Diaster

1. MZCET/EEE/V Sem/MX3084_DRRM/Unit 5
MX3084-Disaster Risk Reduction And Management
UNIT V
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDIES
R.RAMANATHAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR/EEE
MOUNT ZION COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

2. MZCET/EEE/V Sem/MX3084_DRRM/Unit 5
Outline
5.1 Discussion on selected case studies to analyse the potential impacts and
actions in the contest of disasters
5.2 Landslide Hazard Zonation: Earthquake Vulnerability Assessment of
Buildings and Infrastructure: Case Studies
5.3 Drought Assessment: Case Studies
5.4 Coastal Flooding: Storm Surge Assessment
5.5 Floods: Fluvial and Pluvial Flooding: Case Studies
5.6 Forest Fire: Case Studies,
5.7 Man Made disasters: Case Studies
5.8 Space Based Inputs for Disaster Mitigation and Management and field works
related to disaster management.
5.9 Field work-Mock drill

3. MZCET/EEE/V Sem/MX3084_DRRM/Unit 5
Course Outcome
• CO1: To impart knowledge on the concepts of Disaster, Vulnerability and Disaster
Risk reduction (DRR)
• CO2: To enhance understanding on Hazards, Vulnerability and Disaster Risk
Assessment prevention and risk reduction
• CO3: To develop disaster response skills by adopting relevant tools and
technology
• CO4: Enhance awareness of institutional processes for Disaster response in the
country
• CO5: Develop rudimentary ability to respond to their surroundings with potential
Disaster response in areas where they live, with due sensitivity

4. MZCET/EEE/V Sem/MX3084_DRRM/Unit 5
PREVIOUS SESSION TODAYS SESSION
5.4 Coastal Flooding: Storm Surge
Assessment
5.5 Floods: Fluvial and Pluvial Flooding:
Case Studies
5.6 Forest Fire: Case Studies

5. Introduction
The word “fire” evolved from the Greek word “pyra” meaning growing embers.
Fire is actually the heat and the light that results when three
elements i.e. fuel, oxygen and the source are combined
Forest fire may be defined as “an unclosed and freely spreading
combustion that consumes the natural fuels”.
• When a fire burns out of control it is known as Wild Fire
• Fire Gas: These are the gases created by the combustion process
• Flame : This is the light given off by the burning gas
• Heat : This is the part of the fire that one feels as warmth. A normal fire
usually burns at around 1,100º C
• Smoke: Smoke is a harmful vapor cloud mixed with a fine powder
of solid particles and some gases. (Satendra and Kaushik, 2014)
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6. Surface fires Creeping fires Ground fires Crown fires
Types of forest fire
(KHANNA . L. S., 1982)
5.6

7. • A fire is said to be Running when it is spreading rapidly.
• A fire is Smoldering when it burns without a flame and is barely spreading.
• A fire is Torching when it moves from one crown to another fire into the crowns
of individual trees, but not necessary from one crown to another.
• It is Crowning when it spreads from tree to tree usually in conjunction with, but
sometimes completely independent of the surface fire.
• Flare-up is a sudden acceleration of fire spread or intensity, of relatively short
duration for a portion of the fire.
Different fire behaviors
(Satendra and Kaushik, 2014)
5.6

8. SlideModel.com
Causes of forest fire
 Shifting Cultivation
 To flush growth of
tendu leaves
 To have good growth
of grass and fodder
 For cleaning forest
paths by the
villagers
 Lightning
 Friction of rolling
stone
 Rubbing of dry
bamboo clumps
 Volcanic explosion
Accidental
causes
 Collection of Non -
Timber Forest Produce
 Burning farm residues
 Protecting crops from
the wild animals
 Throwing burning bidi/
cigarettes
 Camp fires by
picnickers
 Sparks from
Transformers
 Uncontrolled
prescribed burning
Natural
causes
Deliberate
causes
(KHANNA .L.S.,1982)
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9. Your Picture Here
Pine needles before forest fire Changes after forest fire
Same site showing changes after forest fire in pine forest
(Kumar. D.,2012)
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10. Causes
of
forest
fire
Fire used in road construction Passing electric wires may sparks
Tourists cooking in the forest Leaked resin near pine roots
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11. Methods of extinguishing fire
By water
A helicopter drops
water over a
wildfire area
By beating
Beating the fire by
brooms
By dug
Earth can be dug
by out at side
.
By counterfiring
Burning the forest from
opposite end
(KHANNA .L.S.,1982)
5.6

12. • When vegetation burns, the resulting release of stored carbon
increases global warming. The more fires, the more carbon dioxide
released the more warming -- and the more warming, the more fires.
• The very fine soot, known as black carbon, that is released into the
atmosphere by fires also contributes to warming .
• Forest fires affect the global carbon cycle, and thus the climate, in
three main ways:
• First, fire releases large quantities of carbon into the atmosphere
through the combustion of plant material and surface soil organic matter.
• Second, fire-killed vegetation decomposes over time emitting carbon.
• Third, the vegetation on newly burned sites may not absorb as much
carbon from the atmosphere as the decaying vegetation emits, or as
much as the pre-fire vegetation absorbed, for several years or
decades after a fire.
Forest fire and Climate change
(Satendra and Kaushik, 2014)
5.6

13. Forest fire and Climate change
(Satendra and Kaushik, 2014)
5.6

14. • Increase the soil pH
• Increase in bulk-density of soil.
• Increase hydrophobicity (water repellency), infiltration rate to be decreases and increased
runoff that often results in increased erosion.
• Wildfire can increase electrical conductivity (EC), available P and K, organic N
content; reduce CEC, porosity, total organic carbon (TOC) and soil water content.
• The component of soil texture is also affected by nature and duration of fire, percentage of
sand, silt and clay varied from burned to unburned site at the depth of 0-5cm
• According to study, except of clay%, percentage of Sand and silt are increased from unburned site
(15% , 11%) to burned site (21%, 13%) respectively but the value of clay decreased from unburned
site (74%) to burned site (66%).
Effects of forest fire on soil properties - Case study
(Jhariya & Raj,2014)
Effect on Physical Properties of Soil
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15. • Forest fire can influence the availability of organic carbon
• soil organic matter content in the burnt plots is lower (4.593%, range 2.6-6.1%) than
unburned plots (5.11%, range 2.8-8.2%), concluding that burning decrease the organic
matter content.
• Intense prescribed fire or wildfire can result in a huge loss of soil organic carbon.
• Ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-) are the inorganic forms of nitrogen that originate
during the burning. Because of high temperature, soil macro-nutrients (+/-) are loss through
volatilization as a result of wildfire.
• Wildfire can also influence the C/N ratio (+/-) in somewhat extent. Prescribed burning
reduced the thickness of the forest floor and caused a low C/N ratio . C/N ratio, soil organic
matter content and nutrient availability all increase after burning.
Effects of forest fire on soil property- Case study
Effects on chemical properties of soill
(Jhariya & Raj,2014)
5.6

16. Forest fire: The global scenario
• In 118 countries (having 65 percent of world forest cover)
19.8 million hectare of forest is affected by fire
annually. This area represents less than one percent of
the forest in these countries.
• The largest areas of forest affected by fire are Australia,
United States of America, India and Canada, which all
reported an average of more than 1 million hectares of
forest burnt annually
• The forest area affected by fires is lower in recent years
compared to the period around 1990. Countries such
as Thailand and Indonesia have significantly reduced
the area of forest burnt annually.
• 94 percent of the total forest area affected by fire was
due to wildfires and only 6 percent due to planned fires.
(Satendra & kaushik,2014)
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17. Source: FAO, FRA - 2010
Average area of forest annually affected by fire
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18. (FAO FRA-2010)

19. FOREST FIRE: THE INDIAN SCENARIO
The Himalayan regions and the dry deciduous forests of India, particularly in Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Orissa are ecologically sensitive areas and are most affected by fires.
Forest fires are a major cause of degradation of India's forests. While statistical data on
fire loss are weak, it is estimated that the proportion of forest areas prone to forest fires
annually ranges from 33% in some states to over 90% in other. About 90% of the forest
fires in India are created by humans. The normal fire season in India is from the month of
February to mid June.
Around 50% of the forest areas as fire prone(FSI). Very heavy, heavy and frequent forest
fire damages are noticed only over 0.8%, 0.14% and 5.16% of the forest areas respectively.
Thus, only 6.17% of the forests are prone to severe fire damage. In the absolute term, out
of the 63 million ha. of forests an area of around 3.73 million ha can be presumed to be
affected by fires annually.
01
02
03
5.6

20. •
States Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Assam * ** ** * * X X X X X X *
Andhra
Pradesh
X * ** ** ** * X X X X X X
Bihar X * ** ** ** X X X X X X X
Dadra and
Nagar Haveli
* * ** ** ** * X X X X X X
Gujarat * * ** ** ** * X X X X X X
Haryana * * * ** ** ** X X X * * *
Himachal
Pradesh
* * * ** ** ** X X X * * *
Uttarakhand * * * ** ** ** X X X * * *
Karnataka * ** ** ** * * X X X X * *
Kerala * * ** ** ** * X X X X X *
Maharasthra X * ** ** ** * X X X * * X
Madhya
Pradesh
* * ** ** ** X X X X * * *
Nagaland X * ** * X X X X X X X X
Punjab X * * ** ** ** X X X X X X
Rajasthan * * ** ** ** * X X X X X X
Sikkim * * ** ** * X X X X X X X
Tamil Nadu * ** ** ** ** X X X X X * *
Uttarpradesh * * ** ** ** X X X X X X *
(Satendra & kaushik,2014)
Forest fire season in India (Annual)
5.6

21. Major forest fire in Indian States during 1990-2011
S.no. State/ Year Location Area affected (ha)
1. Uttrakhand, 1995 Uttarakhand hills 3, 75,000
3. Himachal Pradesh,
June 2007
Shimla & Solan Districts 2000 (Reserve
forest)
4. Maharastra,
15 June 2008
Melghat-gugamal National park in
Maharashtra
10000
5. Gujarat ,Feb-09 Gir forest, Gujrat 32.38
6. 2009- March, Maharastra Tadoba Researve forest 50
7. 2009- March, Karnataka Chamundi Hills 20
8. April 2009, Uttarakhand BaHadson Beer 200
9. Uttrakhand, April 2009 Chamoli/Gochar/Devprayag/
Hrishikesh
5
11. Maharashtra , Jan-May2010 Mumbai 10300
12. Nagaland, 18-Feb-10 Tuesang District in
nagaland
4
13. Himachal Pradesh,
Jun-10
Himachal Pradesh 19,109
14. Tamilnadu, 2011 Ooty in Nilgiris 10 hectares
(Reserve forest)
( Satendra & kaushik,2014)

22. Reddy et.al.,2017
Forest burnt area,2014-15

23. Forest fire in Uttarakhand
• In Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh major fires have been
noted in 1911, 1921,1930, 1931, 1939, 1945, 1953, 1954, 1957,
1958, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1995, 1999,
2010, 2012
• This forest fire happened in the month of April to May in
2016.
• The major reasons of forest fire in the hilly region are high fire
fuel material of dry Chirpine needles and dry leaf litter of
other broad leaved trees on the forest floor
Very recently the area also see a gigantic wild
fire in 2016.
( Dobriyal & Bijalwan,2017)

24. Consequences of Fires Reasons of fire
Consequences and reasons of forest fire in Uttarakhand
• Black smoke created from forest fire may
cause glacier melting and leading to
pollution in Perennial River.
• March to May is nesting period to most of
the birds which they lay eggs on grounds
had to lost to them and threat to their
survival.
• The small rains in winter or dry spell of
winter lead to early forest fire with high
intensity. It also change in microclimate and
species composition as most the valuable
herbaceous species lost in fire.
• Butterflies and Moths are equally
susceptible to smoke and fires directly.
• Most of the other wildlife young ones may
gutted in fires.
• High fire material of chir pine needles and
other board leaves trees leaf litter
under chir tree
• Mass migration of the people from the
hilly state to the plain and township leaving
very few families in village.
• The steep sloppy and undulated terrain
and high wind velocity makes much faster
spread of fire within few hours
• The species itself is highly resistant to fire
due to thick bark but its exposed resin ducts
make it prone to fire
( Dobriyal & Bijalwan,2017)

25. Most fire sensitive districts
1. Tehri
4. Pauri
3. Dehradun
2. Nainital

26. (http://gbpihedenvis.nic.in)
Date wise incident by forest fire in Uttarakhand,2016
Maximum
Minimum

27. •The total burned area
was estimated to be 2166 sq. km,
•About 385 sq. km of this area was
outside of the forests mapped by FSI.
•Nearly 87% of the fires occurred in
dense forests.
•The burned area was largely in the
moist deciduous (55.29%) and
subtropical pine forests (29%), and
7.35% of the forest area of the state was
burned in this event
Fire activity from 24 April–2 May 2016
(CURRENT SCIENCE, 2016)
Burned area
District
Total
Geogra-
phic area
Forest
area
Within
forest
Outside
forest
Proportion of
forest
area burned (%)
Almora 3,139 1,583 149.09 52.28 9.42
Bageshwar 2,246 1,363 212.02 13.62 15.56
Chamoli 8,030 2,681 50.00 14.96 1.87
Champawat 1,766 1,184 79.77 16.74 6.74
Dehra Dun 3,088 1,602 89.90 3.45 5.61
Haridwar 2,360 588 45.67 1.20 7.77
Nainital 4,251 3,004 323.66 18.99 10.77
Pauri Garhwal 5,329 3,269 496.65 105.02 15.19
Pithoragarh 7,090 2,102 201.49 106.50 9.59
Rudraprayag 1,984 1,130 14.93 3.90 1.32
Tehri Garhwal 3,642 2,156 112.75 40.34 5.23
Udham Singh
Nagar 2,542 506 4.49 7.44 0.89
Uttarakashi 8,016 3,072
-
5.6

28. (http://gbpihedenvis.nic.in)
Incident and area affected by forest fire in different
districts of Uttarakhand
5.6

29. Forest fire management
Monitoring requirements-
Pre-Fire: Preparatory planning for Fire control
During Fire: Detection of Fire and Fire spread, and
control planning
Post Fire: Damage assessment and mitigation
planning
Protection against Forest Fire-
Protection against fire has three major stages-
1. Detection of fire by information collection by early warning
system, forest fire risk zonation modeling methods.
2. Preparedness of the administration in the sense of equipments,
skills, transport links, machinery and personnel.
3. Control and monitoring mechanism as per needs for preventing
spread of fire.
(CHOWDHARY, R.,2016)
5.6

30. Pre fire season preparation
5.6

31. A. Pre-Fire Season Preparations:
• Rotational Burning/Controlled Burning of Forest Floor
Litter
• Clearing of Fire line
• Approval of District Fire Management Plan
• Awareness Generation Programmes
• Master Control Room (MCR)
• Crew Stations
• Watch Towers
• Wireless Communication Network
• Satellite Based Information System
B. Forest Fire Management During
Fire Season
• Detection of Fire Incidence
• Acton by the Local
Crew Station/Mobile Team
• Continuations of Awareness
Campaign (CHOWDHURY R.,2016
5.6

32. Measures adopted by Forest
Department to Control the
Situation:
• Clearing of Forest Floors & maintenance of
Fire-lines
• Setting up of control Rooms
• Extension Activities to get Co-operation of
Local People
• Training and Capacity Building
• Extent of Fire-Prone Areas and Activities
undertaken under Fire Management Plan
(CHOWDHURY RENUKA,2016)
5.6

33. Major Constraints
Inadequate infrastructure
1
Training and Capacity Building
2
Extent of Fire-Prone Areas and Activities
undertaken under Fire Management Plan
3
5.6

34. SUMMARY
• Forests play a very significant role in keeping the ecological balance of nature and
protecting environment favorable for survival and growth of life.
• Of special priority is the prevention of wildfires caused by socio-economic
changes in the land use, traditional practices of burning for agricultural and
farming purposes.
• Prevention needs a continuous management that integrates among many other
activities fuel treatment, silvicultural measures and prescribed burning planning.
•Wildfire management need to be considered as a long term policy by the decision
makers.
5.6

35. MZCET/EEE/V Sem/MX3084_DRRM/Unit 5
REFERENCE
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-006-9070-8
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13753-009-0003-5
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877050910
005680
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13753-006-0004-7
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13753-006-0004-7