Natural Disasters or Human-invoked Disasters?
A natural disaster is the consequence of a natural hazard that has occurred and usually involves loss of life and damage to property. The gravity of the damage is directly proportional to the resilience of the people and the economic situation of a community. Natural disasters tend to have a long-lasting impact on a community because of the unanticipated nature of the hazards and the magnitude of the consequences.
It has long been known that disasters are of two kinds: natural disasters and human-caused disasters. While natural disasters include earthquake, flooding, volcano eruption, drought, wildfire, severe storms, etc., human-caused disasters constitute of mass-violence, acts of terrorism, gun violence, etc. However, there is increased attention and emphasis on a third kind of disaster, which is called human-invoked disasters. The distinction between natural disasters and human-invoked disasters is slowly starting to blur. Human-invoked disasters is a term for a situation where humans are not directly involved in causing a hazard to occur, but their long-term actions have a role to play in the culmination of hazards.
It has been observed that human activities are leading to climate change, rising water levels, melting glaciers and ice caps, and dwindling forest cover. The concern over these issues has been increasing at an alarming rate. The 2020 Ecological Threat Register has shown that the world has seen a tenfold increase in natural disasters since the 1960s. The Institute for Economics and Peace has captured data showing there were 396 incidents in 2019 as compared to 36 in 1960. Therefore, it indicates that the more human civilization has moved towards modernization and development, the more we have caused harm to the environment, inevitably contributing to the oncoming of natural disasters.
It has been recorded that over the last decade, there have been 45,000 casualties annually (on average) due to natural disasters. Figuratively, it is 0.1% of the global deaths annually. Even though the statistic might seem miniscule, it is important to understand that the numbers were people. Additionally, a lot of survivors of natural disasters suffer from mental health issues like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, survivor’s guilt, etc. Therefore, not only are we causing the ever-increasing degradation of our environment and natural resources, we are also strongly harming the mental health of humankind. Ironically, the solution to a lot of mental health problems is the presence of forest cover which can soothe the minds of the people and help them recover.
Unfortunately, the more the line between human-invoked and natural disasters gets blurred, the more accountable humanity would become for their own suffering, which they could earlier blame on nature.
We have indirectly and irresponsibly added to the plausibility of increased natural disasters, of which humanity now bears the brunt on a more regular basis. Therefore the need to undo our harmful actions and bring about positive changes that are environment friendly are of utmost importance. Having said that, we do have a way to ensure that the rate at which natural disasters occur begins to slow. It can be done through a simple solution: tree plantations. There has been increased conversation about how afforestation and forest reforestation would be an impactful solution for tackling the problems of pollution and climate change. Additionally tree plantations can help with solar energy generation in the form of solar trees which are aesthetically pleasing and an architectural advantage for urban areas. It is astounding how afforestation can help us reduce most of our major global concerns.
Forests have the potential to halt floods and soil erosion due to their density. By releasing excess water during dry seasons, they can avoid draughts. The existence of wide forest coverage will eventually improve air quality, thus reducing air pollution and eventually annihilating the climate crisis.
Systematic tree plantation in areas prone to floods and reforestations in the areas prone to droughts can eradicate natural disasters highly recurrent in nature. Additionally, afforestation and reforestation are solutions that can be employed with systematic combined efforts and can be executed with comparatively less money than relying on advanced technologies that are still under development.
Therefore, the only way humans can counteract the grave consequences of their activities is by taking a more active role in reforestation and afforestation.
