Disaster is a very common phenomenon to the human society. It has been experienced by them since time immemorial. Though its form may be varied, it has been a challenge for society across castes, creeds, communities and countries. The latest development which has been discovered in the World Disaster Reports recently is that the disasters have increased in frequency and intensity.

People are becoming more and more vulnerable to disasters of all types, including earthquake, flood, cyclones, landslides, droughts, accidents, plane crash, forests fire, etc. With the technological advancements and progress, the force of disasters is also changing. When they occur they surpass all preparedness and eagerness of society and pose bigger challenge to them. This is quite true in case of both developed and developing countries. The floods in UK, France, and heat wave in Europe, particularly in France in 2003, claimed more than 35000 lives. In the year 2006, America had to face bigger disaster in the form of tornadoes and other cyclones. They caused great loss of lives and property. All these are sufficient to prove that technological mechanisms are inadequate. 

There is a direct correlation between higher human development and higher preparedness. The countries which have lesser human development are more vulnerable to risks of disasters and damage. Of all the disasters, floods are the most common followed by wind storms, droughts and earthquakes. But the drought is the deadliest disaster which accounts for 48 per cent of all deaths from natural disasters. The highest numbers of people die from disasters in Asia. India, China and Bangladesh are the worst affected countries by flood. Besides the natural disasters, transport accidents and technological disasters are also faced by the developing countries. 

India, due to its geographical locations and geological formations, is a highly disaster prone country. Its long coastline, snowclad high peaks, high mountain ranges, the perennial rivers in the north all combine to add to this problem. India, which has only two per cent the total geographical area, has to support 16 per cent of total world population. Naturally, there is a tremendous pressure on the natural resources, which directly or indirectly lead to the occurrence of disasters, namely floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, etc. 

Disaster management

God has created this universe which includes earth, water, sky, nature and deep down the earth surface. There are men and nature the two most vital components of this universe. Man can do wonders.

Nature has everything already done. Man creates the things which are said to be artificial. They are not permanent. But nature has created the things which are permanent. No one can alter in the design of nature. Man has no control over it.

Nature has its own way. Sometimes it is soothing, sometimes it is ferocious. Whenever it turns to be in its bad temper it can bring devastation. It is known as disaster.

Man has always been threatened by the fury of nature from the very beginning of his existence on this earth. Sometimes disasters like earthquakes occur repeatedly with serious impact on all spheres of life. Be it earthquake in Gujarat in 2001 and Lattur in 1993 or cyclone of Orissa in 1999 or Tsunami in 2004, they cause immense loss of human life and leave a trail of human tragedy that the society is yet to recover from.

Natural disasters are the manifestation of nature and they can take place anywhere anytime. Most of the natural events are cyclic and predictable, such as the coming of yearly floods. In such a case people adapt themselves to the changing conditions.

People living in a river-flood plain usually leave it when the water level is high and they come back to their homes when the flood water recedes. But if there is any change in the normal patterns either in the timing of the flood or the fury of flood we see devastating effect on the life and property of the people. Similarly earthquakes, cyclones, Tsunamis, are dramatic and very damaging in their results.

Although natural calamities cannot be averted but many suitable measures can be taken to lessen the impact of these disasters disaster managers struggle to mitigate their effects on human lives and material losses.

The most vulnerable sections in these disasters are the poor. Hence it is necessary to mobilise them towards preparedness. Quick and timely response is the essence in providing immediate relief and rescue operations, to save human lives and mitigate miseries as soon as possible. The response mechanism envisages that on receiving signals of a disaster happening or likely to happen, all activities related with the mitigation process are activated without loss of time.

Disaster management is a collective and co-ordinated effort. A number of activities need to be undertaken in the event of disaster. These include co-ordination, command and control, rapid assessment of damage, restoration of power, tele communication and surface transport, deployment of search and rescue teams, medicals and Para-medical teams, arrangements for drinking water and food material, setting up of temporary shelters, sanitation and hygiene identification and earmarking of resources, last but not the least, maintenance of law and order is equally important.

It is the primary responsibility of the State Governments to be in a state of preparedness and provide relief to the people affected in a disaster. But in case of severe calamity the Central Government supplements their efforts by providing logistic and financial support. The Central Government has set up a National Centre for Disaster Management,

Community participation in rescue and relief operations and reconstruction after a disaster is always essential. And it is a good sign that everyone starts feeling the gravity of the situation and comes forward with a helping hand.

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essay on disaster management.

The earth has been affected by the natural hazards over a long time as man emerged into picture the picture that the natural occurrences were becoming disaster, together with being documented in various ways providing a warning for the future generation. However in 1920, there was a published study referred to as the catastrophe and social change by Henry Samuel Prince. This was the Halifax Disaster documented account and the occurrence of the social change. The first person to deliver evidence based study was Prince, by use of theory founding a paradigm which paved way for the management of disaster to be studied (Sperling, 2004).

A change in social can be caused by disasters. Social change always is not for better depending on affected population resources (Oliver, 2002). Change in disaster study started changing with theories like as Carr discussing a cultural protection collapse. Carr made a discussion on how we got the tools in place encountering the act of disasters though if there was lack of these tools there was no more protection.

Disaster is any occurrence that causes ecological disruption, damage, human life loss, health services and health deterioration on sufficient scale to warrant response extraordinary from the outside area or community affected (De Boer, 2000). In addition, it can be also defined as the series or event which disrupts the normal activities seriously. Disaster means a sudden or great misfortune. This may include tsunami; fires; floods; droughts; flood and many others.

The major disasters naturally may include earthquake, cyclone, flood, and drought. Minor disasters naturally include storm, heat waves, cold wave, mud slides, and thunderstorm. The major disasters that may occur in man made activities include deforestation, fires, setting of fires, and pollution due to their prawn activities. Minor man made occurrence of disasters may include accidents on the roads or trains, riots, industrial riots, food poisoning, and environmental pollution.

In history throughout disasters had some impacts significantly on the number, life style and health status of the population such as death, shortage of food, movements of the population, damage of water systems and the health facilities, and severe injuries which requires treatment extensive. Health problem that is common to every disaster include mental health, social reactions, nutrition and food, climatic exposure, health infrastructure damage, and population displacement.

Whether a disaster is man- made or natural, it can occur at anytime and anywhere. General response to any disaster is thereby in terms of rescue and relief operations which are after the event. If we are well and adequately prepared, it is very easy to reduce the impact of that disaster. There can be reduction of the impact through being aware by understanding well the preventive actions, together with having knowledge of particular tools and techniques; at the time of disaster event these tools and techniques can be used to control total damage to belongings and life. The biggest problem and very sad thing is the way a disaster occur; they occur with swiftness and suddenness hence, for a disaster serenity to be reduced, the response has to be swift equally(De Boer, 2000).

It is hard for a day to pass without news about complex or major emergency happening in different parts of the world, as disasters continue to strike causing destruction to both developed and undeveloped countries (Dyregrov, 1999). This raises vulnerability concern to occurrences that may affect gravely our daily lives and the future. In vulnerable populations, some emergency in particular those occurring in nature become catastrophic events only when they are in combination with the vulnerability factors like populations density and the human settlements.

An occurrence of earthquake in deserted area is might be considered as a natural hazard, rather than if it occurred in mega city where it is recognized as major disaster (Stewart, 2005). Any type of emergency that has anything to do with vulnerability population together with man made included, concerns some technological disasters like the ones of chemicals or nuclear; these demonstrates complex and major emergencies are linked closely to an anarchic growth population that leads to poverty, unplanned population settlements, and environmental degradation.

Disasters themselves have no limitation to specific parts of world. There are no countries that are disaster immune, but there is variance in disaster vulnerability (Sperling, 2005). However, some countries might be more prone to a particular type of disaster. The more advanced a country is, the level of their preparedness is slightly higher. High level of preparedness enhances them have good control over loss. Some disasters where loss during actual event is not required as high, hence losses become a bit high due to the inability in managing the situation in a timed manner.

Another thing that might lead to a big loss during certain disasters is the secure utilities and properly manages inability (Pearce, 2003). In one way these utilities tend to be very important, and on the other hand, due to ruptures or leakage, some of them might be in contact with each other, where they are not supposed to therefore leading to further damage. The most important thing and the most motivation of disaster management are minimizing losses at disaster time together with ensuring that resources are utilized effectively; as they are scarce already.

The major disasters naturally may include earthquake, cyclone, flood, and drought. Minor disasters naturally include storm, heat waves, cold wave, mud slides, and thunderstorm. The major disasters that may occur in man made activities include deforestation, fires, setting of fires, and pollution due to their prawn activities. Minor man made occurrence of disasters may include accidents on the roads or trains, riots, industrial riots, food poisoning, and environmental pollution.

There are four types of disaster mainly. These include environmental emergencies, natural disasters, pandemic disasters, and complex disasters. Disaster prevention is activities that are designed for provision of permanent disasters protection. Not every disaster can be prevented and particularly natural disasters; the loss risk of injury and life can be only mitigated with plans of good evacuation, design standards and environmental planning.

Disaster preparedness is activities for life loss and damage minimization (Pearce, 2003). Preparedness is the best way of reducing disasters impact. Disaster relief is a multi-agency coordinated response of reducing disaster impact and its results of long-term. These activities may include relocation, rescue, water and food provision, preventing disability and disease, repair of vital services like transport, provision of temporary shelter and health care emergency.

Once the needs of emergency has been accomplished and the crisis is initially over, those affected together with the community supporting them remain vulnerable. Management of disaster is linked with the development sustainably, in particular with vulnerable people relation like the ones with disability, children, elderly people and groups marginalized.