This document discusses various aspects of disasters including definitions, types, impacts, management and mitigation. It defines a disaster as a natural or man-made hazard that causes substantial damage and destruction. Developing countries suffer greatest costs from disasters, with over 95% of disaster deaths occurring in developing nations. Effective disaster management relies on emergency plans integrated across all organization levels. Preparedness, response, rehabilitation and prevention are key to disaster mitigation. A 72-hour emergency kit with supplies like food, water and medicine is recommended.

1. BY ROHAN SEHGAL

2. WHAT IS A DISASTER?
• A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to
fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing
significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or
drastic change to the environment.
• Disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriate risks.
These risks are the product of a combination of both hazard/s
and vulnerability.

3. WHAT IS A DISASTER?
• Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster
hits – more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters
occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural
disasters are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in
developing countries than in industrialized countries.

4. WHAT IS DISASTER MANAGEMENT
• Disaster Management is a strategic process, and not
a tactical process, thus it usually resides at the Executive level in an
organization. It normally has no direct power, but serves as an
advisory or coordinating function to ensure that all parts of an
organization are focused on the common goal. Effective Emergency
Management relies on a thorough integration of emergency plans at
all levels of the organization, and an understanding that the lowest
levels of the organization are responsible for managing the
emergency and getting additional resources and assistance from the
upper levels.
• The most senior person in the organization administering the
program is normally called an Emergency Manager, or a derived form
based upon the term used in the field (e.g. Business Continuity
Manager).

5. WHAT IS VULNERABILITY?
• The extent to which a community, structure, service or
geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the
impact of particular disaster hazard.
• Vulnerability is the propensity of things to be damaged by a
hazard

6. TYPES OF DISASTERS
• There are two types of disasters:
• 1.Natural Disasters
• 2.Man-Made Disasters

7. NATURAL DISASTERS
• A natural disaster is a consequence when a natural calamity affects
humans and/or the built environment. Human vulnerability, and often a
lack of appropriate emergency management, leads to financial,
environmental, or human impact. The resulting loss depends on the
capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster: their
resilience. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation:
"disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability". A natural hazard will
hence never result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability.
• Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, flood and
cyclones are natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy
billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. The rapid growth of
the world's population and its increased concentration often in hazardous
environment has escalated both the frequency and severity of natural
disasters.

8. NATURAL DISASTERS
• Among various natural hazards, earthquakes, landslides, floods and
cyclones are the major disasters adversely affecting very large areas and
population in the Indian sub-continent. These natural disasters are of
• (i) geophysical origin such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land slides
and
• (ii) climatic origin such as drought, flood, cyclone, locust, forest fire.
• Though it may not be possible to control nature and to stop the
development of natural phenomena but the efforts could be made to
avoid disasters and alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure
and property. Rising frequency, amplitude and number of natural disasters
and attendant problem coupled with loss of human lives prompted
the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 1990s as
the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) through a
resolution 44/236 of December 22, 1989 to focus on all issues related to
natural disaster reduction. In spite of IDNDR, there had been a string of
major disaster throughout the decade. Nevertheless, by establishing the
rich disaster management related traditions and by spreading public
awareness the IDNDR provided required stimulus for disaster reduction. It
is almost impossible to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters and
their damages.

9. NATURAL DISASTERS
• A natural disaster is the effect of a natural
hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic
eruption, earthquake, heatwave, or landslide). It leads to financial,
environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the
vulnerability of the affected population to resist the hazard, also called
their resilience.
• If these disasters continue it would be a great danger for the earth. This
understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when
hazards meet vulnerability."
• Thus a natural hazard will not result in a natural disaster in areas without
vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The
term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply
are not hazards or disasters without human involvement.
• A concrete example of the division between a natural hazard and a
natural disaster is that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a disaster,
whereas earthquakes are a hazard.

10. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Avalanches:
During World War I, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers died as a result of
avalanches during the mountain campaign in the Alps at the AustrianItalian front, many of which were caused by artillery fire.

11. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Earthquakes
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The 1693 Sicily earthquake. About 60,000 people are thought to have died in this
earthquake.
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that
creates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by vibration,
shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. The vibrations may vary in magnitude.
Earthquakes are caused mostly by slippage within geological faults, but also by other events
such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests.
The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the focus. The point directly
above the focus on the surface is called the epicenter. Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill
people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building
collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes, that are actually the human
disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better construction, safety systems,
early warning and evacuation planning.

12. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Volcanic eruptions
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Volcanoes can cause widespread destruction and consequent disaster through several ways.
The effects include the volcanic eruption itself that may cause harm following the explosion
of the volcano or the fall of rock.
Second, lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano. As it leaves the volcano,
the lava destroys many buildings and plants it encounters.
Third, volcanic ash generally meaning the cooled ash - may form a cloud, and settle thickly in
nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete-like material. In sufficient
quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but even small quantities will
harm humans if inhaled.
Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass it causes abrasion damage to moving parts
such as engines. The main killer of humans in the immediate surroundings of a volcanic
eruption is the pyroclastic flows, which consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up
in the air above the volcano and rushes down the slopes when the eruption no longer
supports the lifting of the gases. It is believed that Pompeii was destroyed by a pyroclastic
flow.
A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 Tangiwai disaster was caused by a lahar,
as was the 1985 Armero tragedy in which the town of Armero was buried and an estimated
23,000 people were killed.

13. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Floods
• A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods
directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally
covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to
the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body
of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result
that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries. While the size of a lake or
other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt,
it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used
by man like a village, city or other inhabited area. let us take an example the
thunderstorm which attacked Tamil Nadu.

14. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Droughts
• If a particular area has no rainfall or less rain than normal for a long period of time
is called drought. it is not only lack of rainfall that causes drought. Hot dry winds,
very high temperature and evaporation of moisture from the ground can result in
conditions of drought.

15. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Tsunamis
• Tsunamis are caused by undersea earthquakes. Tsunamis generally consist of a
series of waves with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called
"wave train".
• Wave heights of tens of metres can be generated by large events. Although the
impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be
enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins.
• The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in
human history with over 230,000 people killed in 14 countries bordering the Indian
Ocean.

16. TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS
• Tornadoes
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A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the
surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus
cloud.
They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in
meteorology in a wider sense, to name any closed low pressure circulation.
Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a
visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a
cloud of debris and dust.
Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are
approximately 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometres) before
dissipating.
The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h),
stretch more than two miles (3 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles.

17. MAN-MADE DISASTERS
• Anthropogenic hazards or man-made hazards can come to fruition in the form of
a man-made disaster. In this case, "anthropogenic" means threats having an
element of human intent, negligence, or error; or involving a failure of a man-made
system.
• Airplane crashes and terrorist attacks are examples of man-made disasters: they
cause pollution, kill people, and damage property.

18. MANAGEMENT OF DISASTERS
• The local communities at the time of disaster or before the disaster make
groups for helping the people from suffering during the disaster.
• These groups include First Aid group, Health group, Food and Welfare
group, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) etc. They all are
well trained by some local community members.
• All the groups are sent for helping any other local community that is
suffering from a disaster. They also ask people to move from the area
affected from disaster to some other safe regions.
• They are given shelter and every possible facilities by those local
management communities. Some agencies also provide maps of potential
disaster sites.
• Today, Government is also making effort to provide good facilities during
the disaster.
• In Indian rural areas, the community (group of families) are choosing a
leader and developing their Disaster management skills to protect
themselves and other local communities as well.

19. DISASTER MITIGATION
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To reduce the impact of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation strategies. Disaster
mitigation mainly addresses the following:
• minimize the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies
• prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters,
• mobilize resources including communication and tele-medicinal services
• to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction.
• Disaster management, on the other hand involves:
• pre-disaster planning, preparedness, monitoring including relief management capability
• prediction and early warning
• damage assessment and relief management.
• Expanding on the above steps:
1. Preparedness:
• A set of warning systems should be thought of, so that people are warned to take safety
measures. Thus, more loss of life and property can be avoided. The warning systems may
include: radio, television, loudspeakers, personal messages, beating of drums, bells, etc.
• The people must be educated to cope with a disaster. They should be taught to keep a
survival kit.
• On the practical side, mock drill training and practice should be undertaken.

20. DISASTER MITIGATION
• Emergency contact and operation centres should be opened.
• Help the injured and the needy.
• Involve local people at all levels of activities.
• Temporary shelters should be provided for the affected.
• Medical camps should be set up.
• Rescue teams should be deployed to look for those who are missing.
2. Rehabilitation:
• Essential services such as providing drinking water, transport, electricity, etc,
should be restored.
• The people should be taught hot to follow healthy and safety measures.
• The victims should be provided with temporary accomadation, financial assistance
and employment opportunities.
• Those who have lost their family members should be consoled.
• If there is a danger of epidemics, vaccination programme should be undertaken.

21. DISASTER MITIGATION
3. Prevention:
• The land use has to be so planned as to reduce the loss of life and property.
• Buildings should not be constructed in risk zones.
• Mobilizing support of different co-ordinating agencies such as the local
government, voluntary organisation, the insurance companies, etc, to ensure coordination at the time of a disaster.
• All buildings should be earthquake and landslide resistant.
• The local community should be involved in making and implementing safety norms.
• Disaster reduction is a systematic work which involves with different regions,
different professions and different scientific fields, and has become an important
measure for human and nature sustainable development.
• For surviving in and after a disaster, people should carry a survival kit which
contains the following supplies: 1. First aid kit. 2. Essential medicines. 3. Water atleast 9 litres per person for 3 days. 4. Food - enough for three days. 5. A torch and
a radio. 6. Personal hygiene items like toothbrush, soap, etc. 7. Baby and pet
supplies, toilet paper, etc.

22. Preparedness
• Preparedness is a continuous cycle of planning, managing, organizing, training,
equipping, exercising, creating, evaluating, monitoring and improving activities to
ensure effective coordination and the enhancement of capabilities of concerned
organizations to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, create
resources and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other
man-made disasters

23. Preparedness
• Personal preparedness focuses on preparing equipment and procedures for
use when a disaster occurs, i.e., planning. Preparedness measures can take many
forms including the construction of shelters, installation of warning devices,
creation of back-up life-line services (e.g., power, water, sewage), and rehearsing
evacuation plans.
• Two simple measures can help prepare the individual for sitting out the event or
evacuating, as necessary. For evacuation, a disaster supplies kit may be prepared
and for sheltering purposes a stockpile of supplies may be created. The preparation
of a survival kit such as a "72-hour kit", is often advocated by authorities. These kits
may include food, medicine, flashlights, candles and money. Also, putting valuable
items in safe area is also recommended.

24. 72 HOUR KIT
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), recommends the following
for a disaster preparedness kit: one gallon of water per person per day for three
days, non-perishable food for each person for three days, battery powered or hand
crank radio and extra batteries, flashlights for each person and extra batteries, first
aid kit, whistle, filter mask or a cotton t-shirt for each person, moist towlettes,
garbage bags, and plastic ties, wrench or pliers, manual can opener, plastic
sheeting and duct tape, important family documents, daily prescription medicine,
other things include diapers/formula for babies and special need items.
• Typically a three day supply of food and water is the minimum recommendation,
having a larger supply means longer survival (Federal Emergency Management
Agency [FEMA), n.d.).
• Small comfort items can be added like a few toys for children, a candy bar, or a
book to read.

25. GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF FOUR
PHASES IN EMERGENCY TREATMENT

26. RESPONSE TO DISASTERS
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The response phase includes the mobilization of the necessary emergency services and
first responders in the disaster area. This is likely to include a first wave of core
emergency services, such as firefighters, police and ambulance crews.
When conducted as a military operation, it is termed Disaster Relief Operation (DRO)
and can be a follow-up to a Non-combatant evacuation operation(NEO). They may be
supported by a number of secondary emergency services, such as specialist rescue
teams.
A well rehearsed emergency plan developed as part of the preparedness phase enables
efficient coordination of rescue. Where required, search and rescue efforts commence
at an early stage.
Depending on injuries sustained by the victim, outside temperature, and victim access
to air and water, the vast majority of those affected by a disaster will die within 72
hours after impact.

27. RESPONSE TO DISASTERS
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The response phase of an emergency may commence with search and rescue but in all cases
the focus will quickly turn to fulfilling the basic humanitarian needs of the affected
population. This assistance may be provided by national or international agencies and
organisations.
Effective coordination of disaster assistance is often crucial, particularly when many
organizations respond and local emergency management agency(LEMA) capacity has been
exceeded by the demand or diminished by the disaster itself.
Organizational response to any significant disaster – natural or terrorist-borne – is based on
existing emergency management organizational systems and processes: the Federal
Response Plan (FRP) and the Incident Command System (ICS). These systems are solidified
through the principles of Unified Command (UC) and Mutual Aid (MA)
There is a need for both discipline (structure, doctrine, process) and agility (creativity,
improvisation, adaptability) in responding to a disaster There is also the need to
onboard and build an effective leadership team quickly to coordinate and manage efforts as
they grow beyond first responders.
The leader and team must formulate and implement a disciplined, iterative set of response
plans, allowing initial coordinated responses that are vaguely right, adapting to new
information and changes in circumstances as they arise.