DISASTER MANAGEMENT (11 – OE414)

By
[Link]
Professor, CED
KL University
 Introduction and Concept of disasters and hazards
related to Earthquakes
• Internationally, the generally accepted definition of Disaster is,"An occurrence
arising with little or no warning, which causes or threatens serious disruption of
life and perhaps death or injury to large number of people, and requires
therefore a mobilisation of efforts in excess of that, normally by the statutory
emergency services." We may add further that it is an event which affects the
community, the consequence of which are beyond the immediate financial,
material or emotional resources of the community. Disaster can seriously
disrupt development initiatives in several ways:
• Loss of resources
• Interruption of programmes
• Impact on environment
• Impact on the non-formal sector
• Political destabilization
• A disaster is thus a serious disruption of the functioning of a society
causing widespread human, material or environmental losses. There
are three types of Disasters:
• Natural disaster—As a result of natural phenomena, e.g., earthquake,
volcanic eruption.
• Man-made disaster—As a result of accident or misuse of
technologies, e.g., Bhopal Gas Tragedy due to leakage of Methyl
Isocyanate Gas on 3 December, 1984.
• Man-made and Natural combine Disaster—Hybrid disaster which may
arise from a linkage of anthropogenic events and natural events, e.g.,
spread of diseases from community, large scale deaths due to smog
or pollution.
• There are several hazardous types which can be categorised as follows:
• Sudden Onset Disaster, E.G., geological and climatic earthquakes, floods,landslides,
volcanic eruptions, tsunamis.
• Slow onset hazards:
• Environmental Hazards : Drought, famine, environmental degradation, deforestation,
desertification, pest infestation
• Industrial/technological: System failures, accidents, spillages, explosions, fire.
• Wars and civil: Armed aggression, insurgency, terrorism etc. leading to displaced person and
refugees.
• Epidemics: Water or food borne diseases, person to person diseases (contact and respiratory),
vector borne diseases.
• Casual factors of Disasters: The magnitude of each disaster, measured in deaths,
damages or cost increases with increased population. This is caused by:
• High birth-rate,
• Problem of land and economic opportunity
• Misallocation of resources to meet the basic human needs of an expanding population
• As the population increases the best land in both rural and urban areas is taken and
people are forced to accept inadequate land.
• Types of Disasters
• Geological Hazards
• Earthquakes
• Tsunamis
• Volcanic Eruptions Landslides
• Climatic Hazards
• Tropical Cyclones
• Floods
• Droughts
• Environmental Hazards
• Environmental Pollution
• Deforestation
• Desertification
• Pest Infestation
• Epidemics
• Plague, Cholera etc.
• Industrial Accidents
• Nuclear Reactors
• Accidents due to leakage of harmful and poisonous gas etc.
Earthquake
• An Earthquake is a sudden movement or displacement of the ground produced by abrupt
displacement of rock masses, usually within the upper 15 to 20 km of the Earth's crust.
Most earthquakes result from the movement of one rock mass passed to another in
response to tectonic forces.
• When the stress exceeds the strength of the rock, the rock breaks along a pre-existing or
new fracture plane called Fault. This causes vibrations also known as Seismic waves. They
travel in all direction from the area of fracture.
• Epicentre of an earthquake is the point on the earth's surface that is directly above the
focus.
• Earthquake Scale: Magnitude and Intensity : Earthquakes are described in terms of their
Magnitude (M) and Intensity (I).
• Magnitude: Earthquake magnitude is the measure of the strength of an earthquake or the
strain energy released by it. It is calculated from the instrument record made by the event
on a calibrated seismograph.
• Intensity: Earthquake intensity is a measure of the effects of an earthquake at a particular
place. Intensity is determined from observations of an earthquake's effect on people,
structure and the Earth's surface.
• There are two major scales in which earthquakes are measured. These two scales are the
Mercalli Scale and the Richter Scale.
• Impact of Earthquake: The damage is in the form of death and injury to human beings
mostly due to collapse of houses, buildings and other structures. They also bring loss to
property.
Tsunami

• Tsunami is a series of ocean waves usually caused by an undersea earthquake, an

underwater volcanic eruption or coastal landslide. In deep ocean the tsunami waves
propagate with a speed exceeding 800 kilometre per hour, the wave height is of less
than 3 meter which pass unnoticed beneath a ship at sea. When tsunami approach
shallow water along a coast, they are slowed, causing their length to shorten and their
height to rise, sometimes as-high-as 30 meters.
• When they break they often destroy pillars, buildings, beaches and human life. The
wave height as they crash upon a shore depends upon the topography of the shore.
Waves tend to rise to greater heights along gently sloping shores, along submarine
ridges or in coastal embayments. 'Tsunami' is a Japanese word which when translated
means 'harbour wave'. 'Tsu' means harbour and 'nami' means wave.
• 1755, Lisbon earthquake were killed by tsunami which followed minutes later.
The earthquake, followed by tsunami and fires killed 275,000 people.

• 1883 Krakatoa Tsunami: The island volcano of Krakatoa in Indonesia exploded

with devastating fury in 1883. A series of large tsunami waves were generated
from the explosion reaching a height of over 40 meters and above.

• 1960 Chilean Tsunami: Chilean earthquake at 9.5 magnitude, generated one of

the most destructive tsunamis of 20th century. The number of people killed by
the earthquake and subsequent tsunami estimated to be 490-2290 people.

• 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: The magnitude was 9.0 of the Indian Ocean
earthquake which had its epicenter in Sumatra and it triggered a series of
tsunamis on Dec.26, 2004 that killed more than (1,60,000-3,00,000 people). The
tsunami killed people over an area ranging from Indonesia, Thailand, North-
western coast of Malaysia to thousands of kilometres away in Bangladesh, India,
Srilanka, Maldives and even as-far-as Somalia and Eastern Africa.
• While it is not possible to prevent a tsunami, in some tsunami prone
countries some measures have been undertaken.
• Japan has built Tsunami walls of 4.5 meter high in front of populated
coastal areas.
• Other localities have built floodgates and channels to redirect the water
from incoming Tsunami.
• Mangrove forests act as barrier to break the force of Tsunami waves.
Plantation of mangrove should be undertaken.
• Pacific Ocean countries have Tsunami warning system which advise people
where to run in the event of incoming Tsunami.
• In the after month of the Tsunami Disaster, Indian Government and United
Nations have started working on an Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system.
Education and awareness of people is made to fight such disasters.
Volcanic eruption
• A Volcano is a special kind of mountain that builds itself. When we
see the structure of earth the outer crust is made of rocks.
Underneath the crust is the mantle and the deeper layers are very
hot. There are pockets of molten rock inside Earth's crust. The gases
push these melted rocks called 'magma' up out the ground. Once the
'magma' comes out of ground it is known as lava. As the lava pours
out of the earth it piles up into the shape of a cone. The more lava
comes out, the higher and wider the volcano goes.
• Volcanic eruptions vary in magnitude and duration. The frequency of
eruption also varies. Some volcanoes are in almost continual eruption
while some erupt at intervals of hundreds or thousands of years.
• There are several thousand volcanoes in the world. Most of them are
extinct i.e., they do not erupt any more. Some are dormant, which
means that although they are silent at the moment they may erupt at
any moment. Only 500 active volcanoes are there in the world.
• Occurrence of Volcanoes: Volcanoes are found in three tectonic settings.
• They are heavily concentrated at the interplate margins. Many of the world's most active
volcanoes—Fujiyama in Japan, Mayon in Phillipines, Mount Hood in Oregaon are of this
type.
• Rift volcanoes occur where tectonic plates are diverging. They are less explosive and
more effusive when they occur in deep ocean floors.
• Hot spot volcanoes are located in middle of tectonic plates where a weakness allows
molten material to penetrate from the earth's interior. The Hawaiian Islands is an
example.
• Effect of Volcanic Eruption: There are direct ways in which volcanoes can kill people—by
hot debris, mudflows (Lahars), due to rupturing of crater lakes, melting of snow or ice,
emission of poisonous and suffocating gases and fast moving lava flows. Other risks from
volcanoes are explosion near or beneath the ocean causing 'tsunamis' and 'earthquake'.
• Monitoring and Warning: The monitoring is done by:
• Monitoring shape of volcano and surveying changes in sleepiness of slope
• Seismic monitoring
• On spot measurement of temperature, composition and note of emission of any
products from volcano.
• Mitigation is possible when the occurrence of volcanic eruption is predicted. People may
be relocated at safer places.
Cyclones
• Humans can make their environment more prone to floods and
drought but cyclones just happen. Tropical Cyclones are severe storms
of marine origin. They create coastal hazards because most of the
storms decay rapidly over land areas.
• The term Tropical Cyclones is used in the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal
and Australian waters.
• The same storms are called hurricanes in the Caribbean, Gulf of
Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
• In the North-West Pacific in the vicinity of the Philippines and Japan
they are known as typhoons.
• The greatest threat of the storm exist at three landscape settings:
• Densely populated deltas: Bangladesh is the most vulnerable nation.
• Isolated island groups: The Japanese, Philippine and Caribbean Island
groups are all at risk from tropical cyclones.
• Highly populated coasts along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic
Coastline of the USA.
• A tropical cyclone is an intense tropical storm with wind speeds of
over 118 km per hour.
• A cyclone begins to form when moist air created by sun rises from the
surface of the warm tropical seas and is funnelled upwards in a
natural updraft. As this moist air rises it cools and condenses into
rain. This condensation feeds back into the air large amounts of heat
which add to the force of the storms.
• Effects of Cyclones: The damaging effects of the cyclones are
produced by the combination of their strength, gustiness and their
persistence. They are responsible for:
• Large casualties.
• Considerable damage to property and agricultural crops.
• The destruction is confined to the coastal districts.
• Maximum destruction being within 100-150 km from the centre of
the cyclone.
• The principal damages are fierce winds, torrential ram and associated
flooding, high storm tides leading to coastal inundation.
• Prevention of formation of tropical cyclone is not in the realm of possibility.
One of the mitigation measure against tropical cyclone disaster is the
efficient cyclone warning system. It gives information on accurate and
detailed forecasts of dangerous conditions in sufficient time in advance,
rapid and dependable distribution system for the forecast advisories and
warning to all interested parties. Prompt and effective utilisation of
warnings by the Government to public. The warnings are disseminated
through:
• Landline telegram of special high priority.
• Repeated broadcasts through All India Radio in different languages.
• Bulletins to the press.
• Posts and telegraph Departments
• Coastal radio systems.
• Telephone, telex and teleprinters wherever available.
• Wireless network of the police.
• Structural Measures:
• Like construction of cyclone shelters « Embankments
• Reservoirs and coastal afforestation are some of the long term mitigation
measures.
• Non-Structural Measures:
• To motivate people not to live in the major cyclone disaster prone areas,
• establishment of development projects away from cyclone prone areas,
• proper legislation,
• land zoning,
• insurance cover,
• proper education of public about cyclone warning system.
Floods
• Flooding is the most common of all environmental hazards. The reason lies
in the widespread geographical distribution of river valley and low lying
coasts together with their long standing attractions for human settlements.
• Unlike any other hazard, floods bring benefits as-well-as losses.
• They are a necessary part of most river ecosystem where they help to
maintain:
• wetland habitats
• fertility of soils by developing layers of silt and flushing salts.
• provide water for natural irrigation and for fisheries.
• In the normal year floods are expected to buy their benefits without
creating disasters.
• The most vulnerable landscape setting for floods are as follows :
• low lying parts of active flood plain and river estuaries,
• small basin subject to flash floods,
• areas below unsafe or inadequate dams,
• alluvial fan.
• Physically a flood is a high flow of water which overtops either the natural
or the artificial banks of river which threatens human life and property or
flood is too much water in the wrong place.
• The potential of water to damage increases exponentially with:
• velocity speed of water which can damage the foundation of buildings,
• Urbanization increases the magnitude and frequency of floods by four
ways:
• The creation of highly impermeable surfaces such as roofs and roads, inhibits
infiltration.
• Dense network of surface dram and underground sewers.
• The natural river channel is often constructed by the intrusion of bridge
support or river side facilities.
• Increasing urbanisation has led to more storm run off.
• Deforestation is also the cause of increased flood runoff.
• Decrease in channel capacity due to sediment deposition.
• Today much of the vast areas of the world's surface still forested will be
deforested in coming decades which will lead to more disastrous floods.
• Weather Modification: This response does not exist on an operational basis
for flood abatement. It could be possible only if initial precipitation into
one basis is reduced by encouraging it to fall elsewhere.
• Watershed Treatment: The land use practices involvement have to be
adopted in the area of drainage basis.
• Human activities which make soils more vulnerable to floods and droughts:
• Areas where the population density or growth is high.
• Areas of exceptional demand for fodder owing to high livestock density.
• Areas in which vegetation is particularly sensitive.
• Areas where there are acute shortages of fuel wood.
• Arid and semiarid areas where rainfall is limited.
• Mountain slopes and river basin where the soil easily runs off.
Perception, filter and partial views

• Human response to hazards usually fails to match the real probability

of being affected by that hazard; our perception of risk normally
differs from the reality of risk because we receive, filter and distort
information (Figure 5). An individual's understanding is always less
than perfect.
• This creates perceptual uncertainty, which - coupled with
environmental variability - means that our views of hazard risk and
damage potential are at best partial and selective.
• The individual and their cognitive environment. Every individual
receives signals and stimuli from the environment around them, and
uses these in building up an understanding of that environment and
in deciding how best to respond and behave in relation to that
environment.
Figure . Model of human perception and response to natural hazards.
PEST INFESTIATION
• In general, the term "infestation" refers to parasitic diseases caused
by animals such as arthropods (i.e. mites, ticks, and lice) and worms,
but excluding those caused by protozoa, fungi, and bacteria.

• Infestations can be classified as either external or internal with regards

to the parasites' location in relation to the host.
• External or ectoparasitic infestation is a condition in which organisms
live primarily on the surface of the host (though porocephaliasis can
penetrate viscerally) and includes those involving mites, ticks, head
lice and bed bugs.
• skin diseases, such as scabies, pediculosis, tungiasis, myiasis, and
cutaneous larva migrans are some of the examples for external
diseases.
• An internal (or endoparasitic) infestation is a condition in which
organisms live within the host and includes those involving worms
(though swimmer's itch stays near the surface).
• Medically, the term "infestation" is often reserved only for external
ectoparasitic infestations while the term infection refers to internal
endoparasitic conditions.
Endoparasite
• Lives inside the body of the host may be just under the surface
or deep in the body
Tapeworms, flukes, protozoans

Ectoparasite
• Stays on outside surface of the host
Mosquitoes, leeches, ticks, fleas, brood parasites
Drought
• Drought is a period or condition of unusually dry weather within a
geographic area where rainfall is normally present. During a drought
there is a lack of precipitation. Droughts occur in all climatic zones.
However, its characteristics vary significantly from one region to
another. Drought usually results in a water shortage that seriously
interferes with human activity.
• Water supply reservoirs are empty, wells dry up, and crop damage
ensues. Its seriousness depends on the degree of the water shortage,
size of area affected and the duration and warmth of the dry period.
In many underdeveloped countries, such as India, people place a
great demand on water supply. During a drought period there is lack
of water and thus many of the poor die.
• Most precipitation depends on water vapour carried by winds from an ocean or
other source of moisture. If these moisture carrying winds are replaced by winds
from a dry region, or if they are modified by downward motion, as in the center
of an anticyclone, the weather is abnormally dry and often persistently cloudless.
If the drought period is short, it is known as a dry spell.
• A dry spell is usually more than 14 days without precipitation, whereas a severe
drought may last for years. Although drought cannot be reliably predicted, certain
precautions can be taken in drought risk areas. These include construction of
reservoirs to hold emergency water supplies, education to avoid over cropping
and overgrazing and programmes to limit settlement in drought prone areas.
• Effects of Drought: Drought produces a large number of impacts that affects the
social, environmental and economical standard of living. Water is integral to
produce goods and provide certain services. Impacts of drought are:
• Reduced crop, rangeland and forest productivity, reduced water levels, increased
fire hazard, increased livestock and wildlife death rates and damage to wildlife
and fish habitat.
• A reduction in crop productivity usually results in less income for farmers,
increased prices for food, unemployment and migration.
Landslides
• The rapid down slope movements of surface materials under gravitational
influences represents an important group of environmental hazards
especially in mountainous terrain.
• Mass movement hazards are caused by large volume of rock mixed with
earth, snow or ice that move at high velocity under impetus of gravity.
Depending on the dominant material they are known as rockfall, landslides
(rock and soil), avalanches (snow and ice).
• This type of hazard is currently increasing worldwide as land hunger forces
new developments on unstable slopes. Mass movements may be triggered
by either seismic activity or by atmospheric events. Different types of
landslides move down slope at a wide range of speeds.
• The more rapidly moving landslides may pose a greater hazard to life
because they can destroy dwellings or damage roads quickly and with little
warning. Slower moving landslides will gradually cause increasing amounts
of damage but the expected movements can be anticipated.
Causes of Landslides :
• All slides involve the failure of earth materials under sheer stress. The elements that affect slope stability are
numerous. They include:
• Lithology: This includes the competition, fabric, texture or other attributes that influence the physical or
chemical behaviour of rock or soil.
• Structure of rocks and soil : It includes the inhomogeneity and discontinuity in rocks or soil.
• Hydrology and climatology : Water is a main factor in slope instability.
• Vegetation: Vegetation cover in some ways definitely promotes stability.
• Vibrations from earthquakes blasting machinery.
• Weathering and other physical or chemical action may increase the strength of rock and soil.
• The most common trigger event leading to mass movements is an increase in water content of slope
materials resulting from prolonged rainfall.
Effects of Landslides :
• Heavy damage to property as-well-as loss of life.
• Landslide is a major chronic problem affecting roads, dams, other structures in all hill ranges.
• Cause traffic disruption.
• Extensive damages to dwelling, agricultural lands, orchards, forest etc. resulting in loss of life as-well-as
property.
• Ecological degradation of hilly areas.
Prediction and perception of hazards and
adjustments to hazardous activities
Rates of natural cycles and residence time
Landslide: causes, prevention and correction
Landslide hazard mitigation
• A National Core Group (DST, Road Transport & Highways)

• Heads of Geological Survey of India

• NRSA for drawing up a strategy and plan of action for mitigating the
impact of landslides
Landslide Warning Signs:
• Springs, seeps, or saturated ground

• New cracks (or) unusual bulges

• Soil moving away from foundations

• Tilting of ancillary structures

• Cracking of concrete floors and foundations

• Broken water lines and other underground utilities

• Leaning telephone poles, trees, retaining walls or fences

• Sunken or down-dropped road beds

• Rapid increase or sudden decrease in water levels in ponds,

accompanied by increased turbidity (soil content)
Land slide hazard mapping :
• GIS is an appropriate tool

• Remote sensing techniques

• Before and after aerial photographs and satellite imagery

Precautions:
• Do not build near steep slopes

• Get a ground assessment of your property

• Contact concerned departments

• Cautious , when there is any abnormality in the flow of storm water

drains
Minimize Hazards:

• Have flexible pipe fittings installed to avoid gas or water leaks

• Plant ground cover on slopes and build retaining walls

• In mudflow areas, build channels or deflection walls to direct the flow

around buildings
During a storm / Land slide:
• Stay alert and awake. Listen for warning

• Live away from areas susceptible to landslides

• Avoid driving during intense storm

• Listen for any unusual sounds that might indicate moving debris

• If you are near a stream (or) channel, be alert for any sudden increase
or decrease in waterflow.
What to Do if You suspect Imminent Landslide
Danger:
• Contact your local fire, police, or public works department

• Evacuate

• Inform affected neighbours & help neighbours to evacuate

• Curl into a tight ball and protect your head if escape is not possible
After a Landslide:
• Stay away from the slide area. There may be danger of additional slides

• Listen to local radio or television stations for the latest emergency

information

• Floods sometimes follow landslides and debris flow

• Check for injured and trapped persons near the area

• Elderly people and people with disabilities may require additional

assistance.
Earthquakes: intensity and magnitude of
earthquakes
Geographic distribution of earthquake zones
Precursors to the earthquakes, seismic waves
Travel-time and location of epicentre
Nature of destruction; ground subsidence
Protection from earthquake hazards
do’s and don’ts during earthquake
Tsunamis causes and consequences
Floods: Causes, nature and frequency of
flooding
Nature and extent of flood hazard
• urban floods

• environmental effects of flooding

• flood mitigation methods

Tropical cyclone- formation and
consequences
Coastal erosion; sea level changes and its
impact on coastal areas
Drought: Nature and effect on plant and
animal systems
Study of pattern and mitigation of forest fires
Geological and environmental investigations
• for the construction of dams
• bridges
• highways and tunnels
Impact of major geotechnical projects on the
environment
Disaster Management
Capability-Vulnerability- risk- preparedness
and mitigation
Disaster management cycle
Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience
Disaster Management Act and Policy
Disaster Management case studies