Test: Natural Hazards & Disasters - 1 - UPSC MCQ

A disruption on a massive scale, either natural or man-made, occurring in short or long periods. A disaster is a large-scale event that causes significant damage and hardship, which may be beyond the capacity of the affected society to bear.

Disasters can be classified into several categories such as Water and Climate Disasters, Geological Disasters, Biological Disasters, Industrial Disasters, Nuclear Disasters, and Man-made disasters, but not Festive Disasters.

The NDMA is an apex body for disaster management, headed by the Prime Minister of India, responsible for the supervision, direction, and control of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

The Chief Minister of the respective state is the head of the SDMA.

The components of Disaster Management include prevention, reduction, readiness, promptness, assessment, rescue, relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

This ministry is responsible for decision-making, providing advice, and emergency medical relief during epidemics.

BSL-4 is the highest biosafety level, dealing with potentially fatal viruses like Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and Lassa fever virus.

This Act provides a comprehensive framework for disaster management in India.

Health is a State Subject, making it the primary responsibility of State Governments to deal with biological disasters.

Preventive measures include engineering controls, personal hygiene, personal protection equipment, sterilization, and respiratory protection, along with following stringent safety protocols.

Malaria is a vector-borne disease, transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

Water management to eliminate breeding places for vectors. This helps in preventing the spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue.

This Act was enacted in 1897 to address public health emergencies and epidemics in India.

The actual reason is the lack of stockpile of drugs, important vaccines, and diagnostics for surge capacity.

An incident command system brings the entire action under the ambit of an incident commander with support from disciplines like logistics, finance, and technical teams.