Cascading Disaster

noun phrase

/kæˈskeɪ.dɪŋ dɪˈzɑː.stər/

A sequence of disaster events triggered by an initial hazard where each event amplifies or causes subsequent events, creating a compounding chain of destruction — for example, an earthquake triggering a tsunami that then causes nuclear plant failure

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake demonstrated the danger of cascading disasters — a 9.0-magnitude seismic event triggered a 15-metre tsunami, which in turn caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, illustrating multi-hazard compounding.

Synonyms

compound disasterchain disastermulti-hazard eventsequential disasterNatech event

Antonyms

isolated eventsingle-hazard incidentcontained disaster

🌱 Word Family

cascading disaster (n phrase), cascade (n/v), cascading (adj), disaster (n)

🔡 Root

Italian cascata = waterfall (from cascare = to fall) + Latin/Greek dis-astro = ill-starred (dis- = bad + astrum = star)

📜 Etymology

Cascade entered English from Italian/French in the 17th century; the term 'cascading disaster' was popularised post the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, which exemplified how a single earthquake triggered a tsunami that then caused catastrophic nuclear failure — a triple-cascade event now integral to Sendai Framework (2015-2030) multi-hazard analysis

🧠 Memory Hook

CASCADE + DISASTER: like a waterfall (CASCADE) where one disaster FALLS into the next — disasters cascading one after another in a chain

⚠️ Disaster Management 📖 Seen in: Disaster Management — Framework, Prepa...

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