Disaster Management and the Emergency Management Culture

Abstract

Disasters are a fact of life, and this will always be the case. There are a wide variety of both natural and manmade disasters that occur around the world daily, and their impact can be both devastating and long-lasting. Natural disasters result from processes such as earthquakes, floods and cyclones, volcanoes, and even extreme solar storms and the impact of asteroids, while human-caused disasters result from societal or even individual actions. These can include epidemics, intentionally set forest fires, riots, toxic spills, and chemical, nuclear, and biological accidents or terrorist attacks. Some incidents are a combination of the two, such as the intentional sabotage of a dam that floods a large area. Some of these incidents occur with some amount of warning, such as tropical cyclones, but many, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados, occur suddenly, and can impact large areas with little or no prior warning.