-200 mph.

Landspout

Generally weaker than a supercell tornado, a landspout is not associated with a wall cloud or mesocyclone. It may
be observed beneath cumulonimbus or towering cumulus clouds and is the land equivalent of a waterspout. It
often forms along the leading edge of rain-cooled downdraft air emanating from a thunderstorm, known as a "gust
front."

Gustnado

Weak and usually short-lived, a gustnado forms along the gust front of a thunderstorm, appearing as a temporary
dust whirl or debris cloud. There may be no apparent connection to or circulation in the cloud aloft. These appear
like dust devils.

Waterspout

A waterspout is a tornado over water. A few form from supercell thunderstorms, but many form from weak
thunderstorms or rapidly growing cumulus clouds. Waterspouts are usually less intense and causes far less
damage. Rarely more than fifty yards wide, it forms over warm tropical ocean waters, although its funnel is made
of freshwater droplets condensed from water vapor from condensation - not saltwater from the ocean.
Waterspouts usually dissipate upon reaching land.

The following are tornado-like circulations

Dust Devils

Dry, hot, clear days on the desert or over dry land can bring about dust devils. Generally forming in the hot sun
during the late morning or early afternoon hours, these mostly harmless whirlwinds are triggered by light desert
breezes that create a swirling plume of dust with speeds rarely over 70 mph. These differ from tornadoes in that
they are not associated with a thunderstorm (or any cloud), and are usually weaker than the weakest tornado.

Typically, the life cycle of a dust devil is a few minutes or less, although they can last much longer. Although
usually harmless, they have been known to cause minor damage. They can blow vehicles off the road and could
damage your eyes by blowing dust into them.

Firewhirls

Sometimes the intense heat created by a major forest fire or volcanic eruption can create what is known as a
firewhirl, a tornado-like rotating column of smoke and/or fire. This happens when the fire updraft concentrates
some initial weak whirl or eddy in the wind. Winds associated with firewhirls have been estimated at over
100 mph. They are sometimes called fire tornadoes, fire devils, or even firenadoes.

Fire
Wildfires are an uncontrolled fire burning in wildland areas. Common causes include lightning and drought but
wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson. They can be a threat to those in rural areas and also
wildlife.

A notable case of wildfire was the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia.

Nine elderly Russians have died in a blaze at a nursing home that may have been started by a resident setting
himself on fire.The fire at the facility in Tver, northeast of Moscow, injured two others and forced the evacuation
of some 480 people early on Monday,and investigators found a canister of flammable liquid in the room where
the fire started, leading to speculation the resident set himself ablaze.

Health and diseases

Epidemic

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads at a rapid rate through a human population. A
pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as
Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include:

 The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide
 The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people
 The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu pandemic
 The 2002-3 SARS pandemic
 The AIDS epidemic, beginning in 1959
 The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009-2010

Other diseases that spread more slowly, but are still considered to be global health emergencies by the WHO
include:

 XDR TB, a strain of tuberculosis that is extensively resistant to drug treatments

 Malaria, which kills an estimated 1.6 million people each year
 Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which has claimed hundreds of victims in Africa in several outbreaks

Famine

In modern times, famine has hit Sub-Saharan Africa the hardest, although the number of victims of modern
famines is much smaller than the number of people killed by the Asian famines of the 20th century.

Space
Gamma ray bursts

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions in distant
galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from
milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical burst lasts a few seconds. The initial burst is usually followed
by a longer-lived "afterglow" emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared and radio).

Most observed GRBs are believed to be a narrow beam of intense radiation released during a supernova event, as
a rapidly rotating, high-mass star collapses to form a black hole. A subclass of GRBs (the "short" bursts) appear
to originate from a different process, possibly the merger of binary neutron stars.
The sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away from Earth, implying that the explosions are both
extremely energetic (a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10
billion year lifetime) and extremely rare (a few per galaxy per million years[1]). All observed GRBs have
originated from outside the Milky Way galaxy, although a related class of phenomena, soft gamma repeater
flares, are associated with magnetars within the Milky Way. It has been hypothesized that a gamma-ray burst in
the Milky Way could cause a mass extinction on Earth.[2]

GRBs were first detected in 1967 by the Vela satellites, a series of satellites designed to detect covert nuclear
weapons tests. Hundreds of theoretical models were proposed to explain these bursts in the years following their
discovery, such as collisions between comets and neutron stars.[3] Little information was available to verify these
models until the 1997 detection of the first X-ray and optical afterglows and direct measurement of their redshifts
using optical spectroscopy. These discoveries, and subsequent studies of the galaxies and supernovae associated
with the bursts, clarified the distance and luminosity of GRBs, definitively placing them in distant galaxies and
connecting long GRBs with the deaths of massive stars.

Impact events

One of the largest impact events in modern times was the Tunguska event in June 1908.

Solar flares

A solar flare is a phenomenon where the sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation, much more
than normal. Some known solar flares include:

 An X20 event on August 16, 1989

 A similar flare on April 2, 2001
 The most powerful flare ever recorded, on November 4, 2003, estimated at between X40 and X45
 The most powerful flare in the past 500 years is believed to have occurred in September 1859

Supernovae and hypernovae

Future of natural disasters

The United Kingdom based charity Oxfam publicly stated that the number of people hit by climate-related
disasters is expected to rise by about 50%, to reach 375 million a year by 2015.

British defence secretary Liam Fox has pubilicly warned that a massive solar flare may occur in 2013, causing widespread
damage to the world's electronic and communications infrastructures.

Human-made disaster

Human-made earthquakes are well documented even though less known by the general public.

An anthropogenic hazard is a threat having an element of human intent, negligence, or error, or involving a
failure of an anthropogenic system. Anthropogenic disasters are disasters resulting from the same factors, as
opposed to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards.

Sociological hazards
Crime

Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority (via mechanisms such as legal systems)
can ultimately prescribe a conviction. Individual human societies may each define crime and crimes differently.
While every crime violates the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime; for example: breaches of
contract and of other civil law may rank as "offences" or as "infractions". Modern societies generally regard
crimes as offenses against the public or the state, distinguished from torts (offenses against private parties that can
give rise to a civil cause of action).

In context, not all crimes provide man-made hazards.

Arson: Arson is the criminal intent of setting a fire with intent to cause
damage. The definition of arson was originally limited to setting fire to
buildings, but was later expanded to include other objects, such as bridges,
vehicles, and private property. Arson is the greatest cause of fires in data
repositories. Sometimes, human-induced fires can be accidental: failing
machinery such as a kitchen stove is a major cause of accidental fires

Civil disorder: Civil disorder is a broad term that is typically used by law
enforcement to describe forms of disturbance. Although civil disorder does
not necessarily escalate to a disaster in all cases, the event may escalate into general chaos. Rioting has many causes, from
low minimum wage to racial segregation. And example of riots were those in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles,
California in 1965 and 1992. The 1992 riots, which started at the intersections of Florence and Normandie streets, started
immediately after the Rodney King verdict was announced on live TV. Approximately 50 people died in the 1992 riots.

Terrorism

Terrorism is a controversial term with multiple definitions. One definition means a violent action targeting
civilians exclusively. Another definition is the use or threatened use of violence for the purpose of creating fear in
order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological goal. Under the second definition, the targets of terrorist acts
can be anyone, including civilians, government officials, military personnel, or people serving the interests of
governments. In the early 21st century, terrorism has been considered by some a constant threat to all people of
the world, after the worst disaster of its kind struck on September 11, 2001 (known primarily as 9/11).

War

War is conflict between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of
weapons. Warfare has destroyed entire cultures, countries, economies and inflicted great suffering on humanity.
Other terms for war can include armed conflict, hostilities, and police action. Acts of war are normally excluded
from insurance contracts and disaster planning.

Technological hazards
Industrial hazards

Industrial disasters occur in a commercial context, such as mining disasters. They often have an environmental
impact. The Bhopal poisoning is an extreme example, as is the Chernobyl failure. Hazards may have longer more
dispersed effects, such as dioxin and DDT poisoning.
Structural collapse

Structural collapses are often caused by engineering failures. Bridge failures may be caused in several ways, such
as under-design (as in the Tay Rail Bridge), by corrosion attack (such as in the Silver Bridge), and by
aerodynamic flutter of the deck (as in Galloping Gertie, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge). Failure of dams
was not infrequent during the Victorian period, such as the Dale Dyke dam failure in Sheffield, England in the
1860s, causing the Great Sheffield Flood. Other failures include balcony collapses.

Power outage

A power outage is an interruption of normal sources of electrical power. Short-term power outages (up to a few
hours) are common and have minor adverse effect, since most businesses and health facilities are prepared to deal
with them. Extended power outages, however, can disrupt personal and business activities as well as medical and
rescue services, leading to business losses and medical emergencies. Extended loss of power can lead to civil
disorder, as in the New York City blackout of 1977. Only very rarely do power outages escalate to disaster
proportions, however, they often accompany other types of disasters, such as hurricanes and floods, which
hampers relief efforts.

Electromagnetic pulses and voltage spikes from whatever cause can also damage electricity infrastructure and
electrical devices.

Fire
A forest fire

Bush fires, forest fires, and mine fires are generally started by lightning, but
also by human negligence or arson. They can burn thousands of square
kilometers. If a fire intensifies enough to produce its own winds and
"weather", it will form into a firestorm. A good example of a mine fire is the
one near Centralia, Pennsylvania. Started in 1962, it ruined the town and
continues to burn today. Some of the biggest city-related fires are The Great
Chicago Fire, The Peshtigo Fire (both of 1871) and the Great Fire of
London in 1666.

Casualties resulting from fires, regardless of their source or initial cause,

can be aggravated by inadequate emergency preparedness. Such hazards as
a lack of accessible emergency exits, poorly marked escape routes, or improperly maintained fire extinguishers or
sprinkler systems may result in many more deaths and injuries than might occur with such protections.

Events like this have happened as the Australian Bush fires in 2009.

Hazardous materials
Radiation contamination

When nuclear weapons are detonated or nuclear containment systems are otherwise compromised, airborne
radioactive particles (nuclear fallout) can scatter and irradiate large areas. Not only is it deadly, but it also has a
long-term effect on the next generation for those who are contaminated. Ionizing radiation is hazardous to living
things, and in such a case much of the affected area could be unsafe for human habitation. During World War II,
United States troops dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, the
radiation fallout contaminated the cities' water supplies, food sources, and half of the populations of each city
were stricken with disease. The Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus are part of a scenario like this after a
reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a meltdown in 1986. To this day, several small towns and
the city of Chernobyl remain abandoned and uninhabitable due to fallout. In the 1970s, a similar threat scared
millions of Americans when a failure occurred at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. The
incident was fortunately resolved, and the area retained little contamination.

A number of military accidents involving nuclear weapons have also resulted in radioactive contamination, for
example the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash and the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash.

CBRNs
A catch-all initialism meaning Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear. The term is used to describe a non-
conventional terror threat that, if used by a nation, would be considered use of a weapon of mass destruction. This term is
used primarily in the United Kingdom. Planning for the possibility of a CBRN event may be appropriate for certain high-
risk or high-value facilities and governments. Examples include Saddam Hussein's Halabja poison gas attack on Kurds, the
Sarin gas attacks in Tokyo and the preceding test runs in Matsumoto, Japan 100 kilometers outside of Tokyo,[2], and Lord
Amherst giving smallpox laden blankets to Native Americans.

Transportation
Road: Road accidents are leading cause of death, and road based pollution creates a substantial health hazard, especially in
major conurbations. The greenhouse effect of road transport is a significant fraction of the anthropogenic warming effect,
and the rapid consumption of fossil fuel accelerates the Hubbard peak.

Aviation

An aviation incident is an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which
affects or could affect the safety of operations, passengers, or pilots. The category of the vehicle can range from a
helicopter, an airliner, or a space shuttle. One of the more devastating events occurred in 1977 on the island of
Tenerife of the Canary Islands, when miscommunications between and amongst air traffic control and an aircrew
caused two fully loaded jets to collide on the runway, killing over 500 passengers.

Railroad

A railroad disaster is an occurrence associated with the operation of a passenger train which results in substantial
loss of life. Usually accidents with freight (goods) trains are not considered disasters, unless they cause
substantial loss of life or property. One of the more devastating rail disasters occurred in 2004 in Sri Lanka when
1,700 people died in the Queen of the Sea train accident. Other notable rail disasters are the 1989 Ufa accident in
Russia which killed 574, and the 1917 Modane train accident in France which killed 540.

Space

Space disasters, either during operations or training, have killed around 20 astronauts and cosmonauts, and a
much larger number of ground crew and civilians. These disasters include either malfunctions on the ground,
during launch, or in orbit with technology, or of natural forces. Not all space disasters result in human fatalities,
for example, unmanned orbiting satellites that drop to the Earth can incinerate and send debris spewing across the
sky. One of the worst manned space disasters, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion of 1986, cost all of the
lives on board. The shuttle exploded several seconds after taking off from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral,
Florida. Another example is the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during a landing attempt over Texas
in 2003, with a loss of all 7 astronauts on board. The debris field extended from as far as eastern New Mexico to
Mississippi. An example of a space disaster killing nearby residents occurred on February 15, 1996, in Sichuan
Province, China, when a Long March 3B rocket crashed during takeoff. Then in 1960 also killed 126 when an R-
16 ICBM exploded on the launch pad.

Disaster management
With the tropical climate and unstable landforms, coupled with high population density, poverty, illiteracy and
lack of adequate infrastructure, India is one of the most vulnerable developing countries to suffer very often from
various natural disasters, namely drought, flood, cyclone, earth quake, landslide, forest fire, hail storm, locust,
volcanic eruption, etc. Which strike causing a devastating impact on human life, economy and environment.
Though it is almost impossible to fully recoup the damage caused by the disasters, it is possible to (i) minimize
the potential risks by developing early warning strategies (ii) prepare and implement developmental plans to
provide resilience to such disasters (iii) mobilize resources including communication and telemedicinal services,
and (iv) to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reconstruction. Space technology plays a crucial role in efficient
mitigation of disasters. While communication satellites help in disaster warning, relief mobilization and tele-
medicinal support, earth observation satellites provide required database for pre-disaster preparedness
programmes, disaster response, monitoring activities and post-disaster damage assessment, and reconstruction,
and rehabilitation. The article describes the role of space technology in evolving a suitable strategy for disaster
preparedness and operational framework for their monitoring, assessment and mitigation, identifies gap areas and
recommends appropriate strategies for disaster mitigation vis-à-vis likely developments in space and ground
segments.

Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, flood and cyclones are natural hazards that kill
thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. The rapid growth of the
world's population and its increased concentration often in hazardous environment has escalated both the
frequency and severity of natural disasters. With the tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with
deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation non-engineered constructions which make the disaster-prone areas
mere vulnerable, tardy communication, poor or no budgetary allocation for disaster prevention, developing
countries suffer more or less chronically by natural disasters. Asia tops the list of casualties due to natural
disaster.

Among various natural hazards, earthquakes, landslides, floods and cyclones are the major disasters adversely
affecting very large areas and population in the Indian sub-continent. These natural disasters are of (i) geophysical
origin such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land slides and (ii) climatic origin such as drought, flood, cyclone,
locust, forest fire. Though it may not be possible to control nature and to stop the development of natural
phenomena but the efforts could be made to avoid disasters and alleviate their effects on human lives,
infrastructure and property. Rising frequency, amplitude and number of natural disasters and attendant problem
coupled with loss of human lives prompted the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 1990s as the
International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) through a resolution 44/236 of December 22, 1989
to focus on all issues related to natural disaster reduction. In spite of IDNDR, there had been a string of major
disaster throughout the decade. Nevertheless, by establishing the rich disaster management related traditions and
by spreading public awareness the IDNDR provided required stimulus for disaster reduction. It is almost
impossible to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters and their damages.
However, it is possible to reduce the impact of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation strategies. The
disaster mitigation works mainly address the following:

 minimise the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies

 prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters,
 mobilise resources including communication and tele-medicinal services
 to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction.

Disaster management on the other hand involves

 pre-disaster planning, preparedness, monitoring including relief management capability

 prediction and early warning
 damage assessment and relief management.

Disaster reduction is a systematic work which involves with different regions, different professions and different
scientific fields, and has become an important measure for human, society and nature sustainable development.

Management
The local communities at the time of disaster or before the disaster make groups for helping the people from
suffering during the disaster. These groups include, First Aid group, Health group, Food and Welfare group etc.
They all are well trained by some local community members. All the groups are sent for helping any other local
community that is suffering from a disaster. They also migrate the people from the area affected from disaster to
some other safe regions. They are given shelter and every possible facilities by those local management
communities. Today, Government is also making effort to provide good facilities during the disaster. In India, in
the rural areas, the community(group of families) are choosing a leader and developing their Disaster
management skills to protect themselves and other local communities as well.

Guidelines and operational procedures for disaster management:

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ljdkj ds izR;sd foHkkx }kjk vkink izca/ku ;kstuk cukuk vfuok;Z dj fn;k x;k gS A vf/kfu;e ds
vuqlkj jkT; ljdkj ds izR;sd foHkkx dks vius okf"kZd ctV esa vkink izca/ku ;kstuk esa of.kZr xfrfof/k;ksa
,oa dk;ZØeksa dks dk;kZfUor djus gsrq izko/kku Hkh djuk gSA fcgkj vkink izca/ku vf/kfu;e&2004 ds }kjk
Hkh izR;sd uxj fuxe@uxj ikfydk@ LFkkuh; fudk; ,oa iapk;r ds }kjk vkink izca/ku ;kstuk rS;kj
dh tkuh gS A blds iwoZ Hkkjr ljdkj }kjk vkink izca/ku ij mPp 'kfDr lfefr us izR;sd foHkkx dks
viuh vkink izca/ku ;kstuk gsrq dqN fu/kZkfjr izfr'kr ;kstuk mn~O;; d.kZkfdar djus dh vuq'kalk dh Fkh
A ;kstuk vk;ksx dh nloh ;kstuk ds nLrkost esa vkink izca/ku ;kstuk ij ,d vyx v/;k; 'kkfey gS A
fcgkj esa vkink izca/ku vc rd ,d xSj ;kstuk xfrfof/k jgh gSA exj vc dkuwuh <kapk ykxw gks tkus ds
dkj.k izR;sd foHkkx ds fy;s vkink izcU/ku ;kstuk cukuk vfuok;Z gks x;k gS A vkink tksf[ke U;quhdj.k
ds fy, ;g t:jh gks tkrk gS fd vkink izcU/ku dks fodkl dk;ZØeksa ls vyx ugha ns[kk tk, cfYd bls
,d lesfdr cgqvk;keh xfrfof/k ds :i esa dk;kZfUor fd;k tk;A dsUnzh; vkink izcU/ku vf/kfu;e&2005
ds }kjk jkT; vkink izcU/ku izkf/kdkj rFkk ftyk vkink izkf/kdkj xfBr djus dk izko/kku fd;k x;k gS A
foHkkxksa }kjk rS;kj dh x;h vkink izcU/ku ;kstukvksa dks jkT; ,oa ftyk vkink izca/ku izkf/kdkj }kjk
vuqeksfnr fd;k tkuk gS A
vkink izcU/ku ;kstuk dk lw=hdj.k vfuok;Z gks tkus ds dkj.k vc ;g vko';d gS fd izR;sd foHkkx ds
fy, laxr xfrfof/k;ksa dh igpku dh tk;] ftldk ,d iz;kl ;gka fd;k x;k gS A ;g ladyu ek=
lq>ko ds fy, gS ,oa foHkkx fo'ks"k }kjk xfrfof/k;ksa dh lwph la'kksf/kr rFkk Lo;a igpku djus dh Lora=rk
dks fdlh izdkj ckf/kr ugha djrk gS A ladyu esa nh xbZ dbZ xfrfof/k;ka {ks=h; ;kstuk gsrq Hkh laxr
gksxh A bu xfrfof/k;ksa dh lwph dks fofHkUu foHkkx viuh vkink izcU/ku ;kstuk ,oa lkekU; ;kstuk dks
lefUor djus esa mi;ksx dj ldrs gSa( gkykfd buesa ls dbZ xfrfof/k;ksa dk dk;kZUo;u foHkkx }kjk
lkekU;r% iwoZ ls gh fd;k tk jgk gksxk A {ks=h; Lrj dh xfrfof/k;ksa ds fy;s Hkh ;kstuk cuus dh
vko';drk gkxh] D;ksafd dsUnzh; vf/kfu;e ds vuqlkj ftyk Lrj dh ;kstuk rS;kj djuh gS ,oa ftyk
vkink izcU/ku izkf/kdkj dh mudk vuqeksnu izkIr djuk gS A
vkink izcU/ku foHkkx ds }kjk jkT; ,oa ftyk Lrj ij vkink izcU/ku izkf/kdkjksa ds xBu gsrq izkjfEHkd
dkjZokbZ izkjEHk dj nh xbZ gS ,oa os 'kh?kz gh dk;kZfUor gks tk;saxs A ;g vk'kk dh tkrh gS fd ;g
vfHkys[k foHkkxksa dks o"kZ 2006&2007 dh ;kstuk esa vkink izcU/ku dh xfrfof/k;ksa dks 'kkfey djus esa
mi;ksxh gksxk A ,d lqn`< lEosnu'khy ,oa lesfdr vkink izca/ku O;oLFkk jkT; esa ykxw djus ds mn~ns';
ls vkink izca/ku foHkkx bu xfrfof/k;ksa dh lwph dks le; le; ij vn~ru ,oa ifj'kksf/kr djus dk iz;kl
djrk jgsxk A bl vfHkys[k dks ladfyr djus esa vkink izca/ku foHkkx ds fo'ks"k lfpo ^^Mk0 lrsUnz** us
vFkd ifjJe] rUe;rk ls iz;kl fd;k gS] ftlds fy, mudk vkHkkj O;Dr fd;k tkrk gS
fo'o&O;kih vkdMas+ n'kkZrs gS fd fiNys dqN n'kdksa esa izkd`frd vkinkvksa dh vko`fr iwoZ dh vis{kk
ls vf/kd ,oa T;knk fo?oUldkjh jgh gSA ekSle ls lacaf/kr vkinkvksa dk okf"kZd vkSlr 1993&1997 esa 200
dh vis{kk 1998&2002 esa 331 izfro"kZ Fkk rFkk izkd`frd vkinkvksa ls izHkkfor tula[;k esa Hkh mYys[kuh;
o`f) gqbZ gS A 2002 esa 60 djksM+ tula[;k buls izHkkfor gqbZ tcfd mlds iwoZ n'kd esa ckf"kZd vkSlr 20
djksM+ Fkk A 1990 ds n'kd dh rqyuk esa izkd`frd vkinkvksa ls gqbZ ekSrksa esa gkykfd deh gqbZ gS ¼2002 esa
pkSchl gtkj ikWp lkS ekSrsa izfrosfnr gqbZ Fkh( tcdh mlds iwoZ ds n'kd esa okf"kZd vkSlr cklB gtkj ekSrsa
Fkh ½( exj gky ds lqukeh rFkk tEew & dk'ehj rFkk ikfdLrku dks Hkwdai us iznf'Zkr fd;k gS fd xaHkhj
vkdfLed vkink;as dHkh Hkh ?kfVr gks ldrh gS A bu nksuksa uohure~ vkinkvksa us oÙkZeku vkink izca/ku
O;oLFkk ,oa rS;kjh iz.kkfy;ksa dh dfe;ksa dks c[kwch lkeus yk fn;k gS A
2005 esa dkScs] tkiku esa lEiUu vkink U;wuhdj.k ds fo'o lEesyu esa lnL; jk"Vªksa us vkink ls
gksus okyh lkekftd] vkfFkZd ,oa i;kZoj.k ifjlEifÙk;ksa dh gkfu ds U;wuhdj.k rFkk thou j{kk dh
izfro)rk dks nqgjk;k gS A lEesyu dk izk:i ifj.kke vfHkys[k vxys nl lkyksa ds fy, mBk;s tkus okys
dneksa ds fy, rhu lokZaxh.k y{; j[krk gS%&
¼1½ lqLFkk;h fodkl uhfr] ;kstuk ,oa dk;ZØeksa esa gj Lrj ij vkink tksf[ke U;wuhdj.k vo/kkj.kk
dks izHkkoh <ax ls lesfdr djuk ,oa fo'ks"k :i ls vkink dh jksdFkke U;wuhdj.k rS;kfj;ksa ,oa
laosnu'khyrk U;wuhdj.k ij fo'ks"k cy fn;k tkuk A
¼2½ lHkh Lrjksa ,oa fo'ks"kdj leqnk; Lrj ij laLFkkvksa] dk;Z iz.kkfy;ksa ,oa {kerkvksa dk fodkl ,oa
ln`<+hdj.k] ftlls fd vkinkvksa dk lkeuk djus dh {kerk esa lexz o`f) gks lds A
 ¼3½ izHkkfor leqnk;ksa ds iquZokl fd fy, iwoZ rS;kjh vuqfØ;k ,oa cpko dk;ZØe dh vo/kkj.kk ,oa
:ikad.k esa tksf[ke U;wuhdj.k fopkj/kkjk dks vr%fufgr dj dzec) 'kkfey djuk A

vkink izca/ku ds {ks= esa ubZ vo/kkj.kk ;g Li"V :i ls Lohdkj djrh gS fd izkd`frd vkinkvksa dks
fodkl dk;Zdzeksa ls vyx ugha ns[kk tk ldrk A ;w0,u0Mh0ih0 }kjk gky esa tkjh vkink tksf[ke U;wuhdj.k ls
lacaf/kr izfrosnu esa fodkl ,oa vkink tksf[ke esa ijLij laca/k dks xgjkgZ ls fo'ysf"kr fd;k x;k gS A ;g
fo'ys"k.k Li"V :i ls n'kkZrk gS fd vuqi;qDr fodkl dkjZokbZ;ks vkink ls tksf[ke dks c<krh gh gS A blfy,
vkink izca/ku ;kstukvksa dks ,d nwgjk y{; gksuk pkfg;s fd lekt izkd`frd vkinkvksa dk lkeuk djus dh 'kfDr
izkIRk djsa vkSj lkFk lkFk fodkl ds iz;klksa ls bu vkinkvksa dh Hks|rk esa o`f) u gks A

mijksDr dFku] vkink izca/ku dks fodkl ls ek= tksM+rk gh ugha gS exj lkFk lkFk ;g Hkh bafxr djrk gS fd
budk lgh vuqikyu u djuk ,oa xSj oSKkfud fodkl gky ds fnuksa esa leqnk; dh c<+rh Hks|rk ds eq[; dkj.k
jgs gS A vkink,W] fodkl izfØ;k ls iwjh rjg tqM+h gqbZ jgrh gSa ,oa ;g lekt dh fodkl dh iz.kkyh gh gS tks
vkinkvksa dk izHkko ,oa Hks|rk dk fu/kkZj.k djrh gS A pwWfd fufoZokn :i ls lokZaxh.k vkink izca/ku ;kstuk esa
fodkl iz.kkyh dk LFkku vR;Ur egRoiw.kZ gS vr% vkink izca/ku esa fodkl ,stsfUl;ksa dh Hkwfedk Lor% gh
mÙkjnk;h gks tkrh gS A
oÙkZeku esa vkinkvksa ds cnyrs izHkkoksa vkSj muds lekt ij izHkkoh vlj dks ns[krs gq, fdlh ,d
ea=ky; ;k foHkkx }kjk Lora= :i ls vkinkvksa dk lkeuk djuk laHko ugha gS A vr% ;g vko';d gS fd
vkinkvksa ls mRiUu fLFkfr;ksa dk lkeuk lHkh foHkkx@ ,tsfUl;ksa ,oa xSj ljdkjh
laLFkkvksas }kjk fey&tqy dj fd;k tk; Ablds vfrfjDr pwWfd vkink izca/ku vf/kfu;e] 2005 ds
}kjk Hkh izR;sd foHkkx ds fy, vkink izca/ku ;kstuk dk lwphdj.k vfuok;Z gks x;k gS] vr% bl ifjis{; esa
izR;sd foHkkx ds fy, vkink izca/ku ;kstuk cukus gsrq laxr xfrfof/k;ksa dh igpku vko';d gS A