catastrophe

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An ancient catastrophe in the reception of the first half of the 19th century: The last day of Pompeii , painting by Karl Pawlowitsch Brjullow , 1830–1833

A disaster ( ancient Greek καταστροφή disaster "turning around" from κατά kata "downgrades", "low-" and στρέφειν stréphein "contact") is a momentous disaster event . Often the outdated term devastation is considered synonymous.

General

The word actually means turn and specifically designates the turning point of the plot in the tragedy ; H. the point at which the hero's fate, luck or bad luck, is decided. From this developed the generalization of the term as a decisive event in the life of a person or a people, as an unfortunate natural event, etc.

In civil, population and disaster control, a disaster is a major hazard and danger situation or a damaging event . The former includes impending damage, the latter damage that has occurred.

The "turn" ( peripetia ) "for better or for worse" was a necessary dramaturgical trick of the plot in the ancient Greek drama , to make the protagonists - and with them the audience - either through a new "turn for the better" of a catharsis (purification) or, in the event of a “turn for the worse”, to be condemned for wrongdoing. As a result, the term is still ethical and transfigured in a socially romantic way, as well as being the subject of sensationalism. A sober definition of the term therefore presents certain difficulties. A technical definition that gives the criteria for establishing a disaster (classification as a disaster state ) is as follows:

"Disasters are events caused by elementary or technical processes or by people that endanger or damage to a large extent the life or health of people , the environment , property or the vital supplies of the population ."

- Tyrolean Disaster Management Act

Another way of looking at the definition further specifies the vague "large scope" through the ratio of the damage to the regional aid options:

"Disasters are [...] major loss events which [...] cannot be adequately dealt with by the authorities responsible for hazard prevention with their own resources and resources."

- Berlin Civil Protection Act

The Bavarian Disaster Protection Act of July 31, 1970 defined in Art. 1 BayKSG: "Disaster within the meaning of this law is such a serious common danger or emergency or such a serious accident that help and protection can only be effectively granted if the authorities appointed to do so, Departments and relief organizations work together under the uniform management of the disaster control authorities. "

Such definitions on the part of the legislature are the basis for the requirement of further aid measures, of a personal and technical nature as well as aid payments. In this sense, the term describes the local structures and powers are overwhelmed by the situation, and is of the order (of geography as of those affected) independent, so it can a single residential place or community well affect how an entire area or state . Typically, the disaster is detected within the boundaries of an administrative unit.

Definition criteria

Disaster in the narrower sense is a longer-lasting and most large-scale damage location, with the normally reproached security ( fire brigade , ambulance service , police ) can not be met adequately and (only with a national (or international) aid and additional resources Military and non-organized Parts of the population) can be brought under control.

It is typical that the event (such as earthquake, flood, series of forest fires)

  • the infrastructure (roads, bridges, water supply, energy supply) is impaired and partially destroyed and / or
  • the local auxiliary workers and resources (such as the police, fire brigade, hospitals) are themselves damaged.

The telecommunication systems fail regularly; both due to overload and technical inability to function. Like landlines, cellular systems can be damaged, but they can also fail after some time in the event of a power failure ( battery backup ).

On the other hand, after a start-up phase lasting several hours, large-scale neighborhood help from unaffected areas and alarming background services (off-duty shifts, volunteer fire brigades , aid organizations such as the Red Cross, their rapid response groups and, in Germany, the THW , for example by declaring a state of emergency ), the acute dangers can be resolved within a day are essentially eliminated, in the narrower sense one speaks only of a “mass accident”, a “major loss event” or “ mass casualty of injuries of level 1 or 2”. As a rule, local events are not classified as catastrophes because, on the one hand, the extent of damage remains limited and, on the other hand, enough freelance workers can be brought in from the surrounding area.

According to this terminology (according to DIN 13050 , DIN 14011), for example

  • the flood of the Oder in 1997 was a catastrophe, even if no people were harmed on the German side, because the regional forces to defend the dike and thus remove the danger were by no means sufficient. National support and massive deployment of the Bundeswehr was necessary for the several weeks of events; Parts of the population filled sandbags.
  • The 1998 ICE accident in Eschede was not yet a disaster, because the regional fire brigades, the THW and the rescue services were able to free the injured and bring them to hospitals within a few hours. "Regional" means here: Eastern half of Lower Saxony including Hamburg . The use of individual helicopters for further long-distance relocation falls under neighborhood help for the best possible restoration of health.

The acute phase is the one in which there are still dangers to people (injuries that have not been taken care of, but also hunger, epidemics, cold), fires burn uncontrollably or the water does not yet sink. On the other hand, clearing-up work, recovery and reconstruction in the case of makeshift accommodation and care for affected people are no longer part of the disaster situation.

Interpol uses the following definition of a disaster from a police point of view (with a focus on identifying affected persons and those killed):

“A disaster is an unexpected event that kills or injures large numbers of people. The events that can lead to disasters are diverse. Operations after traffic accidents, natural disasters, technical accidents (fire, explosions), terrorist attacks and warlike events are therefore conceivable. A distinction must be made between an open and a closed form of disaster.
An "open catastrophe" is a major catastrophe in which a group of unknown people has been killed who has no prior record or affiliation. In these events it is difficult to get information on the number of victims.
A "closed catastrophe" is a major loss event in which a group of people belonging to a fixed collective (e.g. plane crash with a passenger list) was killed. If it is a closed catastrophe, the antemortal comparison data are i. d. Usually to raise faster. Mixed forms are also conceivable (crash of an airplane into a residential area). "

- Disaster Victim Identification - Interpol 2009 manual

Typology

Occurring or impending disasters, listed pragmatically, include:

A distinction is often made between, depending on the cause

and

  • technical disasters.

Natural disasters are natural events to which people are exposed and which lead to suffocation, drowning, dying of thirst, starvation, freezing to death, burning and similar serious physical impairments (e.g. illnesses, chemical burns) (such as meteor strikes, volcanic eruptions , avalanches , earthquakes and seaquakes , Floods , forest fires, etc.) The effects of natural disasters through to climatic disasters are usually also socially or culturally influenced (so-called man made disasters  - see famine ). B. If people had not settled volcanic slopes, an eruption would often not be a "catastrophe".
Technical catastrophes are triggered by a failure (this also includes incorrect operation) of a technical facility. Those “technical disasters” that cause devastating ecological damage are also referred to as environmental disasters . Disasters in traffic on water, land and in the air are often technical disasters; they are here under other categories, e.g. B. bridge collapses or fire and explosion disasters to find.

Disaster management

Disaster management should ensure that an appropriate response can be made in an emergency.

It generally consists of:

  • Threat ( worst case ) analyzes
  • Define likely disaster events
  • Establishing instructions for action
  • Procurement of the necessary funds and provision or storage at suitable locations
  • Simulate disaster events and verify that the means and procedures established for an emergency are effective.

Disaster management includes

Research on disaster management and the economic significance of disasters is rare but well established at universities. Lars Michael Clausen introduced the sociology of disasters in Germany. His student Martin Voss founded a disaster research center at the Free University of Berlin. The Kiel Institute for Crisis Research (Crisis Navigator) conducts research on economic and social science aspects. The German Society for Crisis Management e. V. (DGfKM) is the professional association of crisis and disaster managers.

International disaster management in conflicts to coordinate military and civil structures for the protection of cultural assets is operated by the International Committee of the Blue Shield (Blue Shield International). This also applies to the survey of cultural assets to be protected, the creation of “no-strike lists” (which contain the coordinates of significant cultural monuments), the linking of civil and military structures and the training of local military personnel. Basically, in the event of disasters with regard to cultural property carriers, local alliances, ideally mediated or organized by Blue Shield, should achieve rapid damage limitation, including help from accessible third countries. There are also joint preventive projects between cultural property holders, museums , libraries and archives on the one hand, and the local Blue Shield organizations on the other. But only if the local population is involved can disaster control be implemented effectively on site. Karl von Habsburg , President of Blue Shield International , summed this up with the words “Without the local community and without the local participants, that would be completely impossible”.

The role of the media

Reporting and commenting on disasters plays a significant role in the mass media . Disasters are a key news item under the heading of damage and traditionally belong to the topics that the media primarily pay attention to and that arouse great interest among the public . The communication studies considered in this research field for a long time very strong.

See also

literature

  • Philipp Henn, Gerhard Vowe: Facets of security and insecurity. What image of terrorism, crime and disasters do the media show? In: Medien & Kommunikationwissenschaft, 3/2015, pp. 341–362.
  • Jörg Trempler: Disasters. Your emergence from the picture . Wagenbach, Berlin 2013, ISBN 3-8031-5185-6 ( review on Deutschlandradio).
  • François Walter: Disasters. A cultural history from the 16th to the 21st century. Reclam, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-15-010699-0 .
  • Vladimir Petrovič Karcev, Petr Michajlovič Chazanovskij: Why were the experts wrong? 3. Edition. Verlag Technik, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-341-00545-5 .
  • Lars Clausen , Elke M. Geenen , Elísio Macamo (eds.): Terrible social processes. Theory and Empirical Disaster. LIT, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6832-X .
  • Wolf R. Dombrowsky : Disaster and civil protection. A sociological analysis. Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-8244-4029-6 .
  • Len Fisher: Disasters. How Science Helps Predict It . Translated by Jürgen Neubauer. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-8218-6553-9 .
  • Mohamed Gad-el-Hak (Ed.): Large-Scale Disasters. Prediction, Control, and Mitigation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-87293-5 .
  • Ned Halley: The Great Book of Disasters. Tessloff, Nürnberg 2000, ISBN 3-7886-0499-9 .
  • Michael Kloepfer : Disaster law including civil protection, fire protection, rescue service. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2009, ISBN 978-3-8329-4009-6 .
  • Jörg Meidenbauer (Ed.): The great catastrophes and accidents. Chronik-Verlag, Gütersloh 1997, ISBN 3-577-14551-X .
  • Charles Perrow : Normal Disasters. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-593-34125-5 .
  • Sebastian Roth: Crisis education. Education and training of crisis intervention helpers. Kovac, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8300-3537-4 .
  • Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (Ed.): Third hazard report by the Protection Commission at the Federal Minister of the Interior. Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, Bonn 2006, ISSN  0343-5164 .
  • Martin Voss: Symbolic forms. Basics and elements of a sociology of catastrophe. Transcript, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 3-89942-547-2 .
  • Gerrit Jasper Schenk, Jens Ivo Engels (eds.): Historical Disaster Research. Concepts, Methods and Case Studies “Disaster” / Historical Disaster Research. Terms, concepts and case studies. In: Historical Social Research / Historical Social Research. 32, No. 3, 2007 (special edition).
  • Patrick Masius, Jana Sprenger, Eva, Mackowiak (eds.): Disasters make history. Environmental-historical processes in the area of ​​tension between resource use and extreme events. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen 2010 ISBN 978-3-941875-21-0 gwdg.de (PDF; 3.5 MB).
  • Michaela Maier, Karin Stengel, Joachim Marschall: News Value Theory. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8329-4266-3 .
  • Rene Mono, Helmut Scherer : Whoever counts the dead names the places. Is the international message flow determined by country factors or event characteristics? In: Publizistik , 2/2012, pp. 135–159.
  • Johan Galtung , Mari Holmboe Ruge: The Structure of Foreign News. The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crisis in Four Norwegian Newspapers. In: Journal of Peace Research , 2/1965, pp. 64-91.
  • Winfried Schulz : The construction of reality in the news media. Alber, Freiburg and Munich 1976, ISBN 3-495-47331-9 .
  • Olaf Briese , Timo Günther: Catastrophe: Terminological past, present and future . In: Archive for Conceptual History, 51, 2009, pp. 155–95.
  • Olaf Briese: "Taken apart from the Comoedia". Disaster concepts in modern geology . In: M. Eggers, M. Rothe (Ed.): History of Science as a History of Concepts . transcript, Bielefeld 2009, pp. 23-50.
  • Mischa Meier : On the terminology of (natural) catastrophe in Greek historiography - a few introductory remarks . In: GJ Schenk, JI Engels (Ed.): Historical Disaster Research. Concepts, Methods and Case Studies - Historical Disaster Research. Terms, concepts and case studies . Cologne 2007 (= Historical Social Research , 32.3 [2007]), pp. 44–56.
  • Markus Bertsch and Jörg Trempler (eds.): Unleashed nature: The image of the catastrophe since 1600 , Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-7319-0705-3

Web links

Commons : Disaster  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Catastrophe  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikiquote: Disaster  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Pape , Max Sengebusch (arrangement): Concise dictionary of the Greek language . 3rd edition, 6th impression. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1914 ( zeno.org [accessed June 19, 2019]).
  2. ^ Herder's Conversations Lexicon . 1st edition. Herder'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Freiburg im Breisgau 1854 ( zeno.org [accessed on June 19, 2019] Lexicon entry “Catastrophe”).
  3. ^ Brockhaus' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon . 11th edition. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1911 ( zeno.org [accessed June 19, 2019] encyclopedia entry “Catastrophe”).
  4. ↑ § 2 Definitions Z. 1 Tyrolean Disaster Management Act LGBl. No. 33/2006 St. 15
  5. ↑ Disaster Protection Act (KatSG) Berlin ( Memento of October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) § 2 Paragraph 1; last amended by law of January 26, 2004
  6. ↑ Disaster Victim Identification - Handbook Interpol 2009, p. 3, no. 1.4 Disaster classification (translation by interpol.int ( Memento from May 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))
  7. ↑ § 2 Definitions Z. 1 Tyrolean Disaster Management Act Template: §§ / maintenance / alt-URLLGBl. No. 33/2006 St. 15
  8. ^ Sabine von Schorlemer: Destruction of cultural assets. The eradication of cultural heritage in crisis countries as a challenge for the United Nations . 2016, p. 785 ff.
  9. ↑ Karl Habsburg in an interview: "Abuse of cultural goods is punishable". In: Wiener Zeitung , June 29, 2012.
  10. ^ Roger O'Keefe, Camille Péron, Tofig Musayev, Gianluca Ferrari: Protection of Cultural Property. Military Manual . UNESCO, 2016, pp. 73ff.
  11. ↑ Isabelle-Constance v. Opalinski: Shots at civilization . In: FAZ , August 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ Aisling Irwin: A no-strike list may shield Yemen's ancient treasures from war . In: Daily News , January 23, 2017.
  13. ↑ Markus Walz (Ed.): Handbook Museum: History, Tasks, Perspectives . 2016, p. 238f f.
  14. ^ Marilyn E. Phelan: Museum Law: A Guide for Officers, Directors, and Counsel . 2014, p. 419 ff.
  15. ↑ United Nations Peacekeeping - Action plan to preserve heritage sites during conflict