The number of disaster deathsDeathdisaster death is a valuable statistic, but to improve disaster responseDisasterdisaster response, it is essential to know how people die, why they die and which deaths are avoidableDeathavoidable. To make sense of disaster deaths, this chapter introduces a novel approach, ‘avoidable disaster deathsAvoidable disaster deathsapproach’ (ADD), which disaggregates or breaks down deaths into avoidable and unavoidableDeathunavoidable in a disaster climateDisaster climate. Avoidable disaster deaths are preventableDeathpreventable, amenableDeathamenable, and governance-relatedDeathgovernance-related. Unavoidable deathsDeathunavoidable are those caused by natural causesDisastercauses, povertyPoverty-related diseases, or other causes, annually. By engaging with mainstream disaster risk reductionDisasterdisaster risk reduction theory, this chapter redefines COVID-19 as a ‘biological disasterDisasterbiological disaster’ to capture the number of avoidableDeathavoidable disaster deathsDeathdisaster death in the first phase. This chapter also introduces the case study of COVID-19DeathCOVID-19 in India and the data-gathering procedures undertaken from March to December 2020. The novelty and limitations of the data are also discussed.