Unit 1 & 2 (Basics)
Objectives of Disaster Management
1) The world over disaster management is seen as evolving process. There cannot be a
single model or approach towards management of disasters.
2) Thus the objective of disaster management comprises six elements: the pre-disaster
phase includes prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
3) While the post disaster phase includes response, rehabilitation, reconstruction and
recovery.
4) The actions taken to address a specific disaster vary depending on the hazard, four
objectives of disaster management apply to every situation:
Reduce Damages and Deaths
Reduce Personal Suffering
Speed Recovery
Protect Victims
Basically, the main objective of disaster management is to reduce the damage. However,
there are several objectives are integrated with it. Those are:
1. Identifying the hazard and its cause.
2. Reducing vulnerability and potential losses of hazard.
3. Assessing, reviewing and controlling the risk.
4. Applying efficient, effective, sustainable relief (food, shelter and money), medical and
other facilities in disaster affected people thus they can survive.
5. Reducing the damage, death, sufferings and destruction of any natural and human
induced disaster.
6. Giving protection to victims.
7. Increasing the strength among people to survive against disasters.
8. Building up capacity in every sector like- individual, social, economic, environmental,
regional, national and international.
9. Ensuring the availability of local emergency equipment and transportation.
Scope of the Disaster Management
Disaster management covers a much broader scope, and many modern disaster managers
may find themselves far more involved in pre-disaster activities than in post-disaster
response. Those are
1) The refugee field of disaster management is highly specialized and requires not only
many development skills but also a broader awareness of political, legal, and
humanitarian issues.
2) DM aims and objectives, elements, Natural/man-made Disasters,
3) Victims, Relief Systems,
4) Phases of Disaster Response/Relief Operations, Government’s Role,
5) Refugee Assistance Models,
6) Prevention and Mitigation Tools, PreparednessTools,
7) Tools of Post-Disaster Management, Mapping,
8) Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing,
9) Information Management,
10) Logistics, Epidemiology.
What is Disaster ?
a) Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss and destruction and
devastation to life and property.
b) The damage caused by disasters is immeasurable and varies with the geographical
location, climate and the type of the earth surface / degree of vulnerability.
c) This influences the mental, socio-economic, political and cultural state of the affected
area.
Types of Disaster
1. Natural Disaster
2. Man Made Disaster
Natural Disaster
• Natural Disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause loss of life, injury or
other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and
economic disruption, or environmental damage.
TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTER
I. Wind Related:- Storm ,Cyclone ,Tornado , Storm Surge and Tidal waves.
II. Water Related:- Flood ,Cloudburst , Flash Flood , Excessive and Drought.
III. Earth Related:- Earthquake, Tsunamis , Avalanches , landslides and Volcanic eruptions.
Man Made Disaster
• A disastrous event caused directly and principally by one or more identifiable deliberate
or negligent human actions.
Types OF Man Made Disaster
i. Accidents:- Road , Rail , Air , Sea and building collapse.
ii. Industrial Mishaps:- Gas Leak ,Explosion , Sabotage ,and Safety breach • Fire:- Building ,
Coal and Oil.
iii. Forest Fire:- Most forest fires are man made • Poisoning :-Food, Water ,Illicit Liquor and
Epidemic
iv. Terrorists Activities :-Destructive activities by terrorists
v. Ecological:-Pollution ,Soil degradation , loss of biodiversity, Global Warming, Sea level
rise, Toxic wastes an nuclear accidents.
vi. Warfare:- Conventional, Chemical and nuclear
Disaster Management
• Disaster Management can be defined as the organization and management of resources
and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in
particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters.
Disaster Management Cycle
I. Mitigation: Measures put in place to minimize the results from a disaster. Examples:
building codes and zoning; vulnerability analyses; public education.
II. Preparedness: Planning how to respond. Examples: preparedness plans; emergency
exercises/training; warning systems.
III. Response: Initial actions taken as the event take s place. It involves efforts to minimize
the hazard s created by a disaster. Examples: evacuation; search and rescue; emergency
relief.
IV. Recovery: Returning the community to normal. Ideally, the affected area should be put
in a condition equal to or better than it was before the disaster too k place.
Examples: temporary housing; grants; medical care.
What is hazard?
A hazard is a situation or an occurrence with capacity to bring damages to lives, properties
and environment.
Hazards can include latent conditions that may represent future threats and can have
different origins: natural ( geological, hydrometeorological, and biological) or induced by
human processes (environmental degradation and technological hazards
Types of Hazard
A. Natural Hazards
B. Human Made Hazards
C. Combination or Socionatural Hazards
Natural Hazards
• Natural phenomena that pose threats or cause negative impacts to people and property .
Examples are: Typhoon, storm surge, floods, drought, red tide, pestilence and fire.
Human Made Hazards
Includes civil conflict, displacement due to development projects, environmental
degradation, industrial technological hazards like leakage of toxic wastes, oil spill, fish kills,
nuclear, gaseous, chemical contamination, famine, drought, fires and flood.
Combination or Socionatural Hazards
Flooding and drought can fall under this category if these are due to deforestation. Most
events are combinations of both natural and human-made factors. Typhoons are natural
hazards that can also cause flash floods. At the same time, environmental degradation like
excessive and illegal logging can also be a cause of flash floods
Vulnerability
The concept of vulnerability comes from many aspects, specifically, those that arise
from various social, economic, physical, and environmental factors.
Examples may include poor design and construction of buildings, inadequate protection of
assets and lack of public awareness, limited official recognition of risks and preparedness
measures, and disregard for wise environmental management.
Physical/ Material Vulnerability
1) Location or type of housing/building materials
2) Land, water, animals, capital, other means of production.
3) Infrastructure and services: roads, health facilities, schools, electricity, communications,
transport, housing etc.
4) Human capital: population, mortality, diseases, nutritional status, literacy, numeracy,
poverty levels.
5) Environment factors: forestation, soil quality, and erosion
Social/Organizational Vulnerability
a) Family structure (weak/strong)
b) Leadership qualities and structure
c) Legislation
d) Administrative structures and institutional arrangements
e) Decision-making structures
f) Participation levels
g) Divisions and conflicts: ethnic, class caste, religion, ideology, political groups, language
groups, and structures for mediating conflicts
h) Degree of justice, equality, access to political processes.
i) Community organizations: formal; informal; traditional; governmental; progressive.
j) Relationship to government
k) Isolation and connectedness
Environmental Vulnerability:
Natural resource depletion and resource degradation are key aspects of environmental
vulnerability.
Example: Wetlands, such as the Caroni Swamp, are sensitive to increasing salinity from sea
water, and pollution from storm water runoff containing agricultural chemicals, eroded soils,
etc.
What Is Risk ?
The probability that a community’s structure or geographic area is to be damaged or
disrupted by the impact of a particular hazard, on account of their nature, construction, and
proximity to a hazardous area.
Risk is a function of threats exploiting vulnerabilities to obtain, damage or destroy assets.
Thus, threats (actual, conceptual, or inherent) may exist, but if there are no vulnerabilities
then there is little/no risk.
Key Concept of Risk
Relationship Between Risk & Vulnerability
Risk is essentially the level of possibility that an action or activity will lead to lead to a loss or
to an undesired outcome, when
‘vulnerability’ is a weakness that makes one susceptible to an attack, a loss or an undesired
outcome.
Impacts of Disaster (Physical)
1. Injuries
2. Death
3. Physical disability
4. Burns
5. Epidemic
6. Weakness/uneasiness
7. Physical illness
8. Sanitation
9. Miscarriage
10. Reproductive health
11. Fatigue, Loss of Sleep
12. Loss of Appetite
Impacts of Disaster (Economic)
1. Loss of life
2. Unemployment
3. Loss of Livelihood
4. Loss of property/Land
5. Loss of household articles
6. Loss of crops
7. Loss of Public Infrastructure
Impacts of Disaster (Social)
1. Change in individual’s role
2. Disruption of social fabric
3. Isolation
4. Change in marital status
5. Domestic violence
6. Orphans
7. Single parent children
8. Family & social disorganization
9. Migration
10. Life style changes
11. Breakdown of traditional Social Status
Prevention
I. Prevention is defined as those activities taken to prevent a natural phenomenon or
potential hazard from having harmful effects on either people or economic assets.
II. Delayed actions drain the economy and the resources for emergency response within a
region.
III. For developing nations, prevention is perhaps the most critical components in
managing disasters, however, it is clearly one of the most difficult to promote.
Preventive Measures
1. Prevention planning is based on two issues: hazard identification (identifying the actual
threats facing a community) and vulnerability assessment (evaluating the risk and
capacity of a community to handle the consequences of the disaster).
2. Once these issues put in order of priority, emergency managers can determine the
appropriate prevention strategies.
