What is Disaster Management?

Disaster management, which is also known as emergency management, can be defined as dealing with and avoiding both natural and man made disasters. Disaster management involves preparedness before disaster, rebuilding and supporting society after natural disasters such as, earthquakes, drought, tsunami etc. Nowadays, both government and non government organizations work in the field of disaster management. In public sector, it may be defined as civil defense or emergency services. On the other hand, in the private sector, it is generally referred to business continuity planning. Disaster management planning should be used as daily work along with establishment and management of local facilities and resources. There are several principles of disaster management, which include the right use of resources for the day-to-day purposes, coordination between various organizations, efforts of individuals, focus of large scale events, right knowledge of geographical location and nature of the society etc. In India, there are many areas, which are often affected with natural calamity or man made disasters. They have become top priority for the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. As a result, the study of disaster management has been included in the curriculum of many private and government-run institutes in India.