Natural disasters can cause great damage on the environment, property, wildlife and human health. These events may include earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and extreme
temperatures. Natural disasters generally constitute an emergency since they require immediate intervention due to their high impact on human health and safety; they affect the normal functioning of working infrastructure, interrupting normal day activities and representing a risk for residents and workers in affected areas. These hazards can include physical, chemical, ergonomic, biologic, radiologic, psychological, and behavioral health hazards. Therefore, it is imperative to implement appropriate measures to assure the health and safety of emergency responders, including the implementation of a disaster management plan that prepares responders before an emergency, informs them about how to act during an emergency and provides guidance on how to perform the necessary activities after a particular event.
Natural Disaster Management:
Management of activities before, during and after an emergency is a difficult task. Different components must be considered to account for all the potential hazards that can be faced. The preparation of a comprehensive plan is vital to ensure the correct management of resources, consecution of activities and protection of responders. During the elaboration of a disaster management plan, potential hazards can be identified which helps to establish the necessary measures to prevent, control and mitigate those hazards. Such measures can include but are not limited to the establishment of a system to manage personnel during an emergency, provide training to face a particular hazard, define the use of personal protective equipment, and install guidelines and mechanisms to be used in case of an emergency, among others. The different reports cover topics such as rubble and debris, dust and smoke, heat, anthrax, stress, types and use of protective equipment, hazard assessment, risk communications, site management, structural collapse, fire, and explosions. The disaster management page also offers information on other hazards such as asbestos, carbon monoxide, confined spaces chemical and structural hazards and provides guidance on identifying and handling human remains. Other possible hazardous substances and situations such as chemical and structural hazards are also included in the website to ensure the health and safety workers.
Effects on Agriculture :
Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.
Humans, like all other species, exploit their surroundings for the resources they need to survive. Our current exploitation of the world, however, is greater than those of most species. There are many reasons for this exploitation but we will focus on one and that is our technology, which is used for various purposes. Like a few other species, we use tools, but the hand-held tools that we originally used could only adjust extremely local conditions. Today we are able to shape entire regions and our technology has progressed to the point where we can level mountains and control the flow of rivers, something that was simply impossible.
Agriculture is the major farming activity. Agriculture’s scale means not only that large area is directly affected, but that local and even regional climates can be affected. The draining of water from rivers and watersheds for irrigation leads to drier natural habitats.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and
working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities.