The existence of mankind is constantly intersected with dangers that threaten massive destruction and dire consequences. If they cannot be avoided, they are assigned the status of an accident or catastrophe. So what are they and what is the difference between a disaster and an accident?
What is an accident and disaster
An accident is called an emergency, accompanied by the destruction of structures and buildings, as well as damage to vehicles and damage to various equipment. Accidents cause massive damage, destroying property and damaging communication lines, leading to the need to immediately eliminate the consequences of the accident in order to prevent further damage.
A catastrophe is a large-scale emergency that occurred for a man-made or natural reason and entailed extremely adverse consequences. Disasters lead to massive loss of life, environmental disasters, large-scale destruction of structures and buildings. In this case, usually the consequences cannot be eliminated immediately, since the scale of disasters does not allow this to be done.
To prevent accidents and disasters, preventive measures are constantly being taken to protect society and save it from destructive consequences.
Difference between accident and disaster
The main difference between accidents and disasters is their scale. The damage caused by the accident is relatively small, and the number of casualties is either absent or few. The consequences of the disaster are much larger - for example, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant quickly turned into a disaster, since the spread of radiation literally forced people to leave their cities.
If accidents always occur on a local territory, accidents are global in scope.
Accidents are often accompanied by the release of chemically hazardous and radioactive substances, as well as interruptions in the provision of heat and power supply. In the event of a delayed response to a possible danger, an accident can develop into a catastrophe. Unlike accidents, disasters are almost always characterized by numerical human casualties and are accompanied by the appearance of various damaging factors.
The consequences of an accident lead to localized breakdown or removable destruction, while the consequences of a disaster have an extremely negative impact on the environment and ecology. These two phenomena also differ in overcoming - eliminating the consequences of an accident takes a rather small amount of time, while overcoming catastrophes is a very difficult, and sometimes completely impossible task (for example, during explosions at nuclear power plants).
