Disaster and Disaster Risk

• Disaster

  • Sudden and calamitous occurrence that causes great harm, injury, destruction, and devastation to life and property.
• Risk

  • Combination of the probability of an event and its negative consequences.
• Disaster Risk

  • refers to the potential disaster losses, in lives, health status, livelihoods, assets, and services which could occur in a community or society over some specified future time period.
  • Product of the possible damage caused by a hazard due to the vulnerability within a community.
• Classification of Disasters:

  1. Natural Disasters
  2. Man-made Disasters
• Natural Disasters

  • a natural phenomenon is caused by natural forces.
  • rapid onset disasters and those with progressive onset. that can have sudden tremendous effects.
• Man-made Disasters

  • caused by man are those in which major direct causes are identifiable intentional or unintentional human actions.
  • Three categories:
  • Technological/Industrial Disaster
  • Terrorism/Violence
  • Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
• Technological/ industrial disasters - Unregulated industrialization and inadequate safety standards increase the risk for industrial disasters.
• Terrorism/ Violence - spread of technologies involving nuclear, biological, and chemical agents used to develop weapons of mass destruction.
• Complex humanitarian emergencies - the term complex emergency is usually used to describe the humanitarian emergency resulting from an international or civil war.