What's the difference between calamity and disaster?

Calamity


Definition:

  • (n.) Any great misfortune or cause of misery; -- generally applied to events or disasters which produce extensive evil, either to communities or individuals.
  • (n.) A state or time of distress or misfortune; misery.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But if nothing changes, nothing will change, and these calamities will be with us once more.
  • (2) 18) Dallas Cowboys Last season: 8-8 Needs: Offensive line, safety, defensive tackle, running back Pick: Kenny Vaccaro, safety, Texas Tony Romo often carries the can for the Cowboys' offensive calamities, but the truth is that not many quarterbacks look great when they are running for their lives.
  • (3) They did not look like Stoke, exactly, they kept the ball on the floor a bit more than their opponents and did not go backwards quite so much, but in the first half at least there were two sides short of attacking ideas and genuine penetration and for either to score a goal it seemed likely a dead-ball routine or a defensive calamity would have to be involved.
  • (4) QPR appear to be on the verge of calamity at any point in defence.
  • (5) SJ Closs Edinburgh He is the Daffy Duck of politics – confident and self-satisfied, leading to calamity; then he pops up again, unabashed • As a fellow economist I fully endorse Larry Elliott’s demolition of Tory party assertions that all is well for the UK’s growing economy, and that Britain is paying its way ( The Tories’ ticking economic timebomb , 20 April).
  • (6) This system has now been refined to be used prospectively during the management stage of a calamity.
  • (7) Those who backed the wars in Iraq and Libya feel tainted by the bloodshed in the calamities that followed.
  • (8) US and Canadian oil policies, especially the tar sands schemes in Alberta, would increase the chances of global calamities, the imposters told their audience - but reassured them that the industry could keep "fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who died into oil.
  • (9) But they should be manageable and worth taking for the wider economic gains, notably averting what might have been an economic calamity.
  • (10) The community's children have been especially vulnerable to these calamities.
  • (11) The 2007 campaign was marked by dirty tricks charges against the Huhne camp by the man he (allegedly) dubbed "Calamity Clegg".
  • (12) I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and the people of Vanuatu that the global community give a lending hand in responding to these very current calamities that have struck us,” he said.
  • (13) The Crystal World is surely Ballard's most gorgeous calamity: apocalypse not as abolition but as transfiguration.
  • (14) By calculating the medical severity index, which is the product of the casualty load and the severity of the incident, and comparing this figure with the available total capacity of the medical services, which is the medical rescue capacity, the medical transport capacity and the hospital treatment capacity, the dispatcher at the control center can fairly quickly and precisely identify if a calamity is to be regarded as a disaster or not and if the region can cope with the situation.
  • (15) In Scotland, meanwhile, Labour has suffered a devastating calamity.
  • (16) But if the political will existed, calamity could be avoided with a fairly modest increase in the budget allocation .
  • (17) The disease that has brought these calamities to the pretty hills of Jinotega, in Nicaragua's central highlands, is new to most of the farmers I meet.
  • (18) Beckett, whose influence on Walsh is palpable, and Pinter would recognise that idea that beneath the surface of everyday life lays a gaping black hole: indeed Pinter from his youth frequently quoted a phrase of Cardinal Newman that creation is a vast "aboriginal calamity".
  • (19) Air brakes that would have prevented the disaster failed because they were powered by an engine that was shut down by firefighters as they dealt with a fire shortly before the calamity occurred, the head of the railway that operated the train said on Monday.
  • (20) The droughts will be far worse than the one in California – or those seen in ancient times, such as the calamity that led to the decline of the Anasazi civilizations in the 13 th century, the researchers said.

Disaster


Definition:

  • (n.) An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent.
  • (n.) An adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap.
  • (v. t.) To blast by the influence of a baleful star.
  • (v. t.) To bring harm upon; to injure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Following mass disasters and individual deaths, dentists with special training and experience in forensic odontology are frequently called upon to assist in the identification of badly mutilated or decomposed bodies.
  • (2) Crown prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz said yesterday that the state had "spared no effort" to avoid such disasters but added that "it cannot stop what God has preordained.
  • (3) Documents seen by the Guardian show that blood supplies for one fiscal year were paid for by donations from America’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) – and both countries have imposed economic sanctions against the Syrian government.
  • (4) Travel around Fukushima today and there is little evidence of disaster or trauma.
  • (5) In the UK, George Osborne used this to his advantage, claiming "Britain faces the disaster of having its international credit rating downgraded" even after Moody's ranked UK debt as "resilient".
  • (6) Sometimes it can seem as if the history of the City is the history of its crises and disasters, from the banking crisis of 1825 (which saw undercapitalised banks collapse – perhaps the closest historic parallel to the contemporary credit crunch), through the Spanish panic of 1835, the railway bust of 1837, the crash of Overend Gurney, the Kaffir boom, the Westralian boom, the Marconi scandal, and so on and on – a theme with endless variations.
  • (7) Dealers speculated that Facebook's army of bankers had stepped in to stop the shares falling below $38, a move that would have landed the social network with a public relations disaster on its first day as a public company.
  • (8) "If it hadn't been for the nuclear disaster, we would never have given this project a second thought."
  • (9) This could spell disaster for small farmers, says Million Belay, co-ordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.
  • (10) Simply lengthening the working age bracket is a potential disaster, unless the inequalities at the heart of the policy are addressed in a detailed and sensible way and we achieve full employment.
  • (11) The accident on 10 April 2010, killed the president, first lady and dozens of senior officials, in the worst Polish air disaster since the second world war.
  • (12) Beijing says the island outposts will serve maritime search and rescue missions, disaster relief, environmental protection as well as undefined military purposes.
  • (13) Wanchu Sherpa, chairman of Everest Summitteers Association of Nepal and two time summiteer himself, told the Guardian shortly after the accident that “nothing can be done to prevent such events” which he described as “simply natural disasters that are unavoidable”.
  • (14) Matteo Renzi, the Italian leader who has argued it would be a disaster if Britain left the EU, suggested defensiveness about freedom of movement led to nowhere apart from opening the door to “right-wing xenophobia and nationalism” in Europe .
  • (15) "Machineless" NH suggests the possibility of machineless CAVHD, which could provide dialysis and parenteral nutrition to many acute renal failure patients after a major disaster.
  • (16) Families fear that after April’s disaster the cycle of poverty in the region will be intensified.
  • (17) Salem County (NJ) Memorial Hospital cooperated in an areawide disaster drill and found that it took large doses of planning and cooperation to coordinate the effort.
  • (18) A chronology of the disaster, involving two helicopter crashes which left 11 dead, is presented.
  • (19) But even away from this disaster, facts about the industry's cost and scope to meet Europe's energy needs should be enough to give nuclear supporters pause.
  • (20) It cannot be established whether or not seasickness contributed to the cause of death in the case of the Ocean Ranger victims, but it did occur in 75% or more of TEMPSC occupants in the other four rig disasters.