DISASTER MANAGEMENT the hazards created by a disaster.

Examples:
evacuation; search and rescue; emergency
relief.

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 took place.
Examples: temporary housing; grants;
medical care, Debri removal, damage

Disaster management is an applied science

which seeks by systematic observation and
analysis of disasters to improve measures
relating to prevention, mitigation,
preparedness, emergency, response and
recovery.

A disaster is a situation in which the coping.

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.

Mitigation: Measures put in place to

minimize the results from a disaster.
Examples: building codes and zoning;
vulnerability analyses; public education. STAGE 1: Disaster Mitigation

Preparedness: Planning how to respond.  Structural mitigation – construction

Examples: preparedness plans; emergency projects which reduce economic and
exercises/training; warning systems. social impacts i.e. dams, windbreaks,
terracing and hazard resistant
Response: Initial actions taken as the event buildings.
takes place. It involves efforts to minimize
  Non-structural activities – policies Various mitigation strategies or measures-
and practices which raise awareness For instance, varieties of crops that are
of hazards or encourage more wind, flood or drought resistant can
developments to reduce the impact often be introduced in areas prone to
of disasters floods, drought and cyclones, Economic
diversification.

DISASTER MITIGATION AND

INFRASTRUCTURE

Investment in infrastructure to support

sustainable socioeconomic development.

Investment in infrastructure for

reconstruction and recovery.

i. A backup generator is available

in case of power failure and that
a battery-operated radio.
ii. A backup copy of all critical
information
iii. The preliminary design should
Disaster Mitigation includes:
take into consideration the
 Reviewing building codes. prevalent hazards and methods
 Vulnerability analysis updates. to avoid or to minimize the
 Zoning and land-use management effects of the extreme natural
and planning. events.
 Reviewing of building use iv. Strengthening vulnerable areas
regulations and safety codes. such as roofs, exterior doors,
 Implementing preventative health windows, and garage doors
measures STAGE 2: PREPAREDNESS
 Political intervention and
commitment Preparedness measures include:
 Public awareness
 Preparedness plans
 Emergency exercises/training
 Warning systems
 Emergency communications systems
STRATEGIES  Evacuations plans and training
 Resource inventories Emergency
  Personnel/contact list. DRR recommendation
 Mutual aid agreements
 Policy, planning and capacity
 Public information/education
building in disaster management.
Important Activities  Physical prevention; example,
building sea-walls against storm
 Develop and test warning systems
surge or flood shelters during flood
regularly and plan measures to be
events.
taken during a disaster alert period
 Capacity building at institutional and
to minimize potential loss of life and
systemic level in disaster
physical damage.
preparedness.
 Educate and train officials and the
 Continued provision of food, potable
population at risk to respond to the
water and health care.
disaster.
 Train first-aid and emergency HYOGO FRAMEWORK
response teams.
Expected outcome:
 Establish emergency response
policies, standards, organizational ➢"The substantial reduction of disaster
arrangements and operational plans losses, in lives and the social, economic and
to be followed by emergency environmental assets of communities and
workers and other response entities countries.”
after a disaster.
➢The International Strategy for Disaster
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (DRR) Reduction (ISDR) system provides a vehicle
- It forms the action plan to be for cooperation among Governments,
implemented before, during and organizations to assist and civil society
after disasters. actors to assist in the implementation of
- The IFRCRCS (International Framework
Federation of Red Cross and Red KEY PRINCIPLE:
Crescent Societies) defines risk
reduction as physical measures to  People have to work together in the
reduce the vulnerability and essence of solidarity
exposure of infrastructure to natural  The weight of calamities and the
hazards as well and to provide advantages of disaster risk reduction
coping and adaptive infrastructure in measures ought to be shared even
case of a disaster event. handedly.
 Giving specific consideration
regarding the most defenseless
people and groups.
UNISDR-AP & ESCAP: 7 WAYS TO REDUCE - EOP allows the community to
VULNERABILTY and PREPARE FOR respond to threats.
DISASTER - Engages responders in the short-
term recovery.
1. KNOWLEDGE
- Must be flexible to be valuable in
 Know the hazards in your
real and potential emergencies.
area
- It doesn’t include the administrative
 Know how to find the mitigation strategy, the long
information about weather plan, term recovery or the Standard
 Know about potential risk to Operational procedures.
your property
 Know how to take immediate STAGE 3: DISASTER RESPONSE
action
Aim of Disaster Response:
 Communicate with neighbors
 Communicate with your  Evacuation, Migration,
family administrating first-aid,
 Know community officials transportation of affected people to
 Identify trusted local media hospital.
2. SUBSISTENCE  Discuss the restoration of essential
- Gather the items that you and your services.
family need to carry you through a  Rescue work
disaster  Ideal Command Centre
3. MOBILITY  Modern and traditional methods of
response

 The mission of the response

phase is to meet the basic needs
of the people until more
permanent and sustainable
solutions are formulated.
4. IMPACT AVOIDANCE
 There is growing awareness of
- Taking actions to reduce or
costs associated with improper
eliminate risk of impact during a
management of disasters and
disaster
hence communities and
5. ADAPTABILITY
government are trying hard to
improve the first responder
efforts.
EMERGENCY OPERATION PLAN (EOP)
  Disaster response is aimed at 3. To restore or replace demolished or
providing instant support to damaged infrastructure.
maintain life and health of the 4. To make alternate housing
affected population. arrangements in camps.
 There is a wide array of response 5. To help in relieving suffering.
activities carried out after a 6. To protect the health and safety of
disaster like first-aid, responding personnel.
transportation, shelter and food,
DISASTER RESPONSE
initial repairs to damaged
infrastructure. The benefits and drawbacks of:
 The level & kind of disaster
response depends on a number  Internal (Local) Response
of factors – the scale of disaster,  External (National or International)
the nature and number of Response
affected people and site-specific  Local response
conditions. o most effective first 24 hour
 Response comprises the o EMS driven
decisions and actions taken to  External response
deal with an urgent situation o ultimate responsibility
that has adversely affected life o may designate lead agency
and property. - health, foreign affairs,
 It calls for collaboration, public works,
coordination and communication agriculture, education
between agencies involved in
administrating rescue and relief INTERNAL RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
operations. STRENGTHS
 The main aim of response is to
save and protect human life.  Rapid response
 Socially and culturally appropriate
The other aims of response are-  Family and community support
1. To guarantee the continued  Assists in immediate recovery
existence of the maximum possible  Reduces dependency
number of affected population and  Builds upon local response
ensuring that they are in the best mechanisms
possible physical and mental health  Develops internal capacity
in the circumstances.
LIMITATIONS
2. To reinstate critical services and
provide food, clothing and water.  Limited capacity
  Limited experience and planning  Generally, it is seen that security is
 Lack of large scale sectoral ability not always a priority issue after a
 Lack of coordination on large scale disaster because rescue and relief
 Lack of large scale funding operations are considered
 Lack of monitoring paramount.
 Limited ability to address prevention  Along with police, military personnel
and preparedness are also deployed to respond to a
disaster.
EXTERNAL RESPONSE MANAGEMENT  Given the state of vulnerabilities of
STRENGTHS the affected community, physical
security and public order in the
 Large scale assistance disaster-affected areas should be
 Expertise in disaster response established.
 Dedicated disaster funding  It helps prevent the public order
 Sector specific support from turning into an undesirable
 On site organization and state of panic and chaos.
coordination
EVACUATION AND MIGRATION
LIMITATIONS
 Evacuation involves the relocation of
 Duplication of services individuals and members of the
 Draws from local capacity building affected community from risk-zone
 Non-sustained funding and to a safer location.
dependency  Evacuation can help individual and
 Culturally and socially problematic communities avoid the aftermath of
 Lack of standardization of NGO disasters such as building collapse,
response outbreak of diseases, etc.
 Difficult to coordinate and monitor  People are reluctant to evacuate
 Unrealistic expectations of donor even in the most dangerous
assistance situations because of inadequate
 Local partners overloaded social economical resources.
 Program is poorly conceptualized
 The three pre-requisites of effective
evacuation are:
SECURITY ISSUES 1. A Plan of action and place to
relocate the evacuees.
 It is vital to ensure the security of 2. Clear identification of escape routes.
the most vulnerable population that
is women, children and the elderly.
 3. A timely and accurate warning  First-aid training must be packaged
system to inform about the exact in a way that ‘clearly outlines its
turn of events. aims, mechanism, when it is used,
 Evacuation is immediate and where it can be applied and who
urgent movement of people benefits from its use, who can
away from the threat or actual deliver it’.
occurrence of a rapid onset of a
MOBILIZATION AND RESTORATION OF
disaster.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES
 This type of migration is
temporary in nature and after  To ensure effective command
the crisis is over the families and emergency situation, it is
return to their homes. crucial that are organized.
1. Telephone Lines
ADMINISTERING FIRST-AID
2. Electricity and power supply
 The process of addressing the needs 3. Drinking water supply & non-
of is physically distressed is injured perishable food
referred or is to as person who 4. Alternate roads
psychologically first-aid.
SEARCH AND RESCUE WORK
 Though first-aid is not substitute for
professional medical help, but still it  Disaster response activities begin
can make a difference between life with the detection of the crisis
and death. and end with the normalization
 When addressing the first-aid after of the situation following impact.
disasters, there are certain aspects  The response activities entail
that need to be taken care of – triggering search and rescue
1. Check the surroundings. mechanism to find the injured,
2. Seek help whenever necessary. providing emergency medical
3. Remain with the victim. care and transferring them to
4. Stay Calm. safe places.
5. Determine responsiveness.  The response phase differs from
6. Help to stop bleeding first. other phases of disaster
7. Psychological support. management in the sense that
 Training in first-aid should be made there are two important aspects
compulsory at School and College namely, uncertainty and
level. urgency.
 The kind of first-aid differs according  The emergency response actions
to the nature of disaster. should be well coordinated with
disaster recovery as they form
 the foundation for carrying out technologies, such as geographic
recovery activities. information system (GIS), remote
sensing (satellite imagery) and
MODERN AND TRADITIONAL METHODS OF
global positioning system (GPS), to
RESPONSE
aid emergency response operations.
 The responses to disasters may 1. Remote Sensing: the scanning of the
utilize a mix of methods from earth by satellite or high-flying
traditional to modern. aircraft in order to obtain
 The situation and nature of the information about it.
affected population play a decisive o Visible and Reflective
role in choosing an effective Infrared remote sensing.
response mechanism. o Thermal Infrared Remote
 Traditional methods of response sensing.
have been used since long and they o Microwave Remote sensing.
are the most common and practical 2. GIS – GIS is a system that collects,
methods of response. displays, manages and analyzes
 They entail assistant provided in the geographic information.
form of food, shelter materials, 3. Other Methods – Social Media &
blankets, etc. Social networking.
 Money is also provided so that
A MODEL OF AN IDEAL COMMAND CENTRE
affected people can buy things
according to their needs.  Incident command center is a
 Charitable organizations offer help standardized, on-scene, all-hazard
to communities that have suffered a incident management concept.
disaster.  The primary role of this center is the
 New technologies can be very useful coordination of efforts for effective
and powerful in disaster response. and efficient management of
 These basically form the basis of the incident.
modern methods of disaster  When any disastrous event occurs,
response. they first identify and assess the
 Mobile phones can act as warning situation.
devices.  The functions of an Incident
 SMS provided by operators can Command Centre are:
prove to be useful medium to send 1. Development of objectives.
warning signals of immediate threat. 2. Preparation of Incident Action
 GPS for tracing location of victims. Plan to meet incident objectives,
 The disaster management team also collection and evaluation of
uses the potential of mapping information.
 The functions of an Incident
Command Centre are:
3. Maintenance of resource status
and incident documentation.
4. Providing logistics support to
meet operational objectives.
5. Financial administration to
monitor costs, accounting,
procurement and cost analysis.