1. What is a disaster?

Tsunami aftermath

The term disaster has no single agreed definition. It can be used in daily speech describe relatively minor difficulties (“that meeting was a disaster”) and it can also be applied to largescale humanitarian crises (“the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 200,000 people was a disaster”). In this training, disasters will refer to events that differ from daily mishaps, in line with the definition contained within the United Nations Terminology on Risk Reduction that describes a disaster as:

A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources (United Nations Strategy for Disaster Reduction, 2009).

Simplifying the concept of a disaster, it can be described as the combination of an exposure to a hazard (hurricane, terrorism, disease), the conditions of vulnerability (poverty, poor infrastructure, people with nowhere else to go), and insufficient capacity to reduce or cope with the negative consequences (underfunded services, profiteering, political ineffectiveness).

So, to simplify, Hazard + Vulnerability + Insufficient Response = Disaster

As an example, think about the 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire. In this case:

Hazard = Fire.

Vulnerability = Flammable cladding, cramped living conditions, poor safety precautions.

Insufficient response = Stay-put order given to residents, underfunded services to support communities in aftermath.

Complete short task 1 in workbook (15 minutes)

While a distinction could be drawn between “human-made” disasters (terrorism, chemical spills, gas explosions), and “natural” disasters (hurricane, earthquake, flooding), Dominelli (2015) argues that all disasters, whatever the cause, have a human component, including climate change, social inequality and political decision making.

Complete short task 2 in workbook (5 minutes)

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Section links

  1. What is a disaster? (current page)
  2. The role of social workers in a disaster
  3. Skills for disaster working
  4. The communities we support
  5. Culturally appropriate support
  6. Follow up task