DISASTER AND

DEVELOPMENT
Positive and negative
Aspects
Sadia Mir
S2018171001
Sadia Mir
Disaster and Development: Positive and Negative Aspects
Introduction
Disasters have been a part of human existence from very beginning. Human history is full of
calamities and destructions creating massive infrastructure losses and loss of human and animal
lives. Disaster either occurring naturally or caused due to human activities, prove to be fatal on
massive scales and can even lead the end of a civilization. These calamitous conditions create huge
loss of infrastructure destroying not only homes but also the medical and educational institutions
including schools, colleges, universities, madrasahs, hospital, health care centers and also the
industry and business centers. This massive destruction causes billions of dollar worth of losses to
an economy and create the absence of food and shelter to the people.
On the contrary sometimes the disasters prove to be a reason for the civilizations to start fresh and
to stand better than ever before. A lot of civilizations and nations including Japan, USA, China,
have faced some of worst disasters of human history and have learned from the past experiences.
The mistakes in the past have lead these developed nations to Build Back Better with modern tools
and techniques making their society resilient to the disasters.
This paper is also a part of Disaster-Development debate emphasizing and explaining disaster,
hazard, vulnerability and its positive and negative impacts on development and the economy. Later
on this paper also explains the redevelopment after disaster with the example of world’s most
affected nation by disaster i.e, Japan.
Disaster
A disaster is an uncontrollable calamity situation that occurs either naturally or unnaturally and
causes socio-economic effects on the society. Disaster are mainly classified in two categories
1. Natural Disasters
Natural disasters are the events that occur naturally due to weather condition, biological
outburst, and aquatic conditions or due to meteorological problems that cause a number of
different events causing destruction and loss of life and mass to the society. Some of these
disasters are explained in the table.
2. Manmade disasters
Manmade disasters are the events that occur due to human negligence and error but create
severe consequences for society and the environment. Some of these are explained below.
Natural Disasters Manmade Disasters
Atomic blasts, nuclear
Bacterial disease, fungal meltdown , nuclear
Biological disease, parasitic disease, Nuclear explosion (Fukushima
insect infestation, Daiichi, Three mile
Island,)
Earthquake, landslide, sink Fire, explosions, gas leaks,
Geological Industrial Accidents
holes, volcanic eruption oil spills
Chernobyl, aircraft crash,
Tsunami, flood, limnic
Hydrological Technological Exxon Valdez, 9/11, air
eruption
crashes
Blizzard, cyclone, famine, Acid rain, air pollution, oil
Atmospheric
Meteorological drought, wildfire, tornado, pollution,
heat waves, hurricane Political War, civil strikes

Disasters are the events that occur on lower or vast grounds and produce damage to the
environment. The situations or events causing these disasters are the Hazards.

Hazard
Hazard are the potential events that turn into disaster. These are the events that are threat to the
society and can turn into massive disasters if not taken care of properly. Hazards can be classified
as
1. Rapid onset hazards are the ones that occur instantaneously and in very short time for
example, earthquake, flood, wildfire and volcanoes etc.

2. Slow onset hazards are those that appear in the long run and grow with time creating slow
but long term effects for example famine, drought, diseases etc.
 These hazards are identified and assessed by risk assessment of the hazards and the extent
to which it may affect the environment.

Risk Assessment
Risk is the probability of occurrence of a hazard to effect the socio-economic activity based on the
vulnerability of the environment. Risk assessment is the analysis of all the known hazards to
potentially threat the environment. The higher the probability of a hazard to effect the environment
the higher is the chance of a hazard to turn into disaster. To identify this risk, the probability of
occurrence of a hazard is identified to be know about the chances of a disaster and to be prepared
to mitigate for it depending on the expected losses. These losses are measured by the vulnerability
assessment of human lives and all the factors in the society.

Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerability is the extent to which an asset can be affected by a hazard or disaster. Vulnerability
explains the characteristics of asset community or system which influences their ability to respond
to a situation. Vulnerability is classified into four types:

Types
Physical Vulnerability
Social Vulnerability
Economic Vulnerability
Environmental Vulnerability
Details
Includes all the infrastructure of the area exposed to disaster
for example buildings, bridges, roads etc
Includes the individuals, communities and systems that
develop the society. It consists of all the community
organizations, cultures, values and norms that make up a
society.
It depends highly on the economic status of the society and
the individuals. Poor individuals or nations are much more
vulnerable to the disasters instead of the rich ones.
The environment and climate of an area determines the level
of its vulnerability. The areas with poor climatic conditions,
heavy rains, resource depletion are more vulnerable to the
disasters.

These categories of vulnerabilities are very important to deal with the disasters although the
vulnerability of each asset differs according to the area of the event and other circumstances. The
effects on each asset may differ for different disasters.

Negative impacts of Disaster

The major impact of disaster happens mainly on people lives and the infrastructure which affects
the socio-economic activity of any society. Disasters create many negative impacts on the society
in a number of ways mainly affecting its activities. Some of the major impacts of the disasters are
as follows:
1. Humanitarian losses
Humanitarian losses are the adverse and major loss as a result of a disaster. Disasters either
manmade or natural impact mainly on human life and activity. Worst disasters in the
history of mankind have caused millions of casualties in a single blow or with the passage
of time. Some of these worst disasters are as follows:
Sr# Estimated Death Tolls Disaster
1 1,000,000-4,000,000 China Floods 1931
2 900,000-2,000,000 Yellow river flood 1887
3 830000 Shaanxi Earthquake 1556
4 316,000 Haiti Earthquake 2010
5 250,000-300,000 Antioch earthquake 526

These are the massive number of casualties from world’s deadliest disasters. Other than
the casualties, disaster also make the lives of the left ones difficult leaving them abandoned
by family members, sole earners and even residents.

2. Health problems
Disaster also result in the health issues for the human life in a number of different ways.
The natural disasters occurring due to climatic changes like cyclones, tornadoes etc cause
various hygiene problems and may lead to the growth of pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
The disaster cause the transportation problems to the damaged areas where people suffer
the lack of medication for acute and chronic diseases.
Other than natural disasters, man-made disasters are more harmful to human health causing
number of chronic diseases. There are millions of examples of these cases for example the
health and genetic problems occurring as an aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Nuclear
Blasts. The respiratory problems occurring in the natives due to Chernobyl and Bhopal gas
tragedies and the wildfires. Apart from physical health the disasters also affect the mental
health of the people leaving them suffering with post- traumatic stress disorders (PTSD).

3. Food Scarcity
Disasters lead to massive destruction which affects the livelihood of the society. Floods,
cyclone, hurricanes etc destroy the crops and create food shortage for families in the area
and in the whole region. This often results in malnutrition in the people who are directly
affected by the consequences.

4. Environmental degradation
Along with the problems mentioned above, the disasters also create massive environmental
problems. Natural disaster produce a lot of impact on the social environment affecting the
habitat, climatic conditions, biodiversity and a lot of other factors. Natural disaster like
wild-fires and man-made disasters like chemical erosion, nuclear meltdown etc cause air
and water pollution. Wildfires often cause the loss of habitat for a number of animal species
and certain species become endangered. Floods and hurricanes also cause the loss of animal
lives.
 Some disasters like drought cause lack of water supply for both short term and long terms.
Often disasters result in water contamination leading to less availability of water for human
and animal life. Cyclone, typhoons and tornados destroy the crop fields. In many under
developed or lower developed countries these disasters create severe shortage of food and
turn countries in to infertile lands.
Earthquakes and tsunamis often result in disaster wastes, rubble, deforestation, hazardous
materials etc. on the other hand the man-made disasters like wars and nuclear meltdowns
affect the trees and the nature producing pollution and causing damage to nature as a whole.

5. Economical Losses
Disaster also result in economic losses destroy factories, industries and disturbing the international
trade of many goods and services. Every year post-disaster strategies cost billions of dollar to the
countries resulting in major downfall in the economic budgets. Hurricane in Haiti is one of the
examples of such economical losses. In 1980 the global economy has faced an economic loss of
US $3.9 trillion. Measuring the exact figures of economic impact of natural disasters can be hard
but comparing the data of insured and uninsured assets can provide a good overview of losses in
form of direct impact on business and individuals. Statistics of this type of data is as follow:

Rank Insured Uninsured Disaster Year Location

Loss Loss
(billions) (billions)
1 $36.9 $184.7 Tohaku Earthquake / 2011 Japan
Tsunami
2 $4.8 $156 Kobe Earthquake 1995 Japan
3 $104. 9 $104.4 Atlantic Hurricane 2005 U.S., Mexico,
Season Caribbean,
Bahamas
4 $0.4 $92.1 Sichuan Earthquake 2008 China
5 $1.9 $79.6 Drought 1988 U.S.
6 $0.7 $59.9 Drought 1980 U.S.
7 $0.6 $50.4 Irpina Earthquake 1980 Italy
8 $24.7 $46.4 Northridge 1994 U.S.
Earthquake
9 $30.8 $42.2 Hurricane Sandy 2012 U.S. Caribbean,
Bahamas
10 $16.2 $30.8 Floods 2011 Thailand
Every uninsured dollar is the money unavailable for business and economic growth

6. Infrastructure Damage
The quickest impact of any kind of disaster is on the infrastructure. Infrastructure are most
vulnerable to the disaster after human life. Infrastructure of a nation are its building blocks.
The disasters not only take away the residential structure but also destroy the institutions
of the countries including health institutes, educational institutes, hospitals, training
centers, industries etc. the major impact of infrastructure loss is on the human activity
 because it leaves the un-insured people abandoned on roads and takes away all the
opportunities from them.
The destruction of infrastructure causes a lot of damage to the nations leaving them far
behind economically and socially. The redevelopment phases require too much of budget
and technical support which is difficult for underdeveloped countries to approach. For
example, the 8 out of 10 most vulnerable cities to disaster are located in Philippines causing
it a lot of financial and residential problems.

Positive Impacts of Disaster

1. Economic upgrading
The volcanoes have a number of precious stones, gems and metals buried deep underneath
them and the volcanic eruptions bring to the surface providing good opportunities for the
economy. The post disaster activities and aids from different countries help establishing
better relations with other countries. Meanwhile disaster redevelopment techniques and
advanced technologies are often introduced in the under developed and developing
countries producing awareness and creating opportunities for the locals.

2. Efficient policies and strategic for disaster

After the disaster a lot of preparedness and mitigation policies are revised depending on
their results in the aftermath. This results in building news strategies and policies relating
disaster to move one step forward towards development of the disaster resistant economy.
It also includes the redevelopment of health and insurance policies for the civilians. The
development of better and effective institutions to manage the preparedness and mitigation
strategies for the upcoming disaster.

3. Improved ecosystem
Disasters may also improve the ecosystem. Some disaster eliminate the invasive plants
from a certain environment. There are some species of plant whose growth is dependent
on fire and help them to grow better in the long run. Natural disasters like hurricanes and
floods often feed the soil with the nutrients that they lacked for a long time. These disaster
prove to be beneficial for some of the infertile lands providing their soil with fertility and
other minerals that help in better growth of crops in the long run. They may also provide
nutrient to lakes and ponds which might help better growth of fishes that can be eaten.
Similarly the volcanic eruptions also enrich the soil with the nutrients it emits. Disaster
thus, might develop a better or an improved ecosystem in the long-run.

4. Biodiversity
The floods might help the fishes and other predators to migrate or transfer to other areas
maintaining the aquatic balance. The winds from hurricanes and the soil nutrients travelling
through water from floods move to different systems and environments giving rise to new
plant species and growing the existing one.
5. Atmospheric Improvements
Disasters often produce chemicals in the atmosphere that are beneficial in many ways
developing a fresh and improved atmosphere. The volcanic activities release carbon
dioxide and hydrogen which contributes to the water cycle. They also release Sulphur in
the atmosphere which reduces the global temperature for example in case of Tamora
volcano in 1815 which reduced the world temperature by 2 degrees. The hurricanes winds
also help reduce the temperature. An earthquake in Japan even changed the Earth’s axis
shortening the length of the day.

6. Build back better

The most important factor of post disaster activities is the redevelopment phase. During
the disaster the biggest loss is faced in the form of human lives and the infrastructure. Thus
it provides more economic and social activity in return in the long-run. After a disaster has
occurred, the authorities review the structures of the regions and prioritize the factors that
are to be considered while the reconstruction of the infrastructure. Techniques for
developing disaster resilient buildings and other infrastructures are renewed and are
consulted by the developed countries. Each time a redevelopment phase stars, it helps the
re-planning and better establishment of new systems. After so many years of natural
disasters, the developed countries have produced better understanding of the disaster
resilient infrastructure based on the type of the disasters. These techniques make the
infrastructure less vulnerable to the disaster according to the area.

The disaster risk reduction agencies like UNISDR (united nations international strategy for
disaster reduction), FEMA (Federal emergency management agency) and Red Cross
emphasize the reconstruction to be based on Build Back Better principles which includes
hazard based building codes and regulations, community based organizations, better
hospitals with more capacity and facility for aggrieved, secured inventories in remote areas,
educational institutions, long term funding and quality assurance. A number of different
building techniques and technologies are used to redevelop strong infrastructure. The
construction companies use lightweight steel material to build disaster resilient buildings
utilizing lower energy and having safety exits and other facilities in case of disaster. The
National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) is scientifically analyzing and
researching the material to be used for the reconstruction and repair of infrastructure
emphasizing on the use of polymer and concrete materials. It also emphasized to assess the
materials via climatic, hydrological and other methodologies and tools. Similarly bending
beam systems, strong concrete foundations and tuned mass damping (TMD) are widely
used in constructing the disaster resilient buildings.

Disaster resilience of infrastructure depends on the type of disaster for which they are made
resilient. For example, for Typhoons the disaster resilience infrastructure should have
strong ventilation system, windows, and should be able to withstand more than 250kph
winds. Steel framing and glass windows, concrete roofing, stucco layers and gypsum
 boards are most common fire resilient materials to be used in buildings. Bautex and ICF
(insulating concrete form) wall systems are considered to almost fully hurricane resistant.

Japan: Major Victim of Disasters and the Nation of fastest Resilient

Development
Due to its geographical location near the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is responsible for 90% of
world’s earthquakes, Japan is most prone to tsunamis and earthquakes facing world’s worst
earthquakes in its history. With the 452 volcanoes present in the country, Japan is the most
disruptive geographical location with respect to natural disasters. Japan is located at the point
where several oceanic and tectonic plates meeting which is the reason of so many volcanoes,
frequent earthquakes and hot springs occurring in Japan. The earthquakes occurring near or below
the ocean, causes tsunamis as and side disaster with the earthquakes.
Japan has faced a number of different types of disasters like floods, typhoons, earthquakes,
tsunamis, hailstorms, nuclear explosions and volcanic eruptions in its history. According to
statistics, 2 out of 5 most expensive disasters occur in Japan making the disaster of 1995 and 2011
most expensive disasters in the world costing US $181 billion in 1995 and US $235 billion in
2011. Some of the worst disasters of Japanese History are listed below

Sr# Disaster Year

1 Tohoku Earthquake 2011
2 Great Kanto Earthquake 1923
3 Sakurajima Volcano 1999
4 Mount Unzen Volcano 1792
5 Yaeyama Tsunami 1771
6 Typhoon Vera 1959
7 Nuclear bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1945
8 Fukushima Daiichi 2011

Advanced Redevelopment
Learning from its past Japan has adopted many resilient strategies to redevelop its society
efficiently and effectively to prevent future disaster. Its tsunami and earthquake warning system
are considered the most advanced systems of their kind in the world. According to experts Japan
is the world’s most disaster resilient country having 76000 buildings using seismic isolation
systems. Japan follows strict building codes and standards, advanced technology for detection and
flood prevention infrastructure. For example world’s largest flood prevention infrastructure exists
in Tokyo that has reduced the floods in the city enormously. The structure consists of a massive
underground reservoir having a network of pipes that can flow 200 cubic meter of water per second
intro the river reducing the flood zones 4 times in the city. In the recent years japan has proposed
the used of “earthquake sensitive electricity breakers” in the urban areas which would
automatically stop the electricity when it detects a strong tremor in result preventing devastating
urban fires.
Innovation and Technology
Japanese innovation systems and risk reduction technologies are most effective in the world
making it the hub of disaster reduction technology and innovation system. The director of
International Center for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) introduced the
innovation and technology systems take account of Climate Change, Data Integration, Rainfall
Runoff and Inundation (RRI) simulation model, Agricultural Drought Monitoring and Prediction,
and others as a holistic approach. The GIKEN ltd. Introduced the unique Implant Technology for
slope stabilization and fortified foundations to resist earthquakes and Tsunamis in Japan and
internationally. The Japanese technologies are thus developing better and faster becoming more
and more resilient to disasters.
Disaster Reduction Measures
After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami incident, Japan has highly developed its innovations and
technology support to become more resilient to disaster. In 2015 Japan with the collaboration of
UNISDR, conducted the conference for Sendai Framework including more than 170 countries to
join and mutually develop the disaster resilient strategies. After this framework the Japanese
president also announced $4 billion fund for the disaster management and risk reduction
implementation in different countries which are highly vulnerable to disaster. Even before the
Sendai framework and 2011 tsunami, Japan has always been helping the underdeveloped and
developing countries which are prone to disaster including Philippines, USA, Haiti and a number
of Asian countries. The 15 year initiative taken by Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction,
has collaborative help of developed countries like Japan USA and China where Japan is being the
major country sharing its innovation and technology systems with all the other countries to develop
a disaster resilient world.

Conclusion
Disasters are without doubt the cause of large scale destruction and loss of human life, socio-
economic activity and many other factors but in the long run sometimes disasters prove to be a
summon to develop and create better. The world history is full of thousands of natural and man-
made disasters all over the globe but these disasters have taught a number of lessons to the
economies and nations. These lesson turn out to become the source of new and advanced
technology and system giving rise to better human civilizations. The disaster re-development helps
building new infrastructure better and stronger than it ever could be. Sharing of information about
these advanced technological and development systems with the world, is helping countries to
develop together and become closer to each other.
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