What is a disaster?

A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or
society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the
communitys or societys ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by nature,
disasters can have human origins
Types of disasters
Disasters can take many different forms, and the duration can range from an hourly disruption to
days or weeks of ongoing destruction. Below is a list of the various types of disasters both
natural and man-made or technological in nature that can impact a community.
Natural Types of Disasters
Agricultural diseases &
pests
Damaging Winds
Drought and water
shortage
Earthquakes
Emergency diseases
(pandemic influenza)
Extreme heat
Floods and flash floods
Hail
Hurricanes and tropical storms
Landslides & debris flow
Thunderstorms and lighting
Tornadoes
Tsunamis
Wildfire
Winter and ice storms
Sinkholes
-
Hurricanes and tropical storms are among the most powerful natural disasters because of their
size and destructive potential. Tornadoes are relatively brief but violent, potentially causing
winds in excess of 200 mph. Both earthquakes and tornadoes strike suddenly without warning.
Flooding is the most common of natural hazards, and requires an understanding of the natural
systems of our environment, including floodplains and the frequency of flooding events.
Wildfires are more prevalent in the event of a drought. Disasters impacting food supply can be
extremely costly; American officials say that a food contamination scare similar to the one that
hit the Belgian poultry industry in the 1990s could jeopardize U.S. agricultural exports in excess
of $140 billion.
Man-Made and Technological Types of Disasters
Hazardous materials
Power service disruption
&blackout
Nuclear power
plant and nuclear blast
Radiological emergencies
Chemical
threat and biological weapons
Cyber attacks
Explosion
Civil unrest

Disasters also can be caused by humans. Hazardous materials emergencies include chemical
spills and groundwater contamination. Workplace fires are more common and can cause
significant property damage and loss of life. Communities are also vulnerable to threats posed by
extremist groups who use violence against both people and property.
High-risk targets include military and civilian government facilities, international airports, large
cities and high-profile landmarks. Cyber-terrorism involves attacks against computers and
networks done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people for political or social
objectives.

Characteristics of disasters
While the characteristics below are almost invariably found with all disasters, an important
caveat must be added that it is possible that some of these things will not occur with any
particular disaster.

It is an unusual event. Society learns quickly to cope with usual events and it becomes either
routine or an emergency. Disasters, by their nature, are distinct from emergencies because they
do not happen all the time. [Unusual, but not unexpected. It is common knowledge that
California has frequent earthquakes and Florida has hurricanes.]

Communications fail. This is one of the defining characteristics that separate an emergency
(communications still work) and a disaster. The problem is that there are over 40 different ways
that communications fail - many of which Amateur Radio cannot solve or is only of limited
assistance. For example: - Equipment failure - repeater off the air, tower destroyed, dispatch
center collapse.
- Frequency overuse - listening to dozens of firemen calling "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" all
at once during 9/11/2001 clearly illustrates that nobody's Mayday were being understood. Very
little information aside from "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" got over the radios.
- Battery failure - batteries get used up at an incredibly fast rate during disasters.
- Inability to reach specific organizations, individuals or sites.
- Radios for agencies are not frequency agile and couldn't talk to one another.
- Passing of incorrect or partially correct information.
- Misunderstanding the information presented or not acting properly upon it.

Phones work. They may not work 100%, but they work. If they don't work, they will be fixed
soon. If they do work, people won't use Amateur Radio.

The scope or extent is uncertain. With unusual events occurring compounded by
communications failure, it is no surprise that disasters invariably result in nobody knowing the
full extent of how bad things are.

The worst hit areas are the last to be responded to. Areas slightly affected scream the loudest
because they still have phones working or alternate forms of communications. The worst hit
areas lose all forms of communications and are simply forgotten do to the noise from elsewhere.

Lack of information - due to the widespread scope of a disaster, EVERYTHING is affected. As a
result, there is a tremendous need to find out what roads are out and what roads are intact, what
vital services are destroyed and which ones can easily be repaired, where the greatest number of
casualties and evacuees are to be found and what buildings are intact for recovery use or have
been destroyed. You basically need information on every single aspect of government and
business and homes in an instant. Combined with communications failures, you are not going to
get the information you need.

Misinformation - it is very, very easy for information to be misconstrued, rumors to be stated as
facts and honest mistakes to become absolute facts when dealing with a disaster. When massive
amounts of information are required, it is easy for wrong information to slip in. Disasters are full
of examples of "Wrong Information".

People die. While the emergency services deal with death on a daily or weekly basis, the sheer
number of deaths can have a profound and traumatic effect on both responders and those
affected. Emergency responders have trouble "switching gears" when faced with body parts and
dozens or hundreds of casualties and the public is shocked to see bodies lying on the streets for
days.

Emergency services and government will be equally affected. Fire halls are destroyed by
tornados. City halls are flooded out. 911 centers collapse. While cases of emergency workers
abandoning their posts are extremely rare, it is hard to respond to a disaster when your fire truck
is crushed and all the water mains have been broken.

Hospitals will amongst the most affected. Hospitals are almost invariably affected by the
disaster. Whether the disaster damages the building itself, the contents of the buildings are
disrupted (few hospitals are earthquake proofed), or staff is unable to get to or from the hospital,
the hospitals are the first to feel the effects. Hospitals are expensive to build and many are kept
longer than the average building because they are just too expensive to replace. As a result, they
can be more fragile.
Things get worse. In emergencies, the arrival of the emergency services usually results in things
getting better fairly rapidly. Casualties are taken to hospital, fires put out, bad people are
arrested. In disasters, the limited resources of the emergency services and the fact that they have
been affected as well usually results in a continuation of things deteriorating. When the fire truck
is crushed and the water mains are broken, the arrival of the firefighters has no effect on the
disaster and the situation continues to deteriorate.

Things get better or they get worse. Disasters never stay exactly the same. This means your
response environment will constantly be changing and the situation you were in an hour ago may
be completely different now.
Things will last much, much, much longer than you expect. There is a tendency for everyone to
think that after an earthquake or a hurricane or any disaster that things will be cleaned up in a
week or two. Months later, as society continues to struggle with rebuilding, they realize that the
recovery will be years in the making.

Dangers of disasters
Displaced Populations
One of the most immediate effects of natural disasters is population displacement. When
countries are ravaged by earthquakes and other powerful forces of nature, many people have to
abandon their homes and seek shelter in other regions. A large influx of refugees can disrupt
everything from accessibility of health care and education to food supplies and basic hygiene.
Large-scale evacuations are common in light of the power of tsunamis and other natural
disasters, and those fortunate enough to survive face a range of challenges following widespread
destruction.
Health Risks
Aside from the obvious danger that natural disasters present, the secondary effects can be just as
damaging. Typhoons, hurricanes and tsunamis often cause severe flooding, which can result in
the spread of waterborne bacteria and malaria. As a result, health complications can be prevalent
among survivors of natural disasters, and without the help of international relief organizations,
death tolls can rise even after the immediate danger has passed.
Food Scarcity
After natural disasters, food can become scarce. Thousands of people around the world go
hungry as a result of destroyed crops and a loss of agricultural supplies. The impacts of hunger
following an earthquake, typhoon or hurricane can be tremendous.
Emotional Aftershocks
Natural disasters can be particularly traumatic for young children. Confronted with scenes of
destruction and the deaths of friends and loved ones, many children develop post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), a serious psychological condition resulting from extreme trauma. Left
untreated, children suffering from PTSD can be prone to lasting psychological damage and
emotional distress.
Although nobody can prevent natural disasters, we can help people in need in their wake.

Role of the Civil-Military Relations in Disasters
The surprise and devastating nature of natural catastrophes calls for a massive coordinated
reaction on short notice.
While the primary responsibility for disaster response lies with civilian agencies at local, state
and federal levels, only the military has the manpower, equipment, training and organisation
necessary to gather the relief effort required during catastrophic incident recovery.
However, in recognition of the fact that humanitarian relief should continue to be a
predominantly civilian function, international norms place limitations on the use of foreign
military assets.
The international guidelines on the use of military and civil defence assets in disaster relief (Oslo
guidelines), created in 1994 to provide an international normative and practical framework for
disaster response, call for military foreign humanitarian aid as a "last resort."
There are areas where armed forces unquestionably can offer unique capabilities, primarily in
transport, logistics and the ability to deploy immediate help.
However, there is also considerable disagreement among governments and humanitarian aid
agencies about how much weight to give these characteristics when balanced against issues such
as costs, the risk of militarising the relief work and the effect foreign troops could have on
civilian organisations' safety and freedom to operate.
Most modern armies today have made disaster relief an important part of their programmes,
offering rapid response and performing medical assistance, logistical support, air traffic
response, aid distribution, protection and recovery in natural disasters on a global scale.
In Asia, the role of the Indian Army especially has changed in recent years, where it has become
one of the first responders in times of crises, with special attention to tsunami and earthquake
relief. But perhaps the most important role is played by the US Army.
US soldiers and officers have not only been involved when disaster struck in their own nation,
such as when Hurricane Katrina swept over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and most
of the eastern area of North America in 2005, but they have also assisted with the organisation of
humanitarian aid after the disasters in Japan, Haiti and Chile.
However, according to the research report 'Military Disaster Response: Strategy, Leadership, and
Actions Closing the Gap', published by US Army National Guard Colonel Kenneth E. Ring Jr.
at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania, the army "lacks a clear, effective, and coordinated
response capability", even though it made many improvements in its ability to perform defence
support to civil authority operations after Katrina. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti
and the nuclear disaster in Japan, more and more military and civilian bodies call for a
standardised system for collaboration during disaster-relief operations.




References:
UNISDR (2002), Living With Risk: A Global Review of Disaster-reduction Initiatives,
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Geneva.

UNDP (2004), Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development, Bureau for Crisis
Prevention and Recovery, United Nations Development Programme, New York.

UNDP (2003), Human Development Report 2003: Millennium Development Goals: A Compact
among Nations to End Human poverty, Oxford University Press for the United Nations
Development Programme, New York.