BY ROHAN SEHGAL

WHAT IS A DISASTER?

• A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment.

• Disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriate risks. These risks are the product of a combination of both hazard/s and vulnerability.

WHAT IS A DISASTER?

• Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural disasters are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.

WHAT IS DISASTER MANAGEMENT

• Disaster Management is a strategic process, and not a tactical process, thus it usually resides at the Executive level in an organization. It normally has no direct power, but serves as an advisory or coordinating function to ensure that all parts of an organization are focused on the common goal. Effective Emergency Management relies on a thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of the organization, and an understanding that the lowest levels of the organization are responsible for managing the emergency and getting additional resources and assistance from the upper levels.

• The most senior person in the organization administering the program is normally called an Emergency Manager, or a derived form based upon the term used in the field (e.g. Business Continuity Manager).

WHAT IS VULNERABILITY?

• The extent to which a community, structure, service or geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular disaster hazard.

• Vulnerability is the propensity of things to be damaged by a hazard

TYPES OF DISASTERS

• There are two types of disasters:

• 1.Natural Disasters

• 2.Man-Made Disasters

NATURAL DISASTERS

• A natural disaster is a consequence when a natural calamity affects humans and/or the built environment. Human vulnerability, and often a lack of appropriate emergency management, leads to financial, environmental, or human impact. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster: their resilience. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability". A natural hazard will hence never result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability.

• Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, flood and cyclones are natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. The rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration often in hazardous environment has escalated both the frequency and severity of natural disasters.

NATURAL DISASTERS• Among various natural hazards, earthquakes, landslides, floods and

cyclones are the major disasters adversely affecting very large areas and population in the Indian sub-continent. These natural disasters are of

• (i) geophysical origin such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, land slides and

• (ii) climatic origin such as drought, flood, cyclone, locust, forest fire.• Though it may not be possible to control nature and to stop the

development of natural phenomena but the efforts could be made to avoid disasters and alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure and property. Rising frequency, amplitude and number of natural disasters and attendant problem coupled with loss of human lives prompted the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) through a resolution 44/236 of December 22, 1989 to focus on all issues related to natural disaster reduction. In spite of IDNDR, there had been a string of major disaster throughout the decade. Nevertheless, by establishing the rich disaster management related traditions and by spreading public awareness the IDNDR provided required stimulus for disaster reduction. It is almost impossible to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters and their damages.

NATURAL DISASTERS

• A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g., flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake, heatwave, or landslide). It leads to financial, environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the vulnerability of the affected population to resist the hazard, also called their resilience.

• If these disasters continue it would be a great danger for the earth. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability."

• Thus a natural hazard will not result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasters without human involvement.

• A concrete example of the division between a natural hazard and a natural disaster is that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a disaster, whereas earthquakes are a hazard.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS

• Avalanches:

During World War I, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers died as a result of avalanches during the mountain campaign in the Alps at the Austrian-Italian front, many of which were caused by artillery fire.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS• Earthquakes

• The 1693 Sicily earthquake. About 60,000 people are thought to have died in this earthquake.

• An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by vibration, shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. The vibrations may vary in magnitude. Earthquakes are caused mostly by slippage within geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests.

• The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the focus. The point directly above the focus on the surface is called the epicenter. Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes, that are actually the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning and evacuation planning.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS• Volcanic eruptions

• Volcanoes can cause widespread destruction and consequent disaster through several ways. The effects include the volcanic eruption itself that may cause harm following the explosion of the volcano or the fall of rock.

• Second, lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano. As it leaves the volcano, the lava destroys many buildings and plants it encounters.

• Third, volcanic ash generally meaning the cooled ash - may form a cloud, and settle thickly in nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete-like material. In sufficient quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but even small quantities will harm humans if inhaled.

• Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass it causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines. The main killer of humans in the immediate surroundings of a volcanic eruption is the pyroclastic flows, which consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air above the volcano and rushes down the slopes when the eruption no longer supports the lifting of the gases. It is believed that Pompeii was destroyed by a pyroclasticflow.

• A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 Tangiwai disaster was caused by a lahar, as was the 1985 Armero tragedy in which the town of Armero was buried and an estimated 23,000 people were killed.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS

• Floods

• A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area. let us take an example the thunderstorm which attacked Tamil Nadu.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS

• Droughts

• If a particular area has no rainfall or less rain than normal for a long period of time is called drought. it is not only lack of rainfall that causes drought. Hot dry winds, very high temperature and evaporation of moisture from the ground can result in conditions of drought.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS• Tsunamis

• Tsunamis are caused by undersea earthquakes. Tsunamis generally consist of a series of waves with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called "wave train".

• Wave heights of tens of metres can be generated by large events. Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins.

• The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history with over 230,000 people killed in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS• Tornadoes

• A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud.

• They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider sense, to name any closed low pressure circulation.

• Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust.

• Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometres) before dissipating.

• The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles.

MAN-MADE DISASTERS

• Anthropogenic hazards or man-made hazards can come to fruition in the form of a man-made disaster. In this case, "anthropogenic" means threats having an element of human intent, negligence, or error; or involving a failure of a man-made system.

• Airplane crashes and terrorist attacks are examples of man-made disasters: they cause pollution, kill people, and damage property.

MANAGEMENT OF DISASTERS

• The local communities at the time of disaster or before the disaster make groups for helping the people from suffering during the disaster.

• These groups include First Aid group, Health group, Food and Welfare group, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) etc. They all are well trained by some local community members.

• All the groups are sent for helping any other local community that is suffering from a disaster. They also ask people to move from the area affected from disaster to some other safe regions.

• They are given shelter and every possible facilities by those local management communities. Some agencies also provide maps of potential disaster sites.

• Today, Government is also making effort to provide good facilities during the disaster.

• In Indian rural areas, the community (group of families) are choosing a leader and developing their Disaster management skills to protect themselves and other local communities as well.

DISASTER MITIGATION• To reduce the impact of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation strategies. Disaster

mitigation mainly addresses the following:• minimize the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies• prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters,• mobilize resources including communication and tele-medicinal services• to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction.• Disaster management, on the other hand involves:• pre-disaster planning, preparedness, monitoring including relief management capability• prediction and early warning• damage assessment and relief management.• Expanding on the above steps: 1. Preparedness:• A set of warning systems should be thought of, so that people are warned to take safety

measures. Thus, more loss of life and property can be avoided. The warning systems may include: radio, television, loudspeakers, personal messages, beating of drums, bells, etc.

• The people must be educated to cope with a disaster. They should be taught to keep a survival kit.

• On the practical side, mock drill training and practice should be undertaken.

DISASTER MITIGATION

• Emergency contact and operation centres should be opened.

• Help the injured and the needy.

• Involve local people at all levels of activities.

• Temporary shelters should be provided for the affected.

• Medical camps should be set up.

• Rescue teams should be deployed to look for those who are missing.

2. Rehabilitation:

• Essential services such as providing drinking water, transport, electricity, etc, should be restored.

• The people should be taught hot to follow healthy and safety measures.

• The victims should be provided with temporary accomadation, financial assistance and employment opportunities.

• Those who have lost their family members should be consoled.

• If there is a danger of epidemics, vaccination programme should be undertaken.

DISASTER MITIGATION3. Prevention:

• The land use has to be so planned as to reduce the loss of life and property.

• Buildings should not be constructed in risk zones.

• Mobilizing support of different co-ordinating agencies such as the local government, voluntary organisation, the insurance companies, etc, to ensure co-ordination at the time of a disaster.

• All buildings should be earthquake and landslide resistant.

• The local community should be involved in making and implementing safety norms.

• Disaster reduction is a systematic work which involves with different regions, different professions and different scientific fields, and has become an important measure for human and nature sustainable development.

• For surviving in and after a disaster, people should carry a survival kit which contains the following supplies: 1. First aid kit. 2. Essential medicines. 3. Water -atleast 9 litres per person for 3 days. 4. Food - enough for three days. 5. A torch and a radio. 6. Personal hygiene items like toothbrush, soap, etc. 7. Baby and pet supplies, toilet paper, etc.

Preparedness

• Preparedness is a continuous cycle of planning, managing, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, creating, evaluating, monitoring and improving activities to ensure effective coordination and the enhancement of capabilities of concerned organizations to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, create resources and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters

Preparedness

• Personal preparedness focuses on preparing equipment and procedures for use when a disaster occurs, i.e., planning. Preparedness measures can take many forms including the construction of shelters, installation of warning devices, creation of back-up life-line services (e.g., power, water, sewage), and rehearsing evacuation plans.

• Two simple measures can help prepare the individual for sitting out the event or evacuating, as necessary. For evacuation, a disaster supplies kit may be prepared and for sheltering purposes a stockpile of supplies may be created. The preparation of a survival kit such as a "72-hour kit", is often advocated by authorities. These kits may include food, medicine, flashlights, candles and money. Also, putting valuable items in safe area is also recommended.

72 HOUR KIT

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), recommends the following for a disaster preparedness kit: one gallon of water per person per day for three days, non-perishable food for each person for three days, battery powered or hand crank radio and extra batteries, flashlights for each person and extra batteries, first aid kit, whistle, filter mask or a cotton t-shirt for each person, moist towlettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties, wrench or pliers, manual can opener, plastic sheeting and duct tape, important family documents, daily prescription medicine, other things include diapers/formula for babies and special need items.

• Typically a three day supply of food and water is the minimum recommendation, having a larger supply means longer survival (Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA), n.d.).

• Small comfort items can be added like a few toys for children, a candy bar, or a book to read.

GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF FOUR PHASES IN EMERGENCY TREATMENT

RESPONSE TO DISASTERS

• The response phase includes the mobilization of the necessary emergency services and first responders in the disaster area. This is likely to include a first wave of core emergency services, such as firefighters, police and ambulance crews.

• When conducted as a military operation, it is termed Disaster Relief Operation (DRO) and can be a follow-up to a Non-combatant evacuation operation(NEO). They may be supported by a number of secondary emergency services, such as specialist rescue teams.

• A well rehearsed emergency plan developed as part of the preparedness phase enables efficient coordination of rescue. Where required, search and rescue efforts commence at an early stage.

• Depending on injuries sustained by the victim, outside temperature, and victim access to air and water, the vast majority of those affected by a disaster will die within 72 hours after impact.

RESPONSE TO DISASTERS

• The response phase of an emergency may commence with search and rescue but in all cases the focus will quickly turn to fulfilling the basic humanitarian needs of the affected population. This assistance may be provided by national or international agencies and organisations.

• Effective coordination of disaster assistance is often crucial, particularly when many organizations respond and local emergency management agency(LEMA) capacity has been exceeded by the demand or diminished by the disaster itself.

• Organizational response to any significant disaster – natural or terrorist-borne – is based on existing emergency management organizational systems and processes: the Federal Response Plan (FRP) and the Incident Command System (ICS). These systems are solidified through the principles of Unified Command (UC) and Mutual Aid (MA)

• There is a need for both discipline (structure, doctrine, process) and agility (creativity, improvisation, adaptability) in responding to a disaster There is also the need to onboard and build an effective leadership team quickly to coordinate and manage efforts as they grow beyond first responders.

• The leader and team must formulate and implement a disciplined, iterative set of response plans, allowing initial coordinated responses that are vaguely right, adapting to new information and changes in circumstances as they arise.