ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to detail basic animal welfare principles, impacts and how disaster comprises these principles generally and then through different types of disasters. Experience with rapid disaster management assessments has proven that each freedom still serves as the basis for documenting the different types of impacts animals suffer during and in the aftermath of disasters, and therefore provide a firm basis for the recommendations of action to address the impacts. The most universally accepted criteria for assessment of animals are the Five Freedoms: Freedom from hunger and thirst; Freedom from discomfort; Freedom from pain, injury and disease; Freedom to behave normally and Freedom from fear and distress. and these are critical as baseline criteria for assessing the effect of disasters on animals. The Five Freedoms are the most widely recognised attempt to assess animal welfare. The chapter explains the different phases of disaster response.
