NATURAL DISASTER
Natural
Disaster when mentioned creates fear and panic to the ages of the young and
old. It is an unfortunate incident that
happens naturally and causes lots of harm to the environment at large. Natural
disaster therefore is the major adverse event resulting from natural processes
of the earth; that is it is a crisis situation which causes wide spread damage
with far exceeds our ability to recover. Thus, form the definition; one can
notice that there cannot be a perfect ideal system that prevents damage,
because that cannot be termed as a disaster. Even though disasters are
unpredicted in occurrence, time, place, it can be also known that it can be
predicted scientifically and technologically. Examples of natural disasters are
floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other geologic processes.
Explaining
briefly the examples of natural disasters, earthquakes are the result of a
sudden release of energy in the earth’s crust that involves vibration, shaking
and sometimes displacing the ground.
Sinkholes
which is an example of natural disaster occurs when natural erosions or human
mining makes the ground too weak to support the structures built on and this
causes the land to sink and create sinkhole.
Floods
are the overflow of water that submerges a land .That is flood simply means a
piece of land temporary covered by water. Other disasters such as volcanoes or
volcanic eruptions are also part of natural disasters as said above.
EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTER
The
effects of natural disasters are main theme that comes out in the studying of
it. Some effects of natural disasters
are as follows;
Firstly,
the major effect of natural disasters is loss of lives. That is lives of people
are being affected and basically it means people dying. For example the 2010
Guatemala City sinkhole which killed fifteen people was caused during a heavy
rain from tropical Storm Agatha. This also led to the depopulation of the
country.
Secondly,
the economic activity of an environment or a specific place collapses. During
natural disasters, there no form of economic activities such as banking,
buying, selling and other professions or work being done. People stay indoors
after such incidents and can even starve themselves. Also, since there are no
economic activities being done, the economy of such places becomes very low and
paves way for poverty.
Loss
of properties can also be seen as an effect of natural disaster. Properties
made by people and governments such as schools, houses, cars, hospitals and all
other infrastructure can be destroyed. This as well has to be replaced and can
cause huge amounts of money to do them. For example, the overall cost of the
905 disasters in 2012 amounted to $170 billion and insured losses was $70
billion.
Natural
disasters can also cause the displacement of human and animals. The sense of
human, natural disasters can make some of people refuges in other countries
since there are no places to stay and be much comfortable in their countries.
MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL DISTATERS;
However,
even though we cannot predict natural disaster, we can as well manage and
prevent it one way or the other. Thus;
One
has to be careful the kind of land he or she wants to build his or her house or
even companies on.
Also,
there should also be the readiness or response to commence and rescue people
affected by being equipped by various techniques needed.
Lastly,
mining companies or ‘galamsey’ should be checked and should not be allowed in
certain areas prone to disasters.
From
the above, one can be seen to be educated on what natural disasters are, its
effects and how to manage or prevent it. However, there is a man-made disaster
such as bomb explosions and wars which can be predicted and managed at all
times.
BY: GRACE AMANKWAH-AMPOMAH
hashtag:naturaldisaster
