A disaster is a serious disruption of a community or society that has widespread human, material, economic or environmental consequences that exceed the affected community or society’s ability to cope with them using its own resources. Disaster management is how we deal with the human, material, economic, or environmental consequences of a disaster, the process of how we “prepare for, respond to, and learn from major disasters”). Although disasters often occur as a result of natural phenomena, they can also be caused by human actions. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a disaster occurs when a hazard affects vulnerable people. The combination of hazards, vulnerability, and the inability to reduce the potential negative consequences of the risk leads to a disaster.
When we think of disasters, we often automatically think of the event that caused them, such as an earthquake, cyclone or flood. In reality, however, this event is simply a “hazard” and a disaster is caused by a combination of the hazard, our exposure to the hazard (e.g., whether we live in the affected area), and our vulnerability to the hazard (how we prepared or mitigated its effects). Natural disasters and armed conflicts have accompanied humanity throughout history and have always caused peaks in mortality and morbidity.
For humanitarian law to apply, a disaster must be caused by a situation of armed conflict. Thus, it is important to distinguish between natural disasters and disasters caused by human activity. Although the consequences of disasters are similar in terms of immediate needs, the methods of action and rights to intervene are very different. For the application of humanitarian law, the use of terms such as “crisis” or “humanitarian disaster” should also be avoided if more precise definitions can be applied, as they describe the situation without establishing law governing the situation of victims or relief organizations.
The purpose of humanitarian law is to prevent war from causing natural disasters. It prohibits damage to the natural environment, property necessary for the survival of the population, as well as installations and structures containing dangerous forces, such as dams, nuclear and chemical installations (which may damage the natural environment and, consequently, harm health or limit the survival of the population), etc. Such attacks, which provoke large-scale disasters and population displacements, constitute war crimes.