Glossary for Natural Disasters

Disaster: A serious disruption of the functioning of a society involving human, and material, and impacts that exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources.

Disaster risk reduction: The practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters.

Mitigation : The lessening of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters

Preparedness: The capacity developed by organizations, to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recovers from the impacts of disaster events.

Prevention: The outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters.

Public awareness: The extent of common knowledge about disaster risks, the factors that lead to disasters and the actions that can be taken, to reduce vulnerability to hazards.

Resilience: The ability of a society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, adapt to and recover from the effects of a disaster.

Hyogo Framework for Action – A global blueprint for disaster risk reduction efforts between 2005 and 2015 – by providing specific operational guidance for promoting disaster risk reduction.