Disaster can strike at any time, and even the most prepared businesses can be adversely impacted. They are as old as human history but the dramatic increase and the damage caused by them in the recent past have become a cause of national and international concern. Over the past decade, the number of natural and man-made disasters has climbed inexorably. From 1994 to 1998, reported disasters average was 428 per year but from 1999 to 2003, this figure went up to an average of 707 disaster events per year showing an increase of about 60 per cent over the previous years. The biggest rise was in countries of low human development, which suffered an increase of 142 %.
Disasters can be grouped into two broad categories namely natural and man-made.
1. Natural hazards are hazards which are caused because of natural phenomena. Examples of natural hazards are cyclones, tsunamis, earthquake and volcanic eruption which are exclusively of natural origin. Landslides, floods, drought, fires are socio-natural hazards since their causes are both natural and man made. For example flooding may be caused because of heavy rains, landslide or blocking of drains with human waste.
2. Man-made hazards are hazards which are due to human negligence. Man-made hazards are associated with industries or energy generation facilities and include explosions, leakage of toxic waste, pollution, dam failure, wars or civil strife etc.
