[DISASTER MANAGEMENT][Unit-1]

MILAN S. SHAH

Milan Subhashchandra Shah

Disaster management

Introduction-

A disaster is the result of an immediate situation OR result of a long set process which disrupts normal human life in its established social, traditional & economic system.

This is due to the destruction of environment which is caused by extraordinary natural destruction phenomena OR man-made.

Meaning-

In simple meaning-it is the situation in which large numbers of people death, loss OR damage of property, disturb whole routine life of people.

Example-Earthquake in Gujarat on 26 January, 2001 A disaster comes suddenly & makes too much loss or damage of property of

people. The word disaster come from French word “desastre” – “des” & “astro” which

means bad OR evil star. A disaster also makes huge losses on business & large number of business can’t be

run after disaster.

Definition-

According to oxford dictionary- “disaster is a sudden or great misfortune, calamity.”

Simple Language:

“Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss & destruction & devastation to life & property.”

Features OR Characteristics of Disaster:

“A serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing widespread human, material OR environmental losses which exceed the ability of society to cope by using its own resources.”

A disaster may be following features:

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Milan Subhashchandra Shah1. Unpredictability2. Unfamiliarity3. Speed4. Urgency5. Uncertainty6. Threat

In details,

Unpredictability:

All types of disaster i.e. natural or manmade which cannot predict. Unpredictable is related with time period when a disaster event occurs? Any person can’t say the period of disaster when it takes place. A disaster comes suddenly without giving warning i.e. day or night.

Ex. Tsunami in japan was totally unpredictable.

Unfamiliarity:

All types of disaster which are always unfamiliar with people because when disasters occur, it bring loss or damage of property of people, disturb whole routine life of people, large number of people loss their life. In short, when any type of disaster always bring with negative impact on people life & so people always unfamiliar with the situation of disaster.

Ex. Earthquake in Gujarat on 26 January, 2001 brings with loss or damage of property & large number of people lost their life.

Speed:

As in the definition of disaster, it is situation come sudden. All types of disaster come with speedy without warning.

Ex. Earthquake in Gujarat on 26 January, 2001 came with too much speed that at first movement people can’t said its earthquake but later the surface of earth which is too much trembling so people judged that “it is earthquake”

Urgency:

“Urgency means something is very important & need you take quick action.” All types of disaster situation which are important due to negative impact on people’s life & so it’s require quick action plane also.

Ex. Tsunami in japan – it was important & it was take quick action plan to reduce its negative impact on life’s of people.

Uncertainty:

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Milan Subhashchandra ShahAll types of disaster are uncertain in nature. It cannot say that 5 Richter scale earthquake take 500 people life , not say that come in January. In short the time factor & damages of property is always uncertain.

Threat:

Disasters, all types of, it create threat to people, structure & environment because when disaster occurs people so much scare about it & it create threat in corner of people’ mind.

EX. Flood in Surat, it is creating one type of threat about flood in mind of surat peoples.

Distinguishing between an emergency and a disaster situation

An emergency and a disaster are two different situations:

An emergency is a situation in which the community is capable of coping. It is a situation generated by the real or imminent occurrence of an event that requires immediate attention and that requires immediate attention of emergency resources.

A disaster is a situation in which the community is incapable of coping. It is a natural or human-caused event which causes intense negative impacts on people, goods, services and/or the environment, exceeding the affected community’s capability to respond; therefore the community seeks the assistance of government and international agencies.

Types of Disasters:

Disasters are classified under various groups when studied according to origin OR From functional angle.

Although both types of disasters (natural OR man made) result in damage to life & property, their distinction can be identified by classifying into major groups:

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Milan Subhashchandra Shah

Natural Disaster:

These types of disaster naturally occur & pose a threat to people, structure, or economic assets. They are caused by biological, geological, seismic, hydrological, or meteorological (related to the scientific study of weather) conditions or processes in the natural environment.

Wind Related:Storm:

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Milan Subhashchandra Shah Sometimes storm blow very speedy at 70 speeds. This type of disaster makes loss or damage of properties of people. This disaster makes negative impact on people’s life.

Cyclones, Hurricanes or Typhoons (violate storm):

Cyclones develop when a warm ocean gives rise to hot air, which in turn creates convectional air currents. Cyclones occur when these conventional air currents are being displaced. The term hurricane/typhoon is a regionally specific name for a “tropical cyclone”. In Asia they are called ‘typhoons’; in the Indian and Pacific Oceans they are called ‘cyclones’; and over the North Atlantic and they are called ‘hurricanes’.

Heat waves:

A heat wave is a period of unusually and excessively hot weather. The worst heat wave in recent European history was the European Heat Wave of 2003.

A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia, created conditions which fuelled the massive bushfires in 2009. Melbourne experienced three days in a row of temperatures exceeding 40°C (104°F) with some regional areas sweltering (so hot that uncomfortable) through much higher temperatures.

The bushfires, collectively known as "Black Saturday", were partly the act of arsonists.( ARSON-the crime of intentionally burning something, such as a building)

The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer resulted in severe heat waves, which killed over 2,000 people. It resulted in hundreds of wildfires which causing widespread air pollution, and burned thousands of square miles of forest.

Cold waves:

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Milan Subhashchandra Shah

Blizzards are severe winter storms characterized by heavy snow and strong winds. When high winds stir up snow that has already fallen, it is known as a ground blizzard. Blizzards can impact local economic activities, especially in regions where snowfall is rare.

Significant blizzards include:

The Great Blizzard of 1888 in the United States in which many tons of wheat crops are destroyed.

The 2008 Afghanistan blizzard

The North American blizzard of 1947

The 1972 Iran blizzard resulted in approximately 4,000 deaths and lasted for 5 to 7 days.

Water related:

Excessive Rain: This Current era, due to global warming in some areas, there is over rain than require. This brings loss & damage of property. This is emergency situation convert into flood when it is beyond control of peoples.Floods:

This phenomenon occurs when water covers previously dry areas, i.e., when large amounts of water flow from a source such as a river or a broken pipe onto a previously dry area, or when water overflows banks or barriers.

Example: The 2010 Pakistan floods, damaged crops and infrastructure, claiming many lives.

Floods can be environmentally important to local ecosystems. For example, some river floods bring nutrients to soil such as in Egypt where the annual flooding of the Nile River carries nutrients to otherwise dry land.

Floods can also have an economic and emotional impact on people, particularly if their property is directly affected. Having a better understanding of what causes flooding can help people to be better prepared and to perhaps minimize or prevent flood damage.

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Milan Subhashchandra Shah

Drought:

Drought is unusual dryness of soil, resulting in crop failure and shortage of water for other uses, caused by significantly lower rainfall than average over a prolonged period. Hot dry winds, high temperatures and consequent evaporation of moisture from the ground can contribute to conditions of drought.

Well-known historical droughts include:1. 1900 India killing between 250,000 to 3.25 million.2. 1921-22 Soviet Union in which over 5 million perished from starvation due to

drought3. 1928-30 Northwest China resulting in over 3 million deaths by famine.

Earth Related:::

Earthquakes:

An earthquake is a trembling or shaking movement of the earth’s surface, resulting from plate movements along a fault-plane or as a result of volcanic activity.

Earthquakes can strike suddenly, violently, and without warning at any time of the day or night.

Earthquake can be measure in Richter scale from 1 to 10.Example: earth quake in gujarat on26 january,2010

Landslides: The term landslide refers to the downward movement of masses of rock and soil. Landslides are caused by one or a combination of the following factors: change in slope gradient, increasing the load the land must bear, shocks and vibrations, change in water content, ground water movement, frost action, weathering of shocks, removal or, or changing the type of vegetation covering slopes.

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Milan Subhashchandra Shah Landslide hazard areas occur where the land has certain characteristics which contribute to the risk of the downhill movement of material. These characteristics include:

1. A slope greater than 15 percent.2. Landslide activity or movement occurred during the last 10,000 years.3. Stream or wave activity which has caused erosion undercut a bank or cut into a bank to cause the surrounding land to be unstable.

Tsunami: A tsunami is an ocean wave generated by a submarine earthquake, volcano or landslide. It is also known as a seismic sea wave, and incorrectly as a tidal wave. The largest earthquake event recorded in Samoa was on 26 June 1917, measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale. On March 11, 2011, a tsunami occurred near Fukushima, Japan and spread through the Pacific.

Volcanic activities:

Volcanoes can cause widespread destruction and consequent disaster in several ways. The effects include the volcanic eruption itself that may cause harm following the explosion of the volcano or the fall of rock.

Lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano. As it leaves the volcano, the lava destroys many buildings and plants it encounters.

A specific type of volcano is the super volcano. According to the Toba catastrophe theory 75,000 to 80,000 years ago a super volcanic event at Lake Toba reduced the human population to 10,000

Limnic eruptions:

A limnic eruption occurs when a gas, usually CO2, suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising gas displaces water.

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Milan Subhashchandra ShahScientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption. To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded:

1. In 1984, in Cameroon, a limnic eruption in Lake Monoun caused the deaths of 37 nearby residents.

2. At nearby Lake Nyos in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800 people by asphyxiation.

Epidemic:

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads through a human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as the Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include:

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide

The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people

The 1968-69 Hong Kong water flu pandemic

The 2002-3 SARS pandemic

The AIDS pandemic, beginning in 1959

The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009-2010

: Concept of Risk, hazard, Vulnerability:

Risk: “Is the probability that loss will occur as the result of an adverse event, given the hazard and the vulnerability”

Risk (R) can be determined as a product of hazard & so we can write (H) and vulnerability (V). I.e. R = H x V

Risk is a measure of the expected losses due to a hazardous event of a particular occurring in a given area over a specific time period.

The level of risk depends on:

1. Nature of the hazard

2. Vulnerability of the element which are affected

3. Economic value of those elementsPage 10 of 11

Milan Subhashchandra ShahVulnerability: “Is the extent to which a community’s structure, services or environment is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of a hazard”

It is related with which community, which structure & service & environment affected by the hazardous events.

Hazard:

“Is the potential for a natural or human-caused event to occur with negative consequences”

A hazard can become an emergency; when the emergency moves beyond the control of the population, it becomes a disaster.

The extent of damage in a disaster depends on:

1. The impact, intensity & characteristics of the event

2. How people, environment, & infrastructures are affected by that event.

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