The Very First Thing

[bigpaul]

The terms "disaster" and "catastrophe" are banded about to describe emergency situations.
in a disaster the civil infrastructure generally still exists but may not be available or cannot be resourced for a few days, and these are usually short term events.
for a catastrophe to be declared it has to be "long term" or longer than 30 days, this would include a major event like a tsunami, earthquake, hurricane etc. catastrophe can also be used to describe events where there is a total loss of civil infrastructure, such as a major terror attack, where no help is coming soon and you are effectively on your own.
in a disaster or catastrophe do not assume that any government or local council will take the necessary responsibility for you and your family, in an emergency you may be solely responsible for meeting all your own needs.