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Chapter 1: Introduction to Hazards and Disasters

Disaster
Disasters are serious disruptions to the functioning of a community that exceed its capacity to
cope using its own resources. Disasters can be caused by natural, man-made and technological
hazards, as well as various factors that influence the exposure and vulnerability of a community.
Hazard and disaster
Hazard is an event that has potential for causing injury/ loss of life or damage to
property/environment.
Disaster is an event that occurs suddenly/unexpectedly in most cases and disrupts the normal
course of life in affected area. It results in loss or damage to life, property or environment. This
Loss is beyond the coping capacity of local affected population/society. And therefore requires
external help.
For example: Imagine you are in the desert and earthquake occurs. Now earthquake is a hazard.
Since in open desert it does not make in damage to you. No threat to your life. So it does not
become disaster. It remains as a hazard. Now imagine earthquake in a city. There buildings
collapse, people die or are injured, normal life is disrupted. This is a disaster situation.

Natural disaster
Natural disasters are events caused by natural forces. These disasters wreck life and property
when they strike. There are several types of natural disasters. Earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic
eruptions, etc., are the examples of natural disasters.
Many incidents occurring in nature are beyond human control. Preventing these and predicting
their occurrence at a certain place is beyond science too. Naturally-occurring destructive
incidents resulting in loss of human being and property are called natural disasters. Of these
natural disasters, earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones, landslides, coastal erosion, avalanche
are destructive.
Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena. They can be:
 Geophysical: a hazard originating from solid earth (such as earthquakes, landslides
and volcanic activity)
 Hydrological: caused by the occurrence, movement and distribution of water on earth
(such as floods and avalanches)
 Climatological: relating to the climate (such as droughts and wildfires)
 Meteorological: relating to weather conditions (such as cyclones and storms)
 Biological: caused by exposure to living organisms and their toxic substances or
diseases they may carry (such as disease epidemics and insect/animal plagues)
Man-made disaster
Man-made disasters are usually the result of things going wrong in our society. They include:
blackouts, hazardous material spills, air pollution, house fires, radiation leaks, food or water
contamination, and industrial chemical releases. In the best case, they simply rob us of our
modern luxuries for a brief time. In the worst case, they impact the entire ecosystem in which we
live
Fire, industrial, technological, transportation, nuclear accidents, biological disaster and war are
all man-made disasters.
Fire as a man-made disaster
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Fire is a disaster caused due to electrical short circuit, accidents in chemical factory, match and
crackers factory, handling fire by the side of inflammable materials and near gas cylinders are
also causing fire. Forest wild fires are a major disaster all over the world.
Disaster management
Disaster management involves a continuous process of planning, organising, coordinating and
implementing measures to avoid loss of life and property. The role of the authority is to frame
safe disaster management methods to protect people and property. Disaster management cycle
includes four stages namely preparation, response, recovery and mitigation.
Disaster Response
Disaster Response is the second phase of the Disaster Management cycle. It involves providing
immediate assistance, assessing damage, continuing assistance and immediate restoration of
infrastructure. The aim of emergency response is to provide instant assistance to maintain life
and improve health.
Important terms used in disaster management
Important terms used in disaster management:
1. Hazards: A phenomenon which may cause injury or loss of life, damage to property, social and
economic disruption or environmental degradation.
2. Vulnerability: The potential for loss to an individual, community or place because of a disaster
that is affected by geographical as well as social conditions.
3. Community: People who live together in a village or urban areas, which can be identified as
local group with a common way of life.
4. First Responders: Group of people who are immediately affected by a disaster, and are the first
to respond and help to cope with it, before government or relief agencies can rush to the area.
General survival techniques
1. During flood forecast it is important to stock up on first aid items, non-perishable foods, 3
gallons of water per person for 3 days, battery operated radio for weather reports, extra batteries,
personal hygiene necessities.
2. During drought period arrange fodder and drinking water for cattle in drought regions.
3. During the earthquake be under the table, chair, kneel to the floor and protect yourself.
4. In case of fire accident, call the nearby police station (No.100) as soon as the fire breaks.
Hazards
According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), a
hazard is a natural process or phenomenon that may pose negative impacts on the economy,
society, and ecology, including both natural factors and human factors that are associated with
the natural ones. Hazards are the origins of disasters. Hazards are detrimental to the development
of human beings and hinder the sustainability of the world.

During the development of human beings, people have experienced and gradually understood all
kinds of hazards. From different perspectives, disaster risk scientists studied on the classification,
temporal and spatial patterns, and causes of hazards.

Classification of Hazards by Causes

There are all kinds of hazards in human society. However, from the perspective of causes,
hazards can be divided into two types, that is, hazards caused by natural factors and hazards
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caused by human factors that are associated with natural environments. In fact, the percentage of
the former type of hazards is dwindling, while that of the latter type of hazards is increasing.

1. Classification of hazards by ICSU-IRDR research program

The Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) program of the International Council for
Science (ICSU) classified hazards into 6 families, 20 main events, and 47 perils (UN-
ICSU 2012).
There are six broad hazard categories within the family group:
Geophysical hazard: a hazard originating from solid earth. This term can be used
interchangeably with the term geological hazard.
Hydrological hazard: a hazard caused by the occurrence, movement, and distribution of the
surface and subsurface freshwater and saltwater.
Meteorological hazard: a hazard caused by short-lived, micro- to mesoscale extreme weather
and atmospheric conditions that last from minutes to days.
Climatological hazard: a hazard caused by long-lived, meso- to macro-scale atmospheric
processes ranging from intra-seasonal to multi-decadal climate
Biological hazard: a hazard caused by the exposure to living organisms and/or the toxic
substances or vector-borne diseases that they may carry.
Extraterrestrial hazard: a hazard caused by asteroids, meteoroids, and comets as they pass near
earth, enter the earth’s atmosphere, and/or strike the earth, or change in interplanetary conditions
that affect the earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere.
There are 20 main events. They are earthquake, mass movement, volcanic activity, flood,
landslide, wave action, convective storm, extratropical storm, extreme temperature, fog, tropical
cyclone, drought, glacial lake outburst, wildfire, animal incident, disease, insect infestation, extra
impact, airburst, and space weather.

 Classification of hazards by Joel C. Hill

Gill and Malamud (2014) divided natural hazards into six groups. In the paper, he also estimated
the temporal and spatial scales of different hazard groups and types.
The 6 hazard groups and 21 hazard types are:
Geophysical hazard: earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, landslide, and snow avalanche.
Hydrological hazard: flood and drought.
Shallow earth processes hazard: regional subsidence and uplift, local subsidence and heave,
and ground collapse.
Atmospheric hazard: tropical cyclone, tornado, hail, snow, lightning and thunderstorm, long-
term climatic change, and short-term climatic change.
Biophysical hazard: wildfire.
Space hazard: geomagnetic storm and extra impact events.
The hazard groups proposed by Joel C. Gill et al. are almost equivalent to the hazard families of
ICSU-IRDR classification except for two differences. One difference is that the meteorological
and climatological families of ICSU-IRDR were combined into a single atmospheric group in
Gill’s classification. The other difference is that the hazard group of shallow earth processes was
added in Gill’s classification in order to emphasize the hazardous impacts of shallow earth
changes
Classification system of hazards by Kenneth Hewitt
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In the book Regions of Risk by Hewitt (1997), hazards were divided into the following
categories:
Natural hazards include four types (meteorological, hydrological, geological and
geomorphological, biological and disease hazards)
Technological hazards include hazardous materials, destructive processes, and hazardous
designs.
Social violence hazards include weapons, crime, and organized violence.
Compound hazards include fog, dam failure, and gas explosion.
Complex disasters include famine, refugees, poisonous flood, nuclear wastes and explosion of
nuclear power plants