Disaster Management Research Paper

Disaster management are efforts geared towards the reduction or avoidance of destruction and misery that follow after or during disasters. The main objectives of disaster management include: reduction or avoidance of human loss and any economic losses, the speedy recovery and assessment of the effects of the disaster on the social-economic activities. Disaster management covers both pre- disaster and post-disaster response.

The elements of disaster management are the distinctive sets of activities or components that are the basic concern of the people working to reduce or avoid the disastrous situation.

The elements of disaster management are:

• Risk management

• Loss management

• Control of events

• Impact reduction

• Equity of assistance

e) Development of the appropriate disaster prevention and mitigation strategies

Risk management is realized or successful when it lessens the effects of the natural hazard or when actions in normal developmental projects are taken, actions that help reduce the risks to a level acceptable by those involved. A good example is flooding, if flooding is determined to be a big risk, that risk can be reduced by some physical measures like dams or channeling some of the streams. Threatened communities can also be moved to safer grounds.

2. Loss Management

Losses in any disaster include structural, human or economic losses. Loss management therefore addresses these losses both before and after the disaster in order to minimize the losses. The most effective loss management activities are carried out before the disaster occurs and are mainly focused on reducing the society’s vulnerability to the disaster.

The loss management actions include:

i) Improving the resistance of building and physical structures in case a disaster happens. ii) Providing better safety for the people living in buildings or in environments that are prone to

All the people taking part in the relief and disaster management systems must carry out their operations in an orderly and disciplined manner in order to avoid causing new disasters.

4. Resource management

Since very few disaster managers have enough resources both human and material resources that are needed to satisfy all needs and demands in any post disaster situation, resource management is therefore very crucial in any disaster response. All those people involved in the disaster management must be familiar with the available resources and must know how to maximize the resources provided and put every resource into proper use.

5. Impact Reduction

Disasters usually have impacts which are far beyond what we see like human, physical or economic losses. Disasters cause losses in opportunities to individual people affected and the affected societies. The affected country’s development program can also face a serious set back. The impact on both the individuals and the society should therefore be reduced to a minimum. This therefore means that the disaster management in any affected country should be should be carried out very fast and ensure that recovery efforts contribute to the overall development needs of that country and its