Portal:Disasters/Intro

Disaster (from Middle French désastre, from Old Italian disastro, from Latin pejorative prefix dis- bad + astrum star) is the impact of a natural or man-made hazard that negatively affects life, property, livelihood or industry often resulting in permanent changes to human societies, ecosystems and the environment. Disasters manifest as hazards exacerbating vulnerable conditions and exceeding individuals' and communities' means to survive and thrive. The word's roots is from astrology and imply that when the stars are in a bad position, a bad event is about to happen. Disasters can be split up into two major categories--natural disasters and man-made disasters.


 * A natural disaster is the consequence of the combination of a natural hazard (a physical event e.g. volcanic eruption, earthquake, storm, flood, drought, fire, etc) and human activities. Human vulnerability, sometimes including the lack of appropriate emergency management, leads to financial, structural, and human losses.
 * A man-made disaster is a disaster that is accidentally or intentionally created by humans. Examples of man-made disasters include explosions, pollution, terrorist incidents, shipwrecks, stampedes, industrial incidents, climate changes, wars, etc.

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