Introduction to Disaster Management Cycle

Managing a disaster is about mitigating, or avoiding, the risks of loss, providing prompt and adequate assistance to those affected, and ensuring a rapid and effective recovery. The concept of the Disaster Management Cycle integrates isolated attempts on the part of different government and nongovernment actors, towards vulnerability reduction or disaster mitigation, within the enveloping domain of disaster management. Governments, businesses, and civil society engage in the Disaster Management Cycle as a means of planning for and mitigating disasters, responding to disasters during and after they occur, and reclaiming the loss following a disaster. By acting appropriately at all points in the cycle, we are better able to prepare, give

better warnings, reduce vulnerability, or prevent disasters during the subsequent iteration of

the cycle. The Disaster Management Cycle can be divided into three stages : the pre-disaster

stage, the during-disaster stage, and the postdisaster stage.

Pre-Disaster Stage: 

• Preparedness, Prevention and Mitigation are the major activities in the pre-disaster stage. Prevention is always better than cure, so this program adheres to the principle. In this stage, various preventive measures and activities are undertaken well in advance so as to respond to disasters in an effective way.
• If the early warnings can be seriously heeded, much of the disaster could have been be avoided. The focus should therefore be on preparing communities and buildings to withstand disasters. There are events of cyclones in India quite frequently, and warnings are generally given before the event occurs. If operative activities can be undertaken well in advance, then it becomes easy to prevent huge loss in terms of lives and property, the aftermath phase.

During-disaster Stage:

• Response and Relief are the important activities in the during-disaster stage. It starts in the aftermath of a disaster.
• The immediate aspects of an aid response include the search, rescue, and evacuation, identification of dead bodies, the disposal of debris, providing first aid, food, water, shelter, safety and security, health care, and sanitation, and restoring basic facilities.

Post-disaster Stage:

• The major activities in the postdisaster phase include: Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Recovery. Disasteraffected communities will be made resilient and able to return to normalcy through these activities.
• Generally, this phase takes a long time as the efforts are made to restore all essential facilities to pre-disaster status.
• The major focus of this phase is on measures that could pave the way for the long-term recovery of social, economic, and physical structures, as well as processes in such a way that future disasters are unable to impact severely and irreversibly.

Disaster preparedness programmes aim to improve the technical and management capabilities of governments, organisations, and communities in order to reach a suitable degree of readiness to respond to any emergency crisis. These precautions, which are described as being logistically prepared to handle disasters, can be strengthened by having reaction mechanisms and processes, practising them, creating long- and short-term strategies, educating the public, and constructing early warning systems.