Disasters What They Are - 1632 Words

Disasters: What They Are, How We See Them, and How We Can Mitigate Them We hear about them on the news: tornadoes in Oklahoma, hurricanes in Mexico, floods in Bangladesh. When they hit close to us, or even worse, affect someone we know, we feel heartache or some other emotional reaction. If they hit far from us, we may passively acknowledge their happening and move forward. Disasters are an ever-present part of our lives; they scare us; they sadden us; they happen to us. But just what makes an event a disaster? A disaster, I argue, is an event that affects at least one person, and often property, in a devastating way. In other words, a disaster causes an effect that requires an active recovery for its victims. This in turn raises the point about experiences of the same disaster on different people in different places, and I argue that different perspectives on the same disaster allow us to prepare and respond to disaster more effectively and sufficiently. Disasters come in myriad forms, and each one carries different consequences for its victims. For exa mple, a hurricane which hits Florida may affect a coastal area more detrimentally than an inland area. As some people prefer beachfront property, and such property often runs at a high expense, the hurricane has a larger impact upon wealthier people in this case. However, those with a higher income have the resources for a relatively complete, and often speedy, recovery. While the hurricane may have less of an impact uponShow MoreRelatedWhat is a Disaster?888 Words   |  3 PagesThe word disaster derives its literal meaning from the French word â€Å"Desastre†, a combination of two words ‘des’ meaning bad and ‘aster’ meaning star, thus the term refers to ‘Bad or Evil star . However, it has also been defined as â€Å"any disruption of normal social and economic activity due to natural or other causes that results in widespread or severe damage, injury and/or loss of life or property† . Disasters are also defined as â€Å"a crisis situ ation causing wide spread damage which far exceed ourRead MoreWhat is a Disaster?1205 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Disaster has been defined as â€Å"A natural or human-caused event, occurring with or without warming, causing or threatening death, injury or disease, damage to property, infrastructure or the environment, which exceeds the ability of the affected society to cope using only its own resources†. The word to remember here is â€Å"without Warning†. This makes it a task, a management issue. Although most disasters are a cause, a natural phenomena which is not within human power to control butRead MoreThe Disasters And What Community Resources Were Used?1333 Words   |  6 Pages1. What were the characteristics the disasters and what community resources were used? On April 15, 2011 severe weather and tornados hit Mobile, Alabama, with wind speed at 80 miles per hour (Press Release: Alabama Red Cross Responds to Tornadoes and Severe Weather, 2011). The tornado touched at least 6 counties so Alabama Governor Robert Bentley had to declare a state of emergency. Seven people lost their lives and after preliminary damage assessment were performed indicating that in the AlabamaRead MoreWhat Is Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Strategy878 Words   |  4 PagesEnterprise Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategy Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery are two of the most critical areas within a well-developed Enterprise Security Plan. Gulfstream has experienced and survived many disasters from mother nature and cyber-attacks, we will take what we already now to work and improve upon that foundation. Along with having a good BC/DR plan is incorporating a testing process of all the systems, Gulfstream as a whole is required to conduct testingRead MoreTo start off with, what is a disaster? Well, a disaster is a natural or man-made hazard resulting600 Words   |  3 PagesTo start off with, what is a disaster? Well, a disaster is a natural or man-made hazard resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment. Thus, an engineering disaster is a disaster that is caused by an error an engineer has made in the production of the product or service. Committing a mistake is part of being human. Unfortunat ely for engineers, due to the importance of their job in creating productsRead More1) What Did Arthur Andersen Contribute to the Enron Disaster?690 Words   |  3 Pages1) What did Arthur Andersen contribute to the Enron disaster? Arthur Andersen (AA) contributed to the Enron disaster when it has failed to the management by failing to have Enron establish and enforce its own internal control.  There has been flaws to AA‘s internal control. There has been assumption that AA partners were too motivated by revenue recognition thus, overlooking several criteria when providing their services to Enron. Additionally, AA also recognised the retention of audit clientsRead MoreWhat do you think of when you hear the word â€Å"famine†? Do you think of natural disasters, of1900 Words   |  8 PagesWhat do you think of when you hear the word â€Å"famine†? Do you think of natural disasters, of unpredictable tragedy, of innocent lives lost? Tragedy and death are inherent to the concept of starvation on a large scale, but the nature of some famines may have as much to do with politics as it does with the environment. What I expected to uncover as I began my research on the 1994-98 famine in North Kore a was food shortages on a massive scale as a result of terrible growing conditions, extreme climatesRead MoreDisaster Recovery For A Business1190 Words   |  5 PagesDisaster recovery for a business goes further than backing up some tapes or disks and storing them in an off-site storage facility. Disaster recovery also involves making the business whole again, from retrieving the data backups after the disaster to restoring the data on the system, and opening the doors for business again with minimal loss of time, money, and reputation. This paper discusses the implications of a non-existent or inadequate plan for disaster recovery, with a particular focusRead MoreFederal Agency Disaster Event Organizational Psychological Response Plan869 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Federal Agency Disaster Event Organizational Psychological Response Plan Objective The objective of this study is to examine a federal agency disaster event organizational response plan that fails to include a response team for dealing with psychological challenges due to significant loss of life. This study will create specific instructions and guidance to the responders on how they need to address the psychological challenges of dealing with this issue. Introduction Any time that the federalRead MoreDisaster Planning and Emergency Response1476 Words   |  6 PagesDisaster Planning and Emergency Response Disasters, both man-made and natural, occur on a regular basis. It is the responsibility of community officials to prepare ahead of time for these disasters, to ensure residents receive needed care immediately following the disaster and in the following weeks while the community recovers. Because of this communities have created emergency response plans and have trained personnel already in place when such events occur. The following is a discussion of the