Facets and Scope of Large-Scale Disasters

Facets and scope of large-scale disasters are discussed. The laws of nature govern the evolution of any disaster. Management of any type of disaster is more art than science. The extreme event could be natural, human-derived, or a combination of the two in the sense of a natural disaster made worse by humanity's past actions. A large-scale disaster is an event that adversely affects large numbers of people, devastates large geographical areas, and taxes the resources of local communities and central governments. Science can help in predicting the course of certain types of disaster. Earthquake prediction is far from satisfactory but is seriously attempted nevertheless. Large-scale disasters tax the resources of local communities and central governments. The laws of nature, reflected in the science portion of any particular disaster's prediction, and even crisis management, reflected in the art portion, should be the same, or at least quite similar, no matter where or what type of disaster strikes.