Crises and disasters are increasingly common in their occurrence and increasingly widespread in their impact. Events such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina illustrate the potential devastation caused by natural disasters, particularly as they interact with human development. Technology-based disasters, sometimes called accidents, such as the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion, the leak of
Natural and technological disasters are exceedingly stressful events that disrupt communities and families and traumatize individuals. Natural disasters are events beyond the control of human technology such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Technological disasters include events such as explosions, floods due to dams breaking, industrial accidents, and nuclear power plant failures. Both natural and technological
Children are likely involved in disasters wherever they occur. For example, the much-studied 1972 Buffalo Creek flood in West Virginia left 125 dead, 52 of them children. Thousands of children were affected by the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia in December 2005 and the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Children