CHAPTER: ONE

DISASTER
A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long
period of time that interrupts the functioning of a community or a
society.

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DISASTER CONTD…
A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society
causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental
losses which exceed the ability of affected community of society to
cope using its own resources. (UNISDR)

Types of Disaster
1. Natural Disasters
✓ Large scale, geological or meteorological events that have the
potential to cause loss of life and property.
✓ Earthquake, flood, landslide hurricanes etc.
2. Man-made Disasters
✓ Small scales but caused by the human activities.
✓ Accidents, shootings, acts of terrorism etc.
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Natural Disasters
1. Earthquakes
2. Landslide
3. Flood
4. Hailstorm
5. Drought
6. GLOF
7. Avalanche
8. Subsidence

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Natural Disasters
Earthquakes
An earthquake is the shaking of the earth caused by a number of
phenomena including tectonic ground motions, volcanism,
landslides, rock bursts, and human made explosions.

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Earthquakes
✓ Caused by tectonic movements (oceanic plates and continental
plates)

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Earthquakes
✓ Caused by volcanic eruptions

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Earthquakes
✓ Caused by nuclear explosions and mine and rock bursts.

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Effect of Earthquakes
1. Loss of life and property
2. Damage to buildings
3. Damage to infrastructures
4. Earthquake can trigger landslides and rockslides
5. Can result in floods
6. Can trigger tsunamis
7. Leads to liquefaction

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Landslides
A landslide (landslip, slope failure or slump) is an uncontrollable
downhill of rock, earth, debris or the combination of the three.

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Landslides
✓ Climate
✓ Earthquakes
✓ Weathering
✓ Erosion
✓ Volcanoes
✓ Forest fires
✓ Gravity

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Landslides
✓ Steep slopes
✓ Under-cutting of the banks by deeply incised rivers and stream
✓ Extensive development of weak rocks such as phyllite, slates,
schist; presence of calcareous interlayers in these rocks which
lead to high porosity and void formation due to leaching and
dissolution.
✓ Heavy fractured rocks because of intense folding and faulting.
✓ High weathering of rocks
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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Landslides
✓ Concentrated precipitation
✓ Seismic activity: The Himalayan Range lies in a high seismicity
belt. Several active faults have mapped.
✓ Blocking of natural drainage systems and narrow culverts by
logs, boulder and gully bank slides
✓ Flash flood due to glacier lake outburst/failure of landslide dam
✓ Rise in groundwater table in the monsoon.
✓ Perched water table
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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Landslides
✓ Water pressure
✓ Inadequate size and choking of roadside drains
✓ Liquefaction
✓ Pre-existing slip surface in old landslide areas
✓ Clay low angle of internal friction
✓ Huge boulders are sitting on the hill surface and are likely to
topple or slide down

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Human Factors to Cause Landslides
✓ Deforestation: intensive deforestation has taken place in most
parts of the Himalaya excepting the higher Himalaya in the last
decades
✓ Improper land-use:
a) Agricultural practices on steep slopes
b) irrigation on steep and vulnerable slopes
c) over-grazing

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Human Factors to Cause Landslides
d) Quarrying for construction materials without considering the
condition of the terrain
✓ Construction activities

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Human Factors to Cause Landslides
✓ Large scale indiscriminate blasting
✓ Intense agriculture operations such as irrigation of paddy fields
and water storage above the hill-slope
✓ Undermining caused by mining and tunnelling
✓ Vibrations of heavy vehicles on the hill road
✓ Throwing of excavated material downhill

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Effect of Landslides
✓ Loss of life and property
✓ Decimation of infrastructure
✓ Lead to economic decline
✓ Affects beauty of landscapes
✓ Impact river ecosystems
✓ Can trigger flood

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water in dry land.

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Cause of Flood
✓ Rains (High precipitation)
✓ River overflow
✓ Strong winds in coastal areas
✓ Dam or lake breaking
✓ Ice and snow melts
✓ Landslide at the bank of river

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Effect of Flood
✓ Sudden flood may cause loss of life
✓ Flood can harm wildlife
✓ Floods cause sedimentation and erosion
✓ Floods may trigger landslide
✓ Floods carry contamination
✓ Floods spread diseases (epidemics)
✓ Floods carry nutrients
✓ Floods recharge groundwater
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Natural Disasters Contd…
Hailstorm
✓ Also, a Natural Disaster.
✓ Solid form of precipitation
✓ Hail forms in strong thunderstorm cloud
✓ Favourable condition: strong updraft, cloud layer below 0°C
✓ High growth rate when cloud layer temperature < -13 °C
✓ Most common in mid latitude; less in tropics
✓ Common in mountains
✓ Movement of dry air

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Hailstorm
✓ Meteorologist deals with
✓ Weather RADAR with the knowledge of atmospheric condition
✓ Terminal velocity varies with the hail diameter
✓ 1 cm diameter falls at 9 m s-1 and 8 cm diameter falls at 48 m s-
1

✓ 1947 Sydney Hailstorm loss: 3 million US$

✓ 1999 Sydney Hailstorm: 500,000 tonnes; loss 2.3 US$

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Drought
✓ Unusual dryness of soil
✓ Shortage of water, crop production failure,
✓ Causes: Significantly lower precipitation than the average
✓ History of droughts
✓ 1900 India: loss of life of 250,000 to 3.25 million
✓ 1921 USSR food deficit to 5 million
✓ 1928-30 Northwest China: 3 million death

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Drought
✓ 1936 Sichuan China: 5 million death
✓ 1941 Sichuan China 2.5 million death
✓ 2006 Sichuan China 8 million people water shortage
✓ 2011: Texas under a drought emergency declaration

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Natural Disasters Contd…
GLOF
✓ Glacial Lake Outburst Flood
✓ Glacial Lake from Glacier
✓ GLOF: outburst flood occurring when a glacier or moraine is
released.
✓ Examples: Dig Tsho, Imja, Lower Barun, Tsho Rolpa, and Thulagi
✓ GLOF can carry large volume of sediment and water
✓ Highly destructive

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Natural Disasters Contd…
GLOF
✓ Causes: Many Examples
✓ Earthquake
✓ Built up water pressure
✓ Other breeching agents

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Avalanche
✓ Avalanche: Snow slip or snow slide
✓ Sudden and drastic flow of snow to downslope
✓ Natural triggers or artificial triggers
✓ Action of Gravity
✓ Powerful avalanche: ice, rocks, trees, and other material

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Natural Disasters Contd…
Subsidence
✓ Subsidence: sinking and collapse
✓ Vertical movement of soil materials
✓ Causes:
✓ Dissolution of limestone
✓ Mining
✓ Excess groundwater extraction
✓ Soil and natural gas extraction

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