Several studies aimed to develop and increase the ability and facilities to cope with disasters and to mitigate some
of the effects in order to overcome the consequences of the disaster. One of these researches was conducted by
Harding in 2007 who argued that the war in Iraq, following years of economic sanctions, US military intervention in
1990–1, the Iran–Iraq war and decades of government repression had crippled Iraq’s economic and social
development. evaluates the concept of disaster and the US-led policy towards Iraq as a case study of
a man-made disaster. This paper examined the ongoing violence and social disintegration in Iraq. Furthermore, it
has been suggested that social work has a key global role to play in responding to policies that create such disasters.
Finally, it concludes that social development strategies and human rights principles should be promoted by
professionals through political practice and within social work education to face man-made disasters. This would
give social work a central role in preventing man-made disasters and in reconstruction and development following a
disaster (Harding, 2007).