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Crisis vs Disaster
Meaning of the term ‘crisis’ is ‘an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially, one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome’.
In the context of public policy, an event or occurrence can be termed as a crisis situation if it poses a threat to human life and property or causes or threatens to cause large-scale disruption of normal life.
Thus, ‘crisis’ may be defined as “an emergency situation arising out of natural or human activity which poses a threat to human life and property or leads to large scale disruption of normal life”.
This emergency situation may arise suddenly or it may be an outcome of a simmering problem or issue, which was not ‘nipped in the bud.’
The United Nations defines humanitarian crisis as “an event or series of events that represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security, or well-being of a community or other large group of people usually over a wider area.
A crisis may degenerate into a disaster if it is not properly managed resulting in avoidable loss of human life and property on a large scale.