Basic concept of Disaster and Disaster risk

1. Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk

2. At the end of the discussion,
the students will be able to:
 explain the meaning of
disaster; and
 differentiate the risk factors
underlying disasters.

3. Do you feel scared or shocked
when you hear news about
typhoons, floods, fires, earthquakes,
landslides, terrorism, kidnapping,
and epidemic diseases? When these
happen, you hear terrible deaths,
witness many injured or sick people,
see massive infrastructure
destruction or experience economic

4. The question is …
In this world, we always
face these threats. Are
there ways how you can
become prepared for these
threats?

5. Direction: Analyze the picture shown then answer the
questions given.

6.  1. What could be the reason people are wearing masks?

7.  2. Is it dangerous not to wear a mask in this situation?
Why?

8.  3. Would you also wear a mask? Why?

9. Based on this activity,
what do you think is
the meaning of
disaster?

10. The terminologies listed are
defined by the United Nations
Office for Disaster Risk
Reduction (UNDRR), also known
as the United Nations
International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

11. A disaster is defined as a serious
disruption of the functioning of a
community or a society at any scale
due to hazardous events interacting
with conditions of exposure,
vulnerability, and capacity that may
lead to one or more of the following:
human, material, economic, and
environmental losses and impacts.

12. An event is already a disaster
if a hazard has already affected
a population making them
vulnerable. One example we can
have for a disaster is a typhoon
directly passing through a city
or a province.

13. Disaster risk is the potential loss
of life, injury, or destroyed or
damaged assets that could occur
to a system, society, or
community in a specific period,
determined probabilistically as a
function of hazard, exposure,
vulnerability, and capacity.

14. The disaster risk formula is shown
below:

15. Hazard
is defined as a process, phenomenon,
or human activity that may cause
loss of life, injury or other health
impacts, property damage, social
and economic disruption or even
environmental degradation.

16. Exposure
is the situation of people,
infrastructure, housing,
production capacities and
other tangible human
assets located in hazard-
prone areas.

17. Vulnerability
is a condition determined by
physical, social, economic, and
environmental factors or
processes which increase the
susceptibility of an individual, a
community, assets or systems to
the impacts of hazards.

18. Capacity
is the combination of all strengths,
attributes, and resources available within an
organization, community, or society to
manage and reduce disaster risks and
strengthen resilience. The capacity of a
community may include the knowledge and
skills of people, leadership and management
of the local government, and the
infrastructure and facilities available to the
community.

21. 1. Natural Hazards and
Disasters
– are the results and
outcomes of naturally
occurring processes that
occurred throughout Earth’s
history.

22. Examples: Flood, volcanic
eruption, insect infestation,
tropical cyclone, earthquake,
tsunami, landslide, hurricane,
tornado, sinkhole, drought,
storm surge etc.

23. 2. Man-made/Human-
induced/Anthropogenic Hazards
and Disasters
– occur as a result or an outcome
of human actions and
interactions with other people
and the environment.

24. Examples: Chemical
threat, hazardous material,
nuclear blast, cyber-attack,
terrorism, civil unrest,
bioweapon etc.

26. Disaster risk drivers are
factors that promote or
increase the risk of a
disaster. The following are
some disaster risk drivers:

27. 1. Climate change – this can amplify disaster risk
while weakening the resilience of the
community.
2. Poverty – extreme poverty equates to greater
disaster impact.
3. Socio-economic inequality – can result to limited
capacity of households and communities to
manage the risk and improve their resilience.
4. Increase population density/growth – the higher
the population, the greater vulnerability to
disasters.

28. 5. Rapid and unplanned urbanization – can result to an
increased severity of disasters.
6. Environmental degradation – can reduce the
environmental capacity to provide social and ecological
needs.
7. Lack of awareness – households, communities, and
societies who have lack of awareness on disasters are not
disaster prepared thus can aggravate disaster risk.
8. Weak governance – inefficient and incompetent protection
of human rights, and failure to provide public services can
happen due weak governance.

29. Directions: Based on the discussion, can you
recall any disaster that happened to you? If
you don’t recall any, you may ask someone in
your household to tell a disaster they had
experienced. Make a short descriptive essay
about it. Take note of the details and
expressions you have, or they had while
recalling.

30. Directions: Try to remember a disaster that
happened in the past or is currently
happening. Try to identify how did the risk
drivers magnified disasters. Write the risk
drivers in the first (1st) column and explain
how these answers magnified the risk of a
disaster in the second (2nd) column.