Natural disasters as we all know are the consequences of events triggered by natural hazards that overwhelm local response capacity and seriously affect the social and economic development of a region. There is basically no human control over the natural disaster. We cannot stop these natural disasters but what is in our hands is to be prepared for these. Also, there are a lot of ways through which we can minimize the damage caused due to these natural disasters. Traditionally, natural disasters have been seen as situations that create challenges and problems mainly of a humanitarian nature. There is no way to prevent or avert these natural disasters, though scientists do claim to have found the ways to predict these natural disasters at most of the times they have failed to predict natural disasters causing some serious destruction.

During the last few years, there has been an increase in the reports of natural disasters as well as destruction caused due to these disasters. The tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, which hit parts of Asia and the Americas in 2004/2005 are some examples of natural disasters in past few years and floods in the parts of Uttarakhand is a recent example of the destruction caused due to these natural calamities. These calamities have led to the displacement of a lot of people and heavy loss of life as well as the property was also reported. Not just these few cases, natural disasters can be of many types which may include volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods, drought, landslides, or earthquakes etc.

From past many years, there has been a constant debate on the topic of natural disasters and the human role in the same. A lot of human practices, as well as rapidly growing developmental activities, have been blamed for the constant rise of these natural disasters like floods, hurricanes and tsunamis in past few years. One of the major causes of natural disasters has been attributed to the global warming, which has sparked debate analyzing what the effects may be. The reality at present is that we are experiencing an increasing number of natural disasters, and disaster preparedness is an area still to develop. Also along with the disaster preparedness, there is a need to keep a check on developmental activities so that we could have a sustained environment.

Types of Natural Disasters

The natural disaster is the consequence when a natural hazard affects humans in an adverse manner. Human vulnerability, caused by the lack of appropriate preparedness often leads to financial, environmental, or human impact in a negative manner. A natural disaster always brings along loss of life and property damage, and typically leaves economic damage in its wake, the severity of which depends on the intensity of the disaster. At times there can be some minor losses only whereas human life has also witnessed few disasters that have caused a major loss of life and property as well.

The resulting loss due to a natural disaster also depends on the capacity of the population or authorities to support or resist the disaster as well as emergency preparedness. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability". A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g., strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasters without human involvement. Different types of natural disasters can be:

• Tsunamis
• Earthquakes
• Avalanches
• Volcanoes
• Landslides
• Floods
• Droughts
• Forest fires
• Hurricanes
• Thunderstorms
• Tornadoes
• Winter storms
• Heat Waves

Causes of Natural Disasters

• There are different types of natural disasters and depending on different types of disasters the causes are also different. For example, the causes of an earthquake cannot be the same as that of forest-fire. Natural disasters are caused due to different reasons like soil erosion, seismic activity, tectonic movements, air pressure, and ocean currents etc. natural disaster is not a new phenomenon these natural events have occurred since the earth began forming and continue to cause serious damage and loss of life all over the globe from many years. The root causes of most of the natural disasters that occur on earth can be attributed to the imbalance created in our environment. This imbalance may either be in the form of air pollution, noise pollution or water pollution and the collective effect of these imbalances are also one of the few reasons for the natural disaster. Though it also a fact that we cannot blame anyone because this is just one of the few reasons. Natural disasters like earthquake, floods etc have also occurred in past era when the human was far away from modernization. So it would not be fair enough to blame modernization for the same.
• Natural activities taking place in the earth’s crust, as well as surface, are the main reasons for these disasters. Seismic activity caused by earthquakes have been the root cause of volcanoes erupting and typhoons. It has been studied that the continents sit on huge plates that occasionally shift and when these plates shift they cause an increase in pressure underneath the earth’s surface which is also a cause of natural disasters. Tectonic movements in the earth’s crust are responsible for the earthquakes, which at times can get really dangerous and may lead to some heavy loss of life and property. In areas where volcanoes have formed by solidified magma, pressure from gasses and magma can explode or erupt to send tons of ash into the atmosphere.
• The activity of the moon determines the ocean waves which can get really high during the full moon and at times these can be really dangerous. It was also observed that deadly December 2004 tsunami also occurred on a full moon night. The earthquake was caused when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (98 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
• Changing ocean currents are also dangerous at times and can result in changes in water temperature which could result in a global food shortage by killing fish and ocean plant life. These changing oceanic currents could also adversely affect the intensity as well as the frequency of storms. Tornadoes which are really dangerous are often formed by the interaction of high and low-pressure air and these have proved to be really dangerous as well as devastating for many communities in the area of America, especially the area of Tornado Alley. Air pressure, high and low determines whether or not we have thunderstorms, rain and hurricanes. Flooding and high winds are caused by the crashing together of low and high-pressure air. Damage caused by flooding and hurricanes along coastal cities and towns can be really difficult to overcome for their victims.
• Natural Disasters are a set of naturally occurring events which can directly or indirectly cause severe threats to human health and well-being and adversely affects the human life for quite some time. It has been witnessed that the natural disasters have their root causes in the normal activities of the earth. However during the past few years, we have witnessed some rapid modernization and growth, man's increased knowledge and technology has served to trigger for some natural disasters. Flooding and erosion can occur are really prone to the areas where mining, deforestation, and manufacturing have taken place. Global warming, which could eventually affect the ocean currents, has its roots in modern man's overuse of fossil fuels. Earthquakes resulting as a result of tectonic movements and movements of plates inside the earth’s crust can also be triggered by drilling, bombing, mining, and construction.

The Impact of Human Activities on Natural Disasters

• It has been estimated that rapidly growing modernization is leading to ignorance towards the environment. Today we are growing at a rapid rate neglecting the harm that we are causing to our environment. Environmental bylaws are being neglected for personal gains by few businessmen. The dual forces of global warming, as well as poor human management in the field of land and water resources, combine to the cause of natural disasters. Humans have created a situation where ordinary events like earthquakes and hurricanes become increasingly elevated to the level of natural disasters which results in heavy losses in the terms of human life as well as property.
• Scientists researching on this topic from past many years have found that the increase in hydro-meteorological disasters can be attributed to a combination of natural and human-caused factors. The main problem is global warming which is increasing the temperatures of Earth's oceans and atmosphere, leading to more intense storms of all types, including hurricanes and floods due to the melting of these oceans. Unplanned urbanization is at its peak, no one is really caring about the environmental risks and everyone is busy making money. There are a lot of constructions coming up in flood-prone regions which have increased the likelihood that their towns and villages will be affected by flash floods and coastal floods. A recent flood in Uttarakhand is one such example. Human greed is increasing day by day and people are not at all hesitant in ignoring the environmental laws and result is the destruction.
• In one way or the other we are hampering our environment, the rapidly growing industrialization has led to a lot of air as well as water pollution. Though there are environmental laws that these industries need to follow to treat the waste before disposing of into the environment but most of the times the industry owners neglect these laws for their personal gain and even authorities are also quite relaxed and do not take a prompt action against the culprits. Rapid construction has led to large land areas being covered with cement, which means that the flow of water becomes very strong, and the runoff from the water can't get absorbed by the soil anymore, so it keeps collecting and rushing down, getting heavier and faster, which may ultimately lead to much bigger floods.  
• It is not that everyone is being ignorant in the race to be the best. There are also a lot of people who really care about the environment and are really serious about taking up the matter at a larger scale. There are many societies and group of people who are working in the field of environmental awareness and are working day and night out to make people aware of the harmful effects of the pollution and other practices that are harmful to our environment. Several NGO’s are taking up the issue of pollution and global warming publically by taking out rallies and organizing various campaigns to save the environment and such initiatives need to be appreciated.

Prevention and Control On Natural Disaster

• Natural disasters are inevitable, even if we have the technology to predict disasters we cannot stop it from occurring. The best that we can do is to stop the practices that are harmful to our environment and leading to environmental degradation and at the same time, we should also be prepared for a disaster with our disaster management plan. Beyond damaging and destroying physical infrastructure, natural disasters can lead to outbreaks of infectious disease. Once a disaster strikes it leaves behind a lot of destruction and loss of life. In the case of disasters like floods, earthquake etc. where a large number of people are displaced there is also a great loss of life and after the disaster, there are a lot of causalities also. This is the time when emergency preparedness comes into effect giving first aid to injured and providing rescue and relief operation.
• The overwhelming majority of deaths immediately after a natural disaster is directly associated with blunt trauma, crash-related injuries and burn injuries. The risk of infectious disease outbreaks in the aftermath of natural disasters has usually been overemphasized by health officials and the media, leading to panic, confusion and sometimes to unnecessary public health activities. After a disaster strikes there is a great risk of epidemic hence it is very important to control the causalities as well as it is also required to dispose of the dead animals as well human bodies properly before an epidemic outbreak.
• The risk factors for increased infectious diseases transmission and outbreaks are mainly associated with the after-effects of the disasters rather than to the primary disaster itself or to the corpses of those killed. It is very important to deal with these problems which in turn can pose a greater threat. These after-effects include displacement of populations, environmental changes and increased vector breeding sites. Unplanned and overcrowded shelters, poor water and sanitation conditions, poor nutritional status or insufficient personal hygiene are often the cases which may cause diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases. Consequently, there are low levels of immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases, or insufficient vaccination coverage and limited access to health care services. Hence it is very important to be prepared with a proper disaster management team who can take charge as soon a disaster strikes.