Community Medicine Cheat Sheet
Disaster Response Starts Before Impact
Disaster management concepts: risk equation, Disaster Management Act 2005, natural and man-made classification and health priorities for NEET-PG revision.
MedNext Academy | 3 min read
Disaster Response Starts Before Impact
Disaster management concepts: risk equation, Disaster Management Act 2005, natural and man-made classification and health priorities for NEET-PG revision.
Disaster management is a continuous public-health discipline that reduces risk before an event and protects health during and after it, framed by the risk equation of hazard, exposure and vulnerability divided by capacity.
High-yield lines
- The risk equation states that disaster risk equals hazard multiplied by exposure and vulnerability, divided by capacity.
- The WHO defines a disaster as a sudden ecologic phenomenon of sufficient magnitude to require external assistance.
- The Disaster Management Act, 2005, is India's central legislation and defines disaster in Section 2(d) and disaster management in Section 2(e).
- Disasters are classified as natural or man-made, with natural events subdivided into sudden-onset and slow-onset.
- Sudden-onset natural disasters include earthquakes, cyclones, flash floods, landslides and tsunamis.
- Slow-onset natural disasters include droughts, seasonal floods and heat waves.
- The Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 is the classic Indian man-made technological disaster.
- Hazard is a potentially damaging event, exposure is people and property in harm's way, and vulnerability is the conditions that increase susceptibility.
- Capacity is the combination of strengths and resources available to manage and reduce disaster risk.
- Odisha's cyclone preparedness, functional shelters and trained Aapda Mitra volunteers illustrate capacity that lowers risk.
- Understanding the risk equation converts disaster management from a post-event activity into a pre-event planning discipline.
- Post-disaster health priorities in floods and cyclones include safe water, shelter sanitation and surveillance for diarrhoea and leptospirosis.
- A vulnerable household register lets outreach workers reach pregnant women, older adults and disabled persons before impact.
- Early warning systems and hazard calendars allow the health sector to pre-position medicines and referral transport before a predictable event.
Mapped competency codes
- CM13.1
- CM13.2
- CM13.3
- CM13.4
Continue into the full chapter
This summary maps to CM13-disaster-management.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the risk equation in disaster management?
Risk equals hazard multiplied by exposure and vulnerability, divided by capacity, so strengthening capacity lowers risk.
Which law governs disaster management in India?
The Disaster Management Act, 2005, defines disaster and disaster management and makes public-health preparedness a statutory obligation.
How are disasters classified?
As natural or man-made, with natural disasters further divided into sudden-onset events like earthquakes and cyclones and slow-onset events like droughts and heat waves.
What are early post-flood public-health priorities?
Safe drinking water, shelter sanitation, and surveillance for diarrhoeal disease and leptospirosis, along with pregnancy and newborn referral.
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