NATURAL DISASTER?

WHAT CONSTITUTES CALAMITIES

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the earth such as

are floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, and other

geologic processes. It is also known as the abnormal intensity of a natural geological agent.

The impact of such event is catastrophic in nature where it can cause damages and destruction of

property, loss of financial resources and towards certain extend cause personal injury or illness

as well as trauma post incident. In addition, the loss of resources, security and access to shelter

can lead to massive population migrations in lesser-developed countries.

Hazardous cycle, all things considered, can have essential, auxiliary, and tertiary impacts.

Essential Effects happen because of the cycle itself. For instance water harm during a flood or

breakdown of structures during a tremor, landslide, tsunamis or typhoon. Optional Effects

happen simply because an essential impact has caused them. For instance, fires touched off

because of quakes, disturbance of electrical force and water administration because of a tremor,

flood, or storm, or flooding brought about by a huge margin into a lake or stream and finally the

Tertiary Effects are long haul impacts that are set off because of an essential occasion. These

incorporate things like loss of environment brought about by a flood, perpetual changes in the

situation of waterway channel brought about by flood, crop disappointment brought about by a

volcanic ejection and so forth.

On the other hand, the emergency and disaster management plan refers to the effort to contain or

minimizing the adverse impact of such natural disaster. The emergency management which is

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otherwise called as disaster management is the process of organizing and managing the resources

and responsibilities for dealing with all the aspects of emergencies, disasters and crisis.

The mitigating process usually involves plans, structures and arrangements established to engage

the normal endeavors of government, voluntary and private agencies in a comprehensive and

coordinated way to respond to the whole spectrum of emergency needs.

The main objective of emergency management are mainly focused on the following objectives:

I. To reduce any incidence of risk or accidental crisis.

II. To protect the community.

III. In order to ensure business continuity.

IV. For safeguarding both employees and employers.

V. In order to reduce the accidental damage of machinery.

VI. Ensuring that the organization can continue to function during and after a crisis or natural

disaster.

The emergency and disaster plan would facilitate any occurrence of emergencies and minimizing

catastrophes and calamities from the disaster agents.

Task 2

Conduct analysis and make a complete report on proposed control measure of flood disaster in

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 Malaysia by looking at the impacts including physical impact, biological Impact,

socioeconomic impact and psychological impacts (trauma)

The report conducted in the perspective flood control measures based on physical, biological,

socioeconomic and psychological impact derived from floods are as follows:

1. Physical Impact: Physical in nature involves destruction towards structural damage

caused by flood and immediate impacts of flooding can include loss of human life, damage to

property and infrastructure, and destruction of crops and livestock. The destruction can caused

further psychological impact on people due to damages or loss of property. Examples of long-

term impacts include the interruption to communication networks and critical infrastructure such

as power plants, roads, hospitals and schools which were destroyed during the emergence of

disaster.

2. Biological and Biodiversity Impact: Biological impact normally destruct and

demolished the eco-system that is the environmental such as habitat etc. For example, the

environment suffers when floods occur. The consequence of adverse effect of floods can be seen

as to the chemicals and other hazardous substances end up in water and eventually contaminate

the water bodies that floods end up in. In addition, flooding can destroy the natural balance of the

ecosystem and destruct the richness of biodiversity.

3. Socioeconomic impact: The socioeconomic impact refers to the status of economic

impact on individual affected by flood. On the other hand, the economic impacts include

disruptions of clean water and electricity supply, transport, communication, education, health

care services, reduction in purchasing power and loss of land value in the flood plains which can

lead to increased vulnerabilities of communities in the living area.

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4. Psychological Impact: Psychological refers to the state of emotion of the victims of

flood. The loss of property and belongings might lead to emotional grievances as well as

traumatic post event effect. According to Chan (2000), vulnerability to flood disasters in

Malaysia is not solely influenced by poverty, but more importantly by awareness, perception,

attitude, experience, length of residence and social relations. Furthermore, disasters such as flood

can directly impact the health of the population resulting in physical trauma, acute disease and

emotional trauma. In addition, disasters may increase the morbidity and mortality associated with

chronic disease and infectious disease through the impact on the health care system.

Recommendation in Mitigating Flood Issues in Malaysia

The most severe climate-related natural disasters in Malaysia are monsoon floods and flash

floods as well as tidal floods. These floods are common hydrological phenomena in Malaysia, on

average affecting an area of 29,000 km2 , more than 4.82 million people (22% of the population)

and inflicting annual damage of RM 915 million. Flood Mitigation Policy and Strategy Structural

measures consist of:

1. Non-structural Measures

The process of mitigating flood through non-structural controlling flood flows can be mitigated

through land conservation by regulating human activities that increase the vulnerability of

flooding such as deforestation of agricultural activities in big scale. The management of terrain

also can be controlled to avoid landslide during heaving rain. Another indispensable non-

structural measure is the adoption of a flood forecasting and warning system. This is very helpful

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in giving forecast and early warning system for preparedness as practice by meteorological

department of Malaysia and “Infobanjir” that escalates online through the websites and social

media of Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia.

2. Structural Measures

The ways of mitigating and managing the issues through policy guidelines in implementing flood

mitigation measures will include the implementation of structural flood mitigation in terms of

engineering and socio-economic environment. Flood mitigation at the structural property level

may also involve preventative measures focused on the building site, including scour protection

for shoreline developments, improving rainwater infiltration through the use of permeable paving

materials and grading away from structures, and inclusion of berms, wetlands or swales. In

addition, structural mitigation projects include levees, dams, floodwalls, jetties, retention ponds,

and many other examples. Structural mitigation projects aim to divert water away from people

and communities.

The structural and non-structural involves huge investments and financial impact such as

building of canalization of rivers, raising river embankments and multi-purpose dams. Therefore

escalating expenditures require the government to be more proactive in finding ways and means

to address the flood problems in a holistic manner. The effective coordination of NADMA with

government related agencies is also considered a vital role in terms of planning, design and

implementation of the preventive and control of flood disaster recovering plan in the country.

The cooperation of governmental departments/agencies and social organizations that are able to

provide shelter, rescue, food and medical supplies. This can be done through the nationwide

State Security Committee, police, the armed forces, social and welfare departments and various

voluntary organizations, the task of rescuing and evacuation of flood victims to predetermined

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relief centers could be organized effectively. The nerve system should be in command at any

time and communicated effectively and efficiently.

Task 3

A goal of Emergency Management Plan is to ensure the safety of human and assets during and

following a disaster. Discuss in detail on the important of Emergency Management Plan and

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 provide recommendations on how to improve the functions and roles of the organizations

involved in managing any natural disaster in Malaysia

The main objective of emergency planning is to reduce injuries, protect the community and

maintain business continuity. An emergency plan usually includes necessary procedures during a

crisis, a clear set of roles and responsibilities and established instructions for local emergency

response and recovery bodies. The purpose of an Emergency Plan is to document the recovery

strategies, essential resources, and procedures necessary to implement a recovery process. It

serves the dual role of building awareness of emergency planning, as well as surfacing potential

risk areas about which management may not have been aware.

The comprehensive importance approach of disaster management comprises four

phases: prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (PPRR) to ensure a balance between the

reduction of risk and the enhancement of community resilience, while ensuring effective

response and recovery capabilities.

1. Mitigation: The mitigation is the process of preventing future emergencies or

minimizing their adverse effects. The process includes among other any activities that prevent an

emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or reduce the damaging effects of

unavoidable emergencies. In addition, the protection aspect during rainy or drought days such as

buying flood and fire insurance for home or education insurance can be considered as mitigation

activity. Therefore, mitigation activities take place before and after emergencies.

2. Preparedness: This phase refers to the preparation in handling emergency situation. The

perimeter includes plans or preparations made to save lives and to help response to the rescue

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operations. For example, evacuation plans and stocking food and water are In a nutshell,

preparedness activities take place before any emergency occurs.

3. Response: Responding safely to an emergency which includes actions taken to save lives

and prevent further property damage in an emergency situation namely evacuation plan.

Evacuation Plan may be required if there is a fire in the building or other hazard. The evacuation

team will direct the evacuation of the building and account for all employees outside at a safe

location. Response is also putting your preparedness plans into action. For example, seeking

shelter at flood center or the act of turning off gas valves in an earthquake are both response

activities. This phase or activities occurs during an emergency.

4. Recovery: A situation refers to recovering from an emergency getting relief from

traumatic events such as flood and tornado. The phase includes any actions taken to return to a

normal or an even safer situation following an emergency. For example, collecting valuable left

from disaster or getting financial assistance to help pay for the repairs. Recovery activities take

place after an emergency

Above all, the communication perspective  is the most important part of Emergency

Preparedness. Frequent, honest communication with occupants and tenants is the most important

part of emergency preparedness. The effectiveness of such management plan depend heavily on

the coordination and the clear communication on the plan to all stakeholders namely in the case

of Malaysia commanded under the purview of National Disaster Management Agency

(NADMA) of Malaysia. The communication plan such as warning alert, notification as well as

communications systems to enable protective action be taken.

Task 4

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 By conducting Threat Analysis or Vulnerability study how this can reduce the impact to your

organization if disaster happened. Give your view on this by giving the benefit that

organisation will get.

Vulnerability is also defined as “the characteristics of a person or group and their situation that

influences their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the impact of a

hazardous event” (Blaikie, P et al.,(2004). Vulnerability represents the susceptibility of a given

population to harmful effects from exposure to hazardous events. It directly affects disaster

preparation, response, and recovery. Hazardous event can directly or indirectly affect the health

status of an individual or a population. There are two key components of a hazard’s definition:

the extent of the influence (harm) caused by the exposure to the disaster and the “differential”

sensitivity to and ability to recover from the disaster.

There are four types of vulnerabilities in disaster management namely physical vulnerability,

economic vulnerability, social vulnerability and attitudinal vulnerability.

i. Physical Vulnerability may be determined by aspects such as population density levels,

remoteness of a settlement, the site, design and materials used for critical infrastructure and

for housing. For example, concrete structures are less lkely to collapse during a small scale

earthquake as well as wooden structure. However, wooden structure are prune or vulnerable to

fire.

ii. Social Vulnerability refers to the inability of people, organizations and societies to

withstand adverse impacts to hazards due to characteristics inherent in social interactions,

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institutions and systems of cultural values. It is linked to the level of wellbeing of individuals,

communities and society. It includes aspects related to levels of literacy and education, the

existence of peace and security, access to basic human rights, systems of good governance,

social equity, positive traditional values, customs and ideological beliefs and overall collective

organizational systems. For example, the impact of flooding on children and elderly are great as

they can’t even protect themselves or evacuate themselves from danger that means they are

vulnerable to flood.

iii. Economic Vulnerability: Most of it refers to the economics status of an individual. The

poor are usually more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the resources to build sturdy

structures and put other engineering measures in place to protect themselves from being

adversely impacted by disasters. For example, Poorer families may live in squatter settlements

because they cannot afford to live in safer places or areas.

iv. Environmental Vulnerability mainly refer to the natural resource depletion and

resource degradation are key aspects of environmental vulnerability. For example, an agricultural

lands are sensitive towards erosion and flood that may storm away the minerals as well the crops

vanished in the flood.

On the other hand, the risk which is more specifically associated with disaster risk refers to the

potential disaster losses including \lives, health status, livelihoods, assets and services. It can

occur to any community vulnerable or prune to hazard as it came with the probability of harmful

consequences, or expected losses (deaths, injuries, property, livelihoods, economic activity

disrupted or environmentally damaged) resulting from interactions between natural or human

induced hazards and vulnerable conditions. 

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Risk can be calculated using the following equation: Risk = Probability of Hazard x Degree of

Vulnerability.

There are different ways of dealing with risk, such as:

i. Risk Acceptance: This is related to an informed decision to accept the possible

consequences and likelihood of a particular risk possibly happening .

ii. Risk Avoidance: Security on informed decision to avoid involvement in activities

leading to risk realization that can harm the organization as a whole.

iii. Risk Reduction: refers to the application of appropriate techniques or methods to

reduce the likelihood of potential risk occurrence and its consequences.

iv. Risk Transfer involves shifting of the burden of risk to another party. One of the most

common forms of risk transfer is buying an insurance coverage such as fire and flood as a

precautionary action in case of any adverse consequences to the organization.

The Assessments

Prior to any steps can be taken to reduce risk and vulnerability, they must first be understood.

Vulnerability assessments and risk analyses allow for the identification of areas of critical

concern and help to guide mitigation efforts for organization. There are a variety of methods by

which these vulnerable assessments can be conducted by the organizations such as:

i. Initial Assessment. Identify the organization’s context and assets and define the risk

and critical value for each business process as well as technology namely the IT system.

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ii. System Baseline Definition. Gather information about the organization before the

vulnerability assessment e.g., organizational structure, current configuration,

software/hardware versions, etc.

iii. Vulnerability Scan. Use available and approved tools and techniques to identify the

vulnerabilities and attempt to exploit them. Penetration testing is one common

method.

iv. Vulnerability Assessment Reporting. Summarization on the findings, including name

and description of vulnerability, score, potential impact, and recommended

mitigation and document it accordingly.

Ways of mitigating risk at organizational level to minimize destruction can be in the form of

Hazard intensity which refers to the exposure related. It can be directly related to the occurrence

of natural disasters, such as heavy rainfall that may cause floods and/or landslides that affect the

building of an organization which situated nearby the event. Environmental and population

characteristics are system-resistance factors related to population vulnerability level.

Environmental factors can amplify or mitigate the destructive power of a hazardous event. For

example, good water-soil conservation capabilities can reduce the effects of a mudslide or in the

case of emergency evacuation can save lives of the employees. .

Social vulnerabilities are related to environmental and population characteristics, which are

influenced by exposure, sensitivity, and resilience. Exposure is related to hazard proximity and

the environmental characteristics whilst sensitivity refers to the ability of an individual or

community to protect itself from different types of potential harm, while resilience indicates an

individual’s or community’s coping and adaptive capacities during and after a disaster. For

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example, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors remained

relatively common especially post flood trauma and fire destruction demolition. All of these

phases of emergency disaster is very importance towards safeguarding the organization in order

to minimize the jeopardy and adverse effect of disaster.

In a nutshell, it is equally important to conduct both types. On one side of the coin, the purpose

of a vulnerability assessment is to improve security by finding and identifying weaknesses. In

addition, vulnerability assessments allow organizations to apply a consistent and clear approach

to identifying and resolving bona fide security threats and risks as well as

providing organization with the necessary knowledge, awareness and risk backgrounds to

understand and react to threats to safeguard the organization whilst the purpose of a threat

assessment is to determine exactly what type of security is necessary.

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Reference

Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I, Wisner B.(2004) At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability,

and disasters. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.

Jaharuddin, Nor & Mohd Taib, Zaitun & Mansor, Zuraina. (2016). A REVIEW OF FLOOD

DISASTER AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA.

Khalid, Mohamad & Shafiai, Shazwani. (2015). Flood Disaster Management in Malaysia:

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness Flood Delivery System. International Journal of

Social Science and Humanity. 5. 398-402. 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.488.

Ngai Weng Chan (2012). Impacts of Disasters and Disasters Risk Management in Malaysia: The

Case of Floods. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Nancy A. Renfroe and Joseph L. Smith (2016) Threat / Vulnerability Assessments And Risk

Analysis. Applied Research Associates, Inc.

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