BASIC CONCEPTS OF DISASTER

UNISDR, 2017 (UNDRR)

A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events
interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability, and capacity, leading to one or more of the
following: human, material, economic and environmental losses, and impacts
WHO, 2018
Any event which significantly impacts a considerable number of individuals in a community or country
where physical and mental health, environment, and economy are negatively disrupted requiring
national or international response
DISASTER NURSING - Defined as adapting professional nursing skills to recognize and meet the nursing
physical and emotional needs resulting from the disaster.
HEALTH DISASTER - A catastrophic event that results in casualties that overwhelm the healthcare
resources in that community and may result in a sudden unanticipated surge of, a change in standards
of care, and a need to allocate scarce resources
HAZARD
✓ a potential threat to humans and their welfare
✓ present the possibility of the occurrence of a disaster caused by natural phenomena, failure of
man-made sources of energy, or human activity
RISK
✓ the actual exposure of something of human value
✓ often measured as the product of probability and loss
✓ Risk is the probability of harmful consequences, or expected losses (deaths, injuries, property,
livelihoods, economic activity disrupted, or environment damaged) resulting from interactions
between natural or human-induced hazards and vulnerable conditions. (UNDP 2004)
✓ Risk is conventionally expressed by the equation:
✓ RISK = HAZARD X VULNERABILITY
VULNERABILITY - The characteristics determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental
factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets, or systems
to the impacts of hazards (UNDRR Terminology, 2017).
CAPACITY - The combination of all the strengths and resources available within a community, society, or
organization can reduce the level of risk or the effects of a disaster
HOSPITAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISASTER
INTERNAL DISASTER - Cause disruption of normal hospital function due to injuries or deaths of
hospital personnel or damage to the facility itself, as with a hospital fire, power failure, or
chemical spill.
EXTERNAL DISASTER - Those that do not affect the hospital infrastructure but tax hospital
resources due to the number of patients or types of injuries

THE NATURAL DISASTER

NATURAL DISASTER - Caused by natural or environmental forces
▪ The result of an ecological disruption or threat that exceeds the adjustment capacity of the
affected community. (WHO)
▪ include earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, ice storms, tsunamis,
and other geological or meteorological phenomena.
▪ The consequence of the intersection of a natural hazard and human activity
GEOPHYSICAL DISASTER - Originate from the solid earth, including:
▪ Earthquake (ground movement and tsunami)
▪ Dry mass movement (rock fall and landslides)
▪ Volcanic activity (ash fall, lahar, pyroclastic flow, and lava flow).
BIOLOGICAL DISASTER - Biological disasters are caused by the exposure to living organisms and their
toxic substances or vector-borne diseases that they may carry and include
▪ epidemics (viral, bacterial, parasitic, fungal, and prion)
▪ insect infestation (grasshopper and locust)
▪ animal accidents
HYDROLOGICAL DISASTER - Hydrological disasters are caused by the occurrence, movement, and
distribution of surface/subsurface freshwater and saltwater and include
▪ Floods - can be coastal, riverine, flash, or ice jam
▪ Landslides (an avalanche of snow, debris, mudflow, and rock fall),
▪ Wave action (rogue wave and seiche)
CLIMATOLOGICAL DISASTER - Climatological disasters are caused by long-lived, meso- to macro-scale
atmospheric processes ranging from intra-seasonal to multi-decadal climate variability and include
▪ drought
▪ glacial lake outburst
 ▪ wildfire (forest fire, land fire: brush, bush, or pasture).
METEOROLOGICAL DISASTER - Meteorological disasters are caused by short-lived, micro- to mesoscale
extreme weather and atmospheric conditions that last from minutes to days and include:
▪ Extreme temperatures (cold waves, heat waves, and severe winter conditions such as snow/ice
or frost/ freeze)
▪ Fog
▪ Storms
EXTRATERRESTRIAL DISASTER - Extraterrestrial disasters are caused by asteroids, meteoroids, and
comets as they pass near earth, enter Earth’s atmosphere, and/or strike the earth, and by changes
in the interplanetary conditions that affect the Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and
thermosphere. Types include:
▪ impact (airbursts)
▪ space weather (energetic particles, geomagnetic storms, and shockwave) events

THE MAN-MADE DISASTER

MAN-MADE DISASTER – ANTHROPOGENIC/Human-generated
▪ Anthropogenic disasters are those in which the principal direct causes are identifiable human
actions, deliberate or otherwise.
▪ Anthropogenic disasters include: Biological and biochemical terrorism, Chemical spills,
Radiological (nuclear) events, Fire, Explosions, Transportation accidents, Armed conflicts, Acts of
war
MAN-MADE DISASTER CLASSIFICATION:
COMPLEX HUMAN EMERGENCIES - Situations where populations suffer significant casualties as a result
of war, civil strife, or another political conflict.
TECHNOLOGICAL DISASTER - Unplanned release of nuclear energy, and fires or explosions from
hazardous substances such as fuel, chemicals, or nuclear materials
SYNERGISTIC DISASTER - A natural and human-generated disaster may trigger a secondary disaster, the
result of weaknesses in the human environment
TECHNOLOGICAL DISASTER
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS - include chemical spills, collapse, explosions, fire, gas leaks, poisoning,
radiation, and oil spills. A chemical spill is an accidental release occurring during the production,
transportation, or handling of hazardous chemical substances
TRANSPORT ACCIDENTS - include disasters in the:
▪ AIR (airplanes, helicopters, airships, and balloons)
▪ ON THE ROAD (moving vehicles on roads or tracks)
▪ ON THE RAIL SYSTEM (train)
▪ ON THE WATER (sailing boats, ferries, cruise ships, and other boats).
MISCELLANEOUS ACCIDENTS
▪ Vary from collapse to explosions to fires
▪ Collapse is an accident involving the collapse of a building or structure and can either involve
industrial structures or domestic/nonindustrial structures

TERRORISM
▪ Combs (2018) defines terrorism as “an act of violence perpetrated on innocent civilian
noncombatants in order to evoke fear in an audience”
TERRORISM is an act composed of at least four crucial elements:
1) It is an act of violence
2) It has a political motive or goal
3) It is perpetrated against civilian noncombatants
4) It is staged to be played before an audience whose reaction of fear and terror is the desired
result.
TYPES OF TERROR VIOLENCE BY FELIKS GROSS
1. MASS TERROR - Terror by a state
2. DYNASTIC ASSASSINATION - An attack on a head of state or a ruling elite
3. RANDOM TERROR - The placing of explosives where people gather to destroy whoever happens
to be there
4. FOCUS RANDOM TERROR - The placing of explosives, for example to where significant agents of
oppression are likely to gather
5. TACTICAL TERROR - Directed solely against the ruling government as a part of a ‘broad
revolutionary strategic plan’
MARTIN (2017) EIGHT DIFFERENT TERRORISM TYPOLOGIES
1. NEW TERRORISM - Characterized by the threat of mass casualty attacks from dissident terrorist
organizations, new and creative configurations, transnational religious solidarity, and redefined
moral justifications for political violence
2. STATE TERRORISM - Committed by governments against perceived enemies and can be directed
externally against adversaries in the international domain or internally against domestic
enemies”
3. DISSIDENT TERRORISM - Committed by nonstate movements and groups against governments,
ethnonational groups, religious groups, and other perceived enemies
4. RELIGIOUS TERRORISM - Motivated by an absolute belief that an otherworldly power has
sanctioned and commanded the application of terrorist violence for the greater glory of the
faith
5. IDEOLOGICAL TERRORISM - Motivated by political systems of belief (ideologies), which
champion the self-perceived inherent rights of a particular group or interest in opposition to
another group or interest
6. INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM - Spills over onto the world’s stage. Targets are selected because
of their value as symbols of international interests
7. CRIMINAL DISSIDENT TERRORISM - Solely profit-driven, and can be some combination of profit
and politics
8. GENDER SELECTIVE TERRORISM - Directed against an enemy population’s men or women
because of their gender.

CHEMICAL AGENTS
CHEMICAL AGENT OF TERRORISM - Defined as any chemical substance intended for use in military
operations to kill, seriously injure, or incapacitate humans (or animals) through its toxicological
effects. Chemicals excluded from this list are riot-control agents, chemical herbicides, and
smoke/flame materials.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF CHEMICAL AGENTS:
TOXIC AGENTS - Producing injury or death
NERVE AGENTS (anticholinesterases), BLOOD AGENTS (cyanogens), BLISTER AGENTS (vesicants),
LUNG-DAMAGING AGENTS (choking agents)
INCAPACITATING AGENTS - Producing temporary effects
STIMULANTS, DEPRESSANTS, PSYCHEDELICS, DELIRIANTS
BIOLOGICAL AGENTS - Often referred to as BIOTERRORISM.
• Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines it as the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other
germs (agents) used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants.
CATEGORIES OF BIOLOGICAL AGENTS:
CATEGORY A
- Organisms with the highest risk because of the ease of dissemination or transmission from
person-to-person
- Result in high mortality rates and have the potential for major public health impact
- Promote public panic and social disruption
- Require special action for public health preparedness
- Ex. Smallpox, Anthrax, Plague, Viral hemorrhagic fevers (filoviruses and arenaviruses),
Botulinum toxin, Tularemia
CATEGORY B
- Moderately Easy to disseminate
- Result in moderate morbidity and low mortality rates
- Low mortality rates
- Require specific enhancements of diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance.
- Ex. Ricin Toxin, Brucellosis, Epsilon Toxin, Food Safety Threats, Glanders, Melioidosis,
Psitticosis, Typhus Fever, Q Fever, Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B, Trichothecenes Mycotoxin,
Viral Encephalitis, Water Safety Threats
CATEGORY C
- Emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination because of the
availability
- Ease of production and dissemination
- Have the potential for high morbidity and mortality rates
- Major health impact
- Ex. Nipah virus, Hantavirus, Yellow fever virus, Drug-resistant, Tuberculosis, Tick-borne
encephalitis
RADIOLOGICAL / NUCLEAR DISASTER
Any radiation incident resulting in or having the potential to result in exposure and/or
contamination of the workers or the public in excess of the respective permissible limits can
lead to a nuclear/radiological emergency.
FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NUCLEAR DISASTER - Following a major earthquake, a 15-meter tsunami disabled
the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident
beginning on 11 March 2011
CHERNOBYL DISASTER - The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that
was operated with inadequately trained personnel.
The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into
the environment.

EXPLOSIVES DISASTER
▪ Relatively simple to manufacture and easy to detonate.
▪ Injure and kill many people and spread fear over large populations
▪ Victims of bomb blasts sustain more body regions injured, have more body injury severity
scores, and require more surgeries than victims of non-explosive trauma incidents.
▪ Victims of explosives also have a higher mortality
Factors that influence the number of people injured and the severity of the injuries in an explosion:
1. The magnitude of the explosion and
2. Its proximity to people
3. The collapse a of building or structure from the blast
4. Promptness of the rescue operation
5. The caliber and proximity of medical resources in the vicinity
FOUR (4) KINDS OF INJURY FROM EXPLOSIONS
PRIMARY - occurs directly from the pressure wave of the blast
SECONDARY - occur from being struck by flying objects from the blast
TERTIARY - occur when victims are displaced from a location and strike other objects or surfaces
QUARTERNARY - All other injuries related to the blast include burns, inhalational injuries, toxic
exposures, and traumatic injuries from structural collapse.
ACTIVE SHOOTING
The Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses the term ACTIVE SHOOTER, defined as “an individual actively
engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.”
▪ gang- or drug related incidents,
▪ the accidental discharge of a firearm
▪ family- and intimate partner-related shootings