Disaster management

Unit No - I
Disaster Management
By Dr. Dhobale J V
Assistant Professor
IBS, IFHE, Hyderabad.
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Objectives
 Introduction to Disasters.
 Types of Disasters & It’s Causes.
 Dimensions of Natural and Anthropogenic
Disasters .
 Aims of Disaster Management.
 Principles and Components of Disaster
Management.
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Introduction to Disasters
 The main objective of this chapter is to have a
basic understanding of various concepts used
in Disaster Management.
 Disaster, Hazard, Vulnerability, Capacity, Risk
and Disaster Management Cycle.
 Apart from the terminologies, the chapter also
tries to explain various types of disasters.
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Introduction to Disasters - Background
 Disasters are as old as human history but the
dramatic increase and the damage caused by
them in the recent past have become a cause
of national and international concern.
 Over the past decade, the number of natural
and manmade disasters has climbed
inexorably.
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 List of Various Disasters:
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 From 1994 to 1998, reported disasters
average was 428 per year but from 1999 to
2003, this figure went up to an average of 707
disaster events per year showing an increase
of about 60 per cent over the previous years.
 The biggest rise was in countries of low
human development, which suffered an
increase of 142 per cent.
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 Reported Deaths worldwide from all Disasters
(1992-2001).
 Global economic loss related to disaster
events average around US $880 billion per
year. 10IBS Hyderabad

 Indian scenario:
 The scenario in India is no different from the
global context.
 India’s geo-climatic conditions as well as its
high degree of socio-economic vulnerability,
makes it one of the most disaster prone
country in the world.
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 The super cyclone of Orissa (1999), the
Gujarat earthquake (2001) and the recent
Tsunami (2004) affected millions across the
country leaving behind a trail of heavy loss of
life, property and livelihood.
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 Major disasters in India since 1970.
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Sl. No. Disaster Impact
Cyclone
1 29th October 1971, Orissa Cyclone and tidal waves killed
10,000 people
2 19th November, 1977,
Andhra Pradesh
Cyclone and tidal waves killed
20,000 people
3 29th and 30th October 1999,
Orissa
Cyclone and tidal waves killed
9,000 and 18 million people were
affected

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Earthquake
1 20th October 1991
Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand (UP)
An earthquake of magnitude 6.6
killed 723 people
2 30th September 1993 Latur,
Maharashtra
Approximately 8000 people died
and there was a heavy loss to
infrastructure
3 22 May 1997 Jabalpur, MP 39 people dead
4 29th March 1997, Chamoli,
Uttarakhand (UP)
100 people dead
5 26th January, 2001, Bhuj,
Gujarat
More than 10,000 dead and heavy
loss to infrastructure

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Landslide
1 July 1991, Assam 300 people killed, heavy loss to
roads and infrastructure
2 August 1993, Nagaland 500 killed and more than 200
houses destroyed and about 5kms.
Road damaged.
3 18th August 1998, Malpa,
Uttarakhand (UP)
210 people killed. Villages were
washed
away

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Flood
1 1978 Floods in North East
India
3,800 people killed and heavy loss
to property.
2 1994 Floods in Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, Panjab, Uttar
Pradesh, Goa, Kerala and
Gujarat
More than 2000 people killed and
thousands affected

 While studying about the impact we need to be
aware of potential hazards, how, when and
where they are likely to occur, and the
problems which may result of an event.
 In India, 59 per cent of the land mass is
susceptible to seismic hazard;
 5 per cent of the total geographical area is
prone to floods; 18IBS Hyderabad

 8 per cent of the total landmass is prone to
cyclones;
 70 per cent of the total cultivable area is
vulnerable to drought.
 Apart from this the hilly regions are vulnerable
to avalanches /landslides /hailstorms/
cloudbursts.
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 It is therefore important that we are aware of
how to cope with their effects.
 We have seen the huge loss to life, property
and infrastructure a disaster can cause but let
us understand what is a disaster.
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 What is a disaster?.
 Almost everyday, newspapers, radio and
television channels carry reports on disaster
striking several parts of the world.
 The term disaster owes its origin to the French
word “Desastre” which is a combination of two
words ‘des’ meaning bad and ‘aster’ meaning
star.
 Thus the term refers to ‘Bad or Evil star’.
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 A disaster can be defined as “A serious
disruption in the functioning of the community
or a society causing wide spread material,
economic, social or environmental losses
which exceed the ability of the affected society
to cope using its own resources.
 A disaster is a result from the combination of
hazard, vulnerability and insufficient capacity
or measures to reduce the potential chances
of risk.
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 A disaster happens when a hazard impacts on
the vulnerable population and causes damage,
casualties and disruption.
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 Any hazard – flood, earthquake or cyclone
which is a triggering event along with greater
vulnerability (inadequate access to resources,
sick and old people, lack of awareness etc)
would lead to disaster causing greater loss to
life and property.
 Ex. An earthquake in an uninhabited desert
cannot be considered a disaster, no matter
how strong the intensities produced.
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 An earthquake is disastrous only when it
affects people, their properties and activities.
 Thus, disaster occurs only when hazards and
vulnerability meet.
 It is also to be noted that with greater capacity
of the individual/community and environment
to face these disasters, the impact of a hazard
reduces. 25IBS Hyderabad

 Therefore, we need to understand the three
major components namely hazard,
vulnerability and capacity with suitable
examples to have a basic understanding of
disaster management.
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 What is a Hazard ? How is it classified?.
 Hazard may be defined as “a dangerous
condition or event, that threat or have the
potential for causing injury to life or damage to
property or the environment.”
 The word ‘hazard’ owes its origin to the word
‘hasard’ in old French and ‘az-zahr’ in Arabic
meaning ‘chance’ or ‘luck’.
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 Hazards can be grouped into two broad
categories namely natural and manmade.
1. Natural hazards are hazards which are
caused because of natural phenomena
(hazards with meteorological, geological or
even biological origin).
 Ex. cyclones, tsunamis.
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 Landslides, floods, drought, fires are socio-
natural hazards since their causes are both
natural and man made.
2. Manmade hazards are hazards which are
due to human negligence.
 Manmade hazards are associated with
industries or energy generation facilities and
include explosions, leakage of toxic waste,
pollution, dam failure, wars, etc.
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 The list of hazards is very long. Many occur
frequently while others take place
occasionally.
 Various types of hazards:
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 Characteristics of disasters.
1. Size and Scope.
2. Unpredictable.
3. Unfamiliar.
4. Speed and Urgency.
5. Threat.
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 Disruptive factors of disasters.
1. Death and destruction.
2. Loss of basic amenities.
3. Disruption of emergency services.
4. Destruction of roads and modes of
communication.
5. Disorganization in response services.
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 What is vulnerability ?:
 Vulnerability may be defined as “The extent to
which a community, structure, services or
geographic area is likely to be damaged or
disrupted by the impact of particular hazard,
on account of their nature, construction and
proximity to hazardous terrains or a disaster
prone area.”
 Vulnerabilities can be categorized into
Physical, Social, Economical & Environmental
vulnerabilities.
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 Physical Vulnerability: It includes notions of
who and what may be damaged or destroyed
by natural hazard such as earthquakes or
floods.
 It is based on the physical condition of people
and elements at risk such as buildings,
infrastructure etc; and their proximity, location
and nature of the hazard.
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 Physical Vulnerability:
 It also relates to the technical capability of
building and structures to resist the forces
acting upon them during a hazard event.
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 Social Vulnerability: It refers to the inability of
the affected population to endure unfavorable
impacts of hazards.
 It includes social aspects such as levels of
literacy, good governance, social justice,
conventional values, customs and ideological
beliefs.
 It seeks to estimate the effects of events on
vulnerable groups of society to respond to
hazards.
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 Economic Vulnerability: It refers to potential
impacts of hazards on assets and business
processes.
 The level of economic vulnerability is
dependent to a great extent on the economic
status of individuals, communities and nations.
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 Environmental Vulnerability: It is the aftermath
of natural resources depletion and resource
degradation.
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 Risk: Is a situation involving exposure to
danger or the possibility that something
unpleasant or unwelcome will happen.
 In the context of disaster management, risk is
viewed ‘as the product of the interaction of
potentially damaging event and vulnerable
conditions of a society or element exposed.
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 Capacity: Is defined as the ‘resources, means
and strengths which exist in households and
communities which enable them to cope with,
withstand, prepare for, prevent, mitigate or
quickly recover from disaster’.
 Two types:
1. Physical Capacity.
2. Socio-economic Capacity.
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Types of Disasters & It’s Causes
 Natural Disasters: Natural disasters are
primarily natural events.
 The natural disaster category can be divided
into six disaster group: biological, geophysical,
meteorological, hydrological, climatological
and extra-terrestrial.
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 Natural Disasters:
1. Meteorological Disasters: Meteorological
disasters are events triggered by short-lived
or small to meso-scale atmospheric
processes.
 The storms can be subdivided into:
1. Tropical storm - Tropical disturbance, tropical
depression, tropical storm and hurricane.
2. Extra-tropical storm.
3. Local/Convective storms.
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2. Geophysical Disasters: Geophysical disasters
are events originating from the solid earth.
1. Earthquake: Earthquakes refer to tremors of the
Earth.
 Two important factors are –
I. Intensity/magnitude (Richter scale).
II. The epicentre.
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2. Geophysical Disasters: Geophysical disasters
are events originating from the solid earth.
2. Volcano: Volcanic activity describe both the
transport of magma and/or gases to the earth’s
surface, which can be accompanied by tremors
and eruptions.
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2. Geophysical Disasters: Geophysical disasters are
events originating from the solid earth.
3. Mass Movement: Mass movement refers to the movement of
a quantity of debris/land/snow/ice that slides down a
mountainside under the force of gravity.
 It can be subdivided into various categories:
1. Rockfall – refers to quantities of rock or stone falling freely from
a cliff face.
2. Subsidence – is the downward motion of the earth’s surface.
3. Avalanche – is any kind of rapid snow/ice movement and refers
to the movement of quantity of snow or ice that slides down a
mountainside under the force of gravity.
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3. Hydrological Disasters: These are the events
caused by deviations in the normal water
cycle and/or overflow of bodies of water
caused by the wind set-up.
 It can be further categorized into the following
1. General floods.
2. Storm surge/Coastal flood.
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3. Climatological Disasters: According to Centre
for Research on the Epidemiology of
Disasters (CRED) it is ‘events caused by long
lived/meso to macroscale processes. These
are –
1. Disasters caused by extreme temperatures – Heat
wave, Cold wave, Winter storm.
2. Drought – Drought is a long-enduring event
caused by lack of rainfall. According to the World
Bank repots, South Asia is one of the World’s
most water-stressed areas.
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3. Climatological Disasters:
3. Wildfire – Wildfire refers to an uncertain burning
fire, usually in wild lands, which causes damage to
forests, agriculture, infrastructure and buildings.
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3. Biological Disasters: are disasters caused by
the exposure of living organisms to germs
and toxic substances. These are –
1. Epidemic – Either an unusual increase in the
number of cases of an infectious disease which
already exists in the region or population
concerned or the appearance of an infection
previously absent from a region is termed as
epidemic.
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3. Biological Disasters:
2. Insect infestation – Invasive incursion and
development of insects or parasites affect
humans, animals, crops and materials adversely.
3. Animal stampede – A stampede is an act of mass
impulse among herd animals in which the herd
together starts running with no clear direction or
purpose.
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 According to reports, in 2012, there were 905
natural catastrophes worldwide, out of which
93% were natural disasters.
 5% - Meteorological
 36% - Hydrological
 12% - Climatological
 7% - Geophysical
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 Man-Made Disasters:
 Technological or man-made hazards are
events that are caused by humans and occurs
in or close to human settlements.
 These are mostly caused due to certain
human conduct.
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1. Social Disasters:
1. Arson – Arson is the crime of intentionally and
cruelly setting fire to buildings, wild lands, vehicles
or other property with the intention to cause
damage.
2. Civic disorders – Also known as civic unrest or
civic strife caused by a group of people.
3. Terrorism – Is the systematic use of violence
(terror) as a means of coercion for political
purposes.
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2. Political Disasters: It is of following type.
1. War – Is an organized and often prolonged conflict
that is carried out by states or non-state actors.
 Is characterized by extreme violence, social
disruption and economic destruction.
 Types of wars based on weapons used –
a) Chemical weapons (CW) – A device that uses chemical
formulated to inflict death or human beings.
b) Biological weapons – Uses biological agents (bacteria,
virus & fungi) for mass destruction and are also known
as germ warfare.
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1. War –
c) Nuclear weapons – Is a device that derive its destructive
force from nuclear reactions.
d) Armed conflict – Is a contested incompatibility which
concerns government and/or territory where the use of
armed force between two parties, of which at least one is
the government of a state, resulted in at least 25 battle-
related deaths – Journal of peace Research.
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2. Massacre – A massacre is a specific incident in
which a military force, mob or other group kill
many people – and the perpetrating party is
perceived as in control of force, where the
victimized party is perceived as helpless or
innocent.
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3. Industrial Disasters: It is of following type.
1. Chemical Spill: Is a release occurring during the
production, transportation or handling of
hazardous chemical substances.
2. Explosion: An explosion can involve industrial
structures. An explosion is a rapid increase in
volume and release of energy in an extreme
manner. Those are of –
1. Nuclear Plant explosion and radiation.
2. Explosion at other industrial plants.
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3. Transport accident – Transport accidents refer to
accidents involving mechanized modes of
transport. They are of
1. Air
2. Water
3. Railways
4. Roadways
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4. Engineering Failure: Engineering is the science
and technology used to meet the needs and
demands of society. These includes buildings,
aircrafts, etc.
 Structural collapses.
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3. Human Disasters: Human disasters are
disasters that take place due to intentional or
unintentional human behaviour
1. Human error of judgement.
 Stampede
 Airplane crashes
 Road accidents
2. Poisoning :
 Food poisoning
 Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning
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Dimensions of Natural and Anthropogenic
Disasters
 A disaster is an unfortunate event that causes
a large number of fatalities and damages.
 The increasing trends towards losses of both
lives and property can be attributed to two
broad reasons:
1. The increase in the population density worldwide.
2. The standards of living have augmented has
various dimensions of disaster – Economic,
Political, Psychological & Social.
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Aims of Disaster Management
 Disasters, as we know, disrupt the normal
lives b causing havoc and destruction
 The destruction that is caused in a few
seconds takes years and decades to
recompense.
 The important aspect of disasters is that
though they cannot be done away with,
surely the extent of damage can be reduced
considerably.
 Thus, management of disasters becomes an
important agenda for both individuals and
nations. 64IBS Hyderabad

 Management of disaster is a pre-requisite,
which incorporates the steps of mitigation,
preparedness, response and recovery
activities.
 The aim is to minimize the risk of disasters
and to handle them when they do occure in
an effective manner to limit and reduce the
quantum of loss.
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 The aims of disasters management are –
1. To reduce the impact of disasters and quantum of
loss.
2. To create environment where individuals and
community work together in groups and are able
to achieve selected aims effectively and efficiently.
3. To develop important strategies to reduce and
control the occurrence of disasters.
4. To train individuals and community to remain
prepared for sudden disasters.
5. To organize recovery and rescue mechanism.
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6. To trigger the affected region’s and community’s
emergency resources for quick response.
7. To coordinate and communicate for proper
management of resources, namely, man, material
and economic resources available for the purpose
of disaster response and recovery.
8. To foster team spirit, where persons rise above
their self to help the victims of disasters in
whatever way they can.
9. To generate resources necessary for rescue,
recovery and post-recovery work.
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10. To elicit action for management of disaster in a
time-bound manner.
11. To facilitate the non –governmental and
governmental machinery to work in tandem for
disaster management.
12. To commit resources for disaster mitigation,
preparedness, rescue and recovery.
13. To draw the attention of national and international
agencies for disaster relief.
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14. To formulate policies for curbing the menace
called disaster before its onset.
15. To develop a systematic approach to
management of disasters.
16. To foster local resilience to disasters by adopting
a consensus-building approach in consultation
with the local community.
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Principles and Components of Disaster
Management
 There are certain principles of disaster
management –
1. Principle of comprehensiveness – Takes into
account all hazards and all stages.
2. Principle of prevention and protection – preventive
practical approach should be followed.
3. Principle of shared responsibility –
4. Principle of judicious use of available resources –
5. Principle of collaboration and coordination –
6. Principle of flexibility –
7. Principle of practice of ethical standards -
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Principles and Components of Disaster
Management
 There are certain principles of disaster
management –
8. Principle of prioritization –
9. Principle of risk-driven hazard identification –
10. Principle of initiative –
11. Principle of accountability –
12. Principle of equity –
13. Principle of subordination and individual interest to
common interest –
14. Principle of order and discipline –
15. Principle of unity -
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Reviews
 Introduction to Disasters.
 Types of Disasters & It’s Causes.
 Dimensions of Natural and Anthropogenic
Disasters .
 Aims of Disaster Management.
 Principles and Components of Disaster
Management.
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