Solution:

Second factor:

A second factor that bears upon today’s situation is that new disaster threats have developed, particularly since World War II.

Increased social violence has drastically affected many nations and communities. Highjacking, terrorism, civil unrest, and conflict with conventional arms have become commonplace.

These have sometimes inflicted intolerable burdens on governments and societies whose existence is already precarious because of poor economic and social conditions.

This, in turn has produced additional strains on international assistance sources, thus diluting global counter-disaster efforts and capabilities.

New threats have also come from what are generally termed hazardous materials or substances.

The 1985 tragedy of Bhopal in India ranks as paramount in this category with an estimated death toll of 2,500 and 100,000 affected in various ways.

But the Bhopal of this world is, in many ways, only the highly publicized tip of this particular disaster iceberg. Hazardous materials are shifted around the transport systems of the world in increasing amounts.

They are sometimes dumped in areas that are vital to the world’s future. These materials can constitute a disaster threat that is potentially comparable to those posed by many natural phenomena.

Third factor: The Geography of Disaster

A third factor concerns what might be called the geography of disaster.

It has often been pointed out that most of the world’s worst disasters tend to occur between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and that, coincidentally, this area contains poorer countries.

Indeed, some countries seem destined to remain within the developing category primarily because of the severity and magnitude of their disasters.