Human behavior of affected individuals and communities
1. Human Behavior of Affected Individuals and
Communities
Suraj Shah
Prabesh Raj Lamichhane
Nirajan Adhikari
Department of Civil Engineering
Khwopa college of Engineering
3. Introduction
• The term “Disaster” is difficult to define, but despite the “blurred
edges” of the definition, still it is a useful concept(Smith et al.,1999)
• Disaster is a severe, relatively sudden and unexpected disruption of
normal structural arrangements within a social system over which the
system has no firm control( Mahbuba, 2004)
• Focuses on Earthquake – an unpredictable disaster
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4. Continue…
• Earthquake results from sudden energy release in the earth’s crust, which
creates seismic waves and that results in ground shaking(USGS,1997)
• Estimated millions of deaths in the 20 centuries with an average of 2,052
fatalities per event affecting humans between 1990 and 2010 (Wisner B et
al., 2008)
• Earthquake in 1934,1988 and 2015 AD
• On April, 2015,magnitude of 7.8 - 8.1 on Richter scale and Mercalli
intensity of IX ( USGS 2015)
• 9000 people were killed and 22000 injured people along widows and
orphans and 3.5 million people were homeless (NDPR,2015)
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5. Objective
• Objective of this research
• Assemble, integrate and draw some general conclusions about
psychological determinants
• Prepare severity map for age-groups and districts
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6. Study Area
• Gorkha
• Nuwakot
• Dolakha
• Bhaktapur
• Sindhupalchowk
• Chitwan
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Fig.1 Study area
7. Methodology
• Tools
• ODK (Open Data Kit)
• Analysis Hierarchical Process(AHP)
• Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Data collection
• Response of 252 people over six districts.
• Age group is divided into 8 categories
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8. Data Collection
Name District Age Location At_the_time First thing Feeling
Aftershoc
ks
Response Harmony
Rupak
Ghale
Gorkha 11 Home (playing in
front yard)
I didn't know what
was going on.
..my mother
shouted
from inside
taking my name
and once I said to
her where I was
,she came outside
and our house
collapsed
after few minutes
from that
Running
to
open
space
I was
scared
but not
like
the first
one
Many people
came
to help us
taking
different
accessories
we needed like
clothes foods
water etc.
It was very
positive
among the
people of
Barpak
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9. Continue…
Name District Age Location Feeling Assistance Baisakh_29 Opinion Harmony
Sitaram
Pradhan
Chitwan 52 Field.
I was thinking
about my
family members
as I was in the
field.
Running to the
safe place
if available else
staying
under the well
built structures.
Earthquake of Baisakh
2
9 didn't effect the
people
here in chitwan.
Thought it was a
earthquake
we felt like aftershocks.
It wasn't that very
dangerous
and every people here
had
already started their
normal life
Food,water
money was not
that
much of
problem for us.
We only
stayed o
utside the
house in a tent
for a day .
Remaining
days we were
inside the home
Condition of
social
harmony remained
same.
Though people
used to gather
around to
talk about what's
going
throughout the
country but it was
ok.
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14. Continue…
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• Behavior pattern and
severity has been mapped
by use of GIS
• Future direction for people
of that particular region can
be addressed correctly using
this map
Fig. 6 severity index by district wise
15. Conclusion
• People of earlier adolescence and old age are the most affected
• Age group from 20-50 (fig.3) are the least affected
• Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha were the most affected
• Bhaktapur and Nuwakot were in the middle severity and Chitwan was least
affected.
• Social harmony is positive in most of the society of all districts (Fig.
• Even in May 12 people show panicness
• People are preferring open spaces but some people are using structures for
support because of unavailability of open space
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16. Recommendations
• 252 people were interviewed, but for a clear overview number of
populations must be increased
• Interview must be taken immediately because there is higher chance of
manipulation of answers by people
• Micro level study should be done to prepare severity map so that more
accurate identification of addressing factor can be made
• Psychological treatment and recreational events must be provided in those
places immediately after any future disaster
• Provision of food, shelter and medicine and economic factors also play
major role in manipulating the behavior of people after disaster
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17. Annex
• What feelings were occurring at the time of Earthquake?
• Which assistance do you prefer during Earthquake that will make you feel secure.?
• What was your action after first major Earthquake?
• What was your response to immediate aftershocks?
• What was your response to Earthquake of Baisakh 29?
• What will be your response if Earthquake Strikes again?
• What was your opinion for food, water, money during Earthquake and after the
day of Earthquake?
• What was the condition of social harmony and interaction among?
• people during post-Earthquake days in society
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18. References
• Bandura, A. (1969). The principles of behavior modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston. Pp 41.
• Bisson, J. I., (1994). Psychological debriefing and prevention of post-traumatic stress.
British Journal of Psychiatry.
• Britton (1986). Organized Behavior in
• Disaster. Psychological, social and legal perspectives. London, UK: Routledge.
• Doocy S, Daniels A, Packer C, Dick A, Kirsch TD. The Human Impact of Earthquakes: A
Historical Review of Events 1980-2009 and Systematic Literature Review. PLOS
Currents Disasters. 2013 Apr 16. Edition 1. Do: 10.1371/currents. dis.
67bd14fe457f1db0b5433a8ee20fb833.
• EM-DAT the International Disaster Database. (2011). Retrieved Mar 3, 2011 and July 28,
2011 from www.emdat.be/
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19. References
• Eysenck, H. J. (1982). Personality, genetics, and behavior: Selected papers.
• Hobbs, M., (1996). A randomized trial of psychological debriefing for victims of road
traffic accidents. British Medical Journal. pp 313-317
• Keane, T. M., (1985). A behavioral formulation of posttraumatic stress disorder in
Vietnam veterans. Pp 35-39
• Mikami, S. Human response to Disaster: international journal of mass emergencies and
disaster 1985. Japan.
• Nashreen Mahbuba, ‘Disaster Research: Exploring Sociological Approach to Disaster in
Bangladesh’. [Online] in Bangladesh e-journal of Sociology Vol.1 No. 2 July 2004:
• Richard J. Holden, Tian Luo, Anne Heidl, and Amar Mann, “Labor market risks of a
magnitude-6.8 Hayward Fault earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area: an update,”
Beyond the Numbers: Regional Economies, vol. 5, no. 15 (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, October 2016)
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20. References
• Rose, S. (1998). Brief early psychological interventions following trauma - A systematic review of
the literature. Journal of Traumatic Stress. pp.61.
• Oliver-Smith, Anthony & Susanna M Hoffman, The Angry Earth. Disaster in Anthropological
Perspective, (New York/ London: Routledge), 1999
• Steimer T. (2002). The biology of fear- and anxiety-related behaviors. Dialogues in clinical
neuroscience, 4(3), 231-49.
• US Geological Survey. 2009. “Earthquakes, Faults, Plate Tectonics, Earth Structure: What is the
significance of the depth of an earthquake?” Retrieved 12/7/2009 at
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?faqID=250
• Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I. (2008). At Risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability
and disasters (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge, 275.
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in general like typical Responses such as fear, tension, or excitement and their Pattern
Scientific theory and the practical are blended, drawing from a multitude of disciplines, an extensive research literature and tradition in the social and behavioral science.
Enlightens behavior of people during earthquake, as behavior totally depends upon time and condition.
for survey of response which is a paperless technique with digital input
QGIS software to map the response intensity
to reach out the severity response to earthquake
Observation of age group 30-40 as they are head of the family
Family response depends upon response of head of family
[ as per interview] which caused death of many people.
After the major earthquake of April 25, many people also panicked during the earthquake of
which shows people of six districts didn’t show controlled behavior to disaster and panic was the result of their instinctive reaction