IT’S A DISASTER

Disaster is “a sudden, calamitous occurrence that causes great harm,injury,destruction, and

devastation to life and property”. It disrupts the usual course of life, causing both physical and
emotional distress such as an intense feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. A preceding definition of
disaster stresses that two elements are affected – life (whether human or animal) and property. The
effects vary-it maybe a minor damage (like broken window sand doors), major damage (like torn
rooftops, collapsed walls),total destruction (like completely destroyed houses and structures rendering
them useless and inhabitable) and the worst scenario, it can lead to death.(Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center,ADPC,2012)

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2008),disaster is “a serious disruption
of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or
environmental losses andimpacts,which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope
using its own resources”.

Any adverse episode or phenomenon can exploit a vulnerability in the affected population or
community to create damage and this awareness will form the basis for an adequate intervention.

Meanwhile, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines disaster as
a serious disruption of the functioning of community or a society involving widespread
human,material,economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the
affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

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.

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.

Classification of Disasters:

Disasters can be divided into 2 large categories:

A. Natural Disasters – 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.

B. Man-made – Disasters caused by man are those in which major direct causes are identifiable
intentional or non-intentional human actions.

Subdivided into three categories:

1.Technological/industrial disasters – 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

2. 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

3. Complex humanitarian emergencies – the term complex emergency is usually used to describe 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 isolate din 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

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

Risk and Disaster Risk

Risk has various connotations within different disciplines. In general, risk is defined as “the
combination of the probability of an event and its negative consequences” (UNISDR, 2009). The term
risk is thus multidisciplinary and is used in a variety of contexts. It is usually associated with the degree
to which humans cannot cope (lack of capacity) with a situation (e.g. natural hazard).

The term disaster risk refers to the potential (not actual and realized)disaster losses, in lives, health
status, livelihoods, assets, and services which could occur in a community or society over some specified
future time period.

Disaster risk is 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 (of a particular magnitude) would
affect communities differently(Von Kotze, 1999:35).

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.

RISK FACTORS

Disaster risk as defined in the first module, has three important elements such as:

1.Exposure – the “elements at risk from a natural or man-made hazard event(Quebral,2016).

2.Hazard-a potentially dangerous physical occurrence,phenomenon or human activity that may result in
loss of life or injury, property damage, social andeconomic disruption, or environmental degradation.

3.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, FAO2008).

Reduction of the level of vulnerability and exposure is possible by keeping people and property
as distant as possible from hazards. We can not avoid natural events from occurring, but we can
concentrate on addressing the reduction of risk and exposure by determining the factors causing
disasters.

Risk Factors are processes or conditions, often development-related, that influence the level of
disaster risk by increasing levels of exposure and vulnerability or reducing capacity.

The following are also taken into consideration when risk factors underlying disaster are involved:

Severity of exposure -which 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.

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

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

Magbool,Irfan,Asian Disaster Preparedness Center,ADPC,31 December 2012

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.

Factors which underlie disasters:

1. Climate Change – can increase disaster risk in a variety of ways -by altering the frequency and
intensity of hazards events, affecting vulnerability to hazards, and changing exposure patterns.
For most people, the expression “climate change” means the alteration of the world’s climate
that we humans are causing such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and other practices that
increase the carbon footprint a concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is in
line with the office definition by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change(UNFCCC) that climate change is 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”
2. Environmental Degradation – changes to the environment can influence the frequency and
intensity of hazards, as well as our exposure and vulnerability to these hazards. 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). It is both a driver and
consequence of disasters, reducing the capacity of the environment to meet social and
ecological needs. 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.

3. 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).

4. 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. 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 30years 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).

5. Poorly planned and Managed Urban Development-A new wave of urbanization is unfolding in
hazard-exposed countries and with it, new opportunities for resilient investment emerge.
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.

6. 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). 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 inUNISDR,2015a). This reflects how risk is valued against a backdrop of broader
social and economic concerns (Holley et al.,2011).

Certain factors are related to a survivor’s background and recovery is hampered if survivors: were
nonfunctioning well before the disaster; have no experience dealing with disasters; must deal with other
stressors after the disaster; have low self-esteem; feel uncared for by others; think they exercise little
control over what happens to them; and unable to manage stress.

More factors contributory to worse outcomes: death of someone close; injury to self or family
member; life threat; panic, horror, or similar feelings; separation from family; massive loss of property;
and displacement.

A disaster is a damaging event that occurs suddenly and involves loss of life and property. It can be
of two types, natural and man-made.

Natural disasters can destroy a whole community in an instant. Examples of natural disasters are
volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, and typhoons which are destructive to people’s lives.

Man-made disasters on the other hand are caused by human beings. Some of the man-made
disasters are bomb explosions, terrorism, wars, leakage of poisonous chemicals, pollutions, industrial
accidents, and epidemics. They are identified as man- made disasters because they happen due to
human actions and not by natural forces.

What is the difference between hazard and disaster?

A hazard is a dangerous situation or event that carries a threat to humans. A disaster is an event that
harms humans and disrupts the operations of society. Hazards can only be considered disasters once it
affected humans. If a disaster happened in an unpopulated area, it is still a hazard.

The Human Effect of Natural and Man-Made Disasters

1. Displaced Populations

One of the most immediate effects of natural disasters is population displacement. When countries
are ravaged by earthquakes or other powerful forces of nature, many people need to abandon their
homes and seek shelter in other regions. A large influx of refugees can disrupt accessibility of health care
and education, as well as food supplies and clean water.

2.Health Risks

Aside from the obvious immediate danger that natural disasters present, the secondary effect can
be just as damaging. Severe flooding can result in stagnant water that allows breeding of waterborne
bacteria and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Without emergency relief from international aid
organizations and others, death tolls can rise even after the immediate danger has passed.
 3.Food Scarcity

The aftermath of natural disasters affects the food supplies. Thousands of people around the world
are hungry because of destroyed crops and loss of agricultural supplies, whether it happens suddenly in
a storm or gradually in a drought. As a result, food prices rise reducing families ‘purchasing power and
increasing the risk of severe malnutrition or worse. The impacts of hunger following an earthquake,
typhoon or hurricane can be tremendous, causing lifelong damage to children’s development.

4.Emotional Aftershocks

Natural disasters can be particularly traumatic for young children. Confronted with scenes of
destruction and the deaths of friends and loved ones, many children develop post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), a serious psychological condition resulting from extreme trauma. Left untreated,
children suffering from PTSD can be prone to lasting psychological damage and emotional distress.

The Different Perspectives of Disaster

1.Physical perspective

Calamities are phenomena that cause great physical damage in a community infrastructure, its
people and their properties, e.g. houses and environmental sources of living. These cited effects of a
disaster can be easily measured and the most common.

Natural disasters generally affect the physical infrastructural facilities, agricultural productivity
and even lead to loss of life and cause damage to property. Various factors influence the effects of a
disaster on a country among them are the magnitude of the disaster, the geography of the area
affected, and the recovery efforts directed towards reducing the immediate effects of a disaster.

Effects of Physical Disasters

 Injuries
 Physical disabilities or illness
 Sanitation
 Damage in infrastructure

2.Psychological Perspective

Victims of disasters may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)and other serious
mental health conditions, which are not being given much attention to by the authorities or even by the
victims, themselves. (This may be sensitive statement)

Disasters are mostly unpredictable, which leave the victims in a state of shock. They tend to
deny the loss and try to escape from reality. Being in a denial state makes the victims more vulnerable to
stress, anxiety, and other different maladaptive reactions. Death of a closed one also leaves the victim in
a state of insecurity because the sense of love, attachment and belongingness are deprived.

Psychological effects of a Disaster:

  Distress
 Hopelessness
 Intrusion/avoidance
 Emotional effects
 Hatred/revenge
 Cognitive Effects
 Dependence/insecurities
 Physical Effects
 Grief/withdrawn/isolation
 Interpersonal effect
 Guilt feeling
 Helplessness
 Lack of trust

3.Socio-cultural Perspective

Filipinos are generally known as “matiisin”, resourceful, helpful, optimistic, and prayerful. These
characteristics are manifested in the country’s recent fight against COVID19.Due to the National Health
Emergency, Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) prevailed in the whole country. A lot of people
temporarily lost their jobs, some people stranded in different regions, repatriated OFWs were held in
different quarantine facilities in Metro Manila, and all people were restricted to go out of their homes
for months. As a result, most Filipino families would rely on government’s help for them to get by.
However, limited resources and aids from the government make people find possible ways to survive
amid the pandemic.

These traits help a lot of Filipinos to survive the challenge of COVID19 in the country. To people
who are used to natural calamities like typhoons, flashfloods, and volcanic eruptions most citizen would
find contentment with what they have at the moment. The culture of “malalampasan din natin
‘to..”belief and“ bahala na ang Diyos” syndrome give hope to most Filipino in the midst of a disaster.
Such perspective helps a lot especially those who belong to the marginalized sector to be hopeful and
continue fighting against any challenge at hand. Their belief that a help from someone or from God
would arrive at a time they most needed. It also helps most people survive a lot of oddities in life.

Socio-Cultural Effect of Disasters

 Change in individual roles

 Disruption of social relationships and personal connections

4.Economic Perspective

Disasters affect the economic condition of a community because they reduce local and
international trade. It can also partially or totally paralyze a country’s transportation system, just like
what happened in the COVID19 pandemic.
 Implementation of a partial and total shut down of local business operations result to a lot of
people losing means of living.

Economic Effects of Disasters

 Loss of life
 Unemployment
 Loss of property
 Loss of household articles
 Loss of crops
 Loss of public infrastructure

5. Political Perspective

Natural disasters are commonly thought to be less politically argumentative than armed
conflicts, yet a closer look shows that both the effects of a natural disaster and the resulting distribution
of humanitarian aid are profoundly linked to politics.

Just as vulnerability to disasters is mediated by the political system of a country, disasters can
have major consequences for political stability and political legitimacy (Hörhager, July 2017. Since
agencies of government have a significant role to play in directing disaster preparedness, prevention and
recovery. Social systems establish vulnerability to natural disasters and governments are often
considered to be responsible for the disaster effects.

Political Effects of a Disaster

 People who have trust in political institution will assess the Government’s risk assessments as
credible and accept their hazard Policies (Johnson 1999).
 Low level of trust in public institutions therefore means that citizens may ignore the
recommendations and disregard the information provided by these institutions (McCaffey
2004).
 If individuals are confident that they will receive sufficient aid from the government when a
disaster occurs, they might not be motivated to take measures on their own (King and Kang
2000).

6.Biological Perspective

The disturbing effects caused by a prevalent kind of disease or virus in an epidemic or pandemic
level is known as biological disaster.

(a) Epidemic Level: Biological disaster affects large numbers of people within a given
community or area. Ex: Dengue.
(b) Pandemic Level: Biological disaster affects a much large region, sometime spanning
entire continents or the globe

Ex. Swine Flue

Biological disasters can wipe out an entire population at a short span of time.

Example of it is the COVID19 pandemic which infected millions in less than a month and left
thousands of deaths in the same duration. Viral respiratory infections can lead to anything from a mild
cough that lasts a few weeks or months to full-blown persistent wheezing or asthma (Martin, 2020). He
added that when there is a severe respiratory infection, recovery can be prolonged with a general
increase in shortness of breath-even after normal lung function returns. Since COVID19 is a respiratory
disease, the public is advised by health authorities to do health precaution to prevent social
contamination. Examples are: observing physical distancing, appropriate washing of the hands, wearing
of mask at all times once outside of one’s home, and boosting one’s immune system.

COVID19 patients who have strong immune system can likely soon recover from the disease.
Also, those who follow the health precaution strictly have less chance of being infected. As such, the
effects of a biological disaster can be reduced.

Effects of Biological Disasters

 Loss of lives
 Public demobilization
 Negative economic effect
 Unemployment
 Hunger

Vulnerability Defined

Vulnerability is a state of being at risk. According to Republic Act 10121 also known as
‘Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010’, vulnerability is defined as the
characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or resource that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of a hazard. With all the identified hazard at home, there is a possibility that some
family members might be susceptible or prone to the accident due to the presence of hazard.

Vulnerability is also situation specific. This means that if a specific province is prone to
earthquake, it does not mean that all localities on that province is vulnerable to it. The vulnerability of
different towns or cities or even provinces differ in the way they prepare for the hazard and the amount
and type of resources they have in order prevent and manage it. To lessen vulnerability means to make
the community prepared and ready for the possible damaging effect of the hazard. This further means
that to make the community less vulnerable, it must be resilient. So, to develop resiliency at home, you
should first identify the hazards and be prepared all the time for the possible outcome and respond
immediately.

Moreover, it is also hazard specific. A community that is vulnerable to earthquake hazard does
not necessarily mean that it is also vulnerable to typhoons. Hazards have different traits that can
influence the disasters possible to happen.
 Level of vulnerability of an area or community can be assessed base on different factors. These
factors can affect one another or can lead to other factors.

Factors affecting vulnerability of one’s community:

1.Population density near a hazard event.

 Population differs from population density.

 Population refers to the number of individuals inhabiting in a particular space at the same time.
If people are well distributed, there is lesser effect of disaster.
 Population density refers to the number of individuals living in an area in relation to the size of
an area. If population density is high, it means that the number of individuals is high but the
space is very small. In that case, if fire broke in that area, there is little space for the population
to escape quickly and easily. So, crowded communities have higher vulnerability to hazards.
 The primary consideration is not the population size but the population density.

2.Capacity and efficiency to reduce Disaster Risk.

 Community that is less vulnerable has the capacity to reduce Disaster risk because;

1. It can provide accessibility and availability of services and facilities during and after disaster.

2. It has the ability to anticipate, adapt, and respond to possible disaster.

 Is it appropriate to say that The Philippines is less vulnerable to typhoon? Nowadays, our
country has advanced technology to predict super typhoon and several municipalities already
provided evacuation centers to provide temporary housing for victims when disaster occur.

Vulnerabilities of different elements are determined due to its exposure to particular and specific
hazard.

Physical vulnerability includes population density levels, place of a settlement, the site design,
and materials used for infrastructure and housing. When hazardous events occur, normally physical
elements are severely damaged. For example, UP Visayas buildings were totally destroyed during the
super typhoon Yolanda in 2008 leaving the structure totally damaged. Another example is the decreased
in population density like what happened in Baguio during the 1990 earthquake in North Luzon when a
lot of people were injured and died.

Social vulnerability happens due to inability of people, organization, and societies to prevent
severe effects from hazards because of the expected behavior in social interactions, institutions, and
system of cultural values. For example, during typhoon the line of communications were cut off when
cell sites shutdown or disruption of transport system due to inability of small vehicles to pass through
the flooded areas or unpassable roads and bridges. With some difficulties in the delivery of services such
as relief goods and medicines, a lot of problems occurred like shortage of food and spread of infectious
diseases. Therefore, when social elements were exposed to hazard, these may lead to disruption of
normal processes and activities in the community.

Level of economic vulnerability is based on the economic status of individuals, communities,

and nations. The poorer the country, the more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the funds or
budgets to build sturdy structures and put other engineering measures in place which protect them
from being affected by disasters. So, we can say that Philippines is more vulnerable to an event such as
earthquake compared to Japan. Though both countries are exposed to earthquake hazard because both
are located in the Pacific ring of fire, but due to differences in economic status, Japan is more resilient
because of its ability to afford changes in architectural and engineering designs of building and
infrastructures to make them less vulnerable to earthquake. Another example is the Covid-19 pandemic
wherein the most affected are those who belong to low income and informal workers.

Social and economic vulnerability can be combined also known Socioeconomic vulnerability.

Environmental vulnerability is caused by natural resources depletion and destruction.

Organisms like humans, animals, and plants are all dependent on the environment for survival. Human
activities like deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, and kaingin affect the natural abilities of the
environment to protect itself from any natural hazard due to absence of trees which may cause
landslide and flashfloods. Sometimes the effects are irreversible.

Quantifying vulnerability is used in estimating how much mitigation and preparedness measures
will be applied. Computation is based on the previous hazard events and severity of their effects.
Vulnerability can be expressed as: 0 = lowest degree of vulnerability and 1 as the highest degree.
Vulnerability of people is the ratio of casualties or injured to the total population. Vulnerability of
buildings is expressed as a repair cost or degree of damage.

The Philippines has high vulnerability due to the following reasons:

 It lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we are visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year.
 Rugged nature of the landscape makes it vulnerable to landslide, mudflows, and other disasters.
 It is an archipelagic country with many small islands where some areas are at below seadisaster
 It has the longest shoreline in the world at 32,400 km making
 It vulnerable to storm surges. It is still a primary agricultural and fishing economy.
 With poor institutional and social capacity to manage, respond, and recover from natural hazard
events.
 With high level of poverty
 Aside from typhoon, it is also at risk to volcanic eruptions, quakes, and floods.
DEFINING HAZARD, VULNERABILITY AND RISK

Hazard is a harmful condition, substance, human behavior or condition that can cause loss of
life, injury or other health effects, harm to property, loss of livelihood and services, social and economic
disruption or damage to the environment. Any risk which is imminent is threat.

Exposure is the presence of elements at risk or chance of being harmed from a natural or man-
made hazard event. Elements include the individuals, households or communities, properties, buildings
and structures, agricultural commodities, livelihoods, and public facilities, infrastructures and
environmental assets present in an area that are subject to potential damage or even losses. The more a
community is exposed to hazard factors, the higher is the disaster risk or higher chance disaster
occurrence.

Vulnerability means the characteristics and circumstances of a community , system, or asset,

that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard and inability of a community to prevent,
mitigate, prepare for and respond to hazardous events.

Risk implies the probability of possible adverse effects. This results from the interaction of social
and environmental systems, from the combination of physical danger, and exposed item vulnerabilities.

Disaster is a serious disruption to the functioning of a community or society which causes

widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses that exceed the capacity of the
community or society concerned to cope with the use of their own resources. It results from the mix of
hazards, risk conditions and inadequate capability or measures.

Exposure and vulnerability, on the other hand, are distinct. A certain community can be
exposed but it does not mean that it is vulnerable. Buildings and structures in Japan are exposed to
earthquake, but they are not vulnerable since their architectural and engineering designs are
earthquake proof or resistant. However, to become vulnerable, it must be exposed to hazard first.

Exposure to hazard can make a community vulnerable. But not all communities that are exposed
to hazard can be considered vulnerable. Vulnerability depends on the preparedness and readiness to a
hazard of the community. It depends mostly on how they mitigate, respond, and recover. If a certain
community has the ability to reduce the vulnerability by reducing the risk, the said community is already
considered as less vulnerable or resilient.
Disaster mitigation measures are
those that eliminate or reduce the
impacts and risks of hazards by means of
proactive measures taken before an
emergency or disaster takes place.
Mitigation is the action of reducing
something’s severity, seriousness, or
painfulness.