Here is your short paragraph on disaster!
Extreme form of hazard leads to disaster. Disaster (French des meaning ‘bad’ and aster meaning ‘star’) is a manmade or natural event which results in widespread loss of life and property.
Thus disaster is defined as “A serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources.”
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The United Nations defines disaster as “…the occurrence of a sudden or major misfortune which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of a society (or community). The World Bank defines disaster as an extraordinary event of limited duration which causes serious disruption of the economy of the country.
It is an event or a series of events which gives rise to casualties and/or damage or loss of property, infrastructure, essential services or means of livelihood on a scale that is beyond the normal capacity of the affected communities to cope with unaided.
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Hazards and disasters are closely related and are sometimes used as synonymous to each other. Hazard is a threat, while disaster is an event. The latter is a calamity or tragedy or a consequence of a hazard. Natural hazards that cause great loss to human life and economy are known as disasters and catastrophes.
The term disaster is sometimes also used to describe a “catastrophic situation in which the normal patterns of life (or eco-systems) have been disrupted and extraordinary emergency interventions are required to save and preserve human lives and/or the environment.”