A humanitarian crisis (or "humanitarian disaster") is an event or series of events which represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or wellbeing of a community or other large group of people, usually over a wide area. Armed conflicts, epidemics, famine, natural disasters and other major emergencies may all involve or lead to a humanitarian crisis. Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of Needs values and interests In Epidemiology, an epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people is a classification of a disease that appears as new cases in a A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation A natural disaster is the consequence of a Natural hazard (eg

Contents 1 Categories 2 Examples 3 See also 4 Footnotes 5 External links

Categories

There is no simple categorization of humanitarian crises. Different communities and agencies tend to have definitions related to the concrete situations they face. A local fire service will tend to focus on issues such as flooding and weather induced crises. Medical and health related organizations are naturally focused on sudden crises to the health of a community.

An ongoing or lingering pandemic may amount to a humanitarian crisis, especially where there are increasing levels of virulence, or rates of infection as in the case of AIDS, bird flu or Tuberculosis. A pandemic (from Greek παν pan all + δήμος demos people is an Epidemic of Infectious disease that spreads through Virulence (also called pestiferousness) refers to the degree of Pathogenicity of a Microbe, or in other words the relative ability of a Microbe An infection is the detrimental Colonization of a host Organism by a foreign Species. Influenzavirus A is a Genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of Viruses Influenzavirus A includes only one Species: Influenza A virus Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Major health-related problems such as cancer, global warming typically require an accentuated or punctuated mass-event to justify a label of "crisis" or "disaster". Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) lists categories which include different types of natural disasters, technological disasters (i. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an International humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide who stated e. hazardous material spills, Chernobyl-type of nuclear accidents, chemical explosions) and long-term man-made disasters related to "civil strife, civil war and international war". The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union. ^[1]) Internationally, the humanitarian response sector has tended to distinguish between natural disasters and complex emergencies which are related to armed conflict and wars. ^[2]

Examples

Recent humanitarian crises include the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake(Asian tsunami), the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Rwanda genocide, Sri Lankan civil war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Afghan Civil War, Darfur Conflict, Iraq War and most recently in May 2008 Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar and claimed the lives of at least 22. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea Earthquake that occurred at 005853 UTC on December 26 2004 with an Epicentre off the west coast of The 2005 Kashmir Earthquake (also known as the South Asian earthquake or the Great Pakistan earthquake) was a major earthquake centred in Azad Kashmir Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States PortalCurrent events News collections and sources WikipediaNews collections and sources. The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda 's minority Tutsis and the moderates of its Hutu majority The Sri Lankan Civil War is an Ongoing conflict on the Island -nation of Sri Lanka. The Civil war in Afghanistan, also known as Afghan Civil War, began in 1978 and has continued The War in Darfur is a military conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign International holidays May 1 - Labour Day ( Pakistan) May 1 - Labour Day ( Singapore) Cyclone Nargis ( JTWC designation 01B, also known as Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis) was a strong Tropical cyclone that caused Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. 000 people. ^[3]

See also

• Aid agency
• Central Emergency Response Fund
• Emergency management
• Humanitarian aid
• Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Footnotes

External links

• Reuters reports on current humanitarian crises
• The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Crises of 2005 by Doctors Without Borders
• The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Crises of 2006 by Doctors Without Borders
• ReliefWeb - serving the information needs of the humanitarian community.
• Save the Children list of types of emergencies
• Article: Technological and Natural Disasters and Ecological Problems
• Relief Web's list of emergencies

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