By,

USMAN ILYAS
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
University of Management and Technology, Lahore
 Disaster Management
An applied science which seeks, by systemic
observation and analysis of disasters, to
improve measures relating to prevention,
emergency response, recovery and mitigation.
• Encompasses all aspects of
planning for, and responding to disasters,
including both pre and post disaster activities.

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 Disaster Management
A continuous and integrate process of planning,
organizing, coordinating and implementing measures
which are necessary for;

● Prevention of danger or threat of any disaster.

● Reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity
or consequences.
● Capacity-building.

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 Disaster Management
● Preparedness to deal with any disaster.
● Prompt response to any threatening disaster
situation or disaster.
● Assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of
any disaster.
● Evacuation, rescue and relief.
● Rehabilitation and reconstruction.
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 Aim of Disaster Management
Disaster management aims to reduce,
or avoid, the potential losses from
hazards, assure prompt and
appropriate assistance to victims of
disaster, and achieve rapid and
effective recovery.

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Disaster Management Cycle

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 Disaster Management Cycle
• The Disaster management cycle illustrates the
ongoing process by which governments, businesses,
and civil society plan for and reduce the impact of
disasters, react during and immediately following a
disaster, and take steps to recover after a disaster
has occurred.
• Appropriate actions at all points in the cycle lead to
greater preparedness, better warnings, reduced
vulnerability or the prevention of disasters during
the next iteration of the cycle.

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 Disaster Management Cycle
• The complete disaster management cycle includes
the shaping of public policies and plans that either
modify the causes of disasters or mitigate their
effects on people, property, and infrastructure.

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 Disaster Management Cycle
• The mitigation and preparedness phases occur as a
result of prediction of a disaster.
• Developmental considerations play a key role in
contributing to the mitigation and preparation of a
community to effectively resisting a disaster.
• As a disaster occurs, disaster management actors, in
particular humanitarian organizations, become
involved in the immediate response and long-term
recovery phases.

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 Disaster Management Cycle
• The four disaster management phases illustrated
here do not always, or even generally, occur in
isolation or in this precise order.
• Often phases of the cycle overlap and the length of
each phase greatly depends on the severity of the
disaster.

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PHASES OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Disaster Mitigation

Disaster Preparedness

Disaster Response

Disaster Recovery

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Disaster Management Cycle

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 Sustainable Development
• Developmental considerations contribute to all
aspects of the disaster management cycle.
• One of the main goals of disaster management, and
one of its strongest links with development, is the
promotion of sustainable livelihoods and their
protection and recovery during disasters and
emergencies.
• Where this goal is achieved, people have a greater
capacity to deal with disasters and their recovery is
more rapid and long lasting.

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 Sustainable Development
• In a development oriented disaster management
approach, the objectives are to reduce hazards,
prevent disasters, and prepare for emergencies.
• Therefore, developmental considerations are
strongly represented in the mitigation and
preparedness phases of the disaster management
cycle.
• Inappropriate development processes can lead to
increased vulnerability to disasters and loss of
preparedness for emergency situations.

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Disaster Mitigation

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 Disaster Mitigation
• Mitigation activities actually eliminate or reduce the
probability of disaster occurrence, or reduce the
effects of unavoidable disasters.
• Mitigation measures include building codes;
vulnerability analyses; zoning and land use
management; building use regulations and safety
codes; preventive health care; and public
education.
• Mitigation will depend on the incorporation of
appropriate measures in national and regional
development planning.
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 Disaster Mitigation
• Its effectiveness will also depend on the availability
of information on hazards, emergency risks, and the
countermeasures to be taken.
• The mitigation phase, and indeed the whole
disaster management cycle, includes the shaping of
public policies and plans that either modify the
causes of disasters or mitigate their effects on
people, property, and infrastructure.

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 Components of Disaster Mitigation
Hazard identification and mapping
Assessment – Estimating probability of a damaging
phenomenon of given magnitude in a given area.

Considerations-
• History
• Probability of various intensities
• Maximum threat
• Possible secondary hazards

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 Disaster Mitigation
Vulnerability analysis
A process which results in an understanding of the
types and levels of exposure of persons, property, and
the environment to the effects of identified hazards at
a particular time.

Prevention
Activities taken to prevent a natural phenomenon or
potential hazard from having harmful effects on
either people or economic assets.

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 Disaster Mitigation
Risk analysis
Determiningnature and scale of losses which can be
anticipated in a particular area.

Involves analysis of
• Probability of a hazard of a particular magnitude.
• Elements susceptible to potential loss/damage.
• Nature of vulnerability.
• Specified future time period.

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Disaster Preparedness

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 Disaster Preparedness
• Disaster preparedness is ongoing multi-sectoral
activity.
• Important part of the national system is
responsible for developing plans and programs for;
• Disaster Management
• Prevention
• Mitigation
• Response
• Rehabilitation and Reconstruction.

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 Disaster Preparedness
• Preparedness should be in the form of money,
manpower and materials
• Evaluation from past experiences about risk location of
disaster prone areas
• Organization of communication, information and
warning system
• Ensuring co-ordination and response mechanisms
development of public education program
• Co-ordination with media
• National & international relations
• Keeping stock of foods, drug and other essential item.

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 Humanitarian Action
During a disaster, humanitarian agencies are often
called upon to deal with immediate response and
recovery. To be able to respond effectively, these
agencies must have experienced leaders, trained
personnel, adequate transport and logistic support,
appropriate communications, and guidelines for
working in emergencies. If the necessary preparations
have not been made, the humanitarian agencies will
not be able to meet the immediate needs of the
people.

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Disaster Response

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 Disaster Response
The aim of emergency response is to provide
immediate assistance to maintain life, improve health
and support the morale of the affected population.
Such assistance may range from providing specific but
limited aid, such as assisting refugees with transport,
temporary shelter, and food, to establishing semi-
permanent settlement in camps and other locations.

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 Disaster Response
It also may involve initial repairs to damaged
infrastructure. The focus in the response phase is on
meeting the basic needs of the people until more
permanent and sustainable solutions can be found.
Humanitarian organizations are often strongly present
in this phase of the disaster management cycle.

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 Disaster Recovery
• As the emergency is brought under control, the
affected population is capable of undertaking a
growing number of activities aimed at restoring
their lives and the infrastructure that supports
them.
• There is no distinct point at which immediate relief
changes into recovery and then into long-term
sustainable development.

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 Disaster Recovery
• There will be many opportunities during the
recovery period to enhance prevention and increase
preparedness, thus reducing vulnerability.
• Ideally, there should be a smooth transition from
recovery to on-going development.

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 Disaster Recovery
• Recovery activities continue until all systems return
to normal or better.
• Recovery measures, both short and long term,
include returning vital life-support systems to
minimum operating standards; temporary housing;
public information; health and safety education;
reconstruction; counseling programs; and economic
impact studies.
• Information resources and services include data
collection related to rebuilding, and documentation
of lessons learned.
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 Disaster Recovery
Repatriation - after the emergency is over, displaced
people return to their place of origin.
Rehabilitation -restoration of basic social functions.
• Providing temporary shelters,
• Stress debriefing for responders and victims,
Economic Rehabilitation,
• Psycho-social Rehabilitation,
• Scientific Damage Assessment,
Elements of recovery
• Community recovery
• Infrastructure recovery (services and lifelines).
• Economy recovery (financial, political).
• Environment recovery. 32
 DISASTER
MITIGATION
 Hazard Mitigation
• Hazard mitigation describes actions taken to help
reduce or eliminate long-term risks caused by
hazards or disasters, such as flooding,
earthquakes, wildfires, landslides, or dam failure.
• As the costs of disasters continue to rise,
governments and citizens must find ways to
reduce hazard risks to our communities.
• As communities plan for new development and
improvements to existing infrastructure,
mitigation can and should be an important
component of the planning effort.
 Hazard Mitigation
• While mitigation activities can and should be taken
before a disaster occurs, hazard mitigation is
essential after a disaster.
• Oftentimes after disasters, repairs and
reconstruction are completed in such a way as to
simply restore damaged property to pre-disaster
conditions.
•These efforts may get the community back to
normal, but the replication of pre-disaster
conditions may result in a repetitive cycle of
damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage.
 Hazard Mitigation
• This recurrent reconstruction becomes more
expensive as the years go by.
• Hazard mitigation breaks this repetitive cycle by
taking a long-term view of rebuilding and
recovering following disasters.
• The implementation of such hazard mitigation
actions leads to building stronger, safer and
smarter communities that are better able to
reduce future injuries and future damage.
 Disaster Mitigation
•Mitigation reduces the impact of disasters by
supporting protection and prevention
activities, easing response, and speeding
recovery to create better prepared and more
resilient communities.

•Mitigation can include structural and

nonstructural efforts.
 Importance and Aims Introduction
•The most important part of implementing
disaster mitigation is the full understanding
of the nature of threat.
•In Pakistan, different cities are vulnerable to
different types of hazards. Some cities are
prone to floods and droughts. Some cities are
prone to earthquake, falling in highly active
seismic zone (zone 4). Most cities are prone
to combination of various hazards.
 Importance and Aims Introduction
•The effects these hazards are likely to have
and the damage they are likely to cause
depends mainly on the following:
1. Population in that region,
2. Type of houses,
3. Sources of their livelihood (Agriculture,
others),
4. Infrastructure
 Importance and Aims Introduction
•To understand hazards of a specific region/state
and to develop mitigation strategy, one should
have knowledge of:
1. Causes of hazards and how they arise,
2. Disaster History of the area
a) Occurrence of hazards,
b) Frequency,
c) Magnitude (severity),
3. Physical mechanism of destruction caused,
4. Elements at risk (most vulnerable to their
effects),
5. Economic and social consequences after
damage.
 Importance of Disaster Mitigation
•The worst effects of any natural disaster are
loss of human life, injuries and health
problems of the affected people apart from
loss of property and livelihood.
•Understanding the way that people are killed
and injured in a particular disaster is a
prerequisite for reducing casualties.
 Importance of Disaster Mitigation
•In an Earthquake, 90% of the casualties are
caused by house collapse. Hence, saving the
lives in earthquakes means focusing on
prevention of building collapse.
•Similarly, in floods, most of the deaths are
because of drowning in fast flowing or
turbulent waters. Reducing loss of life by
floods is possible by preventing or minimizing
the extent of water flow or keeping people
out of the track of potential water flow.
 Importance of Disaster Mitigation
•Mitigation is planned after studying the
elements at risk. Saving human life is of the
highest priority in mitigation plans, followed
by those of animals.
•Next comes safety of crops, infrastructure,
and other elements at risk. Identification of
elements most at risk indicates priorities for
mitigation.
 Aims of Disaster Mitigation
The specific aims of disaster mitigation are as
follows:
1. Creating awareness of risk at community
level,
2. To promote local actions through
community participation to reduce such
risks,
3. Induction of mitigation measures in the
national and regional development plans,
land use planning proposals and in project
design and appraisal in disaster prone
areas.
 Aims of Disaster Mitigation
4. To assist decision makers (politicians and
administrators) to understand the nature
and extent of various risks faced by the
communities in their area of responsibility,
and to assess the economic effects of
natural disasters on agriculture, commerce
and industry.
 Aims of Disaster Mitigation
5. To demonstrate ways and means to reduce
those risks within the limits of national,
regional or socio-economic conditions
through proper decision making and
planning.
6. To introduce effective measures to
implement disaster mitigation plans at the
different levels of public administration
based on risk assessment and vulnerability
analysis.
 Mitigation Techniques
Prevention
Government, administrative, or regulatory
actions that influence the way land and
buildings are developed to reduce hazard
losses. Includes planning and zoning,
floodplain laws, capital improvement
programs, open space preservation, and storm
water management regulations.
 Mitigation Techniques
Property Protection
Modification of buildings or structures to
protect them from a hazard or removal of
structures from a hazard area. Includes
acquisition, elevation, relocation, structural
retrofit, storm shutters, and shatter-resistant
glass.
 Mitigation Techniques
Public Education and Awareness
Actions to inform citizens and elected officials
about hazards and ways to mitigate them.
Includes outreach projects, real estate
disclosure, hazard information centers, and
school-age and adult education.
 Mitigation Techniques
Natural Resource Protection
Actions that minimize hazard loss and
preserve or restore the functions of natural
systems. Includes sediment and erosion
control, stream corridor restoration,
watershed management, forest and
vegetation management, and wetland
restoration and preservation.
 Mitigation Techniques
Emergency Services
Actions that protect people and property during
and immediately after a hazard event. Includes
warning systems, emergency response services,
and the protection of essential facilities.
Structural Projects
Actions that involve the construction of
structures to reduce the impact of a hazard.
Includes dams, setback levees, floodwalls,
retaining walls, and safe rooms.
 Common Mitigation Actions
•Enforcement of building codes, floodplain
management codes and environmental
regulations.
•Public safety measures such as continual
maintenance of roadways, culverts and
dams.
•Acquisition of relocation of structures, such
as purchasing buildings located in a
floodplain.
•Acquisition of undeveloped hazard prone
lands to ensure no future construction occurs
there.
 Common Mitigation Actions
•Retrofitting of structures and design of new
construction, such as elevating a home or
building.
•Protecting critical facilities and infrastructure
from future hazard events.
•Planning for hazard mitigation, emergency
operations, disaster recovery, and continuity
of operations.
•Development and distribution of outreach
materials related to hazard mitigation.
•Deployment of warning systems to alert and
notify the public.
 Structural Mitigation
•Prevent hazards from developing into a
disaster through structures
Examples include:
•Building dams
•Building seawalls
•Hurricane proof buildings
•Earthquake resistant structures
 Benefits and Disadvantages
Benefits of Structural Mitigation
•Financial losses lessened
•Lower insurance premiums
•Reduced rebuilding efforts
Disadvantages
•Increased upfront building costs
•Not 100% effective
•Increased risk taking by occupants
 Nonstructural Mitigation
•Prevent hazards from disasters through
administrative efforts
Example include:
•Building zoning and planning
•Building codes and enforcement
•Education and training
•Relocation
 Benefits and Disadvantages

Benefits of Nonstructural Mitigation

•Less costly than structural
•Lower insurance premiums
Disadvantages
•Less effective than structural efforts
•Require greater public commitment
 FEMA Disaster Mitigation
Framework
The National Mitigation Framework discusses
seven core capabilities required for entities
involved in mitigation:
•Threats and Hazard Identification
•Risk and Disaster Resilience Assessment
•Planning
•Community Resilience
•Public Information and Warning
•Long-term Vulnerability Reduction
•Operational Coordination
FEMA’s Mitigation Core Capabilities
 Mitigation Coordination Efforts

•The coordinating structures for mitigation

range from the individual efforts to national
coordination.
•Includes involvement from non-
governmental agencies, local government,
and state
 FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
assists in implementing long-term hazard
mitigation measures following a major
disaster.
•Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) provides funds
for hazard mitigation planning and projects
on an annual basis.
•Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) provides
funds for projects to reduce or eliminate risk
of flood damage to buildings.