The Effects of Natural and Man-Made Disasters on Human, Animal, and Plant Life

Disasters and Their Effects

Disasters have many detrimental effects not only on the environment but to animal and plant life. People strategize on effective ways of containing a disaster through the allocation of resources on both local and international level. However, once a disaster strikes it disapproves the preparedness of human beings and may have both short- and long-term effects.

Literature Review

A nuclear accident that happened in Fukushima is a disaster that affected human, nature, animals, and agricultural activities. The disaster was caused by an earthquake that resulted in a tsunami leading to the destruction of a nuclear power plant. According to Nakata and Sugisaki (2015), the radionuclides from the nuclear plant contaminated water systems, both fresh and marine waters.

Watson, Gayer, and Connoly (2007) state that natural disasters result in illnesses and substantial economic loss. They assert that there are various materials on natural disasters and hence reviewing them might give an insight on how such incidences result into infectious diseases. Neumayer, Plumper, and Barthel (2014) explain how natural disasters affect the political economy of a country.

Frequent disasters may lead to market failure or poor developmental planning. Besides, Plumper, Flores, and Neumayer (2017) state that disasters can be likened to double-edged sword since they have multiple effects. The Tohoku tsunami which happened in 2011 showed that past experiences can offer misleading lessons. Keefer, Neumayer, and Plumber evaluate the impact on earthquakes and the aspect of disaster-related mortality prevention.

The authors state that governments can significantly minimize death by earthquakes through constructing quake-proof buildings. Xing and colleagues (2016) show that particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) cause air pollution and are likely to cause respiratory system diseases. Chung evaluates the effect of North Korea’s nuclear weapons on animal and human life, as well as the effectiveness of the counter-strategies.

The deployment of the weapons can have devastating effects on the lives of people and can cause environmental pollution. According to Constantinides (2013), there is a need for people to think systematically and have a plan at hand to manage future disasters that may have catastrophic impacts.

The author emphasized the need for foresight in the management of a crisis or disaster. The article mentions a specific disaster that happened at a naval base in Cyprus. The Mari disaster killed 13 people and left 62 others with serious injuries. Consequently, the power plant was completely destroyed after the explosion. Constantinides notes there is a need for an organization to plan, detect, alleviate, and provide a recovery plan in the event of a disaster.

The article cites poor coordination and information flow, bureaucracy, and lack of informed decisions in planning and handling disasters. Wex and colleagues (2014) state that there is a need to establish quick response units that can respond to disasters whenever they happen. The article states that most natural disasters happen occasionally and hence there is a need for the establishment of emergency response departments.

According to the authors, rescue units can minimize the level of damage caused by a disaster and reduce the number of deaths by acting quickly and launching rescue operations. Combining data from social media and organizations based on disaster and crisis management can be used in disaster management (De Albuquerque et al., 2015). The article states that the information obtained from institutions such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other organizations that monitor occurrence and impact of natural disasters should be placed in a common database.

The data collected is used to predict the occurrence of disasters such as cyclones, earthquakes, and tornadoes. The analysis can also show the time frame within which a disaster may be expected to happen. The knowledge of expected time and magnitude of a future occurrence of a disaster assists organizations and governments in planning. Proper planning may lessen the damages caused by disasters and other catastrophic events.

According to Kunz, Reiner and Gold (2014), organizations and governments need to invest in new disaster management plans. The authors state that there is a need to evaluate the current tools and programs of disaster management to ensure that they are advanced. Also, they add that there is a need to incorporate new technologies in fighting disasters in order to minimize the damage caused.

Research Question

How do natural and man-made disasters affect people’s economic, social, and political life as well as the impacts on the environment?

Theoretical Framework

It is important to learn from a disaster so as to prevent a similar occurrence or effect of the same magnitude in the future. A disaster can be natural or triggered by actions of human beings, and its effects are tremendous and far-reaching. Analysis tools have been developed to help predict the occurrence of a disaster. The anticipation of a disaster at a certain time helps organizations dealing with rescue and disaster management in finding a good plan to minimize the impacts of the event.

Hypothesis

Disasters are bound to happen but people are never adequately prepared to manage them, and past experiences on the catastrophic experiences do not give enough information to contain future disasters.

References

Chung, S. (2016). NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR THREATS AND COUNTER-STRATEGIES. The Journal of East Asian Affairs, 30(2), 83.

Constantinides, P. (2013). The failure of foresight in crisis management: A secondary analysis of the Mari disaster. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(9), 1657-1673.

De Albuquerque, J. P., Herfort, B., Brenning, A., & Zipf, A. (2015). A geographic approach for combining social media and authoritative data towards identifying useful information for disaster management. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 29(4), 667-689.

John T. Watson, Michelle Gayer and Maire A. Connolly Emerging Infectious Diseases. 13.1 (Jan. 2007): p1+.

Keefer, P., Neumayer, E., & Plümper, T. (2011). Earthquake propensity and the politics of mortality prevention. World Development, 39(9), 1530-1541.

Kunz, N., Reiner, G., & Gold, S. (2014). Investing in disaster management capabilities versus pre-positioning inventory: a new approach to disaster preparedness. International Journal of Production Economics, 157, 261-272.

Nakata, K., & Sugisaki, H. (Eds.). (2015). Impacts of the Fukushima nuclear accident on fish and fishing grounds. Tokyo: Springer Japan.

Neumayer, E., Plümper, T., & Barthel, F. (2014). The political economy of natural disaster damage. Global Environmental Change, 24, 8-19.

Plümper, T., Flores, A. Q., & Neumayer, E. (2017). The double-edged sword of learning from disasters: Mortality in the Tohoku tsunami. Global Environmental Change, 44, 49-56.

Wex, F., Schryen, G., Feuerriegel, S., & Neumann, D. (2014). Emergency response in natural disaster management: Allocation and scheduling of rescue units. European Journal of Operational Research, 235(3), 697-708.

Xing, Y. F., Xu, Y. H., Shi, M. H., & Lian, Y. X. (2016). The impact of PM2. 5 on the human respiratory system. Journal of thoracic disease, 8(1), E69.