Disaster Management Essay

Disaster Management is the arrangement and management of the resources following a disaster, be it natural or man-made. There are so many organizations who are dealing with various types of disastrous situations from the humanitarian aspect. Some disasters are just the consequences of human hazards and some are caused by natural calamity. However, we can prevent them by taking the necessary emergency measures to save and preserve lives. As natural disasters cannot be predicted, they can take place anywhere at any time. 

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Disaster Management Essay

Disaster Management’ is the simple term of management which embraces loads of disaster-related activities. Disaster occurs frequently in some parts of the world. Japan is the best example of it. Japanese people are annoyed on Tsunamis and earthquakes. The local scene is not much different from the global one. No one could forget the cyclone in Orissa, Earthquake in Gujarat or even the Mumbai Terrorist Attack.

Natural and man-made are the two categories of the disaster. Natural disasters are those which occurred due to sudden changes in the environment or topography causing uncountable human as well as economic loss. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and cloudbursts are few of the natural disasters. Manual intentional made disasters are man-made disasters. For example, Gas leakage, terrorist attacks, fire, oil spills. Man-made disasters are the result of human intentions or might be because of workmanship or technical errors. The count of man-made and natural disasters is rising rapidly.

Here are a few things which will help us to deal with earthquakes. The significant information about Natural calamities is predicted easier and is being shared within the public by the central bureau. Furthermore, earthquake-resistant structures are constructed considering, ‘Precaution is Better Than Cure’. Reflexes are made so strong that cover of solid platforms such as a table and chair should be taken as soon as the danger is sensible while the cover of trees, electric poles or buildings is avoided as far as possible. Keep in touch with local news during heavy rainy days. Any flood is preceded with significant time. Making proper use of divine buffer time for safety is advisable. Strategically planning of water reservoirs, land uses, tree plantation, rainwater harvesting techniques help us increase immunity power to fight against the drought. 

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), American Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, International Association of Emergency Managers etc. are the best disaster management authorities. NDMA is a core body which obeys the law of Disaster Management. The reputed disaster managers are stuck in finding plans for rescuing from the loss of disaster. Moreover, to counteract the effect of disaster Rajya Sabha passed the ‘Disaster Management Act’ on 23 December 2005 which includes 11 chapters and 79 sections in it. Honourable Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi holds the position of chairman of it. 

Youngsters should motivate themselves to learn and practice plenty of disaster management techniques and arrange the camps regarding it. Today, everyone is fighting against one of the breathtaking disasters named COVID-19 which is as big as fighting in world war. Avoiding the crowd, wearing the mask are the basic precautions suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) during this period of fighting. This disease spreads mostly amongst the people who come in close contact with the infected one. So, it's suggested to keep a safe distance of around 3 meters within the others. This is being termed as ‘Social Distancing’. Nature is not cruel nor is it human. Just small management skills help us withstand before, in and after disasters. Uncountable suggestions and instructions in disaster management but few which apply every time must be followed.

Stages of Disaster Management

With proper implementation and structured action, we can prevent or lessen the impact of natural or man-made disasters. There are certain stages involving the cycle for disaster management plan which incorporates policies and emergency responses required for a prospectively complete recovery. The stages are –

1. Prevention

The most preferred way to deal with disasters is to be proactive in their prevention rather than rushing later for their cure. This implies recognition of potential hazards and working towards infrastructure to mitigate their impact. This stage in the management cycle involves setting up permanent measures to minimize disaster risk.

Setting up an evacuation plan in a school, training the teachers to lead the students towards safe structures in the event of earthquake, tornado or fire, planning a strong base for high raised sky-scrapers to prepare for earthquakes and designing a city in such a manner that reduces the risk of flooding are some examples of measures takes for disaster prevention.

2. Mitigation

Mitigation is the first and the foremost attempt to save human lives during the time of disaster or their recovery from the aftermath. The measures which are taken can be both structural and non-structural.

Structural mitigation measures could include transforming the physical characteristics of a building or the surroundings to curb the effect, for example, clearing out of the trees around your house, ensuring that storms don’t knock down the trees and send them crashing into the house. Non-structural measures could include amending the building or locality codes to enhance safety and prevent disasters.

3. Preparedness

Preparedness is a process that involves a social community where the trained, or the head of the community, businesses and institutions demonstrate the plan of action which is supposed to be executed during the event of a disaster. It is an ongoing continuous process with anticipation of a calamity, which involves training, evaluating and taking corrective action with the highest level of alertness. Some examples of such prevention measures are fire drills, shooter drills and evacuation rehearsals.

4. Response

The response is the action taken after the disaster has occurred to retrieve some life from it. It includes short-term and long-term responses. In ideal situations, the disaster-management leader will coordinate the use of resources in the restoration process and minimize the risk of further property damage.

During this stage, the area of the calamity is cleared if it poses any further threat to human as well as environmental life. For example, evacuation of the city of Chernobyl, Ukraine, is a responsive action against a disaster.

5. Recovery

The fifth and last stage in the process of the disaster management plan is the recovery stage. This can sometimes take years or decades to happen. The larger mass of a city is also sometimes part of the recovery from a disaster. The greatest and the most infamous example of this is the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks on Japan, it took the people of those cities years and decades to recover from that man-made calamity.

It took years of effort to stabilize the area and restore essential community or individual functions. The recovery stage prioritizes the basic essential needs of human survival like food, drinkable water, utilities, transportation and healthcare over less-essential services. Eventually, this stage is all about coordinating with individuals, communities and businesses to help each other to restore a normal or a new normal, as in the case of Covid-19.

How to Act as a Responsible Person During a Time of Disaster?

Some people have more experience than others with managing natural or man-made disasters and their prevention of them. Although this is that subject of life which should be studied and implemented by every business or community. As it is said rightly, “prevention is better than cure”, and any organization or an individual or a community can be hit by a disaster sooner or later, whether it's something as minor as a prolonged power cut or a life-threatening hurricane or an earthquake. Usually, the pandemics train us, as a social and political community, to deal with natural calamities and compel the organizations responsible for it, to build an infrastructure for its prevention.

To act responsibly and pro-actively during the event of a disaster, we have got to be prepared and equipped as a nation, individually and as a social community. To be well-educated and read with the aspects of disaster management is to be responsible for the handling of it.