What is Disaster
A serious disruption of the functioning of a
community of 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. (Definition by UN)
“A Catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area
arising from natural or man made causes, or by accidents or
negligence which result in substantial loss of life or human suffering
or damage to, and destruction of property, or damage to, or
degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature magnitude as to
be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected
area.” (DM Act, 2005)
Perception of Disasters
18th century and before : God’s punishment for sins
committed by the whole community
19th and 20th century: Acts of nature …hence call for
quake resistant buildings and river embankments
Today: Disaster’s are,
at least partly, the results of human action against
nature…Hence we talk about a holistic approach
Hazard DISASTER Vulnerability
A dangerous condition or event or A Condition or set of conditions that
occurrence that threatens or have the reduces people's ability to prepare for ,
potential to cause disruption / damage / withstand and respond to disaster.
injury to life , infrastructure and
services, property and environment. Conditions like:
• Ignorance,
• poverty,
Example: Earthquake, landslide, • lack of information,
cyclone, floods, volcanic eruptions, • Incompatible change
war etc. • inadequacy etc…
adds to the severity of a Disaster.
vulnerable conditions can turn
a situation into a risk or possibility of
Disaster in any area.
What causes these hazards to become disaster..???
Human intervention
Lack of information Poor workmanship
Geographical location,
Lack of maintenance
What causes these hazards to become disaster..???
Vulnerability as Vulnerability as
a a
Product Process
Exposure to one or Degree of increase
more hazards at or decrease in
one time various indicators
Underlying Causes
DISASTER
Capacity
A hazard turns into a disaster when people in
the danger zone are vulnerable and do not
have the capacity to cope with the impact of
the hazard.
Capacities are those positive conditions
or abilities which increases a
community’s ability to deal with hazard.
Decrease in capacity leads to increase in vulnerability and vice- versa
Vulnerability Capacity
Disaster Risk
Risk
A probability that a community’s structure or geographical 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.
Its about future based on the present
Relationship between Risk and Disaster
Risk Disaster
Risk Disaster
Disaster
Risks
Risk Risk
Disaster Disaster
Risk of Disaster Risk from Disaster
Primary Building or Site Disaster
Hazard Risk
Potential Impact
Vulnerability
Factors
Secondary Secondary
Hazards Hazards
Disaster Risk Management
DRM is about identifying, analyzing risks & deciding what to do about them.
DRM is comprehensive strategy for reducing threats and
consequences to public health and safety by:
Preventive exposure to hazard = target HAZARD
Reducing vulnerabilities = target COMMUNITY
Developing capacities = target RESPONSE AGENCIES
Disaster Risk Management Cycle
Natural and Human –induced Events
• Momentary Natural Geological Events e.g. earthquake, volcanic eruption,
landslides
• Meteorological Events such as cyclones, lightening, fires, drought,
avalanche etc.
• Oceanographic Events such as Tsunami
• Hydrological Events such as floods
• Biological Event such as epidemic
• Technological Event such as explosion, structural collapse, release of
toxic materials, global warming, pollution
• Social/anthropogenic events such as terrorism, political conflict, war etc.
• Environmental Hazards-Environmental pollution, Deforestation, Pest Infestation
Major events on World map
The Question???
We’re going to live where we want to live, whether that choice is
predicated by personal reasons or cultural and societal traditions.
We live in architecture, and that architecture must respond to many
climatic, aesthetic, and a myriad of other factors, but just as
important it must also respond to the threat of impending natural
disasters.
Buildings will sometimes fail. The building code does not
require a building that is impervious to destruction, but
rather designing and constructing a building to its
requirements enables a building to stand long enough for all
the occupants to vacate the building before it collapses.
Assignment 1 : Hazard Mapping -India
Plot the following disaster occurrences in India on map:
Fire
Flood
Earthquake
Cyclones
Landslides
Theft, Arson, Terrorism
Epidemics
Give brief description of each event and support your data with source of
information.
WORKING GROUP: 4
FORMAT: Map of India – A2 size butter sheet, Supporting document – A4
size.
