2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— "Council" means the National Disaster Management Council established under section eight; " disaster area " means an area in which a disaster occurs and which is declared as such an area under section thirty- six; " disaster " means an event that is associated with the impact of a human induced or natural hazard, which causes a serious disruption in the functioning of a community or society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope with the hazard using its own resources; 78 No. 13 of 20101 Disaster Management disaster management " means a continuous and integrated multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary process of planning and implementation of measures aimed at — preventing or reducing the risk of disasters; mitigating the severity or consequences of disasters; emergency preparedness; a rapid and effective response to disasters; and (e) post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation; " disaster preparedness " means activities and measures taken in advance to ensure effective response to the impact of hazards, including the issuance of timely and effective early warnings and the evacuation of people and economic assets from a threatened location; " disaster prevention " means measures or actions taken to avoid, eliminate, or prevent harmful natural or human adverse phenomena or hazards from causing or resulting in a disaster; " District Committee " means the District Disaster Management Committee established under sectiontwenty- one; " District Development Co-ordinating Committee " means the District Development Co-ordinating Committee established by Government as a forum for co-ordinating the planning and implementation of development activities at the district level; " District Disaster Management Co-ordinator " means the person appointed as such under section twenty-four; " early warning " means the provision of timely and effective information, through relevant institutions, that allows individuals exposed to any hazard, to take action to avoid or reduce their risk and prepare for effective response; "emergency" means an event, actual or imminent, which endangers or threatens to endanger life, property or the environment and which requires a significant and co- ordinated response; Disaster Management [No. 13 of 2010 79 " essential commodities " means food supplies, water, shelter, health care, sanitation, clothing, equipment and any other basic necessity or service given to a victim of a disaster, hazard or emergency to save the victim's life; " hazard" means a potentially damaging physical event such as an earthquake, a hurricane, flood, drought, fire, epidemic, phenomenon or human activity, which may cause injury or the loss of life, damage to property, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation, and includes latent conditions that may represent future threats and can have different origins, natural and human induced; " health facility " has the meaning assigned to it in the Health Professions Act, 2009; Act No. 24 of 2009 " health practitioner " has the meaning assigned to it in the Act No. 24 Health Professions Act, 2009; of 2009 " local authority "means a council established under the Local Cap. 281 Government Act; " mitigation " means structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of natural hazards, environmental degradation and technological hazards; " National Co-ordinator " means the National Co-ordinator of the Unit appointed under section thirteen; " Provincial Committee " means the Provincial Disaster Management Committee established under section sixteen; Provincial Development Co-ordinating Committee " means the Provincial Development Co-ordinating Committee established by Government as a forum for co-ordinating the planning, implementation and monitoring of development activities at the Provincial level; " Provincial Disaster Management Co-ordinator " means the person appointed as such under section nineteen; " rapid on-set disaster " means a disaster that occurs usually as a result of a sudden natural event such as a flash flood, an earthquake, epidemic, fire, cyclone, civil disturbance, oilspill, influx of refugees or transport accident; 80 No.13of 2010] Disaster Management "rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery "meansmeans measures to help restore the livelihoods, assets and production levels of emergency affected communities, to re-build essential infrastructure, productive capacities, institutions and services destroyed or rendered non-operational by a disaster, and to help bring about sustainable development by facilitating the necessary adjustments to the changes caused by the disaster and improving on the status quo, where possible; "relief " means emergency provision of assistance to save people's lives in the immediate wake of a disaster, including search and rescue, evacuation, distribution of food and water, temporary provision of sanitation, health care and shelter, and the restoration of immediate personal security; " resilience" means capacity to withstand the negative effects of a hazard; "risk" means the probability of harmful consequences such as deaths or injuries, or expected losses of property or livelihoods, disruption of economic activity, or environmental damage, resulting from interaction between natural or human induced hazards and vulnerable conditions; " Satellite Committee " means the Satellite Disaster Management Committee established pursuant to section twenty-six; " Technical Committee " means the National Disaster Management Technical Committee established under section ten; " Trust Fund " means the National Disaster Relief Trust Fund established under section thirty; " Unit " means the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit established under section four; " volunteer " means a person providing, or assisting in the provision of, disaster management services; " vulnerability " means a set of conditions and processes resulting from physical, social, economic, and environmental factors which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards; and "warrant holder" means a public officer with authority to control and account for public funds and resources. 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