UNIT-5

INTRODUCTION

EARTHQUAKE:

A sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great

destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic
action.

TYPES OF EARTHQUAKES:
There are many different types of earthquakes: Tectonic, Volcanic,
and Explosion. The type of earthquake depends on the region where it
occurs andthe geological make-up of that region.

1. Tectonic Earthquakes: These occur when rocks in the earth's crust

breakdue to geological forces created by movement of tectonic
plates.

2. Volcani Earthquakes: Earthquakes occur in conjunction with

volcanic activity. Volcanic Earthquakes are small earthquakes in
underground cavernsand mines.

3. Explosion Earthquakes: Result from the explosion of nuclear

and chemicaldevices.

Causes:

 An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault. Stresses in the

earth's outer layer push the sides of the fault together. Stress builds
up andthe rocks slips suddenly, releasing energy in waves that
travel through theearth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel
during an earthquake. An Earth Quake occurs when plates grind
and scrape against each other.

 Earthquakes induced by human activity have been

documented in afew locations in the United States, Japan, and
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 Canada. The cause wasinjection of fluids into deep wells for
waste disposal and secondary recovery of oil, and the use of
reservoirs for water supplies.
 Energy from nuclear blasts dissipates quickly along the Earth's
surface. Earthquakes are part of a global tectonic process that
generally occurswell beyond the influence or control of humans.

Effects of an earthquake:

Earthquake produces various damaging effect in the areas the

act upon. The list of some of the main effects caused by
earthquakes aregiven below:
1. Earthquake causes damage to the building, bridges, dams.

2. Earthquake in many cases, can cause great loss of life.

3. Earthquake can also cause floods and landslides.

Landslides, triggered by earthquake, often cause more
destruction than the earthquake themselves.

4. If the earthquake happens to be beneath the ocean floor,

they canlead to a tsunami.

Measuring an earthquake:

We can realize that the destruction caused by an earthquake

depends on many factors. One major factor is its intensity.
Geologists usually express the intensity of an earthquake in terms
of a magnitude on a scale known as the Richter Scale. The
Richter scale, named after Dr. Charles F. Richter, is the scale
used for measuring the strength of an earthquake,in terms of the
amplitude of its seismic waves.
1.This scale is not a simple scale.

2. On this scale, an increase of two in the magnitude means 100

timesmore destructive energy.
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 Housing Vulnerable to Damage in Earthquakes:

Wood Frame Multi-Family Buildings | Soft-Story Problems

Certain building types are particularly earthquakes vulnerable to damage
in Some of the most susceptible structures to shaking damage are soft-
story apartments and condominiums. A soft-story residential building is
one that haslarge openings on the first floor for garage doors and
windows to accommodate parking or commercial space, and housing on
upper floors, builtprior to recent codes.
Expected damage: In an earthquake, ground shaking causes
suchstructures to sway and sometimes collapse. The performance
of the parking structure in past earthquakes has not been good.
Retrofit approach: Structural retrofitting for apartments is more complex
than for homes. The retrofit should involve a specific solution designed by
Quake Busters.Retrofitting buildings with large openings for parking
involves adding bracing elements (steel frames or shear walls) at the
lowest story level and tying thebracing to the floor above. In taller
buildings, some upper story walls may alsoneed strengthening.

Expected losses: ABAG modeling has shown that, in both a large

earthquakeon the Hayward or San Andreas faults, two-thirds of the
uninhabitable housing units will likely be in soft-story residential buildings.
Single-Family Homes | Cripple Wall Problems:

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 Older (usually pre-WWII) houses are often not bolted to their
foundations andlack bracing of walls enclosing the crawl space (cripple
wall). After that periodthrough the early 1960′s, houses were often
inadequately bolted with bolts that were either too small or the spacing
between bolts was too large. From the 1960′s through the mid-1970′s
some housing still lacked adequate bolting.

Expected damage: Typical earthquake damage to these structures

includesthe wood frame coming off its foundation, racking of the
cripple walls, the foundation itself cracking, or the chimney breaking
at the roof line. Becausethis type of damage is so common,
earthquake hazard mitigation efforts insome Bay Area building
departments are directed toward them.

Retrofit approach: Structural retrofit of these homes typically

includes a combination of adding anchor bolts to prevent sliding off
the foundations andadding plywood sheathing along portions of the
cripple walls to prevent collapse of those walls.
Professional help may be required for cripple walls over four feet or
complexconfigurations.

Expected losses: Pre-1940 single-family dwellings account for 8.3% of

the total Bay Area housing stock. Their relative numbers are highest in
the counties ofSan Francisco and Alameda where they account for
14.9% and 11.7% of thetotal housing stock.
Single-family homes will be responsible for 9% of the uninhabitable
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 housing units following a Hayward fault scenario earthquake.

Damage to structural elements:

Structural elements are designed to with stand static
and dynamic forces under various circumstances such as excessive
gravityloads and earthquakes. It would be desirable for permanent
damage to occur at the end of the beams, while the columns should
remain elasticallyintact. In this way, the total collapse of the
buildings would be prevented and people inside the building could
be evacuated without any loss. Selection of the structural system
and elements is a crucial engineering decision in earthquake prone
areas. Therefore, the practicing engineer musthave experience in the
earthquake resistant design of structures. Even if service loads do
not inflict any damage on a poorly designed building, the
earthquake load may exceed the bearing capacity of the element,
and ultimately lead to catastrophic results.

HOUSING IN TRADITIONAL PRONE AREAS:

Earthquakes are natural hazards under which disasters are

mainlycaused by damage or to collapse of buildings and other
man-made structures. Earthquake damage depends on
manyparameters such as, intensity, vibration period and
frequency of ground motion,geologic and soil condition,quality
of construction etc. Non-engineered buildings are frequently
affected by earthquakes and need special attention. According
to Arya (1994), “nonengineered buildings are defined as those
thatare spontaneously and informally constructed in various
countries in the traditional manner without any or little
intervention by the qualified architects and engineers in their
design”. Experiences from many past earthquakes, it has
been observed that these buildings show poor performance
during earthquake. The damage scenario of these types of
rural houses due to Rangamati,
Bangladesh Earthquake (2003) can be seen in figure 1. In view of the
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 continued use of such buildings, it is essential to introduce earthquake
resistance features in their construction(IAEE, 2004)

Mud House Masonry

Masonry RC
Non-engineered Construction in Bangladesh:
In Bangladesh the majority percentage of people live in rural areas.
Most of them are very poor.
Due to financial problem most of the family built their dwelling
house using low cost localmaterials and technique.
For low quality building materials and low quality construction
technique, the housesare not strong enough to resist the natural
hazards.
Construction and distribution pattern of housing in Bangladesh
develops according to the need of the inhabitants under asset of
geographic control and changes with the evolution of the human
needs at the different stages of socio-economic and cultural
development.
The houses inrural area are generally made of indigenous
building materials like bamboo, straw, grass, jute sticks, leaves, mud

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and corrugated iron sheet etc. Approximately for the last forty years
brick has been using in the rural areas asthe building material.
The use of corrugated iron & bricks in the rural houses can be
assumed as the influencefrom the urban areas as the durable and
prestigious building material for shelters.
Corrugated iron sheets, bamboo, straw, jute sticks or with the
combination of mud are basically used for the construction of the
enclosures.
For the roofing, corrugated iron sheets and thatch are the most
common in the rural areas.
In some areasof the northern dry regions, clay tile roofing can be
seen. In most of the areas of rural Bangladesh plinth of therooms
are constructed with rammed soil.
Types of Non-engineered Houses in Bangladesh:
The characteristics of non-engineered rural be recognized by its roofs and
walls. These are houses can be recognized by its roofs and walls. These are
subjects to change with the variations of locations, climate and
availability of localmaterials and technologies. The following types of
rural houses are taken into considerations for this seismicassessment
study.
Mud walled House
In most of the rural areas of Bangladesh, rural
houses arecharacterized by mud walled. Sometimes walls are
made of sun dried earthen blocks of one to two feet thickness.
These mud walled houses are generally oblong in shape and
covered with the roofs made with clay tiles, thatch or
corrugatediron sheets. The application of these construction
materials depends on their availability and the ability of the
house owners. In these specific regions the lands are normally
above flood level. Besides this, relatively less rainfall,dry
climate and lateritic soil (which gets very hard when dry)
are the main reasons behind the mudconstructions
Relatively taller (15´) mud walled houses are found in the

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 southwest part of Bangladesh. The houses with two or three
levels are common Chittagong region.

Bamboo walled House:

In the piedmont alluvial plains, specially in Rangpur, Moribund delta
area inJessore and Haor Basins, flood plains of the Ganges, the
Jamuna , the Brhamaputra, the Meghna,the Tista and in some areas in
eastern and northern regions, the walls are generally made of
bamboo and rooms areconfigured in rectangular shape.
Bamboo is used for making posts and enclosing elements, which is called
‘Bera’. Sometimes timber is used for the post and making an upper horizontal floor in
the room. This horizontalfloor is used for storage purposes. It also acts as a thermal
buffer in hot and cold seasons. Sometimes the bambooenclosures are plastered with
mu to protect it from rain and for aesthetics purposes. The bamboo walls with
corrugated iron sheet roofs are the common practice in the rural areas and around
Chittagong, Dhaka,Pabna,Narayangang and Chandpur districts but they can also be
found scattered in all of the flood plain regions.

Timber House:
Relatively smaller groups of populations in Cox’s Bazar, Teknaf, and
Moheskhali are using the house forms having walls constructed with timber.
Generally, the houses are built onraised wooden platform to get safety from snakes
and other animals. The lower parts of the houses are also used forvarious purposes like
storage, keeping domestic animals, different family activities etc. Another motivation
behind this wooden construction is
the availability of wood in the forest areas. Some of these buildings
are al finished with different wood curving for aesthetics purposes.
With these distinctive features, the houses arerepresenting the special
identity of those regions.

Timber and Brick built House:

The timber and brick built houses are common in the east of
Sylhetdistrict. The floors, plinths and the lower parts of the walls are
constructed with brick while the rest portions of the wallsare
constructed with bamboo reeds covered with cement or mud on the
both sides. Posts are made withtimber logs and roofing with
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 corrugated iron sheet or thatch.

Corrugated iron (C.I.) Sheet built House:

C.I. sheet was not being used as the indigenous building material in this region.
Later on, for its durability, it becomes one of the major building materials in local
tradition. In the northern part of Sylhet, it is very common to build houses (walls and roofs)
with corrugated iron sheets.
Heavy rainfall in that particular region is one the major reasons behind choosing the
corrugated iron sheets. Corrugated iron sheets are providing protection against rain
and dampness of the weather. Another reason of choosingthe corrugated iron sheets
is the influences from the buildings of tea gardens constructed in British colonial
period. The economic ability of the peoples of that particular area is considered as
anadditional reason behind the selection of comparatively expensive building
materials.

Thatch walled House:

In the Haor basins and Chalanbill areas houses are characterized by
thatchwalls, where straw, long grass, jute sticks and thatch are available
and cheap. These materials are also used forroofing purposes except jute
sticks. The main reasons of selecting these materials are the cheaper price
and thedismantle capability in the natural
hazards like floods.

Masonry House:
In Bangladesh, masonry houses are seen in almost every rural area,
but insmall quantity. This type of building is built with bricks. Here
suitable foundation is provided with brick flat soiling. Thecreation of
tensile and shearing stresses in walls is primary cause of different
types of damages tosuch buildings.

Non-Engineered R.C.C. building:

With the spread of reinforced concrete construction to urban and rural
areas,often buildings are constructed using R.C. columns and beams
without proper engineering design,based on the experience of local
masons and petty contractors. In most cases, connection details are
not in a propermanner, beams simply rest on the top of columns,
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 isolated columns with long verandahs are used, which introduces
deficiencies from seismic view point.

Damages Caused by Earth Quakes:

The ground shaking may also cause landslides, mudslides, and avalanches
onsteeper hills or mountains, all of which can damage buildings and hurt
people. The second main earthquake hazard is ground displacement
(ground movement)along a fault.
Physical Damage:
1. Landslides
2. Tsunami
3. Fires
4. Mudslides
5. Liquefaction
Structural Damage:
1. Buildings collapse
2. Roadways collapse
Emotional Damage:
1. Deaths Physical

DAMAGES:

LANDSLIDES: Rocks and earth from mountains and hills beginrolling downhill.

The greatest landslide concentration occurs in weak, poorly cemented, geologically young rock and
soil. As a result of their weakness, the vibrations of earthquakes rapidly erode these materials.
Landslides include shallow rock falls and rockslides, as well as disrupted, chaotic jumbles of soil,
rock, and vegetal debris that topple downhill. The greatest danger emanating from landslides includes
their ability to damage and destroy homes, block roads and streams, disrupt pipes, water mains,
sewers and power lines, damage oil and gas production facilities, andgenerate massive dust clouds

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 TSUNAMIS: Japanese name for "Harbor wave," or seismic sea wave

Tsunamis are the result of a sudden vertical offset in the ocean floor, which can indeed be triggered by
intense earthquakes.
Essentially, tsunamis are creatures of the open ocean, or trains of great waves
that can travel long distances across the sea. As a tsunami approaches the shore, the water depth
decreases, the front of the wave slows down, and thewave grows dramatically in height and surges
unexpectedly onto the land. Truthfully, tsunamis can carry a considerable amount of energy because
theypossess strong currents that cause massive erosion of the coastline, as well asbulldoze towns and
drown unsuspecting, curious people. When earthquakes occur, these dark "walls" of water suddenly
flood coastal areas like Californiaand Japan without warning. For example, in 1896, an earthquake
off of the coast of Japan generated an enormous tsunami with waves up to 100 feet high. This "wall of
water" killed 22,000 people and destroyed entire villages.

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 Fires that begin as a result of earthquake activity are often uncontrollable and can
cause the most damage. Flammable materials or debris released from theearthquake
feed the flames of the fire, thus causing it to spread out of control. Water mains are
broken as a result of the powerful earthquake vibrations, therefore, no water is available
forfirefighters to put out the flames and rescue the people. For example, in the1906
earthquake in San Francisco, California, fire caused the most damage because the
broken water mains and blocked roads allowed the flames to swell out of control.

MUDSLIDES: slip down mountain slopes, sweep main valley floors, and bury habitations
below.

Mudslides often occur a few hours after the extraordinarily widespread slope mass movements
(landslides) take place. Moreover, they are induced by the collapse of several temporary natural
dams built by the large and high-density landslides.
Several people lose their lives during these catastrophic events. For example, in the 1994, Northridge
California earthquake, there were a significant amount of landslides that induced mudslide activity,
and many people died as a result.

LIQUEFACTION: soils and unconsolidated materials containingabundant water are

turned into fluid-like masses that are not capable of supporting buildings.

During an earthquake with intense seismic activity, loose, moist soil is shaken, and the individual
grains separate, turning the earth into a soft, fluid slurry that is capable of swallowing entire buildings.
As a result of the seismic vibrations, the soil loses strength and behaves as a viscous or thick fluid,
rather than as a solid mass. Essentially, in the case of liquefaction, the ground behaves much like
quick sand, and can prove to be very dangerous and sometimes deadly. For example, liquefaction
occurred in the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, California, and also in the 1995 earthquake in
Kobe, Japan.

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STRUCTURAL DAMAGE:
BUILDINGS COLLAPSE: seismic vibrations that occur during earthquakes cause buildings
to sway, which may knock them off of their foundations and cause severe damage or
destruction. People can be trapped in collapsed buildings or under rubble that collapsesinto
the street.

Kobe, Japan (January 17th, 1995): The number of buildings destroyed by the earthquake exceeded
100,000, or approximately one in five buildings in the strongly shaken area. An additional 80,000
buildings were badly damaged. The large numbers of damaged traditional- style Japanese residences
and small, traditional commercial buildings of three stories or less account for a great deal of the
damage. In sections where these buildings
Ultimately, in the event of an earthquake, structural damage depends on FIVE very
important components.
The strength of the earthquake waves that reach thesurface

The duration of the motion

Proximity

Geologic foundation

Structural design and construction quality

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE:

DEATHS people become trapped under the rubble and debristhat is generated from
the earthquake. Falling structures and flying glass and other objects strike
unsuspecting people.

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This is the type of damage that leads to the worst casualties. In fact,the worst thing to do during an
earthquake is to rush out into the street. The danger from being hit by falling glass and debris is
many.

Repair and restore action of earthquake Damaged non-

engineered buildings recommendations for future
constructions:

Steel may be required in many forms, like bolts, rods, angles, channels,expanded
metal and welded wire fabric. Wood and bamboo are the most Common materials
for damage repair work are cement and steel. In some situations non-shrink cement or
an admixture like aluminium powder in ordinary portland cement is admissible rounds,
sleepers, planks, etc.
Besides the above, special materials and techniques are available for best
results in the repair and strengthening operations. A quality assurance is needed
toguarantee sound results.

Shotcrete :
Shotcrete is a method of applying a combination of sand and portland cement
(concrete) which is mixed pneumatically and conveyed in dry state to the nozzle
of a pressure gun. Here water is mixed and hydration takes place justprior to
expulsion. The material bonds well to properly prepared surface of masonry and
steel. In application to curved or irregular surfaces, its high strength after
application and good physical characteristics, make for an ideal means to achieve
added structuralcapability in walls and other elements. There are some
restrictions of clearance, thickness,direction of application, etc
Polymerised mortar:
For larger void spaces, it is possible to combine polymers of
either lowviscosity or higher viscosity with sand aggregate to form
polymer mortar.
Polymer mortar mixture has higher compressive strength, higher tensile strength and a
lower modulus of elasticity than Portland cement concrete. Thus the mortar is not stiff
enoughto replacing reinforced concrete.
Quick-setting cement mortar:
This material was originally developed for the use as a repair
material for reinforced concrete floors adjacent to steel blast
furnaces. It is a non- hydrous magnesium phosphate cement with
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 two components, a liquid and a dry, which can be mixed in a
manner similar to portland cement concrete.
Mechanical anchors :
Mechanical anchors employ wedging action to provide anchorage.
Some anchors provide both shear and tension resistance. Such anchors
are manufactured to give required strengths. Alternatively, chemical
anchors bonded in drilled holes with polymer adhesives can be used.
Techniques to Restore Original Strength:
While considering restoration work, it is important to realize that even fine
cracks in load bearing members which are unreinforced, like
masonry and plainconcrete reduce their resistance significantly.
Therefore all cracks must be located and marked carefully and the
critical ones fully repaired either by injecting strong cement or
chemical grout or by providing external bandages. The techniques
are described below alongwith other restoration measures
Requirement’s of structural safety of thin pre-cost roofing units against
Earthquake forces: Protection Against Earthquakes
□ Earthquakes are a natural phenomenon and an act of
god butare not predictable (so far).
□ Approximately 75% of fatalities due to earthquakes during the
last century occurred due to the collapse of
NonEngineered(NE) weak masonry construction made from
different types of bricks, clay, rammedearth or adobe.

1. Structures should not be brittle or collapse suddenly. Rather,

should betough, able to sway or deform a considerable amount.
2. Resisting elements, such as bracing or shear walls, must be
provided evenly throughout the building, in both directions side-
to-side, as well astop to bottom.
3. All structural elements, such as walls, columns, beams and
the roofstructures, should be tied together so as to act as
an integrated unit during earthquake shaking, transferring
4. The building must be well connected to the foundation strata
below. Wet and soft soils should be avoided and the foundation

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 must be well
tied together. Where soft soils cannot be avoided, special
strengthening
must be provided.
5. Care must be taken that all materials used are of good
quality, andare protected from climatic
conditions, insects and other weakening agents so
that their strength is preserved.
Normal earth and masonry (without reinforcement) have low strength in
tension, and are brittle in compression.
Generally, they must be suitably reinforced by steel or wood. forces
acrossconnections and preventing separation.

FLOODS:
Sometimes a river receives a lot of extra water, either from lots of
rain or other natural disasters. ... Floods occur because of heavy
rains, a river overflowing, a dam or levy breaking, a tsunami, or
melting snow.

Flooding is the unusual presence of water on land to a

depth whichaffects normal activities. Flooding can arise from:
• Overflowing rivers (river flooding),
• Heavy rainfall over a short duration (flash floods), or
• An unusual inflow of sea water onto land (ocean flooding).
Ocean flooding can be caused by storms such as hurricanes (storm surge),
high tides (tidal flooding), seismic events (tsunami) or large landslides (sometime
also calledtsunami).
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 Important facts to know about floods:
1.River and flash flooding usually result from abnormally high
rainfall over arelatively short period: Hours for flash floods; Days
for river floods. Rapid snow melt canbring more water into the
hydrological system than can be adequately
drained, leading to what is generally called spring floods.
2. Heavy rainfall during the atropical rainy season can lead to
monsoon floods, which can affect rivers and may also occur as
flash flooding.
3. Sedimentation of river beds and deforestation of water catchment
areas can exacerbate conditions leading to river valley floods.
Deforestation and paving over land can significantly increase the risk
of flash floods. Building in flood plains or igin environmentally
degraded areas, or changing the natural drainage systems, can
significantly increase the risk of flood damage.
4. Not all floods are bad. Seasonal flooding can be an
important source of nutrients for agricultural lands, and
recharge water supplies in dams and underground aquifers.
5. In some parts of the world, a lack of seasonal flooding is a
disaster.
6.A disaster usually occurs when people are not prepared for a
flood due tothe lack of early warning systems, preparedness and
mitigation measures.
7. Flooding which occurs at night, which happens rapidly, or both, is the most
dangerous type of flooding.

What are the elements most at risk during floods?

□ any structure situated within a flood plain
□ earth buildings or masonry with water-soluble mortar2

□ buildings with shallow foundations or weak resistance to

lateral loads orimpact
□ roads and bridges
□ basements or underground buildings
□ utilities
□ machinery and electronics, including

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 industry andcommunications equipment
□ food stocks
□ cultural artifacts

□ fields and orchards

□ confined livestock
□ fishing boats and other maritime industries.

During the floods:

□ Evacuate: An evacuation should be based on a pre-
flooding plan,include provision for elderly, young and
disabled, and provide for evacuationshelters which have
adequate food, water, sanitation and lodging facilities.
□ Provide information to the evacuated on flood
levels, possible damage and when people can expect to
return. Most people do not want to say away from their
homes more than necessary and want to return to
rebuild as quickly aspossible.
□ Ensure that utilities are cut-off in flooded
areas to avoid unnecessary damage or risk of
injury.
□ Plan for post-flooding damage assessments.
□ Work with schools, government and business to
ensure thatnormal activities can continue as much
as possible during the flooding.
□ Finding work, even temporary, may be very
important for some of the evacuees.

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 □ Continuing schooling and social and commercial
activities suchas markets, are important for evacuees
to provide a sense ofnormal to their lived disrupted by
the flooding.
□ Work with professional services to providing
counseling tothose who are most affected by the
flooding.

After the floods:

□ Conduct and publicize impact assessments.
□ Develop recovery plans which ensure people can
quickly rebuildtheir homes
and that social and commercial services will re-open as quickly as possible.
□ Assist people in returning to their home and
communities as quickly as possible, but not so soon
that it is dangerous.
□ Warn returnees of the risks of injuries and health
problems inrebuilding from flood damage.
□ Ensure flood victims have fair and easy access to
information on relief and recovery services and
assistance which may be available.

□ Provide advice and training to flood victims on ways to

quickly rebuild inways which will reduce future damage from
floods.
□ Provide appropriate assistance to the
elderly and other disadvantaged groups (the ill,
orphans, disabled) who need additional assistance
to recoveryfrom the flooding.

□ Draw lessons from the impact of the floods

and enhancemeasure to prevent or mitigate
these impacts in the future.

CYCLONES:
A hurricane is an intense tropical storm with powerful winds and
heavy rain. Other names for a hurricane include cyclone, typhoon
and tropical storm. Whilethey are essentially the same thing, the
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 different names usually indicate wherethe storm took place.

Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as
fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the
equator. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from
near the surface. Because this air movesup and away from the
surface, there is less air left near the surface.
Those that form in the Indian Ocean can affect India, Bangladesh,
north-west Australia, some parts of east Africa and Indian Ocean
islands such as Mauritius and Madagascar. In the northern
hemisphere most tropical cyclones occur between June and
November with apeak in September.
Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively
warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation
of water from the ocean surface, which ultimately recondenses
into clouds and rain when moist air rises and cools to saturation.
DAMAGES:
To qualify as hurricane-force, winds must maintain speeds of 74 miles
per hour orhigher. Such speeds can topple trees and send small
objects hurling through the air, where they can cause more
damage. Some particularly strong hurricaneshave produced wind
speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour. Cyclones of suchstrength
can blow houses off of their foundations and strip siding and shingles.

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The destruction caused by cyclones depends on their intensity, location, and size. In forest regions,
the trees get uprooted and canopies get affected. In coastal regions, the banks and embankments get
eroded. In deserts, the sand dunes get reshaped whereas in mountainous regions mudslides and
landslides occur. When a cyclone hits a region, the hazards resulting from the hit can be divided into
three types:

 Primary Hazards
 Secondary Hazards
 Tertiary Hazards

Primary Hazards:
Primary hazards include strong winds, heavy rains, and storms. The sea level rises abnormally near
the coasts as a result of which the low-lying areas near the coastal regions get submerged, drowning
humans, their live stocks, and their inhabitations, destroying vegetation and soil fertility. Very strong
winds damage the houses, trees, communication systems etc, resulting in huge loss of life and
property.

Secondary Hazards:
Secondary hazards include floods, fire, and freshwater flooding. Heavy and prolonged rains cause
floods in rivers which cause submergence of the nearby inhabited regions, erosion of valuable
farming lands and destruction of buildings. Strong winds in forest regions result in forest fires which
spread with the intensity of cyclonic winds.

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Tertiary Hazards:
Tertiary hazards include diseases caused due to stagnant water, water poisoning and an increase in
the prices of goods and resources.

Sometimes all the above hazards occur simultaneously because of which the relief operations
become difficult. As the water level rises in the streets, transportation and communication in rescue
operations and clean-up efforts become extremely difficult.

The death tolls due to cyclones are very high. Nearly two million people have died globally due to
cyclones and their effects. Despite their devastating effects, cyclones of low intensity are beneficial
as they bring rain to dry areas and move heat from the tropical regions. They are sometimes useful in
the field of navigation.

Benefits of Tropical Cyclones: Although Tropical cyclones are known for destruction they
cause, when they strike they also bestow certain benefits to the climatic conditions of that area
such as Relieve drought conditions.

Carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it towards temperate latitudes, thus
helps to maintain equilibrium in the Earths troposphere and

Maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worldwide.

Management of Cyclones: There are many structural and non-structural measures for
effective disaster management of cyclones. The structural measures include construction of
cyclone shelters, construction of cyclone resistant buildings, road links, culverts, bridges,
canals, drains, saline embankments, surface water tanks, communication and power
transmission networks etc. Non-structural measures like early warning dissemination systems,
management of coastal zones, awareness generation and disaster risk management and
capacity building of all the stakeholders involved. These measures are being adopted and
tackled on State to State basis under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) being
implemented through World Bank Assistance.

Safety Measures to Follow before and during a Cyclone:

1.Do not move out unless and until required

2.Keep a note of all the warnings given by the Meteorological Department.

3.Keep emergency phone numbers of police, ambulance and fire brigadehandy.

4.Move people and valuable items to a safe place.

UNIT 5 CEHT BY S MONICA SOWJANYA
 5.Store hygienic drinking water.

6. Help neighbours and friends.

7.Avoid contact with wet electric lines and switches.

8.Store enough food items in waterproof bags.

9.Avoid going in flood water and be careful of snake bites.

UNIT 5 CEHT BY S MONICA SOWJANYA