Disaster management

Introduction

The study is about disaster management which is the utilization of resources and information to address the disastrous effect at the times of the disastrous events .It actually takes care of how these available resources and information can be used and utilised efficiently to manage these treacherous events in a systematic way to avoid and prevent damage as much as possible. Future is always unpredictable and so the ability to manage disaster have become necessary and challenging to the modern days. Meeting with disasters requires a systematic approach and applications that should be disciplinary and aimed to control the situations and damage. Disasters problems can be treacherous and might cross boundaries beyond limitations. Effective addressing of disasters cannot be achieved by focusing on the isolated issues of single type and will require looking from collective point of view to make sure each piece of the puzzle comes in place, which is described in this report. The impact of disaster is huge and requires immediate actions with proper planning to identify the immediate reactions and effects and to stop it from further spreading.

Discussion

Disaster management is the management and the utilization of resources and information to address the disastrous effect at the times of the disastrous event .It actually takes care of how these available resources and information can be used and utilised efficiently to manage theses treacherous events in a systematic way to avoid and prevent damage as much as possible. Disasters problems can be treacherous and might cross boundaries beyond limitations. Effective addressing of disasters cannot be achieved by focusing on the isolated issues of single type and will require looking from collective point of view to make sure each piece of the puzzle comes in place. The impact of disaster is huge and requires immediate actions with proper planning to identify the immediate reactions and effects and to stop it from further spreading (Kunz, Reiner and Gold, 2014).

Disasters can be of various forms and characteristics and mainly described as sudden events which can be natural or manmade that impact negatively on a large scale in a region or on a community and provoke preventive measures and actions to control and retaliate .Disaster management can be undertaken by organisation at the national and international levels and encompasses the classical management approach of planning, communication, coordination and risk assessment .The impact of disaster is measured by the no of deaths, loss of property  and the overall damage from these events. So the main aim of disaster managements undertaken by these organisation, is to minimise the economic loss and reduce the number of deaths and injuries effectively (De Albuquerque, Herfort, Brenning and Zipf, 2015). Unless disaster can be managed to the optimum level possible it will be going have its effect in the future in due course of time. The world with its environmental issues and continuous threat to of vulnerability to disaster in the recent years have been looking ways to reduce these threats as  much as possible for which disaster mitigation is useful and applicable. It can be considered to be the most effective tool to manage these global crises. Bridging the gap between the developed and developing nations leads to the development of the economic, social and political satiability of the world. Managing these effects of disasters can be a powerful way to bridge these gaps.

The disaster management process follows a particular cycle known as the disaster management cycle. The cycle indicates that managing of disasters is a continuous and interlinked process which includes prevention, mitigation, preparedness, disaster impact, response, recovery and development (Chan, 2015).

• Prevention – In this section action is taken for the prevention of the occurrence of disasters or prevent the happening of harmful effects on the communities .Some of the preventive measures can be included are the construction of the dams for the flood water control  so that during extreme rainy season  localities and regions does not get affected  life stocks does not get damaged .Preventive measures in executing rules and regulations on land and constructions  to keep people from building on vulnerable sites.
• Mitigation- With in this segment involves the action in designing specific plans intended to control and reduce the effects of disaster on a nation. Like for example developing nations like Singapore have incorporated the plan for maintenance of buildings ever year to keep away from any hazardous effect from earth quakes and cyclones .some countries might include this process in the prevention segment and has encouraged in the development of earth core prone buildings. Ultimately this segment is about coming up with programs that enforce the safety and regulations of the high rise buildings, safety codes for air transport systems, development of infrastructure like the construction of the highways in the safe zone and taking care of the key installation of power supplies and communications.
• Preparedness – It is the measure undertaken by the government, organisation as well as communities to be ready to respond rapidly and efficiently during disasters. These are ahead plans that can be executed immediately during the time of disaster. These measures include formulating emergency plans to evacuate population and take them into safe place and providing warning system to communicate effectively during emergencies. Public awareness and training program to educate them with the knowledge that can help them in safety. This segment can be broken into subsections which would include warning, threat, and precaution. Warning is when a disaster has been recognised but it is not yet threatening to a particular region, threat is when a hazardous event is been recognised as threat in a particular region, precaution is the action and the measures taken to meet the effects of the disasters, an example would be warning the fisher men about the incoming weather and keeping them in safe distance from the effects if the incoming threat (Mohanan and Menon, 2016).
• Disaster impact – This segment explains itself, as being the time when the disasters strikes .It is the point in the cycle when the disaster occurs like for example the cyclone striking a region. However the impact of the disaster varies with the time of reaction. An earth quake can give no time to react and can cause allot damage in Avery small time. While in case of cyclone time can be gathered to take preventive measure to ensure safety.
• Response – Response measures are the measures taken after the impact of the disasters. Such measures are aimed to focused on life saving and loss of properties and dealing with other forms of damage that are as a result of the disaster. This include implementing plans to counter the disaster and organise save and rescue operations .It also includes the emergency to provide food and shelter and also the medical assistance to the ones who are affected by the impact. It is sometimes refer to as the emergency response when the impact of the disasters requires to be dealt with immediately at the regional level or at the national level with the declaration of the government.
• Restore – it is the phase were the communities or the nations who are affected by the extreme effects of disasters are assisted to recover and come back to proper functioning following the disaster. The process can be long and may take more time .it is usually consist of the three activities, restoration, rehabilitation and reconstruction. this include restoration of the buildings and houses restoration of the vital services , physical and the physiological rehabilitations of the those who are effected and long term reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure .
• Development – This phase deals with the development in the national level after the restoration and the reconstruction in disaster management. It is the link between the disaster related activates and national development. It ensures that the result of the disastrous events should be considered in the future policy development for the national interest and progress. It also ensures that the development should not be responsible for any kind of future disastrous events. this include modernising of building  systems ,consulting foreign assistance for future disaster control , applying disasters experience in the future model of disaster management.

The 2011 Tohuku earth quake has been the most eyeful earth quake ever to hit Japan and was recorded to be the fourth most dangerous earth quake to happen in the world. Among the all the natural calamities the earth quake can be considered the most dangerous in nature due to the less response or no response time causing a massive disaster in the countries it occurs. The natural losses are huge with huge damage of roads and railway networks with the partial or total collapse of the entire system (Yoon, Oh, Kim and Yang, 2016). With this the water level could raise causing high waves in the sea level resulting to floods in the coastal regions. This could be also a threat for tsunami and the damage could be more than expected and the threat is even higher in the coastal regions which cannot be ignored. Threat of landside should be counted which can lead into blocked roads, blocked railways , anything that come in the way of the sliding land  and massive damage of the houses or the regions were finally it lands. The impact of the earth quake is typically on a huge area, spanning whole city and sometimes even several cities or states. The result is a long drawn suffering with the instantaneous effect of the earthquake on human life and property. Earthquakes can lead to aftershocks. These aftershocks are usually of smaller magnitude but can be proved to be dangerous in some regions and more severe than the earth quake. These aftershocks strike up to several days after the occurrence of the earth quake. The effect of the aftershock could even worsen the situation. Half damaged roads and buildings could get completely damaged (Aydin, Tarhan, Ozgur and Tecim, 2016). The rescue team trying to bring out victims from the debris are at the risk of becoming victim themselves which can lead to more number of casualties. This might induce fear among the rescue teams who might proceed with more caution leading to block in their capabilities and operations. Lack of proper equipment and trained people can cause delay in the process of rescue and evacuation. It is evident from the disaster management cycle that the planning should be at all stages. Most importantly educating people about these natural calamity and what can be done at their level to ensure maximum safety. Earth quake can be experienced at many levels some are instantaneous some are relatively minor but that also can cause major damage with in cities. So the safest place during earth quake is in the open regions avoided staying close to the tall buildings. Being inside the building during such scenarios it is usually advised to duck under desk or table. These are the guidelines that should be trained in the organisations for their employees which is included in the disaster management cycle. The highest risk during earth quake is the damage of the buildings and falling of weak foundational structures which can lead into large scale of destructions. The stage of prevention and mitigation should take care of these by ensuring that the construction is not layer on the vulnerable grounds. With the proper prevention of the construction in this prone regions can enable and help in reducing the risk during such earthquakes. Proper employment of strict rules while building houses in the cities can bring down the risk of getting damaged even during the aftershocks. Identification of the disaster can reduce the threat to half and so proper ways of reading the coming natural events by looking into the new methods and technologies can prevent a lot of damage which is a part of the preparedness. Predicting the future events and coming up with well proved plans can reduce the risk in the response phase which is about taking immediate actions right after the earthquake has struck. This would mean employing advance methods learnt from other nations who have faced similar situations, it is not only confined in the response phase but will help in the reconstruct phase which include the rehabilitation and restoration .And finally including this in the development policy of the nations for the future risk assents and damage control within the disaster management program.

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Conclusion

From the above findings we can conclude that the disaster management programs can save nations from major damage and disasters. It is up to this format of management that ensures safety of the economic, social and ecological issues in the local as well as the global environments. Future is always unpredictable and so the ability to manage disaster have become necessary and challenging to the modern days. Meeting with disasters requires a systematic approach and applications that should be disciplinary and aimed to control the situations and damage.