A systemic approach to managing natural disasters

The objective of this chapter is to present a Systemic Disaster Management System (SDMS) model. The SDMS model is intended to provide a sufficient structure for effective disaster management. It may be argued that it has a fundamentally preventive potentiality in that if all the subsystems (i.e., systems 1-5) and channels of communication are present and working effectively, the probability of failure should be less than otherwise. Moreover, the model is capable of being applied proactively in the case of the design of a new 'disaster management system' as well as reactively. In the latter case, a past disaster may be examined using the model as a 'template' for comparison. In this way, lessons may be learned from past disasters. It may also be employed as a 'template' to examine an existing 'disaster management system'. It is hoped that this approach will lead to more effective management of natural disasters.