A disaster (from Middle French désastre, from Old Italian disastro, from the Greek pejorative prefix dis- bad + aster star) is the impact of a natural or man-made hazard that negatively affects society or environment. The word disaster's root is from astrology: this implies that when the stars are in a bad position a bad event will happen. In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the effect of hazards on vulnerable areas. Hazards that occur in areas with low vulnerability are not considered a disaster, as is the case in uninhabited regions. (Quarantelli 1998) Classification Wisner et al (2004) reflect a common opinion when they argue that all disasters can be seen as being man-made, their reasoning being that human actions before the strike of the hazard can prevent it developing into a disaster. All disasters are hence the result of human failure to introduce appropriate

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