Modern Disaster Relief: Five Emerging Challenges

  • New, Effective Funding Methods
  • Implementation of Advanced, New Technologies
  • Biohazards
  • Evolving Landscape of Natural Disasters
  • Evolving Landscape of Man-Made Disasters

“Disaster Relief” refers to any organized approach to remediating the effects of a disaster. As times change, however, the nature of some disasters, as well as the people and landscapes, affected also evolve. So, in today’s world, what are some of the evolving challenges being seen in disaster relief efforts across the globe? The following are five elements closer to the heart of relief efforts than perhaps ever before.

Related resource: Top 10 Emergency Management Master’s Degrees Online

1. New, Effective Funding Methods

While it can be easy to simply accept and expect that there are an automatic response and relief resources available should the time call, nearly all organized relief efforts require funding or resources that themselves require funding. Volunteer efforts certainly aid greatly, but they do not account for all drive needed in sizable or extensive disasters. Because of this and widespread expert forecasts of continued, growing numbers of disasters across the globe each decade, funding is more a priority and concern than ever before.

2. Implementation of Advanced, New Technologies

Finding new ways to effectively administer relief efforts via technology is another challenge faced today. For example, there are many versions of robots and artificial intelligence offering promise, but where do they fit in exactly with their current capabilities and limitations. Is it worth investing in a fleet of microdrones under some possible benefit now when very soon there may emerge a much better and more capable version? Finding exactly how and which kinds of emerging technologies fit into the puzzle is its own challenge.

3. Biohazards

Unfortunately, bio-hazardous materials and exposure to them is a very real and growing threat faced by today’s relief organizations. Biohazards are defined as elements in the environment that can be hazardous to the health of humans, and in the industrialized world, these are practically everywhere albeit typically contained. Because of the growing wealth of biohazardous materials all around us, disaster relief workers are then made much more likely to become exposed during disasters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers some valuable learning resources on this subject at its website and is one of several agencies relied on more and more by this field.

4. Evolving Landscape of Natural Disasters

Yet another great concern to disaster relief efforts today is readiness. While readiness itself is nothing new, being finely tuned and ready for a range of possible disasters much larger and more frequent in occurrence than ever before in history is a whole other matter. The Earth’s weather and climate patterns have been seen changing in recent times thus spawning many more and stronger natural disaster events. More hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as droughts and floods, headline the increased activity seen around the globe.

5. Evolving Landscape of Man-Made Disasters

Finally, in addition to a growing landscape of natural disasters, the world’s relief organizations must also now handle a growing landscape of man-made disasters that never existed before. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and the Chernobyl Nuclear Incident are two examples that wreaked havoc. Human-sparked, mass wild fires and even incidents like 9/11 and the Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions also shine a light on this emerging challenge area to the disaster relief community.

Disaster relief is something needed by us all but often not until we least expect it. While this professional area is all about tackling challenges head-on by its nature, the overall world climate in which it operates has certainly become an exponentially more challenging one. These five elements are among some of the most notable, emerging challenges faced by disaster relief efforts today.