A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.
Main Difference
– Natural vs Man Made Disaster
Disaster is a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction. Disasters can be classified into two basic categories based on their cause. Natural disasters and man made disasters are these two basic categories. Natural disasters are the disasters caused by natural forces whereas man made disasters are caused by activities of human beings. This is the main difference between natural and man made disaster. However, both these types of disasters can have a major impact on the society.
Definition of
Natural Vs. Man-made disasters
It is difficult to
apply a single universal definition to a disaster, though it is generally
described as an event that complies with the following criteria:
- ·
Sudden catastrophic event
- ·
Exceeds a community’s capacity to cope
- ·
Ruinous outcome in terms of human and economic losses
According to the cause of the event, disasters are classified as either natural or man-made.
Natural disasters can be defined as an event caused by natural forces that surpasses the coping ability of the community it affects, which is the extreme occurrence of hydrological, geological or meteorological events. Man-made disasters are equally devastating, but unlike natural disasters, it results directly from human activity.
To have enough impact to be classified as a natural disaster, an event needs to comply with the following:
- ·
A considerable amount of energy supplied by natural forces
- ·
The energy must then be focused in the right environment
- ·
A concentration of assets or people within the focus of the event
When these factors combine, the magnitude of the effects determines its disastrous implications.
A natural disaster is a disaster caused by nature, and men have no control over them. Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, volcanic eruptions are some examples of natural disasters. Such disasters cause massive loss of life, property, and many other miseries. Let’s look at some of these examples in more details to have a better idea about the damages caused by natural disasters.
Floods are one of the most common natural disasters that occur in many regions of the world every year. Flood can be defined as a rising and overflowing of a body of water onto normally dry land. Heavy rainfall in a short duration of time can result in a flood. Although the loss of lives in a flood may be not as high as a tsunami or earthquake, floods result in many long term problems. Damage to human properties (houses, roads, bridges, power lines, etc.), shortage of food and drinking water, destruction of forests and animals, the spread of diseases, soil erosion are some effects of floods.
Drought is the
opposite of flood. It is a long period of time during which there is very
little or no rain. Sacristy of water, extensive crop damage, lack of food and
drinking water, soil degradation and erosion, death of animals and conditions
like malnutrition are some effects of drought.
Although natural disasters are caused by nature, not by humans, the activities of humans can have an influence on them. For instance, actions of men like cutting down trees and destroying the sources of water in an area can lead to droughts and wildfire.
Man-made disasters
are so diverse in origin that, to be defined as a man-made disaster, it is
merely be classified as:
- ·
Large and far-reaching effects
- ·
Serious damage caused
- · It must be reported and the cause assessed
A man made disaster
is a disaster caused by human beings. Some examples of man made disasters
include hazardous material spills, explosions, chemical or biological attacks,
nuclear blasts, traffic collisions such as train accidents, plane crashes, etc.
Most of these disasters are in the form accidents (except attacks) and cause
deaths, injuries, and loss of property.
For example, the gas leak at an Indian pesticide plant in 1984 , which is commonly known as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a man made disaster. This was caused by the leak of toxic substances including methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. This disaster affected thousands of lives.
The great Smog of London (1952) is another example of a man made disaster. This smog resulted in a period of cold weather combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions; the main cause for this disaster was severe air-pollution. This caused about 4000 thousand deaths and other respiratory problems.
Just as natural disasters are influenced by human activities, man made disasters too can be influenced by nature. For example, the massive earthquake and tsunami (natural disaster) in Japan in 2011 also caused nuclear accidents.
Causes of
Natural Vs. Man-made disasters
Usually, a single
disaster or hazard result in casualties and damage due to different
contributing forces, as in the case of a natural disaster like a cyclone there
are strong winds, water surges, rain and so on. Volcanoes on the other hand
pose problems due to lava streams, fires, ash falling or release of harmful
gases, among many others.
On the other hand, a man-made disaster may be due to human error, negligent behavior, dysfunction of a human-engineered system or intentional instigation and/or attacks. The economic and social impact is substantial and just can be just as catastrophic as a natural disaster.
Examples of
Natural Vs. Man-made disasters
Floods (cited to be the most common disasters worldwide), hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes are all natural disasters. The physical damages greatly impact the social structure and later the recovery period of a community and losses in various sectors. Hurricane Katrina or tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia provide examples of natural disasters and the extensive impacts thereof.
Disastrous events such
as harmful chemical spillage, industrial accidents, detonations, biological or
chemical attacks, plane crashes, and so on, are all man-made disaster. The
effects of man-made disasters may be amplified by natural processes, for
example, the nuclear accidents that occurred in Japan in 2011. This was a result of inadequate
storage; the storage planning did not take into account the effects that an
earthquake may have and this resulted in a nuclear accident.
Prevention of
Natural Vs. Man-made disasters
Natural disasters cannot be prevented, although there are localities that are more prone to it and pre-emptive measures can be taken to minimize the damage. This is not the case with man-made disasters since it often occurs at unanticipated localities but it can be prevented by careful planning or vigilant monitoring schemes.
No preventative measures can avoid natural disasters since the natural forces that cause them are uncontrollable. Unlike man-made disasters, certain localities that are more prone to natural disasters can be identified and prepared to mitigate the effects as much as possible.
Man-made disasters can be prevented if proper precautionary measures are taken and risk management strategies are vigilantly maintained and monitored. Many of these disasters seem to accompany human development since there has been a marked increase in this category of disaster in the 20th century, as commented upon by Perrow (1984) and later agreed upon by many authors and researchers:
‘‘As our technology expands, as our wars multiply, and as we invade more and more of nature, we create systems – organizations and the organization of organizations – that increase the risks for the operators, passengers, innocent bystanders, and future generations.”
Effects of Natural
Vs. Man-made disasters
For both disaster categories, the stronger economic countries are usually better prepared and able to mitigate the damage, but the worst effects are seen in regions with weaker economic and social circumstances. This is due to the fact that there are great measures being taken to prepare for natural disasters as much as possible, for example in areas with high seismic activity, stricter building codes will be adhered to. In the case of man-made disasters, prevention can often avoid the damage it causes. The effective preventative schemes and monitoring are better maintained in communities with less other social pressures, for example, poverty-stricken communities often prioritize other problems before it.
The rate at which a
natural disaster occurs, the total duration and cues prior to the event are
also critical determinants of the amount of damage it can cause. Human activity
may be a contributing factor to the intensity of a natural disaster, for
example, erosion caused by land misuse might intensify the effects of drought.
The extent of damage caused by a man-made disaster is directly correlated to
the magnitude of the event, the locality in which it occurs, and the speed and
efficiency of emergency measures that are taken to deal with it.
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