Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

UNIT - I

1 HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY &

DISASTER RISKS

1.1 Definitions of Disaster, Vulnerability and Resilience

 A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of
a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or
environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope
using its own resources. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have
human origins.
(Vulnerability + Hazard) / Capacity = Disaster
 The combination of hazards, vulnerability and inability to reduce the potential
negative consequences of risk results in disaster.
 As per the Oxford dictionary a disaster is “a sudden accident or a natural
catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life”.
 A Disaster is an event or series of events, which gives rise to casualties and
damage or loss of properties, infrastructure, environment, essential services or
means of livelihood on such a scale which is beyond the normal capacity of the
affected community to cope with.
 Disaster is also sometimes described as a “catastrophic situation in which the
normal pattern of life or ecosystem has been disrupted and extra-ordinary
emergency interventions are required to save and preserve lives and or the
environment”.
 The United Nations defines disaster as “the occurrence of sudden or major
misfortune which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of the society
or community”.
 A disaster is an event of nature or man-made that leads to sudden disruption of

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

normal life of a society, causing damage to life and property to such an extent that
normal social and economic values available are inadequate to restore normalcy
after a disaster.
 Disaster may be defined as a “catastrophic situation in which the normal patterns
of life have been disrupted and extraordinary emergency interventions are
required to save and preserve human lives and the environment”.
 A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of
a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or
environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope
using its own resources.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 Disaster resilience is the ability of individuals, communities, organizations and

states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without
compromising long-term prospects for development.
 In disaster management, risk is defined as the interaction between likelihoods of
hazards and consequences of hazards. It can be said that,
Risk = Likelihoods of Hazards  Hazard’s Consequences.

Difference between hazards and vulnerability

Sr. No. Hazards Vulnerability

1. A hazard can be defined as a Vulnerability refers to the
dangerous phenomenon, characteristics and circumstances of a
substance, human activity or community, system or asset that
condition that may cause loss of make it susceptible to the damaging
life, injury or other health impacts, effects of a hazard.
property damage, loss of
livelihoods and services, social and
economic disruption, or
environmental damage.

2. The hazards of concern to disaster There are many aspects of

risk reduction are of natural origin vulnerability, arising from various
and related environmental and physical, social, economic, and
technological hazards and risks. environmental factors.

3. Such hazards arise from a variety of Examples may include poor design
geological, meteorological, and construction of buildings,
hydrological, oceanic, biological, inadequate protection of assets, lack
and technological sources, of public information and awareness,
sometimes acting in combination. limited official recognition of risks
and preparedness measures, and
disregard for wise environmental
management.

4. Hazards are described Vulnerability varies significantly

quantitatively by the likely within a community and over time.
frequency of occurrence of different
intensities for different areas, as
determined from historical data or
scientific analysis.

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 Definition : Internally Displaced Persons Persons or groups of persons who

have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual
residence.
 In particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict,
situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural or
human made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized
State border.
 Definition : Refugees A person who is owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is
unable to or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of
that country.
 Definition : Climate Migrants Persons who abandon their place of origin as a
result of climate change effects : Floods, pests, climate cycle disorder, global
warming as well as the implementation of the capitalist economic model that
deforests, degrades, and uncontrollably extracts non-renewable resources and
encourages monoculture.

1.1.1 Disaster Management

 Disaster Management : As per Disaster Management Act, 2005, “disaster
management” means a continuous and integrated process of planning,
organizing, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or
expedient for :
i. Prevention of danger or threat of any disaster;
ii. Mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or
consequences;
iii. Capacity-building;
iv. Preparedness to deal with any disaster;
v. Prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster;
vi. Assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster; evacuation,
rescue and relief;
vii. Rehabilitation and reconstruction; 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.

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The main aim of disaster management is to lessen the impacts of disaster. Disaster
management is the ‘continuous process of planning and its implementation to reduce the
impact of disaster’.

Goals of Disaster Management :

1) Reduce, or avoid, losses from hazards;
2) Assure prompt assistance to victims;
3) Achieve rapid and effective recovery.

1.1.2 Types of Disaster Management

The disaster management process can be divided into two stages :
a) Crisis Management and
b) Risk Management.

a) Crisis Management :
Crisis is an abnormal situation in which, decisions has to be taken at short period of
time (Ibrahim et al. 2003).
Crisis can be divided into two types :
(a) Community crisis which is generated by natural and technical agents, disaster
and conflicts (civil war, riots and civil disturbance) and
(b) Non-community crisis, such as transport accident which does not impact the
entire community.
Crisis management involves an accurate and timely diagnosis of the criticality of
the problem and dynamics of events. This requires knowledge, skills, courageous
leadership, high level of risk taking ability, and vigilance. Successful crisis
management requires motivation, sense of urgency of the matter, commitment,
and creative thinking with long-term strategic vision.

b) Risk Management :
In disaster management, risk is defined as the interaction between likelihoods of
hazards and consequences of hazards. It can be said that Risk=Likelihoods of
Hazards*Hazard’s Consequences.
‘Likelihood’ is defined as the probability and frequency of hazards and ‘consequence’
is understood as the impacts of hazards.
According to Coppola, risk can be reduced by reducing likelihood of the hazards and

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for consequences of hazard.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

Hence, Risk (R) = Hazards (H) * Vulnerability (V)/Coping Capacity (C). Risk
Management involves ‘systematic management of administrative decisions, organization,
operational skills and responsibilities to apply policies, strategies, and practices for
disaster risk reduction’.
Disaster management includes administrative decisions and operational activities that
involve,
 Prevention
 Mitigation
 Preparedness
 Response
 Recovery
 Rehabilitation.
Disaster management involves all levels of government. Nongovernmental and
community based organizations play a vital role in the process. Modern disaster
management goes beyond post-disaster assistance. It now includes pre-disaster planning
and preparedness activities, organizational planning, training, information management,
public relations and many other fields. Crisis management is important, but is only a part
of the responsibility of a disaster manager.
The new paradigm is the Total Risk Management (TRM) which takes a holistic
approach to risk reduction. Disaster Management Cycle The traditional approach to
disaster management has been to regard it as a number of phased sequences of action or a
continuum. These can be represented as a disaster management cycle. The basic disaster
management cycle consists of six main activities.

Fig. 1.1.1 Disaster management cycle

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

1.1.3 Key Phases of Disaster Management

There are three key phases of activity within disaster management :
1. Pre - Disaster : Before a disaster to reduce the potential for human, material or
environmental losses caused by hazards and to ensure that these losses are
minimized when the disaster actually strikes.
2. During Disaster : It is to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met
to alleviate and minimize suffering.
3. Post Disaster : After a disaster to achieve rapid and durable recovery which
does not reproduce the original vulnerable conditions.
Traditionally people think of disaster management only in term of the emergency
relief period and post disaster rehabilitation. Instead of allocated funds before an
event to ensure prevention and preparedness.
A successful disaster management planning must encompass the situation that occurs
before, during and after disasters.

1. Pre - Disaster Phase

Prevention and Mitigation -

 Reducing the risk of disasters involves activities, which either reduce or modify
the scale and intensity of the threat faced or by improving the conditions of
elements at risk.
 Although the term, prevention is often used to embrace the wide diversity of
measures to protect persons and property its use is not recommended since it is
misleading in its implicit suggestion that natural disasters are preventable.
 The use of the term reduction to describe protective or preventive actions that
lessen the scale of impact is therefore preferred.
 Mitigation embraces all measures taken to reduce both the effects of the hazard
itself and the vulnerable conditions to it in order to reduce the scale of a future
disaster. In addition to these physical measures, mitigation should also be aimed
at reducing the physical, economic and social vulnerability to threats and the
underlying causes for this vulnerability.
 Therefore, mitigation may incorporate addressing issues such as land ownership,
tenancy rights, wealth distribution, implementation of earthquake resistant
building codes, etc.

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Preparedness
 The process embraces measures that enable governments, communities and
individuals to respond rapidly to disaster situations to cope with them effectively.
 Preparedness includes for example, the formulation of viable emergency plans,
the development of warning systems, the maintenance of inventories, public
awareness and education and the training of personnel.
 It may also embrace search and rescue measures as well as evacuation plans for
areas that may be at risk from a recurring disaster.
 All preparedness planning needs to be supported by appropriate rules and
regulations with clear allocation of responsibilities and budgetary provision.

Early Warning
 This is the process of monitoring the situation in communities or areas known to
be vulnerable to slow onset hazards, and passing the knowledge of the pending
hazard to people in harm’s way.
 To be effective, warnings must be related to mass education and training of the
population who know what actions they must take when warned.

The Disaster Impact

 This refers to the “real-time event of a hazard occurring and affecting elements at
risk.
 The duration of the event will depend on the type of threat; ground shaking may
only occur in a matter of seconds during an earthquake while flooding may take
place over a longer sustained period.

2. During Disaster Phase

Response
 This refers to the first stage response to any calamity, which include for examples
such as setting up control rooms, putting the contingency plan in action, issue
warning, action for evacuation, taking people to safer areas, rendering medical aid
to the needy etc., simultaneously rendering relief to the homeless, food, drinking
water, clothing etc. to the needy, restoration of communication, disbursement of
assistance in cash or kind.

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 The emergency relief activities undertaken during and immediately following a

disaster, which includes immediate relief, rescue, and the damage, needs
assessment and debris clearance.

3. The Post - Disaster Phase

Recovery
 Recovery is used to describe the activities that encompass the three overlapping
phases of emergency relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Rehabilitation
 Rehabilitation includes the provision of temporary public utilities and housing as
interim measures to assist long-term recovery.

Reconstruction
 Reconstruction attempts to return communities to improved pre-disaster
functioning. It includes such as the replacement of buildings; infrastructure and
lifeline facilities so that long-term development prospects are enhanced rather
than reproducing the same conditions, which made an area or population
vulnerable in the first place.

Development
 In an evolving economy, the development process is an ongoing activity. Long-
term prevention/disaster reduction measures for examples like construction of
embankments against flooding, irrigation facilities as drought proofing measures,
increasing plant cover to reduce the occurrences of landslides, land use planning,
construction of houses capable of withstanding the onslaught of heavy rain/wind
speed and shocks of earthquakes are some of the activities that can be taken up as
part of the development plan.

1.2 Disasters : Types of Disasters

 A disaster is a serious disruption occurring over a short or long period of time that
causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which
exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own
resources.
 Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made, although complex
disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing

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countries.

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 A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A
classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal
flooding. Some manufactured disasters have been ascribed to nature.
 Some researchers also differentiate between recurring events, such as seasonal
flooding, and those considered unpredictable.

1.2.1 Natural Disasters

 A 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.
 Various phenomena like earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods,
hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, tsunamis, and cyclones are all natural disasters
that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and
property each year.
 However, the rapid growth of the world's population and its increased
concentration often in hazardous environments has escalated both the frequency
and severity of disasters.
 With the tropical climate and unstable landforms, coupled with deforestation,
unplanned growth proliferation, non-engineered constructions make the disaster-
prone areas more vulnerable.
 Developing countries suffer more or less chronically from natural disasters due to
ineffective communication combined with insufficient budgetary allocation for
disaster prevention and management.

Recent Natural Disasters in India are,

 2019-20 locust infestation.
 2020 Uttarakhand forest fires.
 Cyclone Amphan
 Cyclone Nisarga.

1.2.2 Human - Made Disasters

Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human hazards.
Examples include stampedes, fires, transport accidents, industrial accidents, oil spills,
terrorist attacks, nuclear explosions/nuclear radiation. War and deliberate attacks may
also be put in this category.

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Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of catastrophic
global warming, nuclear war, and bioterrorism.
One opinion argues that disasters can be seen as human-made, due to human failure
to introduce appropriate emergency management measures.
Recent Human man disaster in India include,
 Visakhapatnam gas leak
 Assam gas and oil leak
 Gujarat chemical plant explosion

A) Natural Disasters
Sr. No. Examples Profile First Response
1. Avalanche The sudden, drastic flow of Shut off utilities; Evacuate
snow down a slope, occurring building if necessary;
when either natural triggers, Determine impact on the
such as loading from new snow equipment and facilities
or rain, or artificial triggers, and any disruption.
such as explosives or
backcountry skiers, overload the
snowpack.

2. Blizzard A severe snowstorm Power off all equipment;

characterized by very strong listen to blizzard
winds and low temperatures. advisories; Evacuate area,
if unsafe; Assess damage.

3. Earthquake The shaking of the earth's crust, Shut off utilities; Evacuate
caused by underground building if necessary;
volcanic forces of breaking and determine impact on the
shifting rock beneath the earth's equipment and facilities
surface. and any disruption.

4. Fire (wild) Fires that originate in Attempt to suppress fire in

uninhabited areas and which early stages; Evacuate
pose the risk to spread to personnel on alarm, as
inhabited areas. necessary; Notify fire
department; Shut off
utilities; Monitor weather
advisories.

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5. Floods Flash flooding : Small creeks, Monitor flood advisories;

gullies, dry streambeds, ravines, Determine flood potential
culverts or even low-lying areas to facilities; Pre-stage
flood quickly. emergency power
generating equipment;
Assess damage.

6. Freezing rain Rain occurring when outside Monitor weather

surface temperature is below advisories; arrange for
freezing. snow and ice removal.

7. Heat wave A prolonged period of Listen to weather

excessively hot weather relative advisories; power-off all
to the usual weather pattern of servers after a graceful
an area and relative to normal shutdown if there is
temperatures for the season. imminent potential of
power failure; shut down
main electric circuit usually
located in the basement or
the first floor.

8. Hurricane Heavy rains and high winds. Power off all equipment;
listen to hurricane
advisories; evacuate area, if
flooding is possible; check
gas, water and electrical
lines for damage; do not
use telephones, in the event
of severe lightning; Assess
damage.

9. Land slide Geological phenomenon which Shut off utilities; evacuate

includes a range of ground building if necessary;
movement, such as rock falls, determine impact on the
deep failure of slopes and equipment and facilities
shallow debris flows. and any disruption.

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10. Lighting strike An electrical discharge caused Power off all equipment;
by lightning, typically during listen to hurricane
thunderstorms. advisories; evacuate area, if
flooding is possible; Check
gas, water and electrical
lines for damage; do not
use telephones, in the event

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of severe lightning ; assess

damage.

11. Limnic The sudden eruption of carbon Shut off utilities; evacuate
eruption dioxide from deep lake water. building if necessary;
Determine impact on the
equipment and facilities
and any disruption.

12. Tornado Violent rotating columns of air Monitor tornado

which descent from severe advisories; power off
thunderstorm cloud systems. equipment; shut off utilities
(power and gas); Assess
damage once storm passes.

13. Tsunami A series of water waves caused Power off all equipment;
by the displacement of a large listen to tsunami
volume of a body of water, advisories; evacuate area, if
typically an ocean or a large flooding is possible; check
lake, usually caused by
gas, water and electrical
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
lines for damage; Assess
underwater explosions,
damage.
landslides, glacier calvings,
meteorite impacts and other
disturbances above or below
water.

14. Volcanic The release of hot magma, Shut off utilities; evacuate
eruption volcanic ash and/or gases from a building if necessary;
volcano. determine impact on the
equipment and facilities
and any disruption.

B) Human Made Disasters

Sr. No. Example Profile First response
1. Bioterrorism The intentional release or Get information immediately
dissemination of biological from public health officials via
agents as a means of the news media as to the right
coercion course of action; if you think
you have been exposed, quickly
remove your clothing and wash
off your skin; put on a HEPA to
help prevent inhalation of the
agent

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2. Civil unrest A disturbance caused by a Contact local police or law

group of people that may enforcement.
include sit-ins and other
forms of obstructions, riots,
sabotage and other forms
of crime, and which is
intended to be a
demonstration to the public
and the government, but
can escalate into general
chaos.

3. Fire Even with strict building Attempt to suppress fire in early

fire codes, people still stages; evacuate personnel on
perish needlessly in fires. alarm, as necessary; notify fire
department; Shut off utilities;
monitor weather advisories

4. Hazardous material The escape of solids, Leave the area and call the local
spills liquids or gases that can fire department for help. If
harm people, other living anyone was affected by the spill,
organisms, property or the call the your local emergency
environment, from their medical services line
intended controlled
environment such as a
container.

5. Nuclear and An event involving Recognize that a CBRN incident

radiation accidents significant release of has or may occur. Gather, assess
radioactivity to the and disseminate all available
environment or a reactor information to first responders.
core meltdown and which Establish an overview of the
leads to major undesirable affected area. Provide and
consequences to people, obtain regular updates to and
the environment, or the from first responders.
facility

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6. Power failure Caused by summer or Wait 5-10 minutes; power off all
winter storms, lightning or servers after a graceful
construction equipment shutdown; do not use
digging in the wrong telephones, in the event of
location severe lightning; shut down
main electric circuit usually
located in the basement or the
first floor.

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1.3 Natural and Manmade Disasters

1.3.1 Natural Disasters

Some of the common natural disasters, their impact on environment, and their
prevention, control and mitigation are discussed below :
 When disasters occur due to natural forces they are called natural disasters, over
which man has hardly any control.
 Some common natural disasters are earthquakes, landslides floods, droughts,
cyclones, etc. Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and wildfires are also included under
natural disasters. These disasters cause enormous loss to life and property.

A) Earthquakes :
 An earthquake is the shaking of the earth’s surface caused by rapid movement of
the earth’s crust or outer layer.
 Ever since it came into existence 4.6 billion years ago, the earth has been a
dynamic, evolving system.
 The position of the different continents and oceans that we see today, has changed
a number of times in the earth’s history.
 The earth is primarily composed of three layers :
1. The outer crust,
2. The middle mantle, and
3. The inner core.
 The Earth’s outer layer or crust is made up of a number of zig-saw pieces like
structures that interlock into one another.
 These pieces are called tectonic plates. These plates are in continuous motion over
the mantle, which is known as tectonic movements. These tectonic processes are
also responsible for the mountain building processes.
 The plates that are moving past over one another are slowed by friction along
their boundaries.

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Fig. 1.3.1 Elements of earthquake

 Due to this, the rocks are under strain. When the stress on the rocks exceeds
certain limits, the rocks rupture and form a fault along which the rocks are
displaced during tectonic movements.
 This sudden rupture of the rocks releases energy in the form of earthquake waves.

Grades Effects

2.5 Generally not felt, but recorded on seismograph

3.5 Felt by many people

4.5 Some local damage may occur

6 A destructive earthquake

7 A major earthquake

8 and above Massive earthquake

Table 1.3.1 Richter scale

 Thus earthquake is a form of energy, which is transmitted to the surface of the

earth in the form of waves called seismic waves.
 The study of earthquakes and the waves they create is called seismology (from
the Greek Seismos, “to shake”).
 Scientists who study earthquakes are called seismologists. The instrument that
records the seismic waves is called seismograph.

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 The exact spot under the earth surface at which an earthquake originates is called
the focus or hypocenter.
 The point on the earth surface above the focus is called the epicenter. The Richter
scale is used to measure the intensity of earthquakes.
 The intensity is measured on a scale of 0 to 8 and above.

Impact of Earthquake on the Environment

 The destruction, an earthquake causes, depends on its magnitude and duration or
the amount of shaking that occurs.
 In the last 500 years, earthquakes around the world have killed several million
people. Earthquake is one of the most catastrophic natural disasters.
 Massive loss of life and property occurs due to collapse of buildings. Besides,
roads, bridges, canals, electric poles, etc. are severely damaged.
 Certain regions of the earth are more prone to earthquakes.
 These are places located in the unstable regions of the earth crust, which are
subjected to tectonic activities.
 Countries like Japan, parts of Southeast Asia, Turkey, Iran, Mexico, etc. are
affected by severe earthquakes. In India, the entire Himalayan region, parts of the
Gangetic Plain, Kutch and Andaman and Nicobar islands are in the earthquake
hazard zone.
The major impacts of earthquakes are as follows :
Dates Details
Oct, 2005 Jammu & Kashmir, intensity 7.4, about 40000 people died.

26th Jan, 2001 Gujrat, intensity 7.9, about 20000 people died.

29th March, 1999 Chamoli, Uttaranchal, intensity 6.8, about 1000 people died.

22nd May, 1997 Jabalpur and Mandala, M.P. about 50 people died.

30th Sep, 1993 Latur and Osmanabad, Maharashtra, about 10000 people died.

20th Oct, 1991 Uttarkashi, Uttaranchal, intensity 6.6, about 1000 people died.

Table 1.3.2 Brief list of recent Indian earthquakes

Shaking of the ground and surface rupture

 This is the main cause of destruction in which buildings, bridges, roads, canals
and other structures are damaged.

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 Liquefaction :
Earthquakes make sands and silts to transform from a solid to liquid state. This
also results in building collapse.
 Landslides :
Earthquakes of high intensity often trigger many landslides in the hilly regions.
 Fires :
It is a major hazard associated with earthquakes. The shakings of the ground and
building damage often break the gas pipes and electric lines that cause fires.
 Changes in the land elevation :
The surface topography of a region and groundwater conditions are altered after
an earthquake.
 Tsunami :
It is a Japanese term meaning ‘harbour waves’. Tsunamis are massive sea waves
that are mainly caused due to earthquakes in the ocean floor or possibly due to
an undersea landslide or volcanic eruption.
When the ocean floor is tilted or offset during an earthquake a set of waves is
created similar to the concentric waves generated by an object dropped into the
water.
These waves are massive in size and gain height as they approach the seashore.
Tsunamis up to the height of 30 m are recorded.
Tsunamis are the most catastrophic among natural disasters as they affect a very
wide geographical area.
The tsunami of 26 December, 2004 killed around three lakh people and affected
parts of Indonesia, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India, Sri Lanka and even
Somalia.

Prevention and mitigation of earthquake and hazard reduction programs

 Despite the advances made by modem science, the exact time and place where an
earthquake may strike cannot be predicted.
 Hence, the occurrence of an earthquake cannot be prevented. However, there are
certain regions that are earthquakes prone and so the administration must work
before hand to minimize the damages due to occurrence of earthquakes in such
areas.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 The control and mitigation measures in earthquake prone regions include hazard
reduction programmes, development of critical facilities and proper land use
planning.
Hazard reduction programs :
These include the following :
i. Earthquake education and evacuation plans.
ii. Use of proper construction material that is not injurious even if the structures
collapse.
iii. Construction of quake resistant buildings having proper structural design.
Development of critical facilities :
These include the following :
i. Establishment of earthquake regulatory agencies for fast relief.
ii. Establishment of specific health care units for treating earthquake injuries proper
land use planning.
iii. Mapping of faults and weak zones in earthquake prone areas.
iv. Buildings such as schools, hospitals, offices, etc. should be in areas away from
active faults.
B) Floods :
 Floods refer to the ‘inundation of large parts of land which otherwise remain dry
by water for some duration of time’.
 Floods are one of the most common natural disasters occurring in many parts of
the world every year.
 Floods occur due to heavy rainfall within a short duration of time in a particular
region which causes the rivers and streams to overflow.
 Since most of the precipitation occurs within span of two to three months during
the rainy season, most floods occur during that time.
 The floods in the mountainous regions due to cloudbursts or damming of streams
are referred to as flash-floods. In flash-floods, the water drains away quickly but
only after causing extensive damage.
 The plain areas of a region which are drained by a number of rivers, are the places
most affected by floods.
 In India, states like Assam, Bihar and parts of Gangetic Uttar Pradesh are quite
prone to floods during the rainy season.

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 The Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries are most susceptible to
floods. However, heavy rains cause occasional floods in parts of Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
 Flooding, in India, is a major problem and some part or the other is affected by the
fury of floods usually during the months from July to September.
 Floods cause untold miseries to the affected regions in the form of huge losses of
life and property. There is great damage to agriculture and livestock.
 Flood affected areas face acute shortages of food and drinking water. Besides,
floods cause a number of water borne diseases such as diarrhea, gastroenteritis,
jaundice, malaria, etc.

Impact on the Environment :

 Though the lives lost in floods may not be as high as in case of earthquakes or
cyclones, the damage to the environment is immense.
The problem is further aggravated if the floods last for a longer duration of time.
 Floods not only damage property and endanger if lives of humans and animals,
but have other effects as well, such as :
1. Floods cause the spread of many epidemic diseases.
2. Rapid runoff causes soil erosion.
3. Wildlife habitat and forests are often destroyed.
4. Manmade structures like buildings, bridges, roads, sewer lines, power lines,
etc. are damaged.
5. Floods cause widespread damage to the standing crops and degrade the
agricultural land.
6. Flood affected areas are faced with acute shortage of food and drinking water.

Prevention, Control and Mitigation :

 Though floods are a natural hazard, it is sometimes intensified due to undesirable
human activities.
 The measures that can be taken to control the extent of flood damage include land
use planning, building of physical barriers, preventing human encroachment and
use of technology for relief.

Land Use Planning :

 Proper land use planning in flood prone areas includes :

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1. Demarcation of the flood-prone areas that are first inundated during floods.
2. Construction work and concentration of human population should be avoided in
the floodplains.
3. Afforestation on the upper reaches of the river (catchment areas) to control soil
erosion and excessive runoff.

Building of Physical Barriers :

 Flood can be prevented by building certain structures, such as :
1. Embankments along the banks of rivers in densely populated areas.
2. Building of reservoirs to collect excess water during floods.
3. The construction of channels that divert floodwater.

Preventing Human Encroachment :

 Human encroachment should be avoided in the following areas :
1. Floodplains and catchment areas.
2. This would control deforestation and soil erosion which would prevent
excessive runoff.
Use of technology for relief :
 Advanced technology can be used in the following ways :
1. Advanced communication techniques for flood forecasting and warning.
2. Fast evacuation of people.
3. To provide relief in temporary shelters.
4. Immediate supply of medicines, drinking water, food and clothes.
5. Epidemic diseases must be controlled through spraying, vaccination, etc.

C) Drought
 Drought is a condition of abnormally dry weather within a geographic region.
Drought refers to the lack or insufficiency of rain for an extended period of time in
a specific region.
 During droughts, rainfall is less than normal causing a water imbalance and
resultant water shortage.
 It occurs when the rate of evaporation and transpiration exceeds precipitation for
a considerable period.

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 Drought should not be confused with dry climate, as in the Sahara or Thar Desert.
It is marked by an unusual scarcity of water and food for the humans as well as
animals.
 Certain regions of the world, such as parts of Central Africa, are characterized by
low amount of rainfall resulting in perennial drought-like conditions.
 Some part of India is often affected by drought even during the rainy season. As
India is primarily an agricultural country, droughts cause untold miseries to the
common people.
 Many Indian farmers are still totally dependent on rainfall for irrigation and
because of abnormally dry spells there is extensive crop damage.
 The main drought prone areas of the country are parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh. However, sometimes drought-
like conditions also prevail in the Gangetic Plain also.

Impact on the Environment :

 The severity of the drought is gauged by the degree of moisture deficiency, its
duration, and the size of the area affected.
 If the drought is brief, it is known as a dry spell or partial drought.

Drought causes serious environmental imbalances, which are summarized below :

1. Water-supply reservoirs become empty, wells dry up and there is acute water
shortage.
2. Groundwater level is also depleted because of less recharge.
3. Soil degradation and erosion occurs. Soil cracks because of shrinkage during
desiccation.
4. There is extensive crop damage.
5. People become impoverished and there are diseases due to malnutrition.
6. Widespread damage to flora and fauna air including domestic animals.

Prevention, Control and Mitigation :

 Rains are caused by a number of natural factors like air currents, wind direction,
etc. Thus, droughts are a natural phenomenon, beyond human control and
prevention.
 Though, global warming may have changed the pattern of rainfall in the recent
times. In modem times, by the use of satellites, we can predict the weather pattern

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over a particular area.

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 Drought-like conditions can be overcome by better water harvesting techniques.

Certain precautions can be taken in drought prone areas, which relate to
management of water resources, proper agricultural techniques and relief by
different agencies.
 Management of water resources :
These include the following :
1. Conservation of water through rainwater harvesting, building check dams,
bunds, etc.
2. Construction of reservoirs to hold emergency water supplies.
Proper Agricultural Techniques :
These include the following :
1. Increased use of drought resistant crops.
2. Proper irrigation techniques, such as drip and trickle irrigation that minimize the
use of water.
3. Over-cropping and overgrazing should be avoided.

Relief measures :
Immediate relief to the drought-affected people should be provided in the form of :
1. Employment generation programmes, like ‘food for work’ in the drought affected
areas.
2. To provide fodder for domestic animals.
D) Cyclones
 Cyclone is an area of low atmospheric pressure surrounded by a wind system
blowing in anti-clockwise direction, formed in the northern hemisphere.
 In common terms, cyclone can be described as a giant circular storm system. In a
cyclone, the wind speed must be more than 119 km/hr.
 Cyclones generate in the seas and oceans and move with a very high speed
towards the land.
 Cyclones form when moisture evaporates from the warm oceans during the hot
season. The air rises, condenses and gathers momentum as it moves over the
ocean. Due to the extreme low pressure in the centre, more and more air rushes
inwards and it grows to a considerable size and intensity.
 It strikes the land with a devastating force and gradually withers off on land when
they are cut from their source of ocean moisture.

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 Cyclones are named variously depending on their source of origin. They are
called hurricanes in the Atlantic, typhoons in the Pacific, cyclones in the Indian
Ocean and willy-willies aroimd Australia.

Impact on the Environment :

 Cyclones are quite common in the Bay of Bengal and often cause much damage in
Bangladesh and coastal areas of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu.
 Bangladesh has been devastated by cyclones a number of times. In November
1970, a severe cyclone caused a 6 m rise in sea-level and the consequent flooding
killed approximately three lakh people.
 Another cyclone in 1971 killed more than one lakh people.
 The cyclone that hit Orissa in 1999, is the worst recorded natural disaster in India.
Even an advanced country like America recorded more than 10,000 deaths and
huge financial losses when New Orleans was hit by a hurricane named Katrina,
during August 2005.
 Cyclones cause devastation when they hit the landmass in the form of very strong
winds, heavy rains and storm tides.
1. The coastal low lying areas are most affected.
2. The affected areas are inundated both with rainfall and the surge of seawater.
3. Devastation is also increased due to the accompanying high velocity winds.
4. Widespread damage in the form of uprooted trees, blown-off roof tops,
standing crops, injuries and death to humans and animals.
5. Many shipwrecks occur during cyclonic storms.
6. The affected areas are impoverished and are followed by spread of epidemic
and diseases.

Prevention, Control and Mitigation :

 The occurrence of cyclones is a natural phenomenon, over which humans have no
control, hence it cannot be prevented.
 However, some scientists have speculated that rise in global warming may cause
an increased occurrences of cyclones.
 The devastating effects of cyclones can only be controlled and mitigated through
some effective policies such as use of advanced technology, hazard reduction
initiatives and relief measures.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

Use of Advanced Technology :

1. Satellites can easily forecast the origin of cyclones in advance.
2. Satellite images can track the movement and intensity of cyclones.
3. Installation of early warning systems in the coastal areas.
Hazard Reduction Initiatives :
1. Increasing public awareness regarding cyclones.
2. Increasing the public response to cyclone warnings through training.
3. Development of underground shelter belts in the cyclone prone areas.
Relief Measures :
1. Rushing relief to the affected areas in the form of medicines, food, clothes, etc.
2. Checking the spread of epidemic water borne diseases as cyclones are generally
accompanied by flooding.
E) Landslides :
 Landslides refer to a rapid down-slope movement of rocks or soil mass under the
force of gravity.
 It is also known as slope failure and mass wasting. Landslides may be typed as
mudflow where there is down-slope movement of soil and debris flow, which is
the down-slope movement of coarse material and rocks.
 Landslides may occur when water from rain and melting snow, seeps through the
earth on a sloppy surface and encounters a layer of loose, unstable material such
as clay.
 Landslides mostly occur on unstable hillsides by the action of rain or snow that
seep through the soils and rocks.
 This results in the sliding of earth and rock masses down the hill slopes. These are
further triggered due to deforestation and human encroachment on unstable
slopes. All the hilly regions of our country are prone to landslides.
 The important factors responsible for landslide occurrence are as follows :
1. Stability of slopes
2. The type of earth and rock material
3. The type of vegetation
4. The role of ground water conditions and precipitation
5. Presence of streams, etc.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

F) Avalanche :
 It is a type of landslide involving a large mass of snow, ice and rock debris that
slides and fall rapidly down a mountainside.
 Avalanches are initiated when a mass of snow and ice begins to rapidly move
downhill because of the overload caused due to a large volume of new snowfall.
 This result in internal changes of the snow pack, producing zones of weakness
along which fissure occurs.

Impact on the Environment :

 Landslides, though local in nature, occur quite often in many parts of the world.
Landslides occur in the hilly regions; the Himalayan region in India is particularly
prone to landslides.
 Every year landslides occur, especially during the monsoon season and cause
much damage to life and property.
 For example, Malpa landslide in 1999 in the Kumaon hills, took the lives of many
pilgrims who were going to Mansarovar in Tibet.
The impact on the environment is manifested in the form of :
1. Uprooted trees and degraded soil
2. Buried building and settlements
3. Damage to crops and plantation
4. Frequent roadblocks in the hilly areas
5. Injuries and death to humans and animals.
Prevention, Control and Mitigation :
 Though landslides are a natural phenomenon and may occur without human
interference, in certain cases human activities like deforestation, mining, etc. can
also induce landslides.
 Landslides can be controlled, to some extent, by adopting initiatives, such as
providing slope support and minimizing human encroachment.
Providing Slope Support :
1. By building retaining walls made of concrete, gabions (stone filled wire blocks)
and wooden and steel beams, etc.
2. By providing drainage control measures so that water may not infiltrate into the
slope.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

Minimizing Human Encroachment :

1. Mining activities should be monitored in the hilly, unstable regions.
2. Plantation of trees should be undertaken on the unstable hilly slopes.
3. By preventing human encroachment in the form of buildings, roads, agriculture,
grazing, etc. on unstable slopes.

1.3.2 Man-Made Disasters

 When the disasters are due to carelessness of human or mishandling of dangerous
equipment’s they are called man-made disasters.
 Common examples of these disasters are train accidents, aero plane crashes,
collapse of buildings, bridges, mines, tunnels, etc.
 Man-made disasters are the result of carelessness or human errors during
technological and industrial use.
 The disasters are in the form of accidents, which occur all of a sudden and take a
huge toll on life and property. Mostly such disasters cause injuries, diseases and
casualties where they occur.
Man-made disasters are mainly of two types :
A) Local disasters :
These are small-scale disasters such as train accidents, plane crashes and shipwrecks.
B) Industrial and technological disasters :
These are much larger in scale and are the result of technology failures or industrial
accidents. Such disasters affect both local population and may even cover a much larger
area. Industrial disasters result due to accidental leakage of water or air pollutants. Many
of the chemicals are extremely toxic and carcinogenic which affect the human population
in an adverse way. Some people die instantly while others are crippled for whole life in
the form of blindness, paralysis and many other chronic diseases.
Impact on the environment :
Leakage of toxic chemicals from the industries and accidents in the nuclear reactors
has short-term and long-term effects on the environment and human health. Short-term
effects on human health relate to casualties and diseases like blindness, cancer, paralysis,
heart trouble, gastric and respiratory abnormalities. Long-term effects include genetic
imbalances in humans and its impact on the future generations. Soil and water sources
also remain polluted for long durations of time.

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 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

Prevention, control and mitigation :

Man-made disasters can be minimized to a large extent by adopting the following
measures :
1. Proper training of personnel working in the hazardous industries.
2. Proper maintenance and care of safety measures.
3. Removing human encroachments around hazardous industries.
4. Making the people aware about the first-aid methods in case of accidents.
5. Applying wet cloth over the mouth and nose in case of gas leakages minimizes
the health hazards.
6. Remaining indoors in case of radioactive accidents.
7. Providing the people with proper medical care, in some cases throughout their
life.
8. Providing adequate compensation to the affected people by way of money and
employment.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy (BGT)
 The most serious industrial disaster occurred on December 3, 1984 at Bhopal,
India, which is known as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (BGT).
 The Bhopal gas tragedy occurred due to leakage of methyl isocyanide (MIC) gas
from the factory of Union Carbide of India Ltd. MIC gas is used as an ingredient
in pesticides.
 It leaked from the factory and formed the deadly cloud over Bhopal. People living
in slums in the vicinity of the factory were the most affected and more than 5000
people were killed, half of them due to direct exposure and other half due to after
affects.
 MIC is a colorless gas which causes severe irritation, violent coughing, swelling of
the lungs, bleeding and death due to direct inhalation. It also caused loss of eye-
sight in more than 1000 people.
 More than 50,000 people were affected with respiratory, eye, gastric, neurological
and gynecological problems.
 Another technological disaster is due to the potential damages of nuclear fallout.
An example is the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.

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Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

 This nuclear disaster occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which was
one of the largest power plants in the Ukrainian Republic of erstwhile USSR, on
April 26, 1986.
 It is the worst nuclear disaster recorded in a nuclear power plant. This nuclear
power plant had four reactors of 1000 megawatt each for electricity generation.
 A sudden power surge resulted in two explosions, which destroyed the reactor
core and blasted a large hole in the roof of the reactor building.
 The Radioactive debris moved up through that hole to heights of 1 km.
Approximately 100 to 150 million curies of radiation (radioactive isotopes of
iodine and calcium) escaped into the atmosphere.
 To reduce emissions, the rescue team bombarded the reactor with 5,000 metric
tonnes of shielding material consisting of lead, boron, sand and clay. Soviet
officials placed the toll of human lives to 31.
 However, according to western estimates, 2000 people were killed. Large areas of
the Ukrainian, Byelorussia Republics of the USSR and even parts of Poland,
Denmark and Sweden were contaminated.
 Around 200,000 people had to be evacuated and resettled.
 The after affects lasted for many years and a rise in the incidence of thyroid and
blood cancer has been observed in a wide group of people.
 Other effects on the human health included skin diseases, hair loss, nausea,
anemia, respiratory and reproductive diseases.

1.4 Frequency and Forewarning Levels of Different Hazards

 Through history disasters have destroyed lives and livelihoods, killing people and
damaging homes and businesses.
 Disasters in the past 35 years have taken an estimated 2.5 million lives and cost
more than US$1.5 billion, mainly in developing countries.
 Disasters result from natural and biological hazards (floods or infectious diseases,
for example) as well as complex sociopolitical emergencies and industrial hazards
(droughts or radioactive leaks).
 The extent of the damage caused by a hazard is related not just to its severity, but
also to the capacity of people living in disaster-prone areas to prepare for and
resist it.

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 Efforts to reduce disaster risk have therefore focused, in part, on developing early
warning systems to provide timely and effective information that enables people
and communities to respond when a disaster hits.
 Early warning systems are combinations of tools and processes embedded within
institutional structures, coordinated by international and sometimes national
agencies.
 Whether they focus on one particular hazard or many, these systems are
composed of four elements : Knowledge of the risk, a technical monitoring and
warning service, dissemination of meaningful warnings to at-risk people, and
public awareness and preparedness to act. Warning services lie at the core of these
systems, and how well they operate depends on having a sound scientific basis for
predicting and forecasting, and the capability to run reliably 24 hours a day.
 Scientific and technological advances have driven marked improvements in the
quality, timeliness and lead time of hazard warnings, and in the operation of
integrated observation networks.
 But advances in technology alone are not enough - and in some cases they can
even create obstacles to the capacity of vulnerable populations to respond.
A) Forecasting and modelling technology
 Several countries have early warning systems based on seasonal-to-interannual
climate forecasts.
 These systems are based on using monitoring data, including temperature and
rainfall values, and state-of-the art climate models.
 Climatologists analyse the observations and model-based predictions to predict
climate anomalies one or two seasons ahead.
 Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications
 Remote sensing and GIS applications have significantly advanced famine early
warning systems.
 The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) has
been using remote sensing-based regional early warning systems for food security
to supplement national initiatives in eastern African countries.
 RCMRD predicts harvests half way through the growing season to give advance
warning on food security before the end of the season.

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 In addition, flood monitoring is now regularly informed by remote sensing that

obtains information on soil types, water resources, settlements, cropped areas and
forests.
B) Satellite communication technology
 Improvements in satellite communication have helped decrease the lag time
between data collection and warning.
 For example, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System works by a recorder on the
seabed relaying data on anomalies to a buoy on the surface.
 This data is then transmitted via satellite to ground stations every 15 seconds.
C) Mobile phone technology
 With the global spread of mobile phones and networks, this technology is now
increasingly used to communicate warnings and coordinate preparation activities
particularly SMS alerts for disseminating mass messages.
 For example, upon detection of p-waves that precede earthquake shaking,
Japanese agencies send out SMS alerts to all registered mobile phones in the
country.
 However, some obstacles can arise with this technology, phone pylons can be
damaged or networks can be overburdened during hazards, for example.
D) ICTs for crowdsourcing
 The use of 'crowdsourced' data is gaining traction with increasing Internet
connectivity and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
such as mobile phones.
 Crowdsourcing was used extensively in the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake,
allowing local people, mapping experts and other stakeholders to communicate
what they saw and heard on the ground, and to produce information that could
be used by humanitarian workers.
 This was particularly useful in locating survivors who needed assistance, but it is
increasingly recognized that crowdsourcing could also help with pre-disaster
activities, specifically risk identification and early warning.
E) Crisis mapping
 Through initiatives such as Ushahidi and Google Crisis Response, crisis mapping
utilises crowdsourcing as well as satellite imagery, participatory maps and
statistical models to power more informed and effective early warning.

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 It can provide real-time information on an upcoming crisis in times of uncertainty

and confusion.
 The vast amount of data that can be produced from such systems can be analysed
through networks of stakeholders (such as Crisis Mappers).
F) Early warning systems
 Early warning systems are increasingly considered to be an integral component of
disaster preparedness and involve a broad spectrum of actors.
 But early warning systems do not exist in every part of the world. A quarter of the
countries assessed in the 2011 Global Assessment Report for Disaster Risk
Reduction reported that communities did not receive any timely warnings for
impending hazards.
 And while some early warning systems are better than others, existing ones are
still in need of improvement.
 Early warning can save lives.
 Several countries have significantly reduced deaths by developing effective early
warning systems.
 Cuba's Tropical Cyclone Early Warning System is credited with reducing deaths
dramatically for weather related hazards such as tropical cyclones, storm surges
and related flooding: five successive flooding events left only seven dead.
 Another example is Bangladesh, which now has a 48-hour early warning system
in place that allows people to evacuate to safe shelters hours before cyclones make
landfall, reducing deaths.
 In 1970, 300,000 died as a result of Cyclone Bhola, compared to 3,000 in 2007
during Cyclone Sidr, which authorities were able to track as it grew in strength
but cannot prevent all damage.
 While a certain amount can be done at the local level to protect lives and
livelihoods once a warning has been received, there is little that can be done to
protect infrastructure in a sudden disaster, financial losses from destruction of
buildings and interruption of services still occur.
 However, in slower onset disasters that can be pre-empted days or months in
advance, early warning systems can provide enough time for risk reduction
measures to be put in place, such as retrofitting buildings and constructing
barriers.

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1.5 Characteristics and Damage Potential of Natural Hazards

Characteristics of hazards are as follows,
 Physical characteristics
 Spatial distribution globally
 Spatial extent of hazard event
 Predictability
 Frequency
 Magnitude
 Duration
 Speed of onset
 Effects.

Physical Characteristics
 Definition : Physical characteristics refers to a descriptive account of what the
hazard involves. Remember that this is a description of the hazard, not the hazard
event - so earthquakes refers to the shaking of the ground, but the extent to which
the ground shakes, and the reasons for it, depends on the specific hazard event.
A) Earthquakes : Physical characteristics
The video below describes several features of the shaking of the Earth's crust that
is an earthquake. Note especially the meanings of the following terms : Focus;
seismic; P, S, Love and Rayleigh waves; and the conditions under which an
earthquake is more severe.
B) Tropical cyclones : Physical characteristics
There are some key features of tropical cyclones regardless of where they are
found in the world :
- Wind speeds of over 118 kmph
- A central 'eye' with low wind speeds, relatively cloudless
- Rainbands radiating out from the centre
- Clockwise spinning in the southern hemisphere, anti-clockwise spinning in the
northern hemisphere
- Formed in equatorial regions with high ocean temperatures (26 °C)
C) Droughts : Physical characteristics
It's important not to confuse drought with aridity, which is a permanant state of

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dryness. Depending on the context, drought can have different meanings. This is

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because some areas do not rely on rainfall for their water supply, but snowmelt,
groundwater or floods. Therefore, drought can be split into the following
categories.
1. Meteorological drought : Is specific to different regions. For example, 20 inches
(51 centimeters) of rainfall in a year is normal in West Texas, but the same
amount would be less than half the yearly average in Virginia.
2. Agricultural drought : Accounts for the water needs of crops during different
growing stages. For instance, not enough moisture at planting may hinder
germination, leading to low plant populations and a reduction in yield.
3. Hydrological drought : Refers to persistently low water volumes in streams,
rivers and reservoirs. Human activities, such as drawdown of reservoirs, can
worsen hydrological droughts. Hydrological drought is often linked with
meteorological droughts.
4. Socioeconomic drought : Occurs when the demand for water exceeds the supply.
Examples of this kind of drought include too much irrigation or when low river
flow forces hydroelectric power plant operators to reduce energy production.
D) Nuclear accidents
 The physical characteristics of nuclear accidents can be categorised by the nature
of the escape of radiation.
 This is always through the release of radioactive materials, not 'radiation' itself.
These can be liquid or atmospheric gas.
 In many cases, the release of the radioactive material is a deliberate choice as it is
necessary to prevent the overheating of the nuclear reactor core which would then
potentially cause an explosion, releasing a much greater amount of nuclear
material into the atmosphere.

1.6 Hazard Identification and Assessment

 A hazard assessment can be a checklist, or simply an investigation of the working
area. Hazard assessments should be done daily, even if the work area is the same.
 The purpose of completing hazard assessments daily is to avoid becoming
complacent, or simply not noticing the environment around you.
 Hazard assessments allow the workers to assess the work area each day, and
determine which safety measures to put in place according to the current risk.
Daily assessments allow workers to view safety measures as situational, and

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change the measures as the environment and hazards change.

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 They are also known as Field Level Hazard Assessments (FLHA), or, simply, risk
assessments.
 One of the "root causes" of workplace injuries, illnesses, and incidents is the
failure to identify or recognize hazards that are present, or that could have been
anticipated. A critical element of any effective safety and health program is a
proactive, ongoing process to identify and assess such hazards.
To identify and assess hazards, employers and workers :
 Collect and review information about the hazards present or likely to be present
in the workplace.
 Conduct initial and periodic workplace inspections of the workplace to identify
new or recurring hazards.
 Investigate injuries, illnesses, incidents, and close calls/near misses to determine
the underlying hazards, their causes, and safety and health program
shortcomings.
 Group similar incidents and identify trends in injuries, illnesses, and hazards
reported.
 Consider hazards associated with emergency or non-routine situations.
 Determine the severity and likelihood of incidents that could result for each
hazard identified, and use this information to prioritize corrective actions.
Some hazards, such as housekeeping and tripping hazards, can and should be fixed as
they are found. Fixing hazards on the spot emphasizes the importance of safety and
health and takes advantage of a safety leadership opportunity
A) Action item 1 : Collect existing information about workplace hazards
Information on workplace hazards may already be available to employers and
workers, from both internal and external sources.
How to accomplish it
 Collect, organize, and review information with workers to determine what types
of hazards may be present and which workers may be exposed or potentially
exposed. Information available in the workplace may include :
 Equipment and machinery operating manuals.
 Safety Data Sheets (SDS) provided by chemical manufacturers.
 Self-inspection reports and inspection reports from insurance carriers,
government agencies, and consultants.

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 Records of previous injuries and illnesses, such as OSHA 300 and 301 logs and
reports of incident investigations.
 Workers' compensation records and reports.
 Patterns of frequently-occurring injuries and illnesses.
 Exposure monitoring results, industrial hygiene assessments, and medical records
(appropriately redacted to ensure patient/worker privacy).
 Existing safety and health programs (lockout/tagout, confined spaces, process
safety management, personal protective equipment, etc.).
 Input from workers, including surveys or minutes from safety and health
committee meetings.
 Results of job hazard analyses, also known as job safety analyses.
 Information about hazards may be available from outside sources, such as :
 OSHA, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) websites, publications, and
alerts.
 Trade associations.
 Labor unions, state and local occupational safety and health committees/coalitions
("COSH groups"), and worker advocacy groups.
 Safety and health consultants.
B) Action item 2 : Inspect the workplace for safety hazards
Hazards can be introduced over time as workstations and processes change,
equipment or tools become worn, maintenance is neglected, or housekeeping practices
decline. Setting aside time to regularly inspect the workplace for hazards can help
identify shortcomings so that they can be addressed before an incident occurs.
How to accomplish it
 Conduct regular inspections of all operations, equipment, work areas and
facilities. Have workers participate on the inspection team and talk to them about
hazards that they see or report.
 Be sure to document inspections so you can later verify that hazardous conditions
are corrected. Take photos or video of problem areas to facilitate later discussion
and brainstorming about how to control them, and for use as learning aids.
 Include all areas and activities in these inspections, such as storage and
warehousing, facility and equipment maintenance, purchasing and office

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functions, and the activities of on-site contractors, subcontractors, and temporary

employees.
 Regularly inspect both plant vehicles (e.g., forklifts, powered industrial trucks)
and transportation vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks).
 Use checklists that highlight things to look for. Typical hazards fall into several
major categories, such as those listed below; each workplace will have its own
list :
1. General housekeeping
2. Slip, trip, and fall hazards
3. Electrical hazards
4. Equipment operation
5. Equipment maintenance
6. Fire protection
7. Work organization and process flow (including staffing and scheduling)
8. Work practices
9. Workplace violence
10. Ergonomic problems
11. Lack of emergency procedures.
Before changing operations, workstations, or workflow; making major organizational
changes; or introducing new equipment, materials, or processes, seek the input of
workers and evaluate the planned changes for potential hazards and related risks.
C) Action item 3 : Identify health hazards
 Identifying workers' exposure to health hazards is typically more complex than
identifying physical safety hazards.
 For example, gases and vapors may be invisible, often have no odor, and may not
have an immediately noticeable harmful health effect.
 Health hazards include chemical hazards (solvents, adhesives, paints, toxic dusts,
etc.), physical hazards (noise, radiation, heat, etc.), biological hazards (infectious
diseases), and ergonomic risk factors (heavy lifting, repetitive motions, vibration).
 Reviewing workers' medical records (appropriately redacted to ensure
patient/worker privacy) can be useful in identifying health hazards associated
with workplace exposures.

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How to accomplish it
Identify chemical hazards - Review SDS and product labels to identify chemicals in
your workplace that have low exposure limits, are highly volatile, or are used in large
quantities or in unventilated spaces. Identify activities that may result in skin exposure to
chemicals.
Identify physical hazards - Identify any exposures to excessive noise (areas where you
must raise your voice to be heard by others), elevated heat (indoor and outdoor), or
sources of radiation (radioactive materials, X-rays, or radiofrequency radiation).
Identify biological hazards - Determine whether workers may be exposed to sources
of infectious diseases, molds, toxic or poisonous plants, or animal materials (fur or scat)
capable of causing allergic reactions or occupational asthma.
Identify ergonomic risk factors - Examine work activities that require heavy lifting,
work above shoulder height, repetitive motions, or tasks with significant vibration.
Conduct quantitative exposure assessments - When possible, using air sampling or
direct reading instruments.
 Review medical records - To identify cases of musculoskeletal injuries, skin
irritation or dermatitis, hearing loss, or lung disease that may be related to
workplace exposures.
D) Action item 4 : Conduct incident investigations
Workplace incidents - including injuries, illnesses, close calls/near misses, and reports
of other concerns - provide a clear indication of where hazards exist. By thoroughly
investigating incidents and reports, you will identify hazards that are likely to cause
future harm. The purpose of an investigation must always be to identify the root causes
(and there is often more than one) of the incident or concern, in order to prevent future
occurrences.
How to accomplish it
 Develop a clear plan and procedure for conducting incident investigations, so that
an investigation can begin immediately when an incident occurs. The plan should
cover items such as :
o Who will be involved
o Lines of communication
o Materials, equipment, and supplies needed
o Reporting forms and templates.

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 Train investigative teams on incident investigation techniques, emphasizing

objectivity and open-mindedness throughout the investigation process.
 Conduct investigations with a trained team that includes representatives of both
management and workers.
 Investigate close calls/near misses.
 Identify and analyze root causes to address underlying program shortcomings
that allowed the incidents to happen.
 Communicate the results of the investigation to managers, supervisors, and
workers to prevent recurrence.
E) Action item 5 : Identify hazards associated with emergency and non-routine
situations
 Emergencies present hazards that need to be recognized and understood. Non-
routine or infrequent tasks, including maintenance and startup/shutdown
activities, also present potential hazards.
 Plans and procedures need to be developed for responding appropriately and
safely to hazards associated with foreseeable emergency scenarios and non-
routine situations.
How to accomplish it
Identify foreseeable emergency scenarios and non-routine tasks, taking into account
the types of material and equipment in use and the location within the facility. Scenarios
such as the following may be foreseeable :
 Fires and explosions
 Chemical releases
 Hazardous material spills
 Startups after planned or unplanned equipment shutdowns
 Non-routine tasks, such as infrequently performed maintenance activities
 Structural collapse
 Disease outbreaks
 Weather emergencies and natural disasters
 Medical emergencies
 Workplace violence.

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F) Action item 6 : Characterize the nature of identified hazards, identify interim

control measures, and prioritize the hazards for control
 The next step is to assess and understand the hazards identified and the types of
incidents that could result from worker exposure to those hazards.
 This information can be used to develop interim controls and to prioritize hazards
for permanent control.

How to accomplish it
 Evaluate each hazard by considering the severity of potential outcomes, the
likelihood that an event or exposure will occur, and the number of workers who
might be exposed.
 Use interim control measures to protect workers until more permanent solutions
can be implemented.
 Prioritize the hazards so that those presenting the greatest risk are addressed first.

1.7 Dimensions of Vulnerability Factors

 Factors that have inhibited the response to disasters in the past include,
o Lack of a national-level plan policy,
o Absence of an institutional framework at the center / state / district level,
o Poor intersectoral coordination,
o Lack of an early warning system,
o Slow response from the relief agencies,
o Lack of trained / dedicated search and rescue teams, and
o Poor community empowerment.
 Vulnerability in this context can be defined as the diminished capacity of an
individual or group to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of
a natural or man-made hazard.
 The concept is relative and dynamic. Vulnerability is most often associated with
poverty, but it can also arise when people are isolated, insecure and defenseless in
the face of risk, shock or stress.
 People differ in their exposure to risk as a result of their social group, gender,
ethnic or other identity, age and other factors.
 Vulnerability may also vary in its forms : Poverty, for example, may mean that
housing is unable to withstand an earthquake or a hurricane, or lack of
preparedness may result in a slower response to a disaster, leading to greater loss

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of life or prolonged suffering.

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 The reverse side of the coin is capacity, which can be described as the resources
available to individuals, households and communities to cope with a threat or to
resist the impact of a hazard.
 Such resources can be physical or material, but they can also be found in the way
a community is organized or in the skills or attributes of individuals and/or
organizations in the community.
 To determine people’s vulnerability, two questions need to be asked :
1. To what threat or hazard are they vulnerable ?
2. What makes them vulnerable to that threat or hazard ?
Counteracting vulnerability requires
1. Reducing the impact of the hazard itself where possible through mitigation,
prediction and warning, preparedness;
2. Building capacities to withstand and cope with hazards;
 There are three dimensions of vulnerability : Exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive
capacity.
 Exposure is the degree to which people and the things they value could be
affected or “touched” by coastal hazards; sensitivity is the degree to which they
could be harmed by that exposure; and adaptive capacity is the degree to which
they could mitigate the potential for harm by taking action to reduce exposure or
sensitivity.
 The expression “things they value” not only refers to economic value and wealth,
but also to places and to cultural, spiritual, and personal values.
 In addition, this expression refers to critical physical infrastructure such as police,
emergency, and health services buildings, communication and transportation
networks, public utilities, and schools and daycare centers.
 It also refers to social infrastructure such as extended families, neighborhood
watch groups, fraternal organizations, and more.
 The expression even refers to such social factors as economic growth rates and
economic vitality.
 People value some places and things for intrinsic reasons and some because they
need them to function successfully in our society.
 Some people and the things they value can be highly vulnerable to low-impact
coastal hazards because of high sensitivity or low adaptive capacity, while others
can have little vulnerability to even high-impact coastal hazards because of

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insensitivity or high adaptive capacity.

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 Coastal hazards result in highly variable impact patterns because of these

variations in vulnerability in time and space.
 Some groups of people are inherently more vulnerable to coastal hazards than
others. The very old or very young, the sick, and the physically or mentally
challenged are often vulnerable.
 Disadvantaged groups, such as minorities, the poorly educated or non-native
speakers, are usually more vulnerable than the majority, better-educated, native
language-speaking population.
 Women who typically spend more time and effort on care-giving to parents,
children, and the sick than men do are generally more vulnerable because that
care-giving exposes them more to coastal hazards.
 The most vulnerable groups often combine these categories.
 Examples include the poor who in many societies are also more likely to be old,
minority, non-native speaking, and/or female.
 Another example is the single-mother household. Already particularly vulnerable
because a single parent is responsible for both caregiving and providing the
family income, this vulnerability is often compounded by poverty or minority
status, which can make it more difficult to access social services.
 The concept of resilience is important to understanding the adaptive capacity
dimension of vulnerability to coastal hazards.
 Resilience refers to the ability of a human system (such as a municipal water
system and the community that supports it) to withstand contemporary shocks
and to anticipate and plan for future shocks.
 Resilient systems have the ability to learn from past experiences and to use that
knowledge when confronting problems.
 Systems with high adaptive capacity are therefore resilient and able to reconfigure
themselves to deal with coastal hazards.
 Systems with low adaptive capacity are much less resilient and much more
vulnerable to coastal hazards.

1.8 Social Vulnerability

 In its broadest sense, social vulnerability is one dimension of vulnerability to
multiple stressors and shocks, including abuse, social exclusion and natural
hazards.
 Social vulnerability refers to the inability of people, organizations, and societies to

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withstand adverse impacts from multiple stressors to which they are exposed.

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 These impacts are due in part to characteristics inherent in social interactions,

institutions, and systems of cultural values.
 Because it is most apparent when calamity occurs, many studies of social
vulnerability are found in risk management literature.
 The concept of social vulnerability emerged most recently within the discourse on
natural hazards and disasters. To date no one definition has been agreed upon.
 Similarly, multiple theories of social vulnerability exist. Most work conducted so
far focuses on empirical observation and conceptual models.
 Thus, current social vulnerability research is a middle range theory and represents
an attempt to understand the social conditions that transform a natural hazard
(e.g. flood, earthquake, mass movements etc.) into a social disaster. The concept
emphasizes two central themes :
 Both the causes and the phenomenon of disasters are defined by social processes
and structures.
 Thus it is not only a geo - or biophysical hazard, but rather the social context that
is taken into account to understand “natural” disasters (Hewitt 1983).
 Although different groups of a society may share a similar exposure to a natural
hazard, the hazard has varying consequences for these groups, since they have
diverging capacities and abilities to handle the impact of a hazard.
 Taking a structuralist view, Hewitt (1997, p143) defines vulnerability as being :
o Essentially about the human ecology of endangerment...and is embedded in
the social geography of settlements and lands uses, and the space of
distribution of influence in communities and political organisation.
o This is in contrast to the more socially focused view of Blaikie et al. (1994, p9)
who define vulnerability as the :
Set of characteristics of a group or individual in terms of their capacity to
anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard.
It involves a combination of factors that determine the degree to which
someone's life and livelihood is at risk by a discrete and identifiable event in
nature or society.

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1.9 Different Models of Social Vulnerability

A) Risk-Hazard (RH) Model
 Initial RH models sought to understand the impact of a hazard as a function of
exposure to the hazardous event and the sensitivity of the entity exposed (Turner
et al., 2003).
 Applications of this model in environmental and climate impact assessments
generally emphasised exposure and sensitivity to perturbations and stressors
(Kates, 1985; Burton et al., 1978) and worked from the hazard to the impacts
(Turner et al., 2003).
 However, several inadequacies became apparent. Principally, it does not treat the
ways in which the systems in question amplify or attenuate the impacts of the
hazard (Martine & Guzman, 2002).
 Neither does the model address the distinction among exposed subsystems and
components that lead to significant variations in the consequences of the hazards,
or the role of political economy in shaping differential exposure and consequences
(Blaikie et al., 1994, Hewitt, 1997). This led to the development of the PAR model.

Fig. 1.9.1 RH model

B) Pressure and Release Model

Fig. 1.9.2 PAR model

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 The PAR model understands a disaster as the intersection between socio-

economic pressure and physical exposure.
 Risk is explicitly defined as a function of the perturbation, stressor, or stress and
the vulnerability of the exposed unit (Blaikie et al, 1994).
 In this way, it directs attention to the conditions that make exposure unsafe,
leading to vulnerability and to the causes creating these conditions. Used
primarily to address social groups facing disaster events, the model emphasises
distinctions in vulnerability by different exposure units such as social class and
ethnicity.
 The model distinguishes between three components on the social side : Root
causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions, and one component on the
natural side, the natural hazards itself.
 Principal root causes include “economic, demographic and political processes”,
which affect the allocation and distribution of resources between different groups
of people.
 Dynamic pressures translate economic and political processes in local
circumstances (e.g. migration patterns).
 Unsafe conditions are the specific forms in which vulnerability is expressed in
time and space, such as those induced by the physical environment, local
economy or social relations.

1.10 Economic Vulnerability

 Household level earthquakes affect the full range of social classes - from royalties
to the homeless.
 Apparently, earthquake treats everyone equally. However, some are more equal
than others.
 Actually, the poor and socially disadvantaged groups of the society are the most
vulnerable to, and affected by, earthquakes and other natural hazards, reflecting
their social, cultural, economic and political environment.
 Usually, communities in seismic countries are subject to a multitude of natural
hazards and environmental problems.
 The natural hazards themselves are the source of transient hardship and distress,
and a factor contributing to persistent poverty.
 Disasters exacerbate poverty by inflicting physical damage, loss of income-
generating opportunities, and the resulting indebtedness.

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 Thus at the household level, poverty is the single most important factor
determining vulnerability to natural hazards including earthquake. The poor are
the vulnerable. The vulnerability is reflective of,
1. The location of housing (poor and marginal lands)
2. Poor quality building (non-engineered, using poor quality materials)
3. Primary types of occupation, level of access to capital (low)
4. Degree (low) of concentration of assets (Benson, 2001)

Fig. 1.10.1

Political Vulnerability
 Just as disaster vulnerability is mediated by a country’s political system, disasters
can have major effects on political stability and political legitimacy.
 Politicization occurs when disasters as events in the political landscape are taken
over by actors for political causes.
 A three-phase analytical model for disaster politicization in authoritarian contexts
is inductively derived from the empirical evidence of the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan
earthquake in China.
 This model theorizes the parallel development in the political discourse of
consensus-based and contentious political mobilization surrounding a disaster.

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 On the one hand, disasters can be framed as a consensus crisis to increase the
political capacity and legitimacy of those in power.
 In opposition, they can also be framed to support contentious social claims.
 The disaster becomes a political issue, and the victims are no longer individual
and passive disaster victims, but whole social groups advancing grievances and
claims towards those in power.
 This process can have particularly important implications in a non-democratic
political context.
 Disasters are intervening factors exogenous to the political system, and their
effects can escape the control of those in power.
 Disasters can become unforeseen yet powerful factors in an otherwise limited
space for political contestation.
 Ideally, governments should be aware of natural disaster risks in their specific
region and set policy or regulatory measures in place to deal with them, before
they occur.
 Progressive and wealthy governments usually do a risk assessment and then act
accordingly.
 Poorer government may be aware of risks, but have little financial resources to
put preparatory measures in place before something bad happens.
 Irresponsible or unprepared governments tend to go into react mode once a
disaster hits and people usually suffer or die needlessly as the response is often
slow or inadequate.
 In some countries where the government has not acted proactively or done a poor
job during a disaster, they may be voted out (in democratic countries at least) or in
poorer countries political unrest may follow.

Psychological Impacts
 Natural disasters can be overwhelming and potentially traumatic life experiences.
People directly impacted by natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey, may
endure serious injuries or near death experiences; they may witness devastation
among their friends, family, neighbors, and greater communities; and they may
experience the irreparable loss of possessions and property. For those directly
impacted, the immediate aftermath of a disaster can be disorienting, marked with
displacement, shock, and a strong need to restore order. The weeks and months
following a disaster may be consumed with various tasks related to restoration to
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a “new normal,” sometimes in new homes and with new possessions. Thus, for
some people, the full impact of a disaster and its impact on their mental health
may not be obvious for weeks or months after the disaster occurs.
 Depending on the type and extent of loss, individuals directly impacted by
natural disasters may be feeling a strong sense of grief, panic, loss, fear, and
sadness. Difficulties sleeping, anger, irritability, and guilt may also surface. Some
who were not severely impacted may feel “survivor’s guilt”, overwhelmed by
“why them, and not me?” thoughts. However, the majority of individuals who
survive natural disasters will ultimately recover without major mental health
disturbances, even if they endured spikes in symptoms during or immediately
following the disaster.
 Maintaining a connection to others in the aftermath of disaster can be healing for
individuals and the community. Avoiding isolation and increasing social support
is an important factor in building resilience. In addition, although it may be
difficult or may evoke feelings of guilt in some, taking time for self-care, such as
regular eating, sleep, and exercise, can be key to promoting health and well-being
through challenging times. In moments of acute stress or anxiety, deep breathing
exercises, journaling, walks, and conversations with supportive others can make a
significant difference.
 Fortunately, individuals and communities generally display tremendous
resilience in the aftermath of traumatic events such as natural disasters and most
people are able to bounce back after a period of time. However, it is important to
note that a relative minority of individuals may suffer longer-term psychological
disturbances, lasting beyond the first month or so following a disaster. Since
potentially traumatic life events, such as disasters, can be severe life stressors,
people may develop a range of psychological disturbances in their aftermath.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety disorders, or substance
use are common conditions associated with extreme life stress and/or trauma.
Effective and efficient treatments for each of these conditions are available from
providers in the UH community.
 People, who experience several of the following symptoms, lasting for one month
or more, may benefit from counseling or additional mental health support.
 Nightmares or other intrusive (unwanted) memories of the disaster
 Extreme distress at reminders of the disaster or when recalling upsetting
circumstances

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 Avoidance of conversations, news, or memories of the disaster

 Changes in the way they think or feel about themselves, others, or the world
 Sleep disturbance (trouble falling or staying asleep, waking up too early)
 Irritability
 Strong startle reactions
 Panic attacks
 Increased and intense worry
 Increased fear and anxiety, including agitation or physiological symptoms (e.g.,
shortness of breath, muscle tension)
 Depressed mood
 Loss of interest in activities or people
 Sudden decreases in self-esteem
 Sudden changes in appetite (increase or decrease)
 Increased use of substances, including alcohol.

1.11 Vulnerability Assessment

 A vulnerability assessment is the process of identifying, quantifying, and
prioritizing (or ranking) the vulnerabilities in a system.
 Examples of systems for which vulnerability assessments are performed include,
but are not limited to, information technology systems, energy supply systems,
water supply systems, transportation systems, and communication systems. Such
assessments may be conducted on behalf of a range of different organizations,
from small businesses up to large regional infrastructures.
 Vulnerability from the perspective of disaster management means assessing the
threats from potential hazards to the population and to infrastructure.
It may be conducted in the political, social, economic or environmental fields.
 Vulnerability assessment has many things in common with risk assessment.

Assessments are typically performed according to the following steps :

1. Cataloging assets and capabilities (resources) in a system.
2. Assigning quantifiable value (or at least rank order) and importance to those
resources.
3. Identifying the vulnerabilities or potential threats to each resource.

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4. Mitigating or eliminating the most serious vulnerabilities for the most valuable
resources.

1.11.1 Vulnerability and Disaster Risks - Vulnerabilities to Earthquake and

Flood Hazard
A) Earthquake Vulnerability
 Earthquake Vulnerability Within minutes of shaking, the earthquake reveals the
vulnerabilities of buildings, households, communities, and of a country.
 The consequences expose flaws in governance, planning, siting of physical
structure, design, construction, and use of the built environment in country with
seismic hazard.
 It reveals the influence of prevailing culture and way of life, on the capacity of the
community to be preparedness for an earthquake hazard.
 The scale of physical damage and social disruption inflicted upon a community or
a nation by an earthquake event is the measure of how vulnerable the community
or the nation is.
 Vulnerability is a set of prevailing or consequential conditions, which adversely
affect an individual, a household or a community's ability to mitigate, prepare for
or respond to the earthquake hazard.
 Vulnerability can also be defined as the degree of loss to a given element at risk,
or set of such elements, resulting from an earthquake of a given magnitude or
intensity, which is usually expressed on a scale from 0 (no damage) to 10 (total
loss).
 Earthquake vulnerability is thus a function of the potential losses from
earthquakes (death and injury to people, damage and other physical structures)
and the level of preparedness (the extent to which a society has been able to
translate mitigation measures into practice).
 It reflects the unattended weakness in the built environment of a community and
the constraints in the society that affects ability (or inability) to absorb losses after
an earthquake and to recover from the damage.
 Vulnerability condition precedes the earthquake event and contributes to its
severity, impedes emergency response, and usually continues long after the
earthquake has struck.
 Distinguishing characteristics of a community that is earthquake-resistant

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 The extent of investments in public policies to protect people, property, and

community resources through the adoption and implementation of mitigation,
preparedness, emergency response, and recovery and reconstruction measures
and regulations, and
 The attitudinal extent of policymakers and stakeholders who seek to add a value
of at least one dollar for every dollar invested in mitigation.
 Antonyms of the phrase “earthquake vulnerability” are “earthquake-resistance”
in case of the built environment, and “earthquake resilience” in case of social
vulnerabilities.
B) Flood Vulnerability
 Housing density and condition are also an influential factor influencing flood
vulnerability.
 Homeless people are more vulnerable to flood, as they have no shelter. A recent
study conducted by CUS in Dhaka report shows that nearly 60 percent of the
slums in Dhaka have poor or no drainage.
 This is a cause for frequent flooding. The poor quality of housing and
overcrowding are also responsible to make the situation worse during flood.
 The longer period of flood and the higher velocity of floodwater accelerate
damage to properties and lives.
 Sometimes duration of flooding is more important than depth. Flood height,
duration, and some inter-community variables such as availability of public
hospital and electricity are used for assessing vulnerability.
 However, warning can also reduce both the tangible and the intangible damage
caused by floods.
 The availability of response and warnings can also influence vulnerability.
 Advance notice of floods could help them reduce loses. Sheltering place is another
factor to influence flood vulnerability.
 One more significant and recent study proved that poor road networks, long
distances between home and shelters, low capacity of shelters, intensify the
vulnerability of people.
 As a result, those people or communities are more vulnerable who live far away
from the flood shelter.

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1.12 Disaster Impacts on Differential Groups

 Disasters have different impacts on diverse population groups. When the forces of
nature exceed a person’s ability to avoid or survive those forces, disasters become
more devastating
 Disasters tend to impact more ruthlessly on those already disadvantaged, for
example, Hurricane Katrina stroke hardest on those who were unable to evacuate
from the city.
 Consequently, injury, morbidity, and mortality were disproportionately endured
by African American communities, renters, unemployed persons, and the poor.

Low-income population
 Several qualitative studies have explained the linkages between poverty and
disasters regards to certain type of disaster in a particular community.
 Poor people are more exposed to natural disasters and extreme weather events
than the non-poor.
 The poor are physically vulnerable because they tend to live in hazardous areas,
such as gullies or coastal areas that are predisposed to disaster; and economically
vulnerable because disasters devastate their households’ natural, physical, and
social assets.
 They are more likely to experience stress, anxiety, isolation, disruption,
displacement, depression, and feelings of powerlessness.
 As the poor being the most affected, there is a strong correlation between disaster
and poverty due to the exposure to physical and economic vulnerability.
 They face greater restrictions in physical abilities, have fewer social contacts,
experience more trepidation about area hazards, and possess inadequate
resources for preparedness and response actions.
 In the United States, socioeconomic status is a significant predictor in disaster,
because the poor people are more likely to identify hazards as precarious events,
less likely to prepare for hazards or buy insurance, less likely to respond to
warnings, more likely to die and suffer injuries, proportionately greater material
losses; have more psychological distress, and face more complications during the
stages of response, recovery, and reconstruction.
 Poor people face double jeopardy during disaster, as they already victims of
poverty and further victimized in disasters.

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 However, classism makes the middle class distance themselves from the poor and
they view the poor, working poor, and welfare recipients in the most negative
light, because people on welfare are perceived as dishonest, uninterested in
education, and dependent.
 Morbidity and mortality are rampant among the poorer and disadvantaged
segments of the society and they are always more vulnerable to various types of
disasters.
 Research on the impacts of hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornadoes suggest that
the poor communities suffer disproportionately in human fatalities and injuries.
Female population
 In terms of both impacts and capabilities to reduce vulnerability, gender is
repeatedly an unseen dimension in disaster scholarship despite general
recognition within social sciences that there exists a gendered dimension to the
responses to any social event.
 In recent years several studies has focused on how men and women are affected
and respond differently during disasters.
 If gender were regarded as a “natural” fact, questions concerning the stability and
resilience of the gender order following a disaster would not arise; however, once
one concedes that gender is a social construction, one must look to social factors to
explain its importance.
 Disaster fatalities are seldom gender neutral and survival rates of women are
much lower than men in many disasters.
 Based on sample of 141 countries over the period from 1981 to 2002, found that
natural disasters lower the life expectancy of women more than that of men which
means on average natural disasters and their succeeding impacts kill more
women than men or kill women at an earlier age than men.
 The impact of disasters on the gender gap in life expectancy is negatively
associated with the socio-economic status of women.
 Female mortality rate is higher in disasters not because women are physically
weaker, but because of male-dominated social structure, underpinned by cultural
traditions.
 The expectation that a woman will look after the elderly and having numerous
children hold her back from saving her own life without considering other
household members.

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 As a result, socially constructed gender-specific vulnerability of females

assembled into everyday socioeconomic forms lead to comparatively higher
female disaster mortality rates relative to men.
 Women are amongst the most vulnerable population groups because they are
generally poorer than men, have less access to and control of resources, and many
cultures and jurisprudence might have restricted their means to become
independent and take up the position of power.
 Poverty leaves people more vulnerable to disaster that amplifies by the ideologies
about gender
 Poor women can hardly afford quality housing located on raised ground,
adequate storage of food which are crucial for self-protection.
 A poor woman might die or be injured in a disaster because not only she lives in a
flimsy shack on marginal and unstable land, but also, in all likelihood, they might
consume inadequate diet and work irregularly for little pay.
 Unless poverty is abridged, the increase in disasters and extreme weather events
linked with climate change is likely to affect women more than men, because
being female is strongly linked to being poor.
 Female-headed households are more likely to have inadequate preparation for a
disaster and may need more and dissimilar assistance after a disaster.
 In female-headed households, the ability of women to create safe conditions in
the face of impending floods or hurricanes is reduced due to poverty that affect
people’s ability to provide adequate self-protection.
 Female headed households are underprivileged, not because of unfairness against
them in disaster damage or relief, but because of gendered division of labor.
 Women, particularly poor and minority women, experience a disproportionate
costs associated with disasters.
Children
 A number of studies focused on vulnerability of children in disaster situation
because of their physiological, psychosocial, and cognitive differences compared
with adults.
 Children’s immature ability to understand and process the instantaneous and
longstanding effects of emergencies, including their own injuries and exposure to
troublesome events, traumatized or injured parents, loss of beloved ones,

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interruption of daily routines, and frightening images in the media, make them
amongst the most vulnerable members of affected communities.
 Children have unique needs and disasters disrupt their basic needs including
access to food, water, accommodation, and principal caregivers.
 Becker-Blease and colleagues studied a representative sample of 2,030 American
children aged 2 to 17 and found that disaster exposure was associated with some
forms of victimization and adversity.
 Victimization was associated with depression among 2 to 9 year-old disaster
survivors, and with depression and aggression among 10 to 17 year-old
survivors.
 Poverty, parenting capacity, social support and many other stressful
environmental factors may lead to maltreatment and victimization of children.
 Children are particularly predisposed to the messages and images seen on
television.
 Children are not only at risk of losing their lives, but also more vulnerable because
many of them lose their guardians.
 Moreover, it is difficult to separate the influence of age, gender, and class,
consequently the impact of disaster is more acute for girls.
 Children with disabilities and special health care needs stance a special challenge
in post disaster response, because general populations are not adequately
prepared for major disaster events, with members of vulnerable populations even
less prepared at personal and family level.
 Mental health problems among the children exposed to Hurricane Katrina were
common and widespread.
 Younger age groups are more likely to be diagnosed with adjustment disorder
after a disaster, and those who had lost relatives, friends or neighbors, as well as
whose residence were heavily damaged, were tended to be diagnosed mental
disorders.
 Most commonly observed traumatic reactions in school-aged children include
certain fears, separation problems, sleep difficulties, reenactment of the trauma in
play, regression, physical complaints, irritability, survival guilt, deterioration in
academic performance, anxiety of recurrence of the trauma, and trauma-related
guilt.

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Elderly people
 In general, there is consensus in the social science hazards literature that age and
vulnerability to disasters are interconnected.
 It is evident from the changing global demographics that in future years the
proportion of elderly people will increase exponentially who might be exposed to
disasters.
 The larger the fraction of elderly in a community, the more vulnerable it is and the
extended time it will take for the community to entirely recover from a disaster.
 Elderly people are accepted as among the most vulnerable people in disasters,
because they tend to be less mobile and more easily trapped, confined, and
injured than younger adults.
 Impaired physical mobility, diminished sensory awareness, preexisting health
conditions and social and economic restraints increase the vulnerability of frail
elderly people during disasters.
 During time of calamities psychological stress, social adversities, and higher
mortality rates are experienced by the elderly people in the United States.
 Their vulnerability is higher because of physical constraints and declining
cognitive abilities that amplify their powerlessness or unwillingness to comply
with mandatory evacuation orders.
 Elderly populations are less resilient to acute trauma and capacity to cope with
the long-term consequences of disaster, including relocation, underprivileged
accommodations, crowded conditions and diminished admittance to health
facilities.
 The ailments of elderly persons, including but not limited to, heart disease, cancer,
stroke, arthritis, poor vision and hearing, depression, and dementia. Elderly
persons have difficulty obtaining necessary assistance due to physical and mental
impairments, which worsened by limited income, fewer economic resources,
inability to read or speak English, inadequate supports from friends and family
members, and anxiety of traveling to the source of assistance.
 It was revealed in the study on elderly persons that the association between
income inequality and depression was greater among those with more physical
sicknesses.

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 When elderly persons adversely affected or evacuated by disasters and become

victims of tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, certain characteristics of
elderly victims, such as loss of a sense of belonging and personal disorientation,
loss of familiar persons and things, are results in problems of spatial
disorientation.
 In conjunction with being elderly, having family members or friends utterly
injured, having lost essential belongings, having felt culpability concerning one's
death or injury, and having not utilized mental health amenities are independent
risk factors for general psychological distress.
 Along with different health and socio-economic factors, age affecting elderly
people’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster and place
them at greater risk.
 Although the health and functional status of elderly people is improving in many
countries, the reality is that there is a subpopulation among elderly people who
represent some of the most vulnerable people.
 Further distresses in any natural disaster that intensify risk factors for elders
include power outages that disturb life-support equipment (e.g., oxygen
generator, wheelchair) and elevators (making emergency evacuation very
challenging or even impossible); lack of social support and language and cultural
barriers (e.g., lower reading aptitude, speaking difficulty); and commotion of
entitlement program assistance, upon which many elders are completely
dependent.
 In many disasters the morbidity of elderly people is much higher due to their
physical inability and dependence on family members.
 Despite representing only 12 to 15 percent of the population affected by Hurricane
Katrina, elderly people comprised 75 % of the deaths.
 Elderly persons or others with limited means were more reluctant to evacuate in
the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
 Moreover, the US heat wave of 1979 killed several thousand elderly people who
were, however, not just old, but poor.
People with disabilities
 People with disabilities, including deaf, blind, mentally retarded, those with
restricted mobility are more vulnerable in a disaster situation.
 The problem of disability has two faces; first, disabled people need special

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attention when disaster warnings and evacuation orders are given, because they

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may not hear or understand. Second, many disasters cause injuries that lead to
long-term disability.
 The financial burden of caring for the disabled is carried by families and local
communities.
 The vulnerability of children with disabilities to disasters are multifarious because
their families’ social context may be linked to social, structural, and financial
deprivations.
 A random population survey 2-6 months after Hurricane Ike struck Galveston Bay
on September 13, 2008 and found associations of injuries with distress and
disability. The results suggest that the potential efficacy of evacuation incentives
with regard to the deterrence of disaster-related injury and disability.
 During Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleanians’ mobility was limited by their
family member’s disability.
 Without appropriate interventions, people with disabilities may be expected to
show elevated poverty rates, longer exposure to hazards, and higher vulnerability
in the context of traumatic loss or separation from caregivers.
Caste
 Scheduled caste people are inhabited at low land areas.
 Housing condition of these people are precarious and risk
 During flood they have no space to take shelter, neither the higher caste people
allow them to take temporary shelter in their paka houses.
 Sheer poverty and disaster make them worse.
 Lack of information about a possible occurrence of disaster make threat to their
lives and livelihood.
 Scheduled Tribe people inhabited at the foot of the hills and mountain and flash
flood wash them away.

1.13 Global Trends in Disasters

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Fig. 1.13.1 Disasters related to human development levels

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Overall, global trends show that the numbers of reported disasters and people affected
re rising, but the number of people killed by disasters is falling.

1.14 Urban Disaster

 Disasters cause serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society
that exceeds their capacity to cope using their own resources.
 They are the result of the interaction of hazards and vulnerable conditions,
therefore the product of the social, political, and economic environments that
shape the distribution of risk, the ways it affects different population groups, as
well as their capacity to anticipate, prepare, and respond.
 When disasters affect cities or urban areas, they are referred to as urban disasters.
 During much of the twentieth century the study of disasters was dominated by
views that placed the blame of disasters on nature or geophysical extremes. It was
logical; therefore, that research and practice focused on controlling nature, using
ever more sophisticated structural measures and a technical fix approach.
 Urban areas have often expanded into hazard-prone locations, with increasing
populations and assets exposed to hazards and difficulties in addressing risk
factors.
 It is widely acknowledged that risk is becoming highly urbanized. In 2014, 54
percent of the world’s population was living in urban areas and this proportion is
expected to increase to 66 percent by 2050.
 Most of the urban population and most of the largest cities are now in low and
middle income countries, and projections suggest that most population growth
will be in urban areas within these countries.
 As urban centers and cities concentrate people, infrastructure, buildings, and
economic activities, most losses and damage concentrate in urban areas.
 Approximately 60 percent of the area to be urbanized toward 2030 has yet to be
built, and this will happen mostly in countries with a low capacity to ensure
sustainable urban development with low risk, so urban risks are expected to rise
unless radical measures are incorporated.
 Global climate change is shifting hazard levels and increasing disaster risk
impacts.

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 Climate-related risks, vulnerabilities, and impacts are increasing in urban areas of

all sizes and economic conditions around the globe. It is now impossible to
separate disaster risk reduction from actions on climate change adaptation.
 Recent efforts to combine the theory and practice of climate change adaptation
and disaster risk management will probably contribute to enhance city resilience.
 Cities and urban areas concentrate both opportunities and challenges. Cities are
(or can be) centers of development, innovation, and economic growth, and they
concentrate population, economic activities, and much of the built environment.
 Economy of scale can allow for better provision of good quality housing,
infrastructure, emergency response services, education, health, and so on,
allowing cities to become safe places if all these are in place and work for all.

1.15 Pandemic
 A pandemic is an epidemic of disease that has spread across a large region, for
instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of
people.
 A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a
pandemic.
 Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected people such as
recurrences of seasonal influenza are generally excluded as they occur
simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide.
 Throughout history, there have been a number of pandemics of diseases such as
smallpox and tuberculosis.
 The most fatal pandemic recorded in human history was the Black Death (also
known as The Plague), which killed an estimated 75-200 million people in the 14th
century.
 Other notable pandemics include the 1918 influenza pandemic (Spanish flu) and
the 2009 influenza pandemic (H1N1).
 Current pandemics include HIV/AIDS and the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic.
 A pandemic is an epidemic occurring on a scale that crosses international
boundaries, usually affecting people on a worldwide scale.
 A disease or condition is not a pandemic merely because it is widespread or kills
many people; it must also be infectious. For instance, cancer is responsible for
many deaths but is not considered a pandemic because the disease is neither

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infectious nor contagious.

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 The World Health Organization (WHO) previously applied a six-stage

classification to describe the process by which a novel influenza virus moves from
the first few infections in humans through to a pandemic.
 It starts when mostly animals are infected with a virus and a few cases where
animals infect people, then moves to the stage where the virus begins to be
transmitted directly between people and ends with the stage when infections in
humans from the virus have spread worldwide.
Coronavirus COVID-19
 The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our
time and the greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two.
 Since its emergence in Asia late last year, the virus has spread to every continent
except Antarctica.
 But the pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it's also an unprecedent socio-
economic crisis. Stressing every one of the countries it touches, it has the potential
to create devastating social, economic and political effects that will leave deep and
longstanding scars.
 UNDP is the technical lead in the UN’s socio-economic recovery, alongside the
health response, led by WHO, and the Global Humanitarian Response Plan, and
working under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinators.
 Every day, people are losing jobs and income, with no way of knowing when
normality will return. Small island nations, heavily dependent on tourism, have
empty hotels and deserted beaches.
 The international labour organization estimates that 195 million jobs could be lost.
 The World Bank projects a US$110 billion decline in remittances this year, which
could mean 800 million people will not be able to meet their basic needs.

1.16 Complex Emergencies

 Complex emergencies are situations of disrupted livelihoods and threats to life
produced by warfare, civil disturbance and large-scale movements of people, in
which any emergency response has to be conducted in a difficult political and
security environment.
 Complex emergencies combine internal conflict with large-scale displacements of
people, mass famine or food shortage, and fragile or failing economic, political,
and social institutions.

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 Often, complex emergencies are also exacerbated by natural disasters.

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 WHO's response to complex emergencies is coordinated by the department of

Health Action in Crisis.
 A complex emergency is an emergency situation where government services have
broken down. These situations don’t have to be caused by conflict, but conflict is
often a part of the problem.
 Emergencies are challenging by nature, but become especially complicated when
there’s no (or very little) government structure.
 That means NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations] are missing their most
important partner, and people often can’t access the help they need to recover.
Over the last few decades, emergencies have generally become more complex and
longer-lasting.
 The longer an emergency lasts, the more complex it can become. If it’s a conflict,
new factions often emerge, or foreign governments might enter the fray.
 The more variables that are involved, the more unpredictable a situation becomes
and the harder it is to resolve.
 The levels of need can also increase, as people use up all their pre-emergency
resources, infrastructure breaks down, and markets can’t properly function.

1.17 Climate Change

 Climate change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment.
 From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels
that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are
global in scope and unprecedented in scale.
 Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more
difficult and costly.
 Greenhouse gases occur naturally and are essential to the survival of humans and
millions of other living things, by keeping some of the sun’s warmth from
reflecting back into space and making Earth livable. But after more than a century
and a half of industrialization, deforestation, and large scale agriculture,
quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen to record levels not
seen in three million years. As populations, economies and standards of living
grow, so does the cumulative level of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions.
There are some basic well-established scientific links :
1. The concentration of GHGs in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the

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average global temperature on Earth;

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2. The concentration has been rising steadily, and mean global temperatures along
with it, since the time of the industrial revolution;
3. The most abundant GHG, accounting for about two-thirds of GHGs, carbon
dioxide (CO2), is largely the product of burning fossil fuels.

1.18 Dos and Don‘ts during Various Types of Disasters

1.18.1 Floods
A) Before floods
 To prepare for a flood, you should :
 Avoid building in flood prone areas unless you elevate and reinforce your home.
 Elevate the furnace, water heater, and electric panel if susceptible to flooding.
 Install "Check Valves" in sewer traps to prevent floodwater from backing up into
the drains of your home.
 Contact community officials to find out if they are planning to construct barriers
(levees, beams and floodwalls) to stop floodwater from entering the homes in
your area.
 Seal the walls in your basement with waterproofing compounds to avoid seepage
B) When flood is likely to hit
 Ignore rumours, Stay calm, don't panic
 Stay available - Keep your mobile phones charged for emergency communication;
use SMS
 Be alert - Listen to radio, watch TV, read newspapers for weather updates
 Don't ignore animals - Keep cattle/animals untied to ensure their safety
 Survival is key - Prepare an emergency kit with essential items for safety and
survival
 Save your valuables - Keep your documents and valuables in water-proof bags.
C) During floods
 Don't take risk - Don't enter flood waters. In case you need to, wear suitable
footwear
 Watch your step - Stay away from sewerage lines, gutters, drains, culverts, etc.

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 Don't get electrocuted - Stay away from electric poles and fallen power lines to
avoid electrocution
 Remain healthy - Eat freshly cooked or dry food. Keep your food covered
 Evade Illness - Drink boiled/chlorinated water
 Ensure cleanliness - Use disinfectants to keep your surroundings clean.
D) After floods
 Protect children - Do not allow children to play in or near flood waters. Don't use
any damaged electrical goods, get them checked
 Watch your step - Watch out for broken electric poles and wires, sharp objects and
debris
 See what you eat - Do not eat food that has been in flood waters
 Mosquitoes can kill - Use mosquito nets to prevent malaria
 Use clean water - Don't use the toilet or tap water.
E) If you need to evacuate
 Raise furniture, appliances on beds and tables
 Put sandbags in the toilet bowl and cover all drain holes to prevent sewage back
flow
 Turn off power and gas connection
 Move to a higher ground/ safe shelter
 Take the emergency kit, first aid box and valuables with you
 Do not enter deep, unknown waters; use a stick to check water depth
 Come back home only when officials ask you to do so.

1.18.2 Earthquake
A) What to do before an earthquake
 Repair deep plaster cracks in ceilings and foundations. Get expert advice if there
are signs of structural defects.
 Anchor overhead lighting fixtures to the ceiling.
 Follow BIS codes relevant to your area for building standards
 Fasten shelves securely to walls.
 Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves.
 Store breakable items such as bottled foods, glass, and china in low, closed
cabinets with latches.
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 Hang heavy items such as pictures and mirrors away from beds, settees, and
anywhere that people sit.
 Brace overhead light and fan fixtures.
 Repair defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections. These are potential
fire risks.
 Secure water heaters, LPG cylinders etc., by strapping them to the walls or bolting
to the floor.
 Store weed killers, pesticides, and flammable products securely in closed cabinets
with latches and on bottom shelves.
 Identify safe places indoors and outdoors.
o Under strong dining table, bed
o Against an inside wall
o Away from where glass could shatter around windows, mirrors, pictures, or
where heavy bookcases or other heavy furniture could fall over
o In the open, away from buildings, trees, telephone and electrical lines, flyovers
and bridges
 Know emergency telephone numbers (such as those of doctors, hospitals, the
police, etc)
 Educate yourself and family members
B) Have a disaster emergency kit ready
 Battery operated torch with extra batteries
 Battery operated radio
 First aid kit and manual
 Emergency food (dry items) and water (packed and sealed)
 Candles and matches in a waterproof container
 Knife
 Chlorine tablets or powdered water purifiers
 Can opener.
 Essential medicines
 Cash and credit cards
 Thick ropes and cords
 Sturdy shoes.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

C) Develop an emergency communication plan

 In case family members are separated from one another during an earthquake (a
real possibility during the day when adults are at work and children are at
school), develop a plan for reuniting after the disaster.
 Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the 'family contact' after the
disaster; it is often easier to call long distance. Make sure everyone in the family
knows the name, address, and phone number of the contact person.
 Help your community get ready
 Publish a special section in your local newspaper with emergency information on
earthquakes. Localize the information by printing the phone numbers of local
emergency services offices and hospitals.
 Conduct week-long series on locating hazards in the home.
 Work with local emergency services and officials to prepare special reports for
people with mobility impairment on what to do during an earthquake.
 Provide tips on conducting earthquake drills in the home.
 Interview representatives of the gas, electric, and water companies about shutting
off utilities.
 Work together in your community to apply your knowledge to building codes,
retrofitting programmes, hazard hunts, and neighborhood and family emergency
plans.
D) What to do during an earthquake
 Stay as safe as possible during an earthquake. Be aware that some earthquakes are
actually foreshocks and a larger earthquake might occur.
 Minimize your movements to a few steps that reach a nearby safe place and stay
indoors until the shaking has stopped and you are sure exiting is safe.
If indoors
 DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece
of furniture; and HOLD ON until the shaking stops. If there is no a table or desk
near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner
of the building.
 Protect yourself by staying under the lintel of an inner door, in the corner of a
room, under a table or even under a bed.
 Stay away from glass, windows, outside doors and walls, and anything that could

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

fall, (such as lighting fixtures or furniture).

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 Stay in bed if you are there when the earthquake strikes. Hold on and protect your
head with a pillow, unless you are under a heavy light fixture that could fall. In
that case, move to the nearest safe place.
 Use a doorway for shelter only if it is in close proximity to you and if you know it
is a strongly supported, load bearing doorway.
 Stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown
that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a
different location inside the building or try to leave.
 Be aware that the electricity may go out or the sprinkler systems or fire alarm may
turn on.
If outdoors
 Do not move from where you are. However, move away from buildings, trees,
streetlights, and utility wires.
 If you are in open space, stay there until the shaking stops. The greatest danger
exists directly outside buildings; at exits; and alongside exterior walls. Most
earthquake-related casualties result from collapsing walls, flying glass, and falling
objects.
If in a moving vehicle
 Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. Avoid stopping near or
under buildings, trees, overpasses, and utility wires.
 Proceed cautiously once the earthquake has stopped. Avoid roads, bridges, or
ramps that might have been damaged by the earthquake.
If trapped under debris
 Do not light a match.
 Do not move about or kick up dust.
 Cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing.
 Tap on a pipe or wall so rescuers can locate you. Use a whistle if one is available.
Shout only as a last resort.
 Shouting can cause you to inhale dangerous amounts of dust.

1.18.3 Landslides
 Avoid building houses near steep slopes, close to mountain edges, near drainage
ways or along natural erosion valleys.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 Avoid going to places affected by debris flow. In mud flow areas, build channels
to direct the flow around buildings.
 Stay alert and awake. Many deaths from landslides occur while people are
sleeping.
 Listen for unusual sounds that might indicate moving debris, such as trees
cracking or boulders knocking together.
 Move away from the landslide path or debris flow as quickly as possible.
 Avoid river valleys and low-lying areas. Any person near a stream or channel be
alert for any sudden increase or decrease in water flow and notice whether the
water changes from clear to muddy.
 Go to designated public shelter if you have been told to evacuate.
 Stay away from the slide area as there may be danger of additional slides.
 Check the injured and trapped persons near the slide, without entering the direct
slide area.

1.18.4 Fire
 In case of fire, dial emergency number in your area/town.
 Learn at least two escape routes and ensure they are free from obstacles.
 Remain calm, unplug all electrical appliances.
 Keep bucket of water and blankets ready.
 If clothes catch fire; stop, drop and roll.
 In case of uncontrolled fore, wrap the victim in a blanket till the fire ceases/stops.
 Don’t burn crackers in crowded, congested places, narrow lanes or inside the
house.
 Don’t cover crackers with tin containers or glass bottles for extra sound effect.
 Avoid wearing long loose clothes during fire, as they increase the risk of catching
fire.
 Don’t remove burnt clothes unless it comes off easily.
 Don’t apply adhesive dressing on the burnt area.
 Don’t throw lighted cigarette butts.

1.18.5 Droughts
 Never pour water down the drain, use it water your indoor plants or garden.
 Repair dripping taps by replacing washers.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 Check all plumbing for leaking and get them repaired.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 Choose appliances that are more energy and water efficient.

 Develop and use cop contingency plan to meet drought situation.
 Plant drought-tolerant grasses, shrubs and trees.
 Install irrigation devices which are most water efficient for each use, such as micro
and drip irrigation.
 Consider implementing rainwater harvesting wherever it is suitable.
 Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily.
 Avoid letting the water run while brushing, washing or bathing.

1.18.6 Epidemics
 Store at least two week supply of water and food.
 Periodically check availablity of regular prescription medicines.
 Have non-prescription medicines and other health supplies in hand including
pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough & cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes
and vitamins.
 Volunteer with local groups to prepare and assist during emergency response.
 Keep your surroundings clean and do not let the water be stagnant.
 Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When sick, keep distance from
others to protect them from getting sick.
 If possible, stay at home; keep away from work, school, etc. when you are sick.
This will help prevent others from getting infected.
 Cover mouth and nose with a tissue while coughing or sneezing. Washing hands
often to help protect from harmful germs.
 Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth. Germs often spread when a person touches
something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her sensitive
body parts.

1.18.7 Cold Wave

 Stay indoors; minimize travel.
 Keep the Emergency Kit ready along with snow shovels, wood for fireplace and
adequate clothing..
 Listen to local Radio Station for weather updates.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]

 Disaster Management HAZARDS, VULNERABILITY & DISASTER RISKS

 Keep dry. Change wet clothing frequently to prevent loss of body heat.
 Watch for symptoms of frostbite like numbness, white or pale appearance on
fingers, toes, ear lobes and the tip of the nose.
 Protect yourself from frostbite and hypothermia by
wearing warm, loose fitting,lightweight clothing in
layers.
 Maintain proper ventilation when using kerosene
heaters or coal oven to avoidtoxic fumes.
 Go to a designated public shelter, if your home loses
power or heat duringextreme cold.

1.18.8 Forest Fire

 Try to maintain FOREST BLOCKS to prevent day
litter from forests duringsummer season.
 Try to put the fire out by digging a circle around it by
water, if not possible to calla Fire Brigade.
 Move farm animals and movable goods to safer places.
 During fire, listed regularly to radio for advance
information and obey theinstructions cum advice.
 Teach the causes and harm of fire to general masses
and make them aware aboutforest fire safety.
 Do not be scared when a sudden fire occurs in the
forest, be calm and encourageothers and community
overcome the problem patiently.
 Do not throw smoldering cigarette butts or bidi in the
forests.
 Do not leave the burning wood sticks in or near the
forests.
 Do not enter the forest during the fire.
 Discourage community to use slash and burn methods.

[Prepared By: Mr.G.PURUSHOTHAMAN., M.E., (PhD)]