Disaster
Introduction:
There is an interrelationship between human beings and other living organisms. Vegetations around man provide protection, some organisms can be beneficial to man and others can be harmful to both man and other organisms. Biological hazards are hazards caused by micro-organisms (fungi, virus, pollens, insects, bacteria etc) to animals, crops and to man. Biological hazards are often linked with other hazards like droughts, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes etc. Biological hazards affect peoples Livelihood and also their resources making vulnerable to this hazard.
Forms of Biological Hazards:
1. Independent Biological Hazard • Contributes to, develop into & exacerbate vulnerability leading to disaster (e.g. HIV-AIDs)
2. Dependent BH e.g. war » famine » malnutrition » diseases » less resistance to diseases » deaths
3. Trigger of disaster e.g. pest infestation-famine (Irish famine 1845-1848)
Important factors of vulnerability on biological hazards:
1. Micro-environment; (risk at refugee camps e.g. poor water & sanitation).
2. Migration & biological hazards; e.g. north-east & south Brazilians suffered high morbidity & mortality in newly settled Amazonian habitats; northern part Ethiopians suffered in the south-west.
3. Regional physical environment; e.g. erosion, desertification and alkalinisation can be hazardous to human health (lost of biodiversity).
Limitations to the treatment of BH:
1. Respect for social classes/ population characteristic
2. Top-down effects of project e.g. arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh (water provision)
3. Diversion of resources on routine public health activities to research on terror pathogens and rapid communication of information. e.g. SARS in US
4. Diverse interest/reduced foreign aid. e.g. US war against terrorism was prime over support for global campaign against HIV/AIDs, TB, and malaria in LDCs.
Risk reduction:
1. Top-down & bottom-up approaches
2. Policy direction • Extension &
There is an interrelationship between human beings and other living organisms. Vegetations around man provide protection, some organisms can be beneficial to man and others can be harmful to both man and other organisms. Biological hazards are hazards caused by micro-organisms (fungi, virus, pollens, insects, bacteria etc) to animals, crops and to man. Biological hazards are often linked with other hazards like droughts, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes etc. Biological hazards affect peoples Livelihood and also their resources making vulnerable to this hazard.
Forms of Biological Hazards:
1. Independent Biological Hazard • Contributes to, develop into & exacerbate vulnerability leading to disaster (e.g. HIV-AIDs)
2. Dependent BH e.g. war » famine » malnutrition » diseases » less resistance to diseases » deaths
3. Trigger of disaster e.g. pest infestation-famine (Irish famine 1845-1848)
Important factors of vulnerability on biological hazards:
1. Micro-environment; (risk at refugee camps e.g. poor water & sanitation).
2. Migration & biological hazards; e.g. north-east & south Brazilians suffered high morbidity & mortality in newly settled Amazonian habitats; northern part Ethiopians suffered in the south-west.
3. Regional physical environment; e.g. erosion, desertification and alkalinisation can be hazardous to human health (lost of biodiversity).
Limitations to the treatment of BH:
1. Respect for social classes/ population characteristic
2. Top-down effects of project e.g. arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh (water provision)
3. Diversion of resources on routine public health activities to research on terror pathogens and rapid communication of information. e.g. SARS in US
4. Diverse interest/reduced foreign aid. e.g. US war against terrorism was prime over support for global campaign against HIV/AIDs, TB, and malaria in LDCs.
Risk reduction:
1. Top-down & bottom-up approaches
2. Policy direction • Extension &
References: Wisner B., Blaikie P., Cannon T. & Ian D. (2004): At Risk, Natural Disaster Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disaster (2nd), New York; Routledge. Chapter 5. Agrell, W (2005). Förvarning och samhällshot. Studentlitteratur: Malmö. Pp57-65 The BSE Inquiry Report (2000). Volume 1, Findings and Conclusions. Available at http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20090505194948/http://bseinquiry.gov.uk/index.htm [Accessed November 14th, 2011]