Basic Concept of Disaster

1. Basic CONCEPT OF DISASTER and
disaster risk
DIFFERENTIATING RISK AND DISASTER RISK

2. Activity 1:
•Write down (5) disastrous events
in the Philippines in the last five
years that you could still recall.

4. Instructions: Analyze the given images and answer the
given questions below:
1. In two to three sentences, describe the given images.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
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2. List down the disasters that you can identify from the
images.
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6. DISASTER
A sudden calamitous event,
bringing great damage, loss,
destruction and devastation to life
and property (Asian Disaster
Preparedness Center ADPC, 2012)

7. A serious disruption of the
functioning of society, causing
widespread human material or
environmental losses, which exceed
the ability of the affected people to
cope using their human resources
(Adelman,2011)

8. Disasters are often a result of
the combination of: the exposure
to a hazard; the conditions of
vulnerability that are present; and
insufficient capacity or measures
to reduce or cope with the
potential negative consequences.

9. Its impacts may include loss of life,
injury, disease and other negative
effects on human physical, mental,
and social wellbeing, together with
damage to properties, destruction of
assets, loss of services, social and
economic disruptions, and
environmental degradation.

10. CLASSIFICATION OF
DISASTERS
Natural Disasters
Man-made

11. NATURAL DISASTER
A natural phenomenon is caused by
natural forces, such as earthquakes, typhoon,
volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, fires,
tornados, and extreme temperatures. They
can be classified as rapid onset disasters
and those with progressive onset, such as
droughts that lead to famine. These events,
usually sudden, can have tremendous effects.

12. Natural Types of disasters
• Agricultural diseases and pests
• Storm surge
• Drought and water shortage – El Niňo
• Earthquakes
•Hurricanes and tropical storms
• Landslide and debris flow
•Thunderstorms and lightning

13. •Tornadoes
• Tsunamis
• Wildfires
• Sinkholes
•Emergency diseases
(pandemic influenza)
•Extreme heat
•Floods and flash floods
•La Niňa

14. MAN – MADE DISASTER
Disasters caused by man are those in which
major direct causes are identifiable intentional or
non-intentional human actions.
• Technological/industrial disaster
• Terrorism/Violence
• Complex humanitarian emergencies

15. Technological/Industrial Disaster
Unregulated industrialization and inadequate
safety standards increase the risk for industrial
disasters.
EXAMPLE: leaks of hazardous materials;
accidental explosions; bridge or road collapses,
or vehicle collisions; Power cuts

16. Terrorism/Violence
The threat of terrorism has also increased due
to the spread of technologies involving nuclear,
biological, and chemical agents used to develop
weapons of mass destruction.
EXAMPLE : bombs or explosions; release of
chemical materials; release of biological agents;
release of radioactive agents; multiple or
massive shootings; mutinies

17. Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
The humanitarian emergency resulting from an
international or civil war. In such situations, large numbers of
people are displaced from their homes due to the lack of
personal safety and the disruption of basic infrastructure
including food distribution, water, electricity, and sanitation,
or communities are left stranded and isolated in their own
homes unable to access assistance.
EXAMPLE: conflicts or wars and Genocide the deliberate
killing of a large group of people, especially those of a
particular ethnic group or nation

18. The damage caused by disaster
cannot be measured. It also differs with
the kind of geographical location, climate,
earth’s specific characteristics, and level
of vulnerability. These determining factors
affect generally the psychological, socio –
economic, political, and ethnical state of
the affected area.

19. Activity II
Classify the following Disasters

25. Risk and Disaster Risk

26. Risk
•“the combination of the probability of an
event and its negative consequences”
(UNISDR, 2009).
•Associated with the degree to which
humans cannot cope (lack of capacity)
with a situation (e.g. natural hazard).

27. Disaster Risk
The potential disaster losses, in lives, health
status, livelihoods, assets, and services which
could occur in a community or society over some
specified future time period.
The product of the possible damage caused by
a hazard due to the vulnerability within a
community. It should be noted that the effect of a
hazard would affect communities differently (Von
Kotze, 1999:35).

28. DISASTER RISK
The probability that a community’s
structure of geographic area is to be
damaged, disrupted by the impact of a
particular hazard, on account of its
nature, construction and proximity to a
hazardous area (ADPC, 2012

29. It can also be determined by the
presence of three variables: hazards
(natural or anthropogenic);
vulnerability to a hazard; and coping
capacity linked to the reduction,
mitigation, and resilience to the
vulnerability of a community
(exposure).

30. Elements of Disaster Risk
Exposure
Hazard
Vulnerability

31. EXPOSURE
The elements at risk
from a natural or man – made
hazard event

32. HAZARD
A potentially dangerous physical
occurrence, phenomenon or human
activity that may result in loss of life or
injury, property damage, social and
economic disruption, or environmental
degradation.

33. VULNERABILITY
The condition determined by
physical, social, economic and
environmental factors or processes,
which increase the susceptibility of a
community to the impact of hazard
(Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United nation, FAO 2008).

34. Risk Factors
Processes or conditions, often
development-related, that influence the level of
disaster risk by increasing levels of exposure
and vulnerability or reducing capacity.
• Severity of Exposure
• Gender and Family
• Age
• Economic Status of Country

35. Severity of Exposure
Measures those who experience disaster first-
hand which has the highest risk of developing
future mental problems, followed by those in
contact with the victims such as rescue workers
and health care practitioners and the lowest risk
are those most distant like those who have
awareness of the disaster only through news.

36. Gender and Family
The female gender suffers more
adverse effects. This worsens when
children are present at home. Marital
relationships are placed under strain.

37. Age
Adults in the age range of 40-
60 are more stressed after
disasters but in general, children
exhibit more stress after disasters
than adults do.

38. Economic Status Of Country
Evidence indicates that severe mental
problems resulting from disasters are more
prevalent in developing countries like the
Philippines. Furthermore, it has been observed
that natural disasters tend to have more adverse
effects in developing countries than do man-
caused disasters in developed countries.

39. Factors underlying Disaster
•Climate Change
•Environmental Degradation
•Globalized Economic Development
•Poverty and Inequality
•Poorly planned and Managed Urban
Development
•Weak Governance

40. CLIMATE CHANGE
Alteration in the frequency and intensity of hazards
events, affecting vulnerability to hazards, and changing
exposure patterns e.i. burning of fossil fuels, deforestation
and other practices that increase the carbon footprint and
concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The change that can be attributed “directly or indirectly to
human activity that alters the composition of the global
atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate
variability observed over comparable time periods” by the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).

41. ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
For instance, deforestation of slopes often
leads to an increase in landslide hazard and removal
of mangroves can increase the damage caused by
storm surges (UNISDR, 2009b).
Over consumption of natural resources results in
environmental degradation, reducing the effectiveness
of essential ecosystem services, such as the mitigation
of floods and landslides. This leads to increased risk
from disasters, and in turn, natural hazards can further
degrade the environment.

42. GLOBALIZED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
It results in an increased polarization between the rich
and poor on a global scale. Currently increasing the exposure
of assets in hazard prone areas, globalized economic
development provides an opportunity to build resilience if
effectively managed.
By participating in risk- sensitive development strategies
such as investing in protective infrastructure, environmental
management, and upgrading informal settlements, risk can be
reduced. Dominance and increase of wealth in certain regions
and cities are expected to have increased hazard exposure
(Gencer, 2013).

43. POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
•Impoverished people are more likely to live in
hazard- exposed areas and are less able to
invest in risk-reducing measures.
•The lack of access to insurance and social
protection means that people in poverty are
often forced to use their already limited assets
to buffer disaster losses, which drives them
into further poverty.

44. • Poverty is therefore both a cause and consequence of
disaster risk (Wisner et al., 2004), particularly extensive risk,
with drought being the hazard most closely associated with
poverty (Shepard et al., 2013).
• The impact of disasters on the poor can, in addition to loss of
life, injury and damage, cause a total loss of livelihoods,
displacement, poor health, food insecurity, among other
consequences.
• Vulnerability is not simply about poverty, but extensive
research over the past 30 years has revealed that it is
generally the poor who tend to suffer worst from disasters
(DFID, 2004; Twigg, 2004; Wisner et al., 2004; UNISDR,
2009b).

45. POORLY PLANNED AND MANAGED
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
•People, poverty, and disaster risk are increasingly
concentrated in cities. The growing rate of
urbanization and the increase in population density
(in cities) can lead to creation of risk, especially
when urbanization is rapid, poorly planned and
occurring in a context of widespread poverty.
Growing concentrations of people and economic
activities in many cities are seen to overlap with
areas of high-risk exposure.

46. WEAK GOVERNANCE
•Weak governance zones are investment
environments in which public sector actors are
unable or unwilling to assume their roles and
responsibilities in protecting rights, providing
basic services and public services.
•Disaster risk is disproportionately concentrated
in lower-income countries with weak
governance (UNISDR, 2015a).

47. •Disaster risk governance refers to the
specific arrangements that societies put in
place to manage their disaster risk
(UNISDR, 2011a; UNDP, 2013a) within a
broader context of risk governance (Renn,
2008 in UNISDR, 2015a). This reflects how
risk is valued against a backdrop of broader
social and economic concerns (Holley et al.,
2011).