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Disasters are defined as deadly, destructive, and disruptive events that occur when a hazard interacts with human vulnerability. Disasters are significant societal events that injure and kill people, damage structures/infrastructure and personal belongings, and complicate the routine activities people undertake on a daily basis (e.g., sleeping, bathing, cooking, traveling, going to school, working, etc.).

Table 1‐1 Comparison of Event Magnitude.

	Accidents	Crises	Emergencies/ disasters	Calamities/catastrophes
Injuries	Few	Many	Scores/hundreds	Thousands/more
Deaths	Few	Many	Scores/hundreds	Thousands/more
Damage	Minor	Moderate	Major	Severe
Disruption	Minor	Moderate	Major	Severe
Geographic impact	Immediate area	Local community	Regional	National/international
Availability of resources	Abundant	Sufficient	Limited	Scarce
Number of responders	Few	Many	Scores/hundreds	Thousands/more
Time to recover	Minutes/hours/days	Days/weeks	Months/years	Years/decades

In the simplest of terms, there are two categories of variables that interact to produce a disaster. A hazard is the risk, trigger or threat that initiates a disaster. Hazards include natural, technological or anthropogenic (human‐induced) agents like earthquakes, industrial explosions, or even terrorist attacks that negatively affect people or critical infrastructure. Vulnerability, on the other hand, refers to the proneness of people to disasters based on factors such as their geographic location, exposure of property, level of preparedness, income and/or other social variables. The ability of individuals, organizations, and communities to deal with disaster also determines the degree of vulnerability. Vulnerability is therefore the human element of disasters, while hazard agents may or may not always have a direct social cause.

Although disasters result from the interaction of both hazards and vulnerability, the two concepts have distinct implications for practical application. Because it is not always possible to prevent or control hazards, people and organizations should give extra attention to efforts that reduce their vulnerability to disasters (McEntire 2005). For this reason, the knowledge and expertise of individuals that are employed in emergency management and related professions are required to deal effectively with mass emergencies, disasters, calamities and catastrophes (Figure 1‐1).

From an academic standpoint, emergency management “is the study of how humans and their institutions deal with hazards, vulnerabilities and the events that result from their interaction” (Jensen, 2013). The emergency management discipline accordingly seeks to create and disseminate knowledge about what people and organizations can do to diminish the frequency and impact of disasters. From a practical perspective, emergency management “is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters” (Blanchard et al., 2007, p. 4). This suggests the need for highly educated and trained individuals who are given the responsibility to advance the goals of reducing disasters and reacting to them in an effective manner. These professionals are known as emergency managers; they have a keen “interest in disasters and a strong desire to alleviate the suffering of those impacted” by these adverse events (Phillips, Neal and Webb 2017, p. 106).

Figure 1‐1 Emergency management personnel often attend meetings to prepare for future disasters.Michael Rieger/FEMA.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/ef‐scale.html

Put differently, emergency managers are public servants that help jurisdictions reduce the liabilities that lead to disasters. These employees (governmental and even non‐governmental) also work closely with many concerned stakeholders and endeavor to build capabilities to deal more effectively with hazards and disasters. Such activities are commonly described as the disaster life cycle or the four phases of emergency management. These proactive and reactive efforts include mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery:

 Mitigation refers to several priorities and actions, including risk reduction, loss minimization, and/or the alleviation of potential negative impacts associated with disasters. Careful land‐use planning, improvements in building design and construction, and a reliance on insurance to cover the costs associated with disasters are examples of mitigation activities.

 Preparedness implies efforts to increase readiness for a disaster. Examples of preparedness initiatives include the creation of laws/ordinances, the acquisition of grants or other resource s, and various measures such as planning, training, exercises and community education.

These two phases ‐ mitigation and preparedness ‐ should be given the highest priority in the emergency management profession today. For this reason, emergency managers must not be seen solely as an extension of first responders— our wonderful police, fire, and emergency medical personnel who serve so valiantly when emergencies occur. The goals of emergency managers are more proactive and encompassing than emergency response, even if they do overlap with the objectives and operations of these heroic public servants at times.

However, because it is impossible to eliminate all disasters, emergency managers must also be involved in disaster response and recovery operations. Disaster response includes actions “taken immediately before, during, or directly after an emergency occurs, to save lives [and] minimize damage to property” (Godschalk, 1991, p. 136). Examples of disaster response functions include

 Warning people of severe weather

 Evacuating those who are assumed to be at risk

 Sheltering the affected population

During response operations, it may also be necessary to provide emergency medical care, relay information to the public, and manage the arrival of donations and volunteers.

Disaster recovery, in contrast, consists of actions “to return vital life support systems to minimum operating standards and long‐term activity designed to return life to normal or improved levels” (Godschalk, 1991, p. 136). This incorporates efforts to repair homes damaged by disaster and rebuild community infrastructure such as power lines, roads, and courthouses.

Each of the phases described in this section is closely related to the others (Neal, 1997). For instance, it is difficult to separate mitigation from preparedness as both are proactive measures to reduce the impact of disaster. Preparedness also has a significant influence upon the success of post‐disaster management since it enables a community to anticipate response and recovery needs. In addition, it is difficult to determine when response ends and when recovery begins. For instance, are damage assessment and debris removal response functions or part of disaster recovery operations? Also, during recovery, it is vitally important that steps be taken to prevent future disasters or minimize their potential impact. Instead of simply rebuilding homes that have been damaged by a flood or a tornado, it may be necessary to relocate these structures to safer areas or implement more stringent construction requirements (e.g., improved anchors, hurricane straps, safe rooms, etc.). For these reasons, the word “phases” may be somewhat misleading. With this in mind, it may be advisable to substitute “phases” with the term “functional areas” or “functional activities.” Also, these “phases” or functional areas or activities of emergency management do not appear or proceed in a neat, linear fashion. They occur and unfold with a degree of complexity, so it is sometimes difficult to separate them conceptually.

It is also imperative that emergency managers are aware of other important terminology related to their profession. Due to the rising threat of terrorism and the advent of homeland security, new lexicon was introduced in emergency management. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Homeland security was defined as “a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and recover from and minimize the damage of attacks that do occur” (Office of Homeland Security, 2002, p. 2). It is easy to see that this concept is related to emergency management. But, this concept is slightly different in that it also encompasses other distinct terms such as prevention and protection. Prevention refers to efforts to stop the commission of terrorist attacks. It includes the gathering of intelligence, counterterrorism operations, and border control functions among others. Protection, on the other hand, is more concerned about actions that discourage attacks through increased security measures or efforts to minimize damage if such attacks cannot be always prevented in the first place. The reliance on guards, fences, video surveillance, and access control to sensitive locations falls into this category. As can be seen, it is likely that emergency managers and others in homeland security will work together to deal with all types of emergencies, disasters and terrorist attacks.