Natural and Technological Disasters

Natural and Technological Disasters

A natural disaster is a hostile, sudden event happening to a place resulting from environmental factors that cause injury or death of people and damage to property. Common examples of natural disasters include floods, avalanches, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and storms, among others. Technological hazards, on the other hand, are adverse events that originate from industrial and technological conditions such as accidents, infrastructure deficiencies, or dangerous procedures that can cause disease, injury, death, or provoke economic, social, or environmental disorder. Examples of these disasters are industrial pollution, chemical spills, nuclear radiation, the release of toxic wastes, structure failures, and transport accidents, among others.  Adverse events have to occur in a location with a vulnerable population to fit the description of a disaster. Disasters also have to cause an economic toll on the people, and the ability of the population to recover depends on their level of resilience and infrastructure available to manage the disaster. This paper aims at discussing the common forms of disasters affecting major cities and countries and probe their abilities to deal with them.

Natural Disasters

California in the USA is one prone to earthquakes, and reports from the National Earthquake Information center (USA) show that it experiences 12,000-14,000 earthquakes a year (Arango & Fuller, 2019). The majority of these quakes are weak, but up to three or four times in a year, the city experiences earthquakes of a magnitude of 5.5 or higher, which could potentially cause damage to property. The worst earthquake in the state’s history happened in 2019(magnitude 7.1) but did not report any fatality but caused cracks and burning of buildings, leakages in water and gas pipelines, broken roads, and obstructed railroads (Arango, & Fuller, 2019). The leading cause of earthquakes in this state is the San Andreas Fault produced by the movement of the Pacific and North America plates. California has set up the Seismic Safety Commission to lead the charge towards securing the places against the adverse effects of the disaster.  The organization creates and monitors infrastructure to better stand earthquakes, reviews all seismic activates, creates public hearings on safety, creates safety programs and policies, reviews the damages from earthquakes, and spearheads the reconstruction (Arango & Fuller, 2019).

Florida is prone to hurricanes because it is close to the tropics where the westerly winds blow from Africa. Hurricanes are severe tropical storms that gather heat and energy then spiral upwards, rotating in a counterclockwise direction. They are associated with winds of 74 miles per hour, heavy rainfall and storms that can cause damage to buildings, cars, and trees. Florida experiences hurricanes every year. Since the year 2000, the place has experienced several devastating hurricanes and 79 subtropical cyclones resulting in $123 billion in damage and the evacuation of families (Bostrom et al., 2019). The recent most significant hurricanes were the Wilma in 2005, Irma in 2017, and the worst, Michael, in 2018. The city of Florida has taken the necessary steps towards managing the events. Through the partnership with the National Hurricane Forecasting center, they can provide up to date information to the citizens. The state government, through the Florida Department of Health, makes the announcements early enough, and in the case where evacuation is needed, they reach out to the homes to help the people move out of the dangerous areas (Bostrom et al., 2019). They also provide information and education on how to prepare for the hurricane, how to hide and protect oneself during it, and on procedures of reporting emergencies once affected. The federal government also provides the federal Disaster Assistance fund to compensate people for their losses after the hurricane.

Technological Disasters

One common example of technological disaster is the release of chemical hazards to the environment like what happened in Bhopal in India in 1984. A gas leak that occurred on the night of 2-3^rd December at a pesticide plant, Union Carbide India Limited, released toxic Methyl Isocyanate. The disaster caused about 8,000 deaths and injured 574,366 people (Mittal, 2016). The cause of the incident was slack routine gas maintenance that caused a backflow of water to the gas tank triggering the release. The gas accident has continued to cause long term effects to the people exposed to the gas within the region. The effects include eye defects, defects in the respiratory tract, neurological problems, post-traumatic stress, and children’s conditions and diseases (Mittal, 2016). The government of India established stricter compliance regulations towards the analysis, modeling, monitoring, and preventing accidents within the industries. Local governments prevented the location of such industries within urban areas despite the strict rules in the design and risk reduction (Mittal, 2016). Even the international community stipulated new regulations towards regulating the work of hazardous companies.

Another well-known technological disaster is the Chernobyl disaster that happened in 1986 in Northern Ukraine, where a nuclear reactor exploded and burned. The accident happened in the land of Chernobyl in Russia. The accident happened because workers violated safety protocols when testing a nuclear reactor when the power surged and caused an explosion that exposed the nuclear core. The fire was put out by firemen using sand, but the effects had already spread. People were not evacuated in time, and the meltdown of nuclear power had caught up with them. At least 28 people died because of the radiation, but the aftermath caused worse problems. Six thousand of the exposed children developed thyroid cancer, 9,000 adults would succumb from other cancers, and others were affected with mental health issues even to their subsequent generations (Beresford et al., 2016).  After the Chernobyl disaster, Ukraine and the world changed the outlook of Nuclear power plants. Safety and health regulations were set by the International Labor Organization that focused on prevention and workers’ participation. Laws were also set to protect the population outside industries in the case of accidents. Each industry was also supposed to introduce safety and accident assistance and prompt reporting in case of accidents. In 1996 and 2002, new regulations regarding the handling of nuclear and ionizing radiation were set by the International Atomic Agency (Beresford et al., 2016).

Natural and technological disasters are inevitable, and their impact on society is adverse. What is, however within the control of the people in disaster management. Natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes affect many cities within the world, but the availability of forecasting and evacuation methods helps in ensuring that the effects are not catastrophic. Technological disasters have also happened in history, and major ones have caused deaths and injuries, and they’re aftermath has been even worse. The best way to manage them is to set preventive measures and to protect the community around these places.