The Importance of The United Nations Strategy for Disaster Reduction

Every year, there are approximately 150,000 deaths and 200 million people affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises (Thomas, 2003). Natural disasters alone, which include various occurrences, cause substantial disruptions such as the temporary displacement of more than five million people. According to the Fritz institute, statistics show that uprooted people from humanitarian crises such as civil conflict and war is greater, with an average of 13 million refugees and 20 million internally displaced people each year. As the biggest worldwide participants in the relief effort in the global community, disaster relief organizations are the forerunners of the help supplied to people affected by catastrophic events.

Effective disaster management is highly important when it comes to assisting in rescue and relief to affected. This does not only include post disaster rescue efforts but these disaster management activities should be proactive. They start right from taking preventive measures before the disaster actually occurs and goes on till the effected people are resettled back in their lives. This disaster management pertaining to human life is not only associated with physical well being but also focuses on psychological, emotional, and spiritual rehabilitation.

When disasters occur suddenly, the following days makes it difficult for people to get to work due to fallen trees or destroyed cars and home or roads flooded. By evaluating a given area or even country, can reduce these negative impacts by using risk identification, risk reduction and risk transfer. This is the important job of risk manager to do these risk assessments in order to better prepare for unfortunate events that will occur sometime in the future. There are public assistance programs set in place in the event of a disaster destroying a town or city for example.

The disaster assessment and planning guide tool was used to assess the potential for disasters in this area and to assess the adequacy of the current plan in place for potential disasters. The population considered to be most vulnerable to the effects of a disaster would be children, seniors and persons with chronic health issues, in the current population there are 6.5% under the age of 5, and 24% under

In attempt to provide background on the impacts of past natural disasters, condensed case studies of two major natural disasters are summarized, outlining the damage – both financial and physical. The aftermath of any natural disaster highlights the weaker areas of emergency management and as a result, the federal government has made significant efforts to strengthen those areas through preparedness and mitigation measures. Additionally, emphasis on mitigation and preparedness has increased following the vast number of natural disasters that the United States has endured, not only in the federal sector but also in the education and research sector. Today,

Disasters are bound to strike at a given time and they more often find us unaware, this is the sole reason why the majority of the disasters that happen are usually fatal and destructive. This then calls for the need to try as much as possible to prevent these disasters and in particular in our cities. This is due to the fact that in the cities there are large populations that live close to each other or work in offices crammed together hence the likelihood of a disaster turning absolutely fatal if and when it strikes. However, due to the inevitable nature of these disasters, it is upon us to make adequate preparations that can enable us to minimize the effects of the natural disasters as much as possible when and if they happen.

FEMA is, however, a ‘response’ group rather than a prevention group. What we are advocating here is that a committee is formed to specifically target the poor and provide them with preventive knowledge against disasters. Thus, this committee might be formed under the funding of the local government or even under FEMA, but must be a separate and independent entity that can focus on its own function. The committee is to be composed of both educators and experts in the field of disaster preparedness and it will create a program by which people living under the poverty line can participate with very minimal cost (or ideally free of charge). The goal is not to ‘provide’ the preparedness equipment, the goal is that after engaging in the program, participants will now know what to do and what to have in order to become more resilient. In order to reach as many people as possible, the same task force shall work effectively advertising the program around the town or city they are working in. Finally, the relationship between the committee and their ‘graduated’ participants must not end with the program. Continuous updating of information and useful practices must occur in order to ensure that people had the best information at

A resilient community is one that can withstand a sudden disaster, without taking significant losses, normal life interruption, or a substantial amount of outside help (1999). Let the local community be responsible for knowing which kinds of hazards they are most vulnerable to, and recognize which resources they need the most, all while keeping up a state of general preparedness for the hazards they don’t typically encounter (Mileti 2001). Naturally, measures will vary from place to place depending on the environment, economy and social factors that affect how a population would handle a disaster. Let mitigation practices be a part of everyday life, and not just needed or reviewed before, during or after a hazard has passed. It should incorporated into any big event, development plans, building codes and more. These places and businesses are essential to local economies, so they should be protected to preserve it. Overtime time, these sustainable economies will not only preserve the quality of living for the whole community, but would make sure the next generation of future stakeholders will have a sustainable economy to thrive in as well (1999). No one can predict the future and know what could be cost beneficial for an area now, and detrimental to it later. For example, nuclear power plants for a community may have seemed like a great idea in the present, but then decades later prove to be hazardous to thousands.

An emergency is a severe, sudden and sometimes risky circumstances requiring urgent action (Salman Sawalha, 2014). Escalation of an emergency situation can lead to disaster; which is an unusual event that can cause lost of life and property (Salman Sawalha, 2014). International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRRCS) define disaster as “unexpected devastating events that disrupts the operations of a population or public which leads to huge losses and overwhelmed the affected community 's ability to respond to the situation with the resources they have at hand”. There are two main types of disaster that can lead to emergency situations; these include natural and man-made disasters.

Increase urbanization, adverse weather incidence due to climate change, constant threats from terrorists, etc. calls for the need to re-evaluate our city risk analysis plan and risk communication plan. This will enable the city residents, and city businesses prepare for the adverse effects of disasters such as a hurricane. Due to the closeness of this city to the coastline, any serious hurricane incidence will have a serious damage to the city infrastructures such as airport and seaport facilities, oil refineries, military installation, and even create unforeseen contaminations. Knowing that it will not be possible to completely eradicate all the risks associated with natural disaster like a hurricane, there will be need to develop a risk

This measure considers the potential risks of a disaster event and the potential disaster effects. Demographic and vulnerability of the area are considered along with the community’s capability to respond, react, and rebound after a disaster. Natural disasters such as hurricanes are not obviously not preventable but the effects can be predicted. Regional areas such as coastal towns can expect to experience a hurricane disaster event with high winds, flooding, and break in power services while inland communities may feel the hurricane effects such as the storms backlash including flooding and poor weather

Data obtained by assessing social vulnerability must be implemented within each phase of the emergency management process; mitigation, response, and recovery. First, to effectively respond and recover from incidents emergency management agencies must concentrate on the mitigation phase to prevent incidents from happening in the first place. This is achieved through a thorough hazard/vulnerability analysis (HVA). This type of analysis assesses the risk of physical, economic, and social vulnerability within all communities of a given jurisdiction (Lindell et al., 2006, p. 165). Additionally, the basis of the HVA allows emergency managers to effectively plan for disaster by creating pre-planned responses to disasters (rather than improvised response) and staging resources to locations with the highest probability of risk; ultimately contributing to the mitigation and response phases.

Actions taken to minimize adverse impact of disasters. These including structural measures like building of flood defences and non-structural measures like training etcetera. Public awareness related to disaster risk reduction, contribute in promoting a "culture of prevention" by changing attitudes. It revolves around civil institutions responsible to prevent disasters.

Risk for disasters is a part of life; emergency situations occur more frequently than many people believe. A wise person plans for the worse, and hopes for the best. After a disaster, how well a community can recover will depend largely on how well they prepared in advance. Risk management includes identifying any potential risks to a community and proactively planning to minimize the threat. Proactive organization of resources and people to respond to emergencies can mean the difference between a community’s ability to regroup and recover, and the loss of life. To better

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.