Disasters- definition. Development stages. Response types
Written by Anam Hussain
Disasters definition:
A disaster is a rare and unexpected vent of severe magnitude, to create severe damage and many casualties that overcome our ability to cope with the consequences, therefore we require external help
WHO definition: a disaster is a sudden ecological phenomenon of sufficient magnitude to require external assistance.
UN definition: A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale, due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity; leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.
Developmental stages (5)
- Interim/ Quiescent phase
This is the longest phase and for Disaster medical support it is the most important. It is the phase between two disasters. Throughout this phase the healthcare system prepares itself for a better response in case of a disaster occurrence. The activities performed include:
- Hazard identification: during assessment of general and medical situation, all present hazards have to be identified and listed
- Risk factors identification: factors which increase the probability of the hazards causing harm, have to be identified and listed
- Evaluation of health risk levels related to identified hazards
- Planning for preventative measures that could minimise health risk levels
- Planning for course of action to be taken in case of non-sufficient prevention and disaster occurrence
- Education and training of rescue and medical teams for disaster relief operations
- Allocation of resources for disaster relief operations
- Prodrome Phase:
In this phase of disaster development, a change in the situation is observed. This change is characterised by the appearance of new and also an increase in the number of existing risk factors. These changes lead to an increase in the risk level. Required activities to be performed include:
- Risk factors identification
- Re-evaluation of the risk level
- Implementation of preventative measures planned during the interim phase
- Re-evaluation of risk level
- Planning for additional preventative measures
- Alerting rescue and medical teams
- Notifying population at risk
- Impact Phase:
Is a phase which is difficult to manage and its duration depends on the type of disaster. Only one activity is performed here: that is for medical teams to assure their own safety and security in order to survive and be ready to medically support the affected population
- Response phase