What is the difference between disaster and calamity

They permeate our days and demand our focus. But what is a disaster and how does it differ from a catastrophe? Sometimes people use the words interchangeably, however there is a difference, both in scale and level of sustained support required to get to recovery. It is, by definition, a shock, a surprise. The disasters knocks you off your axis, jolts you out of your normal orbit Clark, No matter the size of an accident or disaster, it surely feels like a catastrophe to the individuals affected.

But catastrophe, as used by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, references a specific type of disaster — one that is extremely large and is outside the coping ability of a community. The same hazard fire, for example could be an accident, disaster or catastrophe depending upon scale of impact.

A single-family house fire is an accident or emergency; a fire that consumes a few city blocks is a disaster; and a wildfire that demolishes several communities, requiring mass evacuation and reconstruction is a catastrophe.

By definition, a national catastrophic incident implies that the necessary resources are not available within expected timeframes for incident response. During a catastrophic incident, decision makers would be forced to consider the landscape of requirements and prioritize resources to manage shortfalls rather than to address all needs at once.

CDP focuses its attention — through grantmaking, education and consulting — on catastrophic disasters while also monitoring large-scale disasters, or in the case of the Midwest Early Recovery Fund, low-attention disasters. Internally, we have a sense of the difference between a disaster and a catastrophe but there is not a pure and universal definition of this difference.

Traditionally, the amount of damage and number of deaths were the best factors to determine scale. It suffered severe calamity from an earthquake, which in destroyed the greater part of the city.

His death was the great calamity of Scotland, and is lamented in a famous fragment of early Scottish verse. Use the word calamity to describe an event that causes great harm and misery, or a general state of distress or misery: the calamity of war. Near synonyms are catastrophe and disaster. Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster and occur when an overflow of water submerges land that is usually dry.

Floods are often caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or a storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami in coastal areas. Infectious disease outbreaks, incidents of community unrest, and other types of traumatic events can also bring out strong emotions in people.

Community upheaval, such as that seen in Ferguson, Mo. News reports and the hour news cycle can make people even more anxious when these kinds of events occur. The Disaster Distress Helpline provides immediate crisis counseling to people affected by traumatic events. SAMHSA also has a number of resources for people affected by the Ebola outbreak and incidents of community unrest, including:.

Learn more about these issues and find more disaster-related resources at Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. To sign up for updates or to access your subscriber preferences, please enter your contact information. Skip to main content. Mono Bar U. Main menu. Territories for mental and substance use disorders. Ellos escuchan.