Introduction

DISASTER MANAGEMENT - INTRODUCTION
  • Natural Calamities like cyclones, flood, earthquake, volcanoes and landslides are normal natural events in the formation of earth, but they are disastrous when they strike human settlements.
  • In India, natural disasters occur frequently . For example, about 260 million people are being affected by frequent floods which occur in eight major river valleys in 40 million ha..
  • Drought affects nearly 86 million people 14 states including Tamilnadu.
  • About ten million people are affected by cyclones in the entire 5700km long coastline of peninsular India in 9 states. This impact of earthquake is much more than the other disasters because about 400 million people in the seismic zones IV and V (55% of total area of India) are being greatly affected.
  • About ten million people living along the entire sub Himalayan region and Western Ghats suffer a lot due to landslides. Since the disasters strike human settlements often in different parts of the world, they have to learn to minimize the effects of disasters.
Last modified: Wednesday, 9 March 2011, 6:46 AM