DISASTER NURSING

• Serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts

  disaster
• A sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts functioning of a community or society and causes widespread human, material, and economic or environmental losses and impacts, that exceeds that ability of the affected community to cope using its own resources.

  disaster
• Any occurrence that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scale to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area.

  WHO; disaster
• is an event, man-made or natural, sudden  or progressive, causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses, which exceeds the ability of the affected community to cope using its own resources

  disaster
• categories of disaster

  natural; man-made
• Caused by natural or environmental forces

  Earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, ice storms, tsunamis, and other geologic or meteorological phenomena

  natural
• are those in which the principal direct causes are identifiable human actions, deliberate or not. Biological and biochemical terrorism, chemical spills, radiological (nuclear) events, fire, explosions, transportation accidents, armed conflicts, and acts of war

  man-made
• the possibility of the occurrence of a disaster   caused by natural phenomena, failure of man-made sources of energy or by human activity

  hazards
• these are the people, property, materials that could be endangered if a certain hazard is to happen. The total value of elements at risk

  exposure
• The resistance against hazards. Physical,   social, economic, and environmental factors which   increase susceptibility to be impacted by hazards

  Vulnerability
• the concept and practice of   reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to   analyze and reduce the causal factors of disasters

  disaster risk reduction 
• vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and environment, improving preparedness and early warning for the adverse events are all examples of

  disaster risk reduction
• The life cycle of a disaster is generally referred to as

  disaster continuum or emergency management cycle
• 3 Major Phases that provide the foundation for the disaster time line

  preimpact; impact; postimpact
• before, planning if any

  preimpact
• during, 0 to 24 hours to 72 hours

  impact
• after, greater than 72 hours

  postimpact