Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

290 A disaster is an emergency that exceeds the response capacity of a community and requires assistance from higher levels of the emergency legal-administrative framework (Maturana, 2011). A catastrophe occurs when disasters cause the collapse of essential services or institutions for the quality of life of a community. Examples include the Mexico City earthquake (1985), the Kobe earthquake (1995) and the Eje Cafetero earthquake in Armenia Colombia (1999) (Maturana, 2011). A cataclysm refers to the destruction of a large part of a specific biotope extending to ecological systems. A recent example is the earthquake in Chile on February 27 th , 2010 that showed characteristics of cataclysm along its coastal areas due to the tsunami that devastated lives, homes, vessels and vulnerable structures in high-impact zones (Maturana, 2011). Lastly, the events and emergencies with disastrous characteristics were selected based on various criteria such as number of fatalities, socioeconomic impact and geographical extent. However, the most relevant common criterion for their selection was the global responses these events provoked, which manifested in the form of multilateral actions, specialized agencies, special funds for mitigation and prevention, worldwide conferences and high-level academic research centers among others. Case Analysis Bhopal Disaster On the night of December 2-3, 1984, in the region of Bhopal (India), a leak of methyl isocyanate occurred in a pesticide industry owned by Union Carbide (USA) and the Indian government. The toxic cloud (composed of various highly lethal gases such as phosgene, methylamine, caustic soda and hydrogen cyanide) ran downhill at ground level and suffocated thousands of residents as well as local flora and fauna. It was a true nightmare: suffocation, fainting spells and hemorrhages without the affected individuals knowing what was happening or why. The death toll exceeded 25,000 victims and over 500,000 people suffered from skin and eye injuries (Varma & Varma, 2005). Numerous investigations and reports (Eckerman, 2005) established that the accident occurred due to a lack of preventive maintenance at the industrial plant: the cooling system and gas catalyst were deactivated for operational savings during holidays. Even three decades after the incident occurred the contaminating effects still persist. But what can we say about its effects on global emergency progress?