Disasters can be described as feats of spontaneous occurrences, in that they can happen at any minute
at any time. There are two classifications of disasters, which are, natural disasters that cannot be
predicted and continuously occur throughout society. While the other classification of disaster is that
of man-made disasters, where disasters are caused not by natural phenomena, but by man's or
society's actions, involuntary or voluntary, sudden or slow, with grave consequences to the population
and the environment (Hays, 2008). Both these types of disasters can be controlled to a certain extent
through appropriate disaster management plans and if managed efficiently have the potential to
reduce the likelihood of overwhelming loss of lives and property. The Disaster Management cycle is
split into four elements of response, recovery, mitigation and preparedness which contribute to
emergency protocols of a nation when disaster strikes. Therefore, nations should incorporate them in
their development plans and ensure efficient follow-up measures at community, national and
international levels. This paper investigates worldwide disasters in order to examine how these
disasters were managed and to identify the lessons learned. It provides an analysis of five worldwide
case studies of recent disasters (Tsunami in Sri Lanka, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Earthquake
in Pakistan, Summer floods in the UK and Flooding of the West-Link in Northern Ireland) mapping
those to the four staged disaster management cycle. The paper analyses in detail the strategies
adopted at each stage of the cycle comparing strengths and weaknesses of each case. It concludes that
there had been satisfactory progress in both response and recovery phases but more attention is
needed for disaster mitigation and preparedness
