In the past decade significant attention has been given to the development of tools that attempt to measure the vulnerability, risk or resilience of communities to disasters. Particular attention has been given to the development of composite indices to quantify these concepts mirroring their deployment in other fields such as sustainable development. Whilst some authors have published reviews of disaster vulnerability, risk and resilience composite indicator methodologies, these have been of a limited nature. This article describes action research that examines all kinds of natural and industrial disasters and their influence on the world economy. It also gives a detailed description of the structures dealing with emergency situations in some African countries and proves that these countries lack educational institutions which would teach people to manage the emergency situations and coordinate their activities with international organizations for providing more efficient assistance to people affected by the disaster.