The United States is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Every state is exposed to one or more of a host of hazards: earthquakes, droughts, floods, hurricanes, landslides, tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and wildfires.

flooding

Man-made disasters can include hazardous material spills, fires, groundwater contamination, transportation accidents, structure failures, mining accidents, explosions and acts of terrorism. There are actions that we can take to prepare to react appropriately to these events.

Many other disasters are caused by human error or malfunctioning technology, which is more difficult to predict and prevent. Nuclear meltdowns are a prime example of the role of technological failures in causing significant damage to the environment and human health.

5 Ways to Prevent Human Error Disasters

1. Training, Training and More Training. A business is only as strong as its weakest link and that weak link shouldn’t be your employees.
2. Limit Access to Sensitive Systems.
3. Develop a Strong Disaster Recovery Plan.
4. Test your Disaster Recovery Plan.
5. Hold Semiannual or Annual Refresher Courses.

Our sprawling cities and consumption of fossil fuels also have a direct impact on the environment. These activities are also causing changes in global weather patterns, leading to an increase in natural disasters like floods and wildfires.

W can’t stop most natural phenomena happening but we can reduce the damage caused by an earthquake if we build stronger houses and on solid ground. What is prevention? Taking measures in order to avoid an event turning into a disaster. Planting trees, for example, prevents erosion and landslides.

So there’s little doubt that humans influence natural disasters over the long term. But can we also trigger sudden “natural” catastrophes? The answer is yes. From mud volcanoes to disappearing lakes, human actions can have all sorts of unforeseen environmental consequences.

One lesson Rosa draws from that analysis is that the line between human-caused and natural disasters is blurring. “While untoward events originating in nature put us at unavoidable risk, disasters are largely the result of human agency, choices that make us more vulnerable when those risks are realized.

while fire, floods, and famine are not exclusively man-made disasters. Nature itself trigger or aids in these disasters. Therefore they are not exclusively man-made.

Natural disasters are catastrophic events with atmospheric, geological, and hydrological origins (e.g., droughts, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, landslides) that can cause fatalities, property damage and social environmental disruption [1]. From: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2016.

Disasters are sometimes considered external shocks, but disaster risk results from the complex interaction between development processes that generate conditions of exposure, vulnerability and hazard. There is no such thing as a natural disaster, but disasters often follow natural hazards.

Explanation: Stay away from glass, windows, outside doors and walls, and anything that could fall, such as lighting fixtures or furniture. Stay inside until the shaking stops, and it is safe to go outside. Most injuries occur to people trying to move a different location inside the building or try to leave.

Severe geo-physical or climatic events, such as volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones and fires that threaten people or property, are termed as natural disasters. Man-made disasters are events which are caused by human activities (e.g. industrial chemical accidents and oil spills).

Floods, storms, earthquakes, droughts, forest fires and volcanic eruptions are among the most devastating types of natural catastrophe. But some disasters are man-made. These include explosions, major fires, aviation, shipping and railway accidents, and the release of toxic substances into the environment.

Man-made disasters have an element of human intent, negligence, or error involving a failure of a man-made system, as opposed to natural disasters resulting from natural hazards. Such man-made disasters are crime, arson, civil disorder, terrorism, war, biological/chemical threat, cyber-attacks, etc.

: manufactured, created, or constructed by human beings specifically : synthetic man-made fibers.

Something made of artificial material, not natural items, can be described as synthetic. The adjective synthetic usually describes things created by chemical synthesis (synthetic compound, synthetic drug, synthetic material), but it sometimes describes an emotion that is feigned or not genuine.

Antonyms: natural, analytical, uninflected, analytic, isolating(a), genuine, echt. Synonyms: synthetical, man-made, semisynthetic, celluloid. synthetic, synthetical(adj)

Q: Are humans natural things or man-made things? So according to the definition of man-made, we must be natural beings because we are neither manufactured, created, constructed, or synthetic. We grow, which is something man-made things do not tend to do.

Referring to a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address wherein the United States’ 16th President had said that “all men are created equal”, the girl asked her mother “aren’t women created equal too”