It has been said that never are two disasters alike. Indeed the effects of floods on health are considerably different from the effects of earthquakes. But even two earthquakes may bring different results depending on a number of circumstances, which basically involve the characteristics of the event itself (e.g., magnitude, depth of the hypocenter, distance from the epicenter, etc.), of the striken population (its “disaster culture,” knowledge of disasters and preparedness, level of immunity against certain diseases, endemicity, etc.) and the physical and sociological environment (e.g., type of housing, high mountains vs. pantanous jungles, etc.). However, we are getting to know more and more about disasters and about populations at risk to be able to anticipate some of the effects the disaster may have on the health of the community, as long as we keep in mind the three factors mentioned above.