Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters occur almost everywhere around the world. Whether it is a cyclone, electrical storm, or flood. In 2008 236000 people died in Natural Disasters. 260000 people were killed, just last year.  The Indian Ocean earthquake killed 230 000 people, in 2004. The worst natural disaster in history killed 1 million to 4 million people. This was the Yellow River Flood, in 1931.

Human losses and destruction is avoidable, the impact can be lessened  through a device called the comprehensive risk reduction. They are expensive.

The only hope to lessen the death toll, is quick action. When any disaster strikes, the top priority is to save lives. This means search and rescue, access to food, water and shelter, etc.

In Australia we have the SES which stands for State Emergency Services; they are there for emergencies and rescue services.


Current approaches of measuring vulnerability to natural hazards generally use a rather static perspective that focuses on a single point in time—often before a hazardous event occurs. In contrast, the paper argues that vulnerability assessment should also take into account the changing dynamics during and after a disaster. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the situation in Sri Lanka and Indonesia within the context of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The author presents concepts for measuring revealed vulnerabilities and methods of assessing the recovery process, and highlights the differing ways in which the tsunami affected the ongoing civil conflicts in both regions.