Disaster terms

Some terminology of disaster management has already been introduced in this module. A brief glossary follows to highlight some of these working definitions.

This glossary lists the disaster management terms as used in the Third Draft of “A list of Disaster Management related terms with their definitions to be included in an internationally agreed multilingual glossary” prepared by UNDRO, and in the UNDP/UNDRO Disaster Management Manual. However, consensus does not exist among all disaster management practitioners or academicians regarding these definitions. A standardized and universally accepted glossary would obviously be desirable, but is not likely to exist within the next few years. Consequently, the following definitions represent one effort toward developing a consensus. Users of the DMTP training materials are encouraged to adopt these working definitions for the sake of uniformity and to be tolerant of other groups’ definitions.

Q. Can you think of an example of how to use each of these terms? Write your example in the space below each definition.

Disaster management

Disaster management is the body of policy and administrative decisions and operational activities which pertain to the various stages of a disaster at all levels.

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Human-made disasters

Human-made disasters are disasters or emergency situations where the principal, direct cause(s) are identifiable human actions, deliberate or otherwise. Apart from “technological” and “ecological” disasters, this mainly involves situations in which civilian populations suffer casualties, losses of property, basic services and means of livelihood as a result of war or civil strife, for example. Human-made disasters/emergencies can be of the rapid or slow onset types, and in the case of internal conflict, can lead to “complex emergencies” as well.

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An even broader definition of human-made disaster acknowledges that all disasters are caused by humans because they have chosen, for whatever reason, to be where natural phenomena occurs that result in adverse impacts on people.

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Risk

Risk is the expected losses (lives lost, persons injured, damage to property and disruption of economic activity) due to a particular hazard. Risk is the product of hazard and vulnerability.

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Vulnerability

Vulnerability is the degree of loss (for example, from 0 to 100 percent) resulting from a potentially damaging phenomenon.

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The following terms are key to understanding slow onset disasters and their impact on populations.

Population displacements

Population displacements are usually associated with crisis-induced mass migration in which large numbers of people are forced to leave their homes to seek alternative means of survival. Such mass movements normally result from the effects of conflict, severe food shortages or collapse of economic support systems.

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Complex emergencies

Complex emergencies are a form of human-made emergency in which the cause of the emergency as well as the assistance to the afflicted are bound by intense levels of political considerations. This sort of emergency is normally associated with the problems of displaced people during times of civil conflict or with people in need caught in areas of conflict.

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