The document defines disaster as catastrophic events causing significant loss of life, ecological disruption, and damage to property, necessitating external assistance. It classifies disasters into natural, man-made, and socio-natural types, and discusses various related concepts such as disaster epidemiology, case management, and severity scales. It highlights the dynamics of disaster management, including factors affecting vulnerability and response strategies.

1. Disaster : human and natural
AMINU M HUSSAIN

2. Objectives
• Define disaster
• Classify disaster
• Know and understand types of disaster
• Understand some concepts

3. Overview
• The term “DISASTER” owes its origin to French word “Disastre”, a
combination of two words “Des” meaning “Bad” and “Aster” meaning
“Star” thus the term Disaster refers to “Bad or Evil Star”.
• The term can be used for personal tragedies also, as they may cause
emotional and financial sufferings. Disasters, however, are the
catastrophic events resulting in heavy losses in terms of human,
animal and plant lives, injuries and disabilities and damage to
property and environment.

4. Definition
• “Any occurrence that causes
• damage
• ecological disruption
• loss of human life
• or deterioration of health
• and health services
• on a scale sufficient to warrant an extra ordinary response
from outside the affected community or area (WHO)”.

5. DISASTER
• Any event, typically occurring suddenly, that causes damage,
ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and
health services, and which exceeds the capacity of the affected
community on a scale sufficient to require outside assistance.
• These events can be caused by nature, equipment malfunction,
human error, or biological hazards and disease (e.g., earthquake,
flood, fire, hurricane, cyclone, typhoon, significant storms, volcanic
eruptions, spills, air crashes, drought, epidemic, food shortages, and
civil strife).

6. Concepts
• DISASTER CONTINUUM OR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CYCLE
• The life cycle of a disaster or emergency.
• DISASTER EPIDEMIOLOGY
• The study of disaster-related deaths, illnesses, and injuries in humans;
also includes the study of the factors and determinants that affect
death, illness, and injury following a disaster.

7. • (Methodology involves identifying and comparing risk factors among
disaster victims to those who were left unharmed. Epidemiological
investigations provide public health professionals with information on
the probable public health consequences of disasters.)

8. • DISASTER FIELD OFFICE (DFO)
• The office established in or near the disaster area that supports federal and
state response as well as recovery operations. The DFO houses the Federal
Coordinating Officer (FCO), the Emergency Response Team (ERT), the State
Coordinating Officer (SCO), and support staff. Often referred to as the Joint
Field Office (JFO/JOC) when shared by multiple agencies.
• DISASTER CASE MANAGEMENT
• The formal process of org-anizing and providing a timely, coordinated
approach to assess disaster-related needs including healthcare, mental
health, and human services needs that were caused or exacerbated by the
event and may adversely impact an individual’s recovery if not addressed.

9. • DISASTER INFORMATICS
• The theoretical and practical operation of processing information and
communicating in a disaster situation.
• DISASTER SEVERITY SCALE
• A scale that classifies disasters by the following parameters: the radius
of the disaster site, the number of dead, the number of wounded, the
average severity of the injuries sustained, the impact time, and the
rescue time.

10. • DISASTER VULNERABILITY
• A measure of the ability of a community to absorb the effects of a
severe disaster and to recover; vulnerability varies with each disaster,
depending on the disaster’s impact on the affected population or
group.
• DISASTER-PRONE
• The level of risk that is related to the hazard or the immediate cause
of a disaster, which is determined by analyzing the history of past
events as well as new conditions that may increase the risk of a
disaster taking place.

11. • DISPATCH COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM
• A system used to assign ambulance personnel and other first
responders.
• DIVISION
• The organizational level that has responsibility for operations within a
defined geographical area (the division level is the organizational level
between single resources, task forces, or strike teams and the branch
level).

12. Classification
• Disasters are often classified according to their speed of onset
(sudden or slow), their cause (natural or man-made), or their scale
(major or minor).

13. Types
• Natural
• Man made (anthropogenic)
• Socio natural

14. Definition:
• Natural disasters are events caused by nature without direct human
intervention. They can have serious impacts on people, ecosystems,
and infrastructure.
• Natural disasters are awe-inspiring in their power and often beyond
our control. They remind us of Earth’s dynamic processes.

15. • Here are a few examples:
• Earthquake
• Volcanic eruption
• Tsunami
• Hurricane
• Floods
• Glacier

16. • Earthquakes: Sudden shaking of the Earth’s surface due to tectonic
movements.
• Volcanic Eruptions: Explosive release of magma, ash, and gases from
volcanoes.
• Hurricanes (Cyclones/Typhoons): Intense tropical storms with strong
winds and heavy rainfall.
• Floods: Overflow of water onto land, often due to heavy rainfall or
river overflow.
• Tsunamis: Large ocean waves triggered by underwater seismic activity.

17. 1. Natural Disasters:
• Natural Hazards (and the resulting disasters) are the result of naturally
occurring processes that have operated throughout Earth's history.
Natural disasters are beyond human control. Natural disasters are
often termed an “Act of God”.
• If the natural process that poses the hazard occurs and destroys
human life or property, then a natural disaster has occurred. Among
the natural hazards and possible disasters to be considered are:

18. A. Geophysical
• Geophysical (result from phenomena beneath the Earth’s surface;
earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic activity)
• Geophysical Events originating from solid earth Earthquake, Volcano,
tsunami, landslides. Mass Movement(dry)

19. B. Hydrological
• Hydrological (avalanches and floods) Hydrological Events caused by
deviations in the normal water cycle and/or overflow of bodies of
water caused by wind set up Flood, Mass Movement (wet)
‐

20. C. Meteorological (cyclones and storms/wave surges)
• Meteorological Events caused by short lived/small to meso scale
‐
atmospheric processes (in the spectrum from minutes to days)
Cyclones, Storm

21. D. Biological
• Biological (disease, epidemics and insect/animal plagues) Biological
Disaster caused by the exposure of living organisms to germs and
toxic substances
• Epidemic, Insect Infestation

22. E. Climatological
• Climatological (extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires)
Climatological Events caused by long lived/ to macro scale processes
‐
(in the spectrum from intra seasonal to multi decadal climate
‐ ‐
variability)
• Extreme Temperature, Drought, Wildfire

23. 2. Man made
• A. Technological
• (the failure or breakdown of systems, equipment and engineering
standards that harms people and the environment; structural
collapses, such as bridges, mines and buildings)

24. B. Industrial
• Industrial (disasters caused by industrial companies, either by
accident, negligence or incompetence; Chemical and nuclear
explosions )

25. C. Warfare
• Warfare ( disasters caused by sociopolitical conflicts that escalate into
violence; war, intra society conflicts)

26. 3. Socio-natural Disaster:
• This term is used for the circumstances where human activity is
increasing the occurrence of certain hazards beyond their natural
probabilities.
• The phenomenon of increased occurrence of certain natural events,
such as landslides, flooding, land subsidence and drought, that arise
from the interaction of natural hazards with overexploited or
degraded land and environmental resources.

27. • This term is used for the circumstances where human activity is
increasing the occurrence of certain hazards beyond their natural
probabilities. Evidence points to a growing disaster burden from such
hazards.
• Socio-natural hazards can be reduced and avoided through wise
management of land and environmental resources [United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

28. On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear
plant near the city of Pripyat (now Ukraine), poisoning the air and soil
in several districts of Ukraine, Russia, and Belaru.
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a
gas leak incident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union
Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh,
India.

29. Other classification
• Low frequency - high magnitude events (i.e. usually declared
disasters)… those with long return period and large losses.
• High frequency - low magnitude events (often considered
‘normal’ /’routine’ threats… happen daily/weekly… but with relatively
small impacts).

30. Questions
• Define disaster
• Classify disaster
• Enumerate types of disaster
• Mention five concepts