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Effects of disaster in society
Effects of disaster in society
How to deal with the effects of disaster
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As certain types of natural disasters continue to happen roughly in the same areas repeatedly, those being Tornados in Kansas, Hurricanes in the Bahamas, Earthquakes in California to just name a few. We as humans continue to populate and grown in these areas; to serve what purpose, to enjoy the natural resources that these areas are obliged to offer? We as humans are historically known to migrate out of areas once we have consumed all the resources. As the resources are bountiful and easily attainable, we tend to flourish in these areas, which also bring the risk of natural disasters. The choices we construct as a species to inhabit areas of high risk to natural disasters are compelling and disturbing at best. I have specifically chosen to live in Colorado, as this state has a low percentage and a low risk for all the major types of natural disasters, a wise choice for any. As documented, the top forty (40) disasters causing fatalities since 1970, due to natural disasters has been in excess of 2 million deaths. (Abbott 10) Could this high of a number of fatalities, been avoided; I’d like to think so. Historically natural disasters of all types, including earthquakes, storms, cyclones, tornado’s, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, have specifically impacted human kind in more than one way. For example the emotional impacts, loss of traditions (entire cultures lost), and financial burdens are to name a few. As we continue to urbanize and grow as a population, space is apparently becoming limited. In reality it is not a factor, but we choose to generate it as such. Living in large groups in concentrated areas, this applies to all facets of people, poor and rich. Unfortunately the highest death tolls of natural disasters co... ... middle of paper ... ...oices, prolonged life vs. assured early death. Works Cited Abbott, Patrick L.. Natural disasters. Ninth ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014. Print. (assigned textbook) El-Masri, Souheil, and Graham Tipple. "Natural Disaster, Mitigation and Sustainability: The Case of Developing Countries." International Planning Studies 7.2 (2002): 157-175. Print. (Course Doc Sharing, provided articles) Spence, Robin. "Risk and regulation: can improved government action reduce the impacts of natural disasters." Building Research & Information 32.5 (2004): 391-402. Print. (Course Doc Sharing, provided articles) Halchuk, Stephen, and John Adams. "Natural Resources Canada." Seismic design tools for engineers. Canada.gc.ca, 26 June 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. . (Outside source, approved by Dr. S., (4 April 2014)
Royer, Jordan. “Hurricane Sandy and the importance of being FEMA”, Crosscut.com, Crosscut.com, Web. 1 Nov 2012, 3 May 2014.
Drea Knufken’s thesis statement is that “As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis” (510-512). This means that humans in general, or citizens of the world, have become completely desensitized to disasters, we think of them as just another headline, without any understanding of their impact upon fellow
Charles Dickens used Great Expectations as a forum for presenting his views of human nature. This essay will explore friendship, generosity, love, cruelty and other aspects of human nature presented by Dickens over 100 years ago.
Mitigation: Measures taken to lessen the consequences of disaster events upon our citizens and our
Bissell, R. (2010). Catastrophic Readiness and Response Course, Session 6 – Social and Economic Issues. Accessed at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/crr.asp
The category 3 storm changed the lives of the residence who lived there forever. The storm in combination with the fault of the man-made flood protection walls (levee’s) resulted in the death of at least 1,300 people (1). With nearly half the victims over the age of 74, deaths were caused by; drowning, injury/ trauma and heart conditions (2). Hurricane Katrina was one of the most costliest storms to land on American soil, costing around US$135 billion in damages (3). Although the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina are not as high as other natural disasters, Katrina displaced a massive amount of people from their homes, around 85% of the population were displaced directly after the storm hit (6). Being one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States, Hurricane Katrina impacted not only the residence of New Orleans by also many of the surrounding
Federal intervention in the aftermath of natural disasters began after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. This 8.3 magnitude earthquake killed 478, and left over 250,000 homeless. While the disaster itself was obviously unavoidable, the subsequent fires that burned throughout the city were a result of poor planning. (1, 17) In an effort to consolidate existing programs, and to improve the nation’s level of preparedness, President Carter created FEMA in 1979. Initially, FEMA was praised for improving communication between various levels of government, and multiple agencies during a crisis. (1,19)
Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices. ~ Alfred A. Montapert.
Gordon, K., & Emerson, J. (2010). Governing through a disaster: Lessons from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/08/07/206563/governing-through-a-disaster/
Mother Nature cannot be controlled and as humans we are forced to deal with various natural disasters. We have earth quakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes and many other types of events that are weather driven. Many natural disasters affect our everyday lives and individuals may be forced to safe areas to protect themselves from potential danger. Natural disasters can also place a financial burden on people in affected communities. Hurricanes are strong storms that have been hitting the United States for as long as history can remember. Many hurricanes have hit the southeastern part of the United States the past 100 years. Some of these hurricanes have left little effect of society while others have scarred into the history
Choices define people. What they choose to do and how they choose to act around people shows who they truly are. Every choice has its consequence. And every choice has a ripple effect that can either positively or negatively affect someone. While the choice is made, consequences are not usually thought through. A bad choice can cause a person to live in regret evermore. In the play The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare illustrates a great tale of choices. The choices that are made affect everyone and leaves no one unscathed. Choices leave a trail and can impact many people. One choice can determine the fate of many others. Lives are precious and fragile. Caution and thought must be put into action before caving into impulses. Bassanio, Portia, and Shylock are all prime examples of how choices can affect people’s surroundings significantly.
Even though humans are building constructions to prevent natural disasters, Mother Nature overpowers them by provoking natural disasters. Some of which is when a tornado hit Queens, New York in 2012; the tornado exceeded the sea shore of the beach, hit benches, and carried and threw away garbage cans (Williams, 2012). Two years before, an earthquake struck Youngstown, and this natural disaster was caused by Youngstown's people (Choi, 2013).In 2008, a devastating flood wet most of New Orleans due to the built up dams. The Hirakud dam was also built to prevent dams and improve irrigation in Orissa, India, but a flood destroyed the town instead; Orissa is small town ad whatever catastrophes happen to it endangers the whole demographic. This incident led to sixty-eight deaths and four and an half million people undergoing hunger hardships, and 2,999km road was ruined too. (Panda, 2008) Therefore, people should realize defying Mother Nature and constructions preventing natural disasters might actually worsen their society's current situation.
Environmental hazards are an unavoidable aspect of contemporary life. Whether they peturb a region, nation or continent, their effects are nonetheless devastating to those involved. Environmental hazards lie at “the interface between the natural events system and the human use system.” (Burton et al, 1978:25), interacting with global change and sustainable development. Disrupting social, economic and political organisations, these hazards are phenomena that damage and strain human infrastructures. Differentiating between ‘natural’ (geologic, atmospheric, hydrologic, epidemic and biologic) and ‘technological’ (industrial, infrastructural and engineering) hazards, Smith (2013) provides a framework through which hazards can be categorised, emphasising their multifarious nature. This essay will argue that humanity must learn to live with environmental hazards, developing methods of prediction and mitigation in order to reduce their effects. Focussing on three key case studies, this essay will analyse Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis, Japan’s Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and India’s Gujarat Hepatitis Epidemic of 2009. These diverse examples demonstrate the extent to which the impacts of hazards vary across different spatial scales, and manifest themselves at differing levels of economic and political development.
Communities throughout the country and the world are susceptible to disasters. The environment and location of a community often predisposes a greater susceptibility to the type of disaster. For example Central Pennsylvania would not be susceptible to an avalanche however communities in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado would have increase vulnerability. Understanding the types of disaster for which the community is susceptible is essential for emergency preparedness (Nies & McEwen, 2011). All communities are susceptible to man-made disasters; terrorism, fires, and mass transit accidents and emergency preparedness are essential. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) is responsible for disaster planning.
Of the four phases of emergency management, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, perhaps the place that individuals can make the biggest difference in their own state of resiliency and survival of a disaster is in the preparedness phase. Being prepared before a disaster strikes makes sense yet many people fail to take even simple, precautionary steps to reduce the consequences of destruction and mayhem produced by natural events such as earthquakes, volcanos and tornados (see Paton et al, 2001, Mileti and Peek, 2002; Tierney, 1993, Tierney et al, 2001).