The concept of disasters can be touched upon from 2 main aspects.

The concept of disasters can be touched upon from 2 main aspects.

In general, a natural disaster is a disaster caused by nature, such as floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches, landslides, blizzards, drought, hailstorms, heat waves, hurricanes, tropical storms, typhoons, Ice Ages, tornadoes, and wildfires. Epidemics caused by bacteria or viruses are sometimes considered natural disasters, but sometimes put into a different category.

The thing about natural disasters is that they can strike at any time in almost any place, even without warning. Throughout history, natural disasters have claimed millions or lives and destroyed countless properties. Their economic cost is rising relentlessly. This is because a growing share of the world’s population and economic activity is being concentrated in disaster-prone places: on tropical coasts and river deltas, near forests and along earthquake fault lines.

Some of the weather disasters can be predicted such as hurricanes and blizzards. The technology is getting better in predicting tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. By getting the data early people can be warned to take shelter or make the necessary preparations.

There isn't any way to avoid natural disasters, but if people know what kinds of disasters are most likely where they live, they can learn what to do if a disaster happens in order to stay safe.

On the other hand, many years ago people lived in greater harmony with nature and environment than they do now. Ecological ignorance of people leads to the destruction of nature and worsens the living conditions for all living beings.

It's difficult to overestimate the role of science and technology in our life. They accelerate the development of civilization. Scientists investigate the laws of the universe, discover the secrets of nature, and apply their knowledge in practice improving the life of people. The 20-th century has got several names that were connected with a certain era in science and technology. At first it was called the atomic age due to the discovery of the splitting of the atom. Then it became the age of the conquest of space when for the first time in the history of mankind a man overcame the gravity and entered the Universe. And now we live in the information era when the computer network embraces the globe and connects not only the countries and space stations but a lot of people all over the world. All these things prove the power and the greatest progressive role of science in our life.

But every medal has its reverse. And the rapid scientific progress has aroused a number of problems that are a matter of our great concern. These are ecological problems, the safety of nuclear power stations, the nuclear war threat, and the responsibility of a scientist. A great number of ecological catastrophes took place in the 20th and 21st centuries and most of them are the results of men’s activity. During accidents and disasters, people and the environment can be exposed to dangerous materials. Examples of such incidents are large fires, transport accidents, spills or attacks with chemical, radioactive or biological materials

One of the largest catastrophes occurred on the 26th of April, 1986. It was the explosion of one of the energy blocks at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Due to this explosion there was a highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere which covered thousands of square kilometers of land. The most contaminated zones included Ukraine, Russia and Belarus and affected directly about 2 600 000 inhabitants. Some of them died in the first ten years, some were evacuated out of the place. After the accident in Chernobyl, soil and forest areas were polluted with radioactive elements. Besides that, the health of the population was seriously damaged which resulted in increase of infantile mortality, cancer or thyroid and in increase of the amount of children born with leukemia, malformations, tumors and other affections.

Another ecological disaster which is recognized as one of the greater causes of oceanic contamination is the petroleum spills. These spills lead to the death of aquatic birds, fish and other creatures of the oceans. As a result, the ecological balance is broken and then, fishing, navigation or usages of recreational zones become impossible.

It’s very important to stop destroying the planet people live on and to restore what has already been destroyed. Otherwise, in the eyes of nature we are just another endangered species in trouble! As a wise man said,

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04