In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriatelymanaged risk. These risks are the product of a combination of both hazard/s and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability will never become disasters, as is the case in uninhabited regions.[1]
Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural disasters are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.[2][3] Contents [hide] * 1 Etymology * 2 Classifications * 2.1 Natural disaster * 2.2 Man-made disasters * 3 See also * 4 References * 5 Further reading * 6 External links |
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[edit]Etymology
The word disaster is derived from Middle French désastre and that from Old Italian disastro, which in turn comes from the Greekpejorative prefix δυσ-, (dus-) "bad"[4] + ἀστήρ (aster), "star".[5] The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from anastrological theme in which the ancients used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction of a star as a disaster.
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[edit]Classifications
Researchers have been studying disasters for more than a century, and for more than forty years disaster research. The studies reflect a common opinion when they argue that all disasters can be