Session 2022-23

BA/BSc. (Subsidiary) geography

Unit 1 Semester VI
Lecture 1 &2

Disaster management
Paper – VI
Paper Code: GEB - 601(S)
 SYLLABUS
Unit - I: Introduction
Disaster: Definition and significance; Difference
between
Hazard and Disaster; Disasters: Nature, Types and
Magnitude.

Unit-II: Vulnerability, Preparedness and Risk

Assessment
Risk and Vulnerability: Concept and Classification,
Types of Risk and Vulnerability, Disaster
Preparedness; Concept and Nature, Public
Awareness Programs.
Unit - III: Mitigation and Planning
Meaning, Concept and Strategies of Disaster
Mitigation, Pre-Disaster and Post-Disaster
planning, Role of International Agencies in
Disaster Mitigation and Planning, Significance
of Information Technology, Remote Sensing
and GIS in Planning and Management
Unit - IV: National Perspective
Disaster Prone Areas of India; Seismic Zones,
Areas prone to Floods and Droughts,
Landslides, Cyclones , Industrial Disaster,
National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP)-
2016.
 Unit - I: Introduction
• Disaster: Definition and significance

• Difference between Hazard and Disaster

• Disasters: Nature, Types and

Magnitude.
 What is a Disaster?

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.
 Historical Origin
• The word “disaster” comes to us through
French language and was referred to as désastre .

• The Old Italian word disastro, from the Latin prefix dis-
and Latin astro, meaning "star".

• This word is further derived from the Ancient

Greek pejorative (uncomplimentary) prefix dus and
aster meaning "bad star".

• The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek)

comes from an astrological sense of a calamity blamed
on the position of planets
 Historical context…………..
• Thus the term disaster has its roots in the
belief that the positions of stars influence the
fate of humans, often in destructive ways; its
original meaning in English was "an
unfavorable aspect of a planet or star."

• Another unfortunate word that comes to us

from astrological beliefs is "ill-starred."
• Now generally used in the sense of "unlucky"
or "having or destined to a hapless fate," "ill-
starred" was originally used literally to
describe someone born under or guided by an
evil star.

• We also have another term star-

crossed, meaning "not favored by the stars" or
"ill-fated."
 DISASTERS THROUGHOUT HISTORY
• Disasters are not merely ornamental or interesting events that
adorn our collective historical record—

• Entire civilizations have been destroyed in an instant.

• Time and time again, epidemics and pandemics have resulted

in sizable reductions of the world’s population, as much as 50
percent across Europe during the fourteenth century bubonic
plague (Black Plague) pandemic.

• Scholars suggest that many of history’s great civilizations,

• including the Mayans, the Norse, the Minoans, and the Old
Egyptian Empire, were ultimately perished not by their
enemies but by the effects of floods, famines, earthquakes,
tsunamis and other widespread disasters.
 Present Status of Disasters
• All countries face multiple types of known
disasters and some of them were previously
unknown to humans
– Nuclear disasters, recent pandemic , World wars
– Different industrial disasters

• Disaster are having greater adverse effects on

populations and environments presently than
earlier times.
– More population, more types of disasters, urban
disasters, industrial disasters etc.
 Just think!!!
• Developing countries suffer the greatest costs
when a disaster hits .
• More than 95 percent of all deaths caused by
hazards occur in developing countries, and
losses due to natural hazards are 20 times
greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing
countries than in industrialized countries.

• WHY ??
Here is the answer ………..
 To conclude….
• We can define disaster as :
• A disaster is “a sudden ecological phenomenon of
sufficient magnitude to require external assistance”
- World Health Organization (WHO)

• It is also defined as any event, typically occurring

suddenly, that causes damage, ecological disruption,
loss of human life, deterioration of health and health
services, and which exceeds the capacity of the
affected community on a scale sufficient to require
outside assistance (Landsman, 2001).
 Disaster is assessed on the basis of
the following features:
• Disruption to normal pattern of life.
• Such disruption is usually severe and may also be sudden,
unexpected and widespread.
• Human effects such as loss of life, livelihood and property,
injury, hardship
• and adverse effects on health.
• Effects on Social Structure such as destruction of or damage
to infrastructure, buildings, communications and other
essential services.
• Community needs such as shelter, food, clothing, medical
assistance and social care.
• The severity of a disaster situation is usually reckoned in
terms of loss of life or property or both.
• 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.

• A formal definition of disaster may be "an event,

concentrated in time and space, which threaten a
society or a relatively self sufficient sub-division of a
society with major unwanted consequences as a
resuIt of the collapse of precautions which had
hitherto been culturally accepted as adequate"
(Turner, 1997).
 Significance of Disasters

• Why we should study about disasters?

• Can better understanding help humans?

• Can we control the disaster impacts?

 Why Disasters Matter ??
• Loss of life
• Injury
• Damage and destruction of property
• Damage and destruction of crops
• Disruption of production
• Disruption of lifestyle
• Loss of livelihood
• Disruption to essential services
• Damage to national infrastructure and disruption to
governmental systems
• National economic loss
• Sociological and psychological after effects.
 Need of Studying Disasters
• Disasters are events that have a huge impact
on humans and the environment.

• Disasters are inevitable, we cannot eliminate

them but prevent them through disaster
preparedness.

• Disasters management requires government

intervention and a proper planning as well as
funding.
• It is not necessary that these disasters are
always unpredictable.

• Disasters are inevitable although we do not

always know when and where they will
happen.

• The worst effects can be partially or

completely prevented by preparation, early
warning, and swift, decisive responses .
• Disaster management aims to reduce the
occurrence of disasters and to reduce the impact
of those that cannot be prevented.

• Disaster education aims to provide knowledge

among individuals and groups to take actions to
reduce their vulnerability to disasters.

• During the last decades, its established that that

trained people can be prepared for disasters and
responding well .

• This method was found to give better results.

 DISATER STUDIES : Where to focus?

• The origin/cause of disasters need to be

understood.
• Their impact should be assessed
– Human and economic losses

• Their reoccurrence should be studied.

• Understand and develop scientific expertise

and our capacity to act collectively.
 Difference Between Hazard and
Disaster
Important terms:

• Natural Event : A normal phenomena

• Extreme Event : An abnormal event (magnitude)

• Hazard: A condition of serious threat

• Disaster: Actual event leading to losses

 What is a hazard?
• Hazard is a condition/event that has potential for
causing injury/ loss of life or damage to
property/environment.

• Natural Hazards (and the resulting disasters) are the

result of naturally occurring processes that have
operated throughout Earth's history.

• All of these processes have been operating throughout

Earth history, but the processes have become
hazardous only because they negatively affect us as
human beings.
• Important Point - There would be no natural disasters
if it were not for humans. Without humans these are
only natural /extreme events.

• Imagine you are in the desert and earthquake occurs.

Now earthquake is a hazard but in open desert it does
cause loss of life and property
• So it does not become disaster.

• Now imagine earthquake in a city. The buildings

collapse, people die and get injured, normal life is
disrupted.

• This is called as a disaster.

• Hazard is a source of potential harm to a community,
including the community’s population, environment,
private and public property, infrastructure, and
businesses.

• For ease of description, hazards can be categorized into

several subgroups: natural hazards, manmade hazards,
technological hazards and intentional hazards.

• As individuals, however, the hazards we face are

considerably limited on account of genetics, geographic
location, spatial movements, personal habits, activities,
finances, education,and a measure of pure chance.

• For individual nations, these hazard profiles are likewise

limited to a degree.
• A country’s physical location dictates what
geologic, hydrologic, and meteorological hazards
are possible.

• Further, Economic, industrial, and socio-political

factors influence vulnerability and provide
sources of technological and intentional hazards.

• The capacity to manage risk successfully—

whether for an individual, a community, or a
country—is built on a sound understanding of
the hazards that threaten.
 Characteristics of hazards
• Hazards are natural or man-made extreme events
• Hazards are processes or causes or events which
may lead to disaster.
• Hazards have potential to make human and
economic loss
• A hazard may or may not be converted into
disaster.
• All disasters are hazards, but all hazards are not
disasters
 Hazard Assessment
• Disaster management involves imagining each scenario
that could manifest within a given community or
country as a result of the geologic, meteorological,
hydrologic, biological, economic, technological,
political, and social factors that exist.

• It is impossible to plan for or prevent every possible

hazard.

• The government and other organized emergency

management entities should focus their efforts only on
those hazards that would result in the greatest
undesirable consequences.
• The hazard Assessment must include not only
the actual physical hazards that exist but also
the expected secondary hazards, including
social reactions and conditions.