TYPES OF DISASTER

(This is part of my assignment on types of disaster and psycho-social impact of disaster, references are given at the end)

1. Introduction

2. Concept of Disaster

3. Types of Disaster

1. INTRODUCTION

Disaster is a phenomenon that causes huge damage to life, property and destroys the economic, social and cultural life of people. It is a tragic event with great loss stemming from events such as earthquakes, floods, catastrophic accidents, fires, riots or explosions.

Every disaster results in deaths and injuries, damages and destructions, which are always visible. What are not always visible are the mental agony, trauma and stress of the survivors who have suffered losses of their near and dear or sustained damages of their assets and property.

Often such invisible impacts of disasters escape the notices of decision makers as well as rescuers till the affected people crowd the hospitals or suicide rates go up. Often such distress has continued for long after the initial outpouring of goodwill and charity of the general public and attention of media had died down, and even after the physical damages have been restored and reconstructed. Early recognition and proper intervention could have prevented many such prolonged agonies.

Today, there has been recognition of the need and importance of psychosocial intervention in the aftermath of a disaster. This has encouraged innovative research and practices that contributed to the knowledge base in disaster management more than ever before.

This paper will attempt to explain the concept of disaster and explain in details the various types of disasters. Then it will analyse the psycho-social impact of disaster on the individual, family and the community, and conclude with what kind of social work intervention can be undertaken.

2. CONCEPT OF DISASTER

- Disaster is “any occurrence that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scale sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area” (WHO, 1992)

- Disaster means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of property or damage to/degradation of environment and is of such a nature of magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area (DM Act 2005, GOI).

Disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using only its own resources.

Thus, by definition itself, there cannot be a perfect ideal system that prevents damage, because then it would not be a disaster. It has to suffocate our ability and capacity to recover. Only then it can be called as disaster.

In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed risk. These risks are the product of a combination of both hazard/s and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability are not considered a disaster, as is the case in uninhabited regions. For instance, a mud-slide in the jungle of the Amazon may not be a disaster, but a mud-slide in the poverty-stricken slum clusters of Mumbai definitely is a disaster.

Hazard refers to any phenomenon, substance or situation that has the potential to cause disruption or damage to infrastructure and services, people, property and environment. Capacity is the resources and skills people possess, and can be develop, mobilize and access that will allow them to have more control over shaping their own future and coping with disaster risks. Vulnerability is a concept that describes factors or constraints of an economic, social, psychological, physical and geographic nature, which reduce the ability of a community to prepare for and cope with the impact of hazards. Risk is the probability that negative consequences may arise when hazards interact with vulnerable areas, people, property and environment.

The damages caused by disasters are immeasurable and varies with the geographical locations, climate and the degree of vulnerability. Those related to weather and the earth’s geology like tsunami, earthquake, hurricane, cyclone, flood, etc. are the most widely recognized. However recent events like Fukishima Nuclear Leak in Japan (2011) and the Godhra Communal riot in Gujarat (2002), etc., point out that the sources and kind of damages are more complicated.

3. TYPES OF DISASTER

It is important to understand various kinds of disasters because depending upon the actual nature of disaster, the immediate reaction needs to be different. Understanding of each kind of disaster might also help in identifying the onset of a disastrous event, so that appropriate actions can be undertaken at all stages which could have a major impact on the final outcome in terms of amount of final loss.

Disasters are classified in various ways. Based on the time it takes to strike, disasters may occur suddenly (sudden disaster) like earth-quake and tsunami, or they may develop over a period of time (a slow onset) like climate change, famines caused by years of drought. However, disasters are commonly categorized by their origin –natural disaster and man-made disaster. Based on the scale of devastation and damage it caused, natural and man-made disasters are further classified into major/minor natural disaster and major/minor man-made disaster.

3.1 Natural Disaster

Natural disasters are primarily natural events. It is possible that certain human activities could maybe aid in some of these events, but, by and large, these are mostly natural events. A natural disaster is a consequence when a natural calamity affects humans and/or their built environment.

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, etc.

Natural Disasters can be broken into different categories based on its origin and cause as given in the table below.

CATEGORIES	DEFINITIONS & EXAMPLES
Geophysical Disasters	Those events originating from solid earth, e.g. earth-quake, volcano, landslide, etc.
Hydrological Disasters	Those events caused by deviations in the normal water cycle and/or overflow of body of water caused by wind set-up. Eg. flood, storm, coastal flood, etc.
Meteorological Disaster	Those events caused by short-lived/small to meso-scale atmospheric process (in the spectrum from minutes to days). Eg. tropical cyclone, hurricane, storm, tornado, etc
Climatological Disaster	Those events caused by long-lived/meso- to macro-scale processes (in the spectrum from intra-seasonal to multi-decadal climate variability). Eg. heat wave, cold wave, drought, etc.
Biological Disaster	Those disaster caused by the exposure of living organisms to germs and toxic substances, Eg. epidemic, plague, diseases, insect infestation, etc.

Source: CRED (2010)

For some type of natural disaster, it is possible to predict disaster to some extent, however it is not possible to control nature and to stop the development of natural phenomena but efforts could be made to avoid disasters and alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure and property through disaster management.

3.2 Man-made Disaster

Anthropogenic hazards or man-made disaster can come to fruition in the form of a man-made disaster. In this case, "anthropogenic" means threats having an element of human intent, negligence, or error; or involving a failure of a man-made system. This is opposed to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards.

Man-made disasters cover a wide range of events created largely due to accidents, negligence or sometimes even by human design, which result in huge loss of lives and property every year all over the world. These include road, rail, river, marine and aviation accidents, oil spill, building and bridge collapse, bomb blast, industrial and chemical accidents etc. These also include the threats of nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.

Man-made disaster can be divided into different categories viz. sociological disaster, technological disaster, transportation disaster and hazardous or CBRNs disaster.

CATEGORIES	DEFINITIONS & EXAMPLES
Sociological Disaster	It includes those disasters like war, civil disorder, communal riots, crimes, arson and terrorism
Technological Disaster	It includes those disasters like industrial accidents, fire, structural collapse, etc.
Transportation Disaster	It includes those disasters related to accident of train, aeroplane, ship, etc.
Hazardous or CBRNs Disaster	It includes those disasters related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CNRN) accidents

Source: CRED (2010)

The extent of damage caused by man-made disasters varies greatly and while this is the case, it is important to state that others have notably high costs when compared to others. This is especially true when it comes down to responding and recovering. Additionally, there are different factors which influence the costs such as location. For instance, if this were to occur in densely populated but wealthy countries, the end result might prove to be huge. However, if the same were to occur in densely populated but poor countries, the after effect costs might prove to be lower and this is in part closely tied to insurance.