The Management of Disasters

Publisher Summary

Disasters have adversely affected humans since the dawn of our existence. In response, individuals and societies alike have made many attempts to decrease their exposure to the consequences of these disasters. All of these efforts have the same goal: disaster management. The motivating concepts that guide disaster management—the reduction of harm to life, property, and the environment—are largely the same throughout the world. Whether due to political, cultural, economic, or other reasons, the unfortunate reality is that some countries and some regions are more capable than others at addressing the problem. Furthermore, the emergence of a global economy makes it increasingly difficult to contain the consequences of any disaster within one country's borders. This chapter examines basic concepts of disaster management and expands upon those concepts to specifically address the management of international disasters, which is a complex discipline. Like disaster management on the national level, it involves actions that seek to mitigate the effects of hazards, ensures that populations are prepared for disasters should they occur, facilitates the response to disasters that do occur, and helps nations and people recover in the months and years following disaster events. The chapter provides a brief history of disaster management. To illustrate the disparity in the effects of disasters around the world, an examination of the global impact of disasters has also been carried out.

Key Terms

Civil defense

Complex humanitarian emergency

Disaster

Disaster management

Disaster trends

Emergency management

History of emergency management

Mitigation

Preparedness

ResponseRecovery

Introduction

Disasters have adversely affected humans since the dawn of our existence. In response, individuals and societies alike have made many attempts to decrease their exposure to the consequences of these disasters, developing measures to address initial impact, as well as post-disaster response and recovery needs. Regardless of the approach adopted, all of these efforts have the same goal: disaster management.

The motivating concepts that guide disaster management—the reduction of harm to life, property, and the environment—are largely the same throughout the world. However, the capacity to carry out this mission is by no means uniform. Whether due to political, cultural, economic, or other reasons, the unfortunate reality is that some countries and some regions are more capable than others at addressing the problem. But no nation, regardless of its wealth or influence, is advanced enough to be fully immune from disasters' negative effects. Furthermore, the emergence of a global economy makes it more and more difficult to contain the consequences of any disaster within one country's borders.

This chapter examines basic concepts of disaster management and expands upon those concepts to specifically address the management of international disasters. A brief history of disaster management is provided for context. To illustrate the disparity in the effects of disasters around the world, an examination of the global impact of disasters will follow. Finally, several relevant terms used throughout this text will be defined.

Disasters Throughout History

Disasters are not merely ornamental or interesting events that adorn our collective historical record—these disruptions have served to guide and shape it. Entire civilizations have been decimated in an instant. Time and time again, epidemics and pandemics have resulted in sizable reductions of the world's population, as much as 50% across Europe during the fourteenth century bubonic plague (Black Plague) pandemic. Theorists have even ventured to suggest that many of history's great civilizations, including the Mayans, the Norse, the Minoans, and the Old Egyptian Empire, were ultimately brought to their knees not by their enemies but by the effects of floods, famines, earthquakes, tsunamis, El Niño events, and other widespread disasters (Fagan, 1999). A worldwide drought in the eighth and ninth centuries, caused by shifts in the yearly monsoons and resulting in mass crop failure and subsequent starvation, is now believed to have been behind the fall of both the Mayan empire in Mexico and the Tang dynasty in China (Sheridan, 2007). From a modern perspective, each of the catastrophic events that has occurred as of late, including the December 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami (over 230,000 killed), the 2005 Kashmir earthquake (80,000 killed), the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China (68,000 killed), and the 2010 Haiti earthquake (perhaps as many as 200,000 killed), might seem anomalous, but these disastrous events are not close to record-breaking, or even unique, in the greater historical context (see Table 1–1).

The History of Disaster Management

Ancient History

Hazards, and the disasters that often result, have not always existed. To qualify as a hazard, an action, event, or object must maintain a positive likelihood of affecting man or possibly have a consequence that may adversely affect man's existence. Until humans existed on the planet, neither the likelihood nor the consequence factors of hazards were calculable; thus their presence is negated.

With the appearance of man, however, followed the incidence of hazards and disasters. Archeological discovery has shown that our prehistoric ancestors faced many of the same risks that exist today: starvation, inhospitable elements, dangerous wildlife, violence at the hands of other humans, disease, accidental injuries, and more. These early inhabitants did not, however, sit idly by and become easy victims. Evidence indicates that they took measures to reduce, or mitigate, their risks. The mere fact that they chose to inhabit caves is testament to this theory.

Various applications of disaster management appear throughout the historical record. The story of Noah's ark from the Old Testament, for example, is a lesson in the importance of warning, preparedness, and mitigation. In this tale, believed to be based at least partly upon actual events, Noah is warned of an approaching flood. He and his family prepare for the impending disaster by constructing a floating ark. The protagonist in this story even attempts to mitigate the impact on the planet's biodiversity by collecting two of each species and placing them within the safety of the ark. These individuals are rewarded for their actions by surviving the disastrous flood. Those who did not perform similar actions, the story tells us, perished.

Evidence of risk management practices can be found as early as 3200 BC. In what is now modern-day Iraq lived a social group known as the Asipu. When community members faced a difficult decision, especially one involving risk or danger, they could appeal to the Asipu for advice. The Asipu, using a process similar to modern-day hazards risk management, would first analyze the problem at hand, propose several alternatives, and finally give possible outcomes for each alternative (Covello & Mumpower, 1985). Today, this methodology is referred to as decision analysis, and it is key to any comprehensive risk management endeavor.

Early history is also marked by incidents of organized emergency response. For example, when in AD 79 the volcano Vesuvius began erupting, two towns in its shadow—Herculaneum and Pompeii—faced an impending catastrophe. Although Herculaneum, which was at the foot of the volcano and therefore directly in the path of its lava flow, was buried almost immediately, the majority of Pompeii's population survived. This was because the citizens of Pompeii had several hours before the volcano covered their city in ash, and evidence suggests that the city's leaders organized a mass evacuation. The few who refused to leave suffered the ultimate consequence, and today lie as stone impressions in an Italian museum.

Modern Roots

All-hazards disaster and emergency management, wherein a comprehensive approach is applied to address most or all of a community's hazard risks, are relatively new. However, many of the concepts...