Prevention ​


“Prevention” means the outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters. Prevention (i.e. disaster prevention) expresses the concept and intention to completely avoid potential adverse impacts through action taken in advance.

 
Examples include dams or embankments that eliminate flood risks, landuse regulations that do not permit any settlement in high risk zones, and seismic engineering designs that ensure the survival and function of a critical building in any likely earthquake. 

 
In another words, Prevention is defined as those activities taken to prevent a natural phenomenon or potential hazard from having harmful effects on either people or economic assets. Delayed actions drain the economy and the resources for emergency response within a region.  Prevention is perhaps the most critical components in managing disasters. However, it is clearly one of the most difficult to promote.

 
Prevention planning is based on two issues: hazard identification (identifying the actual threats facing a community) and vulnerability assessment (evaluating the risk and capacity of a community to handle the consequences of the disaster). Once these issues are put in order of priority, emergency managers can determine the appropriate prevention strategies. Disaster prevention refers to measures taken to eliminate the root causes that make people vulnerable to disaster.