There is no single, universally applicable recipe for responding to disasters. Disasters come in many forms. Some, like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tidal waves, are natural. Others, like wars and terrorist attacks, are made by humans. A rape or a fire in a home, affect only one person or one family. A bomb blast, tornado or hurricane may affect hundreds of people or, like an earthquake or a war, may affect entire communities and nations. Some, like personal assaults and ethnic cleansing, are inflicted intentionally on their victims while others, like airplane crashes or industrial accidents, though the result of human or technological error, are unintended. Disasters may be relatively short lived, although devastating, or, as is the case with famine and war, may last for years.

Wealthy areas face disasters with a wealth of human and material resources, a well-developed medical and mental health infrastructure, and efficient transportation and communication systems. While these are no protection against the direct effects of a disaster, they greatly facilitate responses to disaster.

By contrast, areas that lack these resources are more vulnerable to the effects of a disaster. Substandard housing is more easily destroyed by the high winds of hurricanes and cyclones. Chronic malnutrition and poor health status reduces resistance to infectious diseases in shelters and refugee camps. Inefficient, understaffed, and unprepared bureaucracies mismanage relief efforts. Cultural and language variations alter the course and consequences of disaster.

Areas that are regularly struck by disaster (e.g., villages in flood plains or islands frequently hit by hurricanes) often evolve traditional ways of understanding and responding to disaster. Patterns of family structure in a community and divisions along class, ethnic, religious, or racial lines may affect patterns of mutual aid or recrimination. Different cultural groups have various beliefs about death and injury and about health and mental health often respond in unexpected ways to outside well-meaning organizations. Antagonistic relationships between local communities and assisting authorities too often affect the ways in which outside offers of assistance are experienced.

What differentiates a victim from a survivor is that the former feels himself [sic] subject to a situation over which he has no control over his environment or himself, whereas a survivor has regained a sense of control and is able to meet the demands of whatever difficulty confronts him. A victim is passive and dependent upon others; a survivor is not -- he is able to take an active role in efforts to help his community and himself recover from the disaster. -- Lourdes Ladrido-Ignacio and Antonio P. Perlas - in the Philippines.

( http://www.mhwwb.org/dm-ch__1.htm )

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