The Effect of Natural Disaster on a Society

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Even though it is currently possible to predict most natural disasters and minimize their consequences, major social impacts still have been seen over recent decades. In this essay, a natural disaster is defined as a naturally occurring event that exerts adverse effects onto human society, including those caused by geological factors and infectious organisms. It may result in a wide range of aftermaths, however, only the most prominent ones of these will be examined including casualties caused by a disaster, public health crises and economic depression.

Firstly, the most direct and immediate impact of a natural disaster on a society is the loss of human life. In certain types of natural disasters large number of casualties may not occur, nevertheless in the scenario of a far-reaching flood and earthquake, the death toll could be immense. It is estimated that the 1976 Tangshan earthquake caused more than 750 thousand deaths, making it rank the first among all earthquakes in the 20th century (BBC, Year unknown, internet). This figure indicates a correlation between population density and higher casualties. Furthermore, On April 20 2011, Edmond Mulet, the head of the UN mission in Haiti said, "marked the 100th day since the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 people dead," (2010, quoted in The Telegraph, internet). Since Haiti is an underdeveloped country, the mitigation system is incomplete, as well as the assistance measurement, hence the numeber of dead was significant. In addition, it is reported that nearly a month after a disastrous earthquake generated the tsunami along Japan's northeastern coast, approximately 15,000 individuals were still missing, and the majority of them are poss...

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...eid, A. H., Lourens, R. M., Wang, R., Jin, G. and Fanning, T. G. (2005) 'Characterization of the 1918 influenza virus polymerase genes’ Nature 437(7060), 889-893.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7060/suppinfo/nature04230_S1.html (Accessed: 16th April, 2011)

The Sydney Morning Herald (2011) ‘Japan races to find tsunami dead’ 7 April

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/japan-races-to-find-tsunami-dead-20110407-1d5zm.html

The Telegraph (2010) ‘Haiti's earthquake death toll revised to at least 250,000’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7621756/Haitis-earthquake-death-toll-revised-to-at-least-250000.html (Accessed: 16th April, 2011)

Waring, S. C. and Brown, B. J. 'The Threat of Communicable Diseases Following Natural Disasters: A Public Health Response' Disaster Management & Response 3(2), 41-47.

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