Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Natural Disasters

Assessment, Risk Management, and Global Health Impact

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Global Health

Abstract

Globally, the number of disasters have increased during the last couple of decades. However, the common approach to disaster management is often limited to reactive mode. Only recently, research studies were initiated to understand the nature of disasters better and identify appropriate interventions and risks reduction approaches. But limited number of studies have explored the public health impacts of disasters to date. This is evident from the fact that the indicator set for “disaster-induced mortality” in the Sustainable Development Goals has no benchmark value. This chapter explores the link between natural disasters and various global health indicators to inform global health practitioners and researchers as well as to initiate a debate among policymakers about the importance of health data availability in pre- and post-disaster scenarios. Finally, the eminent role of evidence-based decision-making, interventions, and policies for natural disaster and risk management is highlighted.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbas HB, Routray JK (2014) Vulnerability to flood-induced public health risks in Sudan. Disaster Prev Manag 23(4):395–419. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-07-2013-0112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beresford, A., & Pettit, S. (2009). Emergency logistics and risk mitigation in Thailand following the Asian tsunami.Int J Risk Assess Manag 13(1), 7-21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Checchi F, Gayer M, Grais R, Mills EJ (2007) Public health in crisis-affected populations. A practical guide for decision-makers. Humanitarian Practice Network, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Coetzee C, Van Niekerk D (2012) Tracking the evolution of the disaster management cycle: a general system theory approach. Jàmbá: J Disaster Risk Stud 4(1), 9-pages

    Google Scholar 

  • De Groeve T, Poljansek K, Ehrlich D (2013) Recording disaster losses. Recommendations for a European approach. European Commission Joint Research Center, ISPRA, Luxembourg

    Google Scholar 

  • De Haen H, Hemrich G (2007) The economics of natural disasters: implications and challenges for food security. Agric Econ 37(s1):31–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Ville de Goyet C, Marti RZ, Osorio C (2006) Natural disaster mitigation and relief. In: Disease control priorities in developing countries. World Bank, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Denis H (1995) Scientists and disaster management. Disaster Prev Manag 4(2):14–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EM-DAT: The Emergency Events Database (2015) Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) – CRED, D. Guha-Sapir – www.emdat.be, Brussels

  • EM-DAT: The Emergency Events Database (2016) Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) - CRED, D. Guha-Sapir - www.emdat.be, Brussels

  • Guha-Sapir D, Panhuis WG (2004) Conflict-related mortality: an analysis of 37 datasets. Disasters 28(4):418–428

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guha-Sapir D, Hoyois P, Below R (2013) Annual disaster statistical review 2012: the numbers and trends. CRED, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. A special report of working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ed: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK/New York, p 582

    Google Scholar 

  • IWPR Institute for Women’s Policy Research (2010) Women, disasters, and hurricane Katrina. Factsheet #D492. IWPR, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller AZ, Al-Madhari AF (1996) Risk management and disasters. Disaster Prev Manag 5(5):19–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neumayer E, Plümper T (2007) The gendered nature of natural disasters: the impact of catastrophic events on the gender gap in life expectancy, 1981–2002. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 97(3):551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noji EK (1997) The nature of disaster: general characteristics and public health effects. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp 3–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawada Y, Bhattacharyay R, Kotera T (2011) Aggregate impacts of natural and man-made disasters: a quantitative comparison. RIETI discussion paper series 11-E-023. RIETI, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Seneviratne SI, Nicholls N, Easterling D, Goodess CM, Kanae S, Kossin J, … Reichstein M (2012) Changes in climate extremes and their impacts on the natural physical environment. In: Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 109–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaluf IM (2007) Disaster types. Disaster Prev Manag 16(5):704–717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence R (2004) Risk and regulation: can improved government action reduce the impacts of natural disasters? Build Res Inform 32(5):391–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweileh WM (2019) A bibliometric analysis of health-related literature on natural disasters from 1900 to 2017. Health Res Policy Syst 17(1):18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-019-0418-1

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Tschoegl, L., Below, R., & Guha-Sapir, D. (2006). An analytical review of selected data sets on natural disasters and impacts. Louvain: Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swiss Re (2014) Sigma No 1/2014. Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner BA, Pidgeon NF (1997) Man-made disasters, vol 2. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner BL, Kasperson RE, Matson PA, McCarthy JJ, Corell RW, Christensen L, … Polsky C (2003). A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proc Natl Acad Sci 100(14):8074–8079

    Google Scholar 

  • UNISDR (2004) Living with risk: a global review of disaster reduction initiatives, vol 1. United Nations Publications, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Wassenhove LN (2006) Humanitarian aid logistics: supply chain management in high gear. J Oper Res Soc 57(5):475–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinh Hung H, Shaw R, Kobayashi M (2007) Flood risk management for the RUA of Hanoi: the importance of community perception of catastrophic flood risk in disaster risk planning. Disaster Prev Manag 16(2):245–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson JT, Gayer M, Connolly MA (2007) Epidemics after natural disasters. Emerg Infect Dis 13(1):1–5

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wijkman A, Timberlake L (1984) Natural disasters, Acts of god or acts of man? Earthscan, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisner B (2004). Assessment of capability and vulnerability. Mapping vulnerability: disasters, development and people. Earthscan, London, 183-193.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2009). WHO | Save Lives: Make Hospitals Safe in Emergencies. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 23 October 2019].

    Google Scholar 

  • Yohe G, Tol RS (2002) Indicators for social and economic coping capacity – moving toward a working definition of adaptive capacity. Glob Environ Chang 12(1):25–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prime Institute of Public Health, Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan

    Junaid Ahmad

  2. Rufaidah Nursing College, Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan

    Haleema Sadia

Authors
  1. Junaid Ahmad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Haleema Sadia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Junaid Ahmad .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Robin Haring

  2. Global Health Programme, Graduate Institute of International and, Geneva, Switzerland

    Ilona Kickbusch

  3. Charite-Univ.-Med. Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Detlev Ganten

  4. Africa, Brazzaville, Rep of the Congo, World Health Organization Regional Offic, Brazzaville, Congo, Demographic Republic (Zaire)

    Matshidiso Moeti

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Editors and the World Health Organization

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Ahmad, J., Sadia, H. (2020). Natural Disasters. In: Haring, R., Kickbusch, I., Ganten, D., Moeti, M. (eds) Handbook of Global Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05325-3_100-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05325-3_100-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05325-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05325-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation