Chhotubhai Gopalbhai Patel Institute of Technology,

Uka Tarsadia University

Department of Civil Engineering

B.Tech (Civil Engineering)

Semester 5th
Subject: Disaster Management

Subject Co-Ordinator:
Prof. Helly Mehta
Assistant Professor,
Ph.D Pursuing,
Department of Civil Engineering,
C.G.P.I.T, UTU.
 Outline:
1.1 Meaning of disasters and hazards
1.2 Classifications of disasters
1.3 Potential impacts
1.4 Meanings of the terms - Prevention, Mitigation, Preparedness,

Risk, Vulnerability, Resilience, Secondary threats

1.5 Phases of disaster responses.
 Meaning of Disaster:
• Disaster is defined as a serious disruption
of the functioning of a society, causing wide
spread human, material or environment
losses which exceed the ability of the
affected society to cope using its own
resources.
• Disaster means a catastrophe(an event
resulting in great loss),
mishap(unpredictable) calamity or grave
occurrence in any area, arising from natural
or manmade causes or by accident or
negligence which results in substantial loss
of life or human suffering or damage to and
destruction of property or environment
beyond the coping capacity of the
community of affected area.
 Meaning of Hazard
• A hazard is a situation that poses a level of thread to life, health,
property or environment.
• A disaster is a product of hazard such as earthquake, flood or wind
storm considering with a vulnerable situation which might include
communities, cities & Villages.
 Effects of Disaster
Generally, disaster has the following effects in the concerned
areas:
• It completely disrupts the normal day to day life.
• Causes a lot of loss in the terms of life and property.
• Leads to a loss of agriculture and animal life as well.
• Disasters hamper developmental projects in an adverse manner.
• Disaster causes destruction to the state of art and infrastructure.
• It negatively influences the emergency systems.
• Normal needs and processes like flood, shelter, health, etc. are
affected and deteriorate depending on the intensity and severity of
the disaster.
 Characteristics of Disasters
In order to be able to identify that a situation is a disaster, the
following characteristics must be eminent and must seem to resonate
with the events leading to the situation:
• It is an extra-ordinary event.
• Usually occurs because of one of the danger sources, whether caused by
nature or human action.
• Seriously and substantially impact the most vulnerable groups.
• Results in serious imbalance in the community functions.
• Results in significant losses in human lives, materials and environment.
• Exceeds the ability of an affected community to cope with using its own
resources.
 Types of Disasters
Disasters can be classified as:
• Natural disaster
• Human-Made disaster
• Incidences of Mass Trauma
 Classification/Types of Disasters:
1. Natural Disaster 2. Manmade Disaster
4
 Potential impacts
• People, Loss of life
• Personal Health, injury or disaster
• Damage, Destruction of Property
• Damage, Destruction of infrastructure, public service system
• Damage, Destruction to environment
• Damage, Destruction to crops
• Damage, Loss of production
• Damage, Loss of Essential Services
• Damage, Loss of national Infrastructure
• Disruption to governmental process systems
• Disruption, Loss of Community, Life style
• Loss of national, local economies.
• Sociological and psychological Consequences.
 Meanings of the terms:
1. Prevention – Disaster prevention is action taken to eliminate or avoid
harmful natural phenomena and their effects.
Examples: cloud seeding to control metrological patterns, erection of dams,
leaves to prevent flooding, etc.
2. Mitigation – Mitigation is action
taken to reduce both human suffering
and property loss resulting from
extreme natural phenomena. Measure
include land use planning, improved
disaster resistant building techniques,
and better agricultural practices.
3. Preparedness – Preparedness encompasses those actions taken
to limit the impact of natural phenomena by structural response
and establishing a mechanism for quick and orderly reactions.
4. Risk - Risk is the relative degree of probability that a hazardous
event will occur. An active fault zone , for example , would be in
area of high risk.
5. Vulnerability - Vulnerability is a condition wherein human
settlements, buildings, agriculture, or human health are
exposed to a disaster by virtue of their construction or
proximity to hazardous terrain.
6. Resilience – It is the ability of individual communities,
organizations or states to adopt to and recover from hazards,
shocks or stresses without compromising long term prospects
for development.
7. Secondary threats – Secondary threats are hazards such as
landslides or erosion. Created or triggered as a result of a larger
or stronger hazard(eg., An earthquake, cyclone). Secondary
threats can occur during the primary disaster event or may
happen days, weeks, or even month after word.
8. Disaster Management - The body of policy and administrative
decisions and operational activities which pertain to the various
stages of a disaster at all levels.
9. Disaster Population - Usually associated with crisis-induced
mass migration in which large numbers of people are forced to
leave their homes to seek alternative means of survival. Such
mass movements normally result from the effects of conflict,
severe food shortages or collapse of economic support systems.
10.Early warning system - The set of capacities needed to generate
and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to
enable individuals, communities and organizations threatened
by a hazard to prepare and to act appropriately and in sufficient
time to reduce the possibility of harm or loss.
11.Emergency management - The organization and management
of resources and responsibilities for addressing all aspects of
emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and initial
recovery steps.
12.Emergency services - The set of specialized agencies that have
specific responsibilities and objectives in serving and protecting
people and property in emergency situations.
 Phases of disaster responses
The following are the different phases of Disaster responses:

•Warning Phase
•Emergency Phase
•Rehabilitation Phases(Transitional)
•Reconstruction Phase
Thank