What is disaster management and its types
Answers
Answer:
There are two types of disasters:
(i) Natural Disasters:
The disasters that are caused by nature are termed as natural disasters e.g., earthquake, cyclone etc.
(ii) Man-made Disaster:
The disasters which are caused as a result of human activities are termed as Man-Made Disasters e.g., Road accident, terrorist attack.
Explanation:
Natural Disasters:
1. Earthquake:
Earthquake is a sudden and violent shaking of ground causing great destruction as a result of movement of earth’s crust. An earthquake has the potential to tsunami or volcanic eruption.
Earthquake of magnitude 9.2 on the Richter’s scale in 2004 in Indonesia is the second largest earthquake ever recorded. The deadliest earthquake happened in Central China, killing over 800,000 in 1556. People during that time and region lived in caves and died from the caves collapsing.
2. Cyclone:
Cyclones (or more properly called Tropical Cyclones) are a type of severe spinning storm that occurs over the ocean near the tropics.
The most famous Australian historic cyclone was Cyclone Tracy, December 1974, where around 11 people died in Darwin, Northern Territory. The direction they spin depends on which hemisphere they are in. In the Southern hemisphere they spin in a clockwise direction and Northern hemisphere they spin in an anti-clockwise direction.
3. Floods:
Flooding is the unusual presence of water on land to a depth which affects normal activities. Flooding can arise from: overflowing rivers (river flooding), heavy rainfall over a short duration (flash floods), or an unusual inflow of sea water onto land (ocean flooding). Ocean flooding can be caused by storms such as hurricanes (storm surge), high tides (tidal flooding), seismic events (tsunami) or large landslides.
Man-made Disasters:
1. Road Accidents:
Road accidents are common in India due to reckless driving, untrained drivers and poor maintenance of roads and vehicles. According to Lifeline Foundation, the Ahmedabad based organization working for road safety, India accounts for 13 per cent of road accident fatalities worldwide.
With 130,000 deaths in 2007, India tops in the number of people killed in road accidents, surpassing China’s 90,000. Most of these deaths occurred due to bad road designs and lack of proper traffic management systems to separate different streams of traffic.
2. Building and Bridge Collapse:
Building collapses are frequent in India where construction is often hastily done, with little regard for safety regulations, particularly in the western part of the country.
3. Terrorist Attack:
Devastating acts such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon have left many concerned about the possibility of future incidents in the United States and their potential impact.