STATISTICAL PHYSICS, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT( PY1542)

Disaster Management -2

FAIROOS C.

September 12, 2023

Dept. of Physics
T. K. M. College of Arts and Science Kollam

FAIROOS C. Disaster Management -2

Outline

1 Natural hazards and natural disasters

2 Recent major disasters and their relief efforts
3 Impact of global climate change and major natural
disasters
4 Human adaptivity of natural disasters
5 Fragile natural eco-environment
6 Disaster reduction activities
7 Challenges and future developments

• Ref: Natural disaster mitigation – a scientific and practical

approach: Science Press, Beijing, 2009

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Global Climate Change and Major Natural Disasters
• Two major categories: one is climate change by nature, and the other
is impact of human activities.

FAIROOS C. Disaster Management -2

Global Climate Change and Major Natural Disasters
• Two major categories: one is climate change by nature, and the other
is impact of human activities.
• Greenhouse effect ⇒ Global warming
1 Water shortage
2 Deterioration of ecosystem
• Since 1980s, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has,
successively, released three assessment reports on global climate change.
• In Abstract for Decision-makers—Climate Change 2007: Synthesis
Report, Volume 1 of the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report, the
greenhouse effect is believed to be the reason for the unprecedented
increasing of global warming.
• The observed data shows the global mean temperature rises at an
average of 0.75°C per year over the decades.
• Present rate of increase of temperature is due to human-induced
emission of GHGs

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Mankind’s Adaptability to Natural Disasters
• In the IPCC report, there are chiefly two ways of relieving global
climate warming. One is the reduction of greenhouse emission, and the
other is the adaptability to the nature.
• The ancient Chinese work on medicine, Classic of Internal Medicine
(Huangdi Neijing) poits out “Yin and Yang are the opposite principles
existing in nature and human affairs and governing the functioning of
celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon.

• Mankind is not able to stop natural disasters but they can learn to live
with them by reducing the effects of natural disasters by means of
training and appraisal programs
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Fragile Natural Eco-Environment

• Fragile ecosystems include deserts, semi–arid lands, mountains,

wetlands, small islands and certain coastal areas
• A majority of developing countries are located in the humid
monsoon climate regions or inland dry and arid regions between 35
degree north latitude and 30 degree south latitude.

• The eco-environment in these regions is more susceptible to

damage than the world average due to natural geography

• According to statistics, the ratio between economic losses caused

by natural disasters and national income is much bigger in the
developing countries than that of the developed countries.

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Fragile Natural Eco-Environment

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International Disaster Reduction Activities

1 Can be traced back to the International Decade for Natural Disaster

Reduction 1990-1999, or IDNDR:- raised international awareness of
the significance of natural disaster reduction.
2 First World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Yokohama,
Japan, 1994, was able to review the achievements of IDNDR
3 In December 1999, at the conclusion of the Decade, the United
Nations General Assembly adopted the International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR) to implement follow-up action for the
achievements of the Decade and to promote the continuing
development of disaster reduction around the world.
4 Then, in 2005, the 2nd World Conference on Disaster Reduction
held in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, and the Action 2005-2015:
Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters
(Hyogo Framework for Action, HFA) adopted by the Conference has
become the international blueprint for disaster reduction.

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The objectives of IDNDR

1 To improve the capacity of each country to mitigate the

effects of natural disasters, giving special attention to
assisting developing countries in the assessment of disaster
damage potential and establish early warning systems and
disaster-resistant structures;
2 To make appropriate guidelines and strategies within the
existing formulation of scientific and technological knowledge
while taking into account the diversity of culture and
economy;
3 To make up for the major gaps in know- ledge of science and
technology to reduce life and property losses;
4 To communicate, assess and predict existing new
technological information on natural disaster reduction.
5

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Significant Activities in Disaster Mitigation
1 Agencies of the United Nations:
• United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UNOCHA)
• United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
2 International and regional organizations: the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Bank and the
European Union (EU).
3 Governments around the world.
4 Many research organisations such as European and French space
agencies (ESA and CNES), The European Space Agency (ESA),
Centre National d’Etudes spatiales (CNES, France), The Canadian
Space Agency (CSA), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, U.S.),
Argentine Space Agency (CONAE), Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA), United States Geological Survey (USGS), DMC
International Imaging Ltd (DMCii), and China National Space
Administration (CNSA).
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Achievements

1 UN Agencies, International and Regional Organizations and

Countries have built up and perfected the disaster reduction
mechanism and the construction of agencies with provisions of
disaster reduction;

2 The cooperation in disaster reduction has been conducted at

international, regional and national levels, strengthening research on
the development of disaster reduction

3 Science and technology, especially spatial technology will play an

increasingly important role in international disaster mitigation.

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Challenges

1 Climate change and its possible effect on natural disasters,

while human vulnerability is intensified by urbanization and
population growth;
2 Constantly changing natural environments and social
developments requiring increased awareness among civilians.
3 The need to strengthen capacity building in national and local
disaster reduction technologies.
4 Continuing weakness in cooperation at international and
regional levels.
5 The low level of special funding for disaster research.

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Future Development

1 International societies should keep strengthening their

structures in disaster management at different levels
2 With rapid globalization of disaster manage- ment and
constant development of interna- tional disaster reduction
agencies and mechanisms, it is important to construct a more
unified global coordination mechanism for future development.

3 International societies should gradually improve their

understanding of disaster management and integrate disaster
risk management with humanitarian relief efforts.

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