DISASTER MANAGEMENT

HAZARD?
DISASTER?

RISK..?
VULNERABILITY.?

EMERGENCY..?

HAZARD
VULNERABILITYRISK
DISASTER

HAZARD
A dangerous condition or events that threaten or have
the potential for causing injury to life or damage to
property or the environment. Hazards are basically
grouped in two broad headings:
Natural Hazards (hazards with meteorological,
geological or biological origin)
Unnatural Hazards (hazards with human-caused or
technological origin)
Natural phenomena are extreme climatological,
hydrological, or geological, processes. A massive
earthquake in an unpopulated area, is a natural
phenomenon, not a hazard. But when these natural
phenomena interact with the man made habitat, they
may cause wide spread damage. Then, they become

VULNERABILITY
Vulnerability is defined as "The extent to which a
community, structure, service, or geographic area
is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the
impact of particular hazard, on account of their
nature, construction and proximity to
hazardous terrain or a disaster prone area.
Physical vulnerability weak buildings, bridges,
service lines, lifeline structures, production units
etc.
Social & Economic vulnerability
Human losses in disasters in developing countries
are seen to be higher when compared to
developed countries.

RISK
Risk is a measure of the expected losses
(deaths, injuries, property, economic activity
etc) due to a hazard of a particular magnitude
or Intensity occurring in a given area over a
specific time period.
Exposure: the value and importance of the
various types of structures and lifeline systems
(such as water-supply, communication
network, transportation network etc in the
community serving the population)

tural Disaste
Are we prepared?

What is a Natural Disaster?

Whats the difference between natural disaster and natural hazard?

Can we predict them?

What can we do to
prevent disaster?

Are we in danger?

Disasters
Disasters are hazards that cause
destruction or environmental
changes.
The types are
Natural disasters
Man made disasters

Classifying Natural
Disasters
Comparing and Analyzing
Natural Disasters

What is a natural hazard or

disaster?
Aspects of the physical world that
have the potential to cause
considerable harm to people.
Caused by natural forces rather than
by human action
Can you think of any examples?

Natural Disasters
A natural disaster is the effect
of a natural hazard (e.g.,
flood, tornado, hurricane,
volcanic eruption,
earthquake, or landslide)

Classes of disaster
Geophysical events originating
from solid earth
Meteorological atmospheric
processes
Hydrological water
Climatogical climate variability
Biological exposure to living
organisms

Classes of disaster
Geophysical earthquake, volcano,
mass movement (dry)
Meteorological storm
Hydrological flood, mass movement
(wet)
Climatogical extreme temperature,
drought, wild life
Biological epidemic, insect
infestation, animal stampede

Classification System
Atmospheric Hazards
Cyclonic Storms (hurricane)
Tornado
Severe Storm
Flooding
Drought
Wildfire
Severe Weather (hot/cold)

Classification System
Biological Hazards
Infectious Disease
Parasitic Disease
Insect Infestation
Plant Disease

Classification System
Geological Hazards
Slide (mud, land, rock)
Volcanic Activity
Earthquake
Avalanche
Tsunami (tidal wave)

Comparing and Analyzing Natural

Disasters
1) Frequency- how often is the event
likely to happen
2) Duration- the length of time the
event lasts
3) Extent- does it affect a wide area or
region or a small one

Comparing and Analyzing Natural

Disasters
4) Speed of onset- happen quickly with
no warning and over quickly or build
slowly before the peak period
5) Spatial dispersion- the area that is
likely to be affected by a particular
event
6) Temporal spacing- how hazards and
disasters occur in time; are they
random or do they occur within a cycle

Scale of Disaster
Is Dependent on :

Lead Time Available.

Intensity of Hazard.
Duration.
Spatial Extent.
Density of Population & Assets.
Time of Occurrence.

Vulnerabilities existing in the

Elements at Risk.

Hazard X Vulnerability =
Disaster

ELEMENTS AT RISK

People
Livestock
Rural Housing Stock
Houses Vulnerable
Crops, Trees,Telephone,
Electric poles
Boats, Looms, Working
Implements
Personal Property
Electricity, Water and Food
Supplies
Infrastructure Support

List of top 11 natural disasters

1. Landslides and Mudflows
2. Flood
3. Thunderstorm
4. Tsunami
5. Volcanic Eruption
6. Drought
7. Hurricane
8. Tornado
9. Wildfire
10.Earthquake
11.Avalanche

Landslides and mudflows

Landslides
Landslides are the movement
of land down a slope by gravity
Landslides are mother natures
way of redistributing land
They can be triggered by rain,
floods, and earthquakes as well
as man-made factors such as
slope grading or mining
Landslides have the potential
to happen anywhere a steep
slope is present

Landslides
A landslide or a landslip is a
movement in the ground and a
shallow flow of debris.
The largest landslide in history
happened because of Mount St.
Helens. 3km of rock moved downhill.

What is Flood
Whole city is flooded

A flood is an
overflow of an
expanse of water.
Flooding may result
from the volume of
water within a body
of water, such as a
river or lake.
Due to snow melt.

Floods
Result from heavy rains
May involve rivers overflowing, storm
surge/ocean waves, & dams or levees breaking
Most common natural hazard
Flashfloods = floods that happen very fast

How Flooding Impacts the

Environment
disease
loss of habitat
houses, buildings, and other
structures destroyed
household wastes get into the water
system
power outages

Thunderstorm

Thunder Storms
Every Thunderstorm produces
lightning
There is wet thunder and dry
thunder, the difference being
whether or not rain in
produced
Warm humid conditions favor
thunderstorms
Only 10% of thunderstorms
are classified as severe
Your chance of being struck
by lightning is 1 in 600,000

Multiple Lightning Strikes

and a Supercell
Thunderstorm formation

How Lightning Impacts the

Environment
fire
loss of power

Tsunami

Tsunamis
Tsunami means harbor wave and is
caused by the displacement of a
large body of water normally an
ocean or a large lake.

Tsunamis
The biggest tsunami ever happened
at Lituya Bay, Alaska on July 9,
1958. The megatsunami was around
150 meters tall.
The tsunami caused by 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake, is the 6th
deadliest Natural disaster in recorded
history with a death toll of 230,210
280,000.

How Tsunamis Impact

the Environment
houses, buildings, and other structures
destroyed
loss of power
erosion
fresh water contaminated

Volcanic Eruption

Volcanic Eruption
A volcano is an opening in a planets
surface which allows hot magma to
escape from below the surface.
Study of volcanos is called
Volcanology and volcanic eruptions
are measured using Volcanic
Explosivity Index

Volcanic Eruption
The biggest volcanic eruption was Mount
Tambora on April 10, 1815, it heard over
2000 km away and had a death toll of
around 71,000. Due to the explosion 1816
became known as The Year Without
Summer.
The largest volcano known to humans is
Olympus Mons on Mars. Olympus Mons
means Mount Olympus and is bigger than
Mount Everest.

How Volcanic Eruptions Impact the

Environment
houses, buildings, and other
structures destroyed
fires
toxic gases released into the
atmosphere
Carbon dioxide emitted from
volcanoes adds to the natural
greenhouse effect.
loss of habitat

Blizzard
A violent snowstorm with winds blowing
at a minimum speed of 35 miles per
hour and visibility of less than onequarter mile for three hours

Top Blizzards in US
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0886098.html
http://nsidc.org/snow/blizzard/storms.html

Top 10 Deadliest Blizzards

Death Toll

Event

Location

Date

4,000

Iran Blizzard

Iran

1972

1,337

2008 Afghanistan blizzard

Afghanistan

2008

400

Great Blizzard of 1888

United States

1888

318

1993 North American Storm Complex

United States

1993

235

Schoolhouse Blizzard

United States

1888

199

Hakkda Mountains incident

Japan

1902

144

Armistice Day Blizzard

United States

1940

133

2008 Chinese winter storms

China

2008

112

1995 Kazakh Blizzard

Kazakhstan

1995

54

Blizzard of 1978

United States

1978

How Blizzards Impact the

Environment

flooding when snows melt

trees fall
power outages
hypothermia

Drought

Droughts
A drought is a long period of time in
which a certain region receives a
shortage of water
Lasting three years from 1958 to 1961,
the Great Chinese Famine is the worst
on record, 15 to 43 million were killed
as a result
USA has been hit by a huge drought in
2012 decreasing corn income by 12%

How Drought Impacts the

Environment

young trees die

dried up lakes and other water sources
loss of livestock and crops
People use more fuel during droughts.
losses or destruction of fish and wildlife habitat
lack of food and drinking water for wild animals
increase in disease in wild animals, because of reduced food
and water supplies
migration of wild animals, leading to a loss of wildlife in some
(drought-stricken) areas and too many wildlife in areas not
affected by drought
increased stress on endangered species
lower water levels in reservoirs, lakes, and ponds
loss of wetlands
more fires
wind and water erosion of soils, reduced soil quality

Information from http://drought.unl.edu/kids/impacts/affects.htm

Hailstorm

Heat Wave

Hurricane

Hurricanes
A hurricane is a tropical
storm with winds over
74mph
Hurricanes occupy the most
intense level of the three
levels of tropical storms
Hurricanes rotate or
circulate counter-clockwise
in the northern hemisphere
Hurricanes can only occur
over the Atlantic ocean,
Caribbean sea, and gulf of
Mexico

View of a Hurricane from

Space

How Hurricanes Impact the

Environment
erosion
houses, buildings, and other
structures destroyed
heavy flooding of inland areas
tornadoes
loss of power
contaminated water supply

Tornado

Tornados (Twisters)
A tornado is a violently rotating
column of air that is touching both
the ground and a cumulonimbus
cloud.
Tornado conditions are caused when
different temperatures and humidity
meet to form thunder clouds
Twisters can attain speeds up to
100 miles an hour

Tornados
The biggest tornado recorded was
the Hallam, Nebraska tornado on
May 22, 2004. It was around 2.5
miles big and had a death toll of
around 160.
The deadliest tornado recorded
occurred in Daultipur and Salturia,
Bangladesh on April 26th, 1989.
1300 recorded dead and 12,000
injured.

Tornados
Atornado is defined as a violently
rotating column of air extending
from a thunderstorm to the ground
Tornados are found in almost
every part of the world
Tornados are most common in the
United States, just east of the
Rocky Mountains in an area called
Tornado Ally
Waterspouts are weak tornados
over water and can move inland
and become tornados

Click on Image to
View a Tornado
Chasers Video

How Tornadoes Impacts the

Environment
Tornadoes could hit hazardous or
toxic materials which could carried
by a thunderstorm and then
transported along ways down
stream.
could transport certain types of small
animals and plants across the land
destroys topsoil and crops

Wildfire

Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in
the countryside or wilderness.
Other names for a wildfire are brush
fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire,
grass fire, hill fire, peat fire,
vegetation fire, and veldfire.
One of the largest wildfire is the
1910 wildfire

How Lightning Impacts the

Environment
fire
loss of power

Earthquake

Earthquakes
Earthquakes are caused by
the release of built up
pressure caused by the
shifting of tectonic plates
Earthquakes usually occur
on fault lines, or areas
where tectonic plates meet
The size of an earthquake is
measured using the
logarithmic based Richter
scale

An aerial view of the

San Andreas fault in
the Carrizo Plain,
Central California

How Earthquakes Impact the

Environment

collapsing buildings
property damage
mud slides
fires
floods
tsunamis
loss of power

Avalanche

Avalanches
Avalanches Happen on every
continent
Avalanche Season is during the
winter time or December-April in
the United States
A large scale can release up to
300,000 cubic yards of snow
Avalanches are more commonly
released by recreationists than by
natural causes
The biggest factor of avalanche
possibility is the accumulation snow
over the winter season

Click on Image
for An
Avalanche
Video