HANDOUT DISASTER READINESS and RISK REDUCTION

Grade 12 STEM
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1. Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk

Disaster is a sudden, calamitous occurrence that causes great harm, injury, destruction, and devastation to
life and property. It disrupts the usual course of life, causing both physical and emotional distress such as an
intense feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.

Classification of Disasters:

A. Natural Disasters – a natural phenomenon caused by natural forces, such as earthquakes, typhoons,
volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, fires, tornados, and extreme temperatures. They can be classified as rapid
onset disasters and those with progressive onsets, such as droughts that lead to famine. These events, usually
sudden, can have tremendous effects.
B. Man-made - Disasters caused by man are those in which major direct causes are identifiable intentional
or non-intentional human actions.

Subdivided into three categories:

1. Technological/industrial disasters - Unregulated industrialization and inadequate safety

standards increase the risk of industrial disasters
2. Terrorism/Violence - the threat of terrorism has also increased due to the spread of
technologies involving nuclear, biological, and chemical agents used to develop weapons of
mass destruction.
3. Complex humanitarian emergencies - the term complex emergency is usually used to
describe the humanitarian emergency resulting from an international or civil war.

2. Risk Factors Underlying Disasters

Disaster risk as defined, has three important elements such as:

1. Exposure - the elements at risk from a natural or man-made hazard event (Quebral, 2016).
2. Hazard - potentially dangerous physical occurrence, phenomenon, or human activity that may result in
loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption, or environmental degradation.
3. Vulnerability - the condition determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or
processes, that increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazard (Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, FAO 2008).

The following are also taken into consideration when risk factors underlying disaster are involved:

The severity of exposure - which measures those who experience disaster firsthand which have the
highest risk of developing future mental problems, followed by those in contact with the victims such as
rescue workers and 4 health care practitioners, and the lowest risk are those most distant like those who have
awareness of the disaster only through the news.
Gender and Family - the female gender suffers more adverse effects. This worsens when children
are present at home. Marital relationships are placed under strain.
Age - adults in the age range of 40-60 are more stressed after disasters but in general, children
exhibit more stress after disasters than adults do.
The economic status of the country - evidence indicates that severe mental problems resulting
from disasters are more prevalent in developing countries like the Philippines. Furthermore, it has been
observed that natural disasters tend to have more adverse effects in developing countries than man-made
disasters in developed countries.
Factors Which Underlie Disasters:

1. Climate Change - can increase disaster risk in various ways – by altering the frequency and
intensity of hazard events, affecting vulnerability to hazards, and changing exposure patterns. For
most people, the expression “climate change” means the alteration of the world’s climate that we
humans are causing such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and other practices that
increase the carbon footprint and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
2. Environmental Degradation - environmental changes can influence the frequency and intensity of
hazards, as well as our exposure and vulnerability to these hazards. For instance, deforestation of
slopes often leads to an increase in landslide hazard and removal of mangroves can increase the
damage caused by storm surges (UNISDR, 2009b).
3. Globalized Economic Development - This results in an increased polarization between the rich and
poor on a global scale. Currently increasing the exposure of assets in hazard-prone areas, globalized
economic development provides an opportunity to build resilience if effectively managed.
4. Poverty and Inequality - Impoverished people are more likely to live in hazard-exposed areas and
are less able to invest in risk-reducing measures. The lack of access to insurance and social
protection means that people in poverty are often forced to use their already limited assets to buffer
disaster losses, which drives them into further poverty.
5. Poorly Planned and Managed Urban Development - A new wave of urbanization is unfolding in
hazard-exposed countries and with it, new opportunities for resilient investment emerge.
6. Weak Governance - weak governance zones are investment environments in which public sector
actors are unable or unwilling to assume their roles and responsibilities in protecting rights, and
providing basic services and public services.

3. Disasters and Its Effects

What is the difference between hazard and disaster?

A hazard is a dangerous situation or event that threatens humans. A disaster is an event that
harms humans and disrupts the operations of society. Hazards can only be considered disasters once
they affect humans. If a disaster happens in an unpopulated area, it is still a hazard.

Effects of Natural and Man-Made Disasters on HUMAN

1. Displaced Populations - When countries are ravaged by earthquakes or other powerful forces of
nature, many people need to abandon their homes and seek shelter in other regions. A large influx of
refugees can disrupt the accessibility of health care and education, as well as food supplies and clean
water.
2. Health Risks - the secondary effect can be just as damaging. Severe flooding can result in stagnant
water that allows the breeding of waterborne bacteria and malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
3. Food Scarcity - The aftermath of natural disasters affects food supplies. Thousands of people around
the world are hungry because of destroyed crops and loss of agricultural supplies, whether it happens
suddenly in a storm or gradually in a drought. As a result, food prices rise reducing families’
purchasing power and increasing the risk of severe malnutrition or worse.
4. Emotional Aftershocks - Natural disasters can be particularly traumatic for young children.
Confronted with scenes of destruction and the deaths of friends and loved ones, many children
develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a serious psychological condition resulting from
extreme trauma
Here are some ways on how to plan ahead of a disaster:

1. Check for hazards at home.

2. Identify safe places indoors and outdoors
3. Educate yourself and your family members
4. Have Disaster kits/supplies on hand.
5. Develop an emergency communication plan.
6. Help your community get ready.
7. Practice the Disaster Preparedness Cycle

4. Disasters from Different Perspectives

The Different Perspectives of Disaster (overall effects of disaster)

1. Physical Perspective - Calamities are phenomena that cause great physical damage to community
infrastructure, its people, and their properties, e.g. houses and environmental sources of living. These
cited effects of a disaster can be easily measured and the most common.
2. Psychological Perspective - Victims of disasters may suffer from Post-traumatic stress Disorder
(PTSD) and other serious mental health conditions, which are not being given much attention by the
authorities or even by the victims, themselves.
3. Socio-cultural Perspective - The culture of “malalampasan din natin ‘to” belief and “ bahala na and
Diyos” syndrome give hope to most Filipinos amid a disaster. Such a perspective helps a lot
especially those who belong to the marginalized sector to be hopeful and continue fighting against
any challenge at hand.
4. Economic Perspective - Disasters affect a community's economic condition by reducing local and
international trade. It can also partially or totally paralyze a country’s transportation system, just like
what happened in the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. Political Perspective - Natural disasters are commonly thought to be less politically argumentative
than armed conflicts, yet a closer look shows that both the effects of a natural disaster and the
resulting distribution of humanitarian aid are profoundly linked to politics.
6. Biological Perspective - The disturbing effects caused by a prevalent kind of disease or virus at an
epidemic or pandemic level are known as biological disasters.
5. Vulnerability

Vulnerability can determine the ability of a person or a group to predict, cope with, resist, and
recover from the effects of a natural or human-induced threat. As vulnerability increases, it means that the
population is at greater risk of suffering from a severe natural danger.
Vulnerability is defined as the characteristics and circumstances of a community, system, or
resource that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard. With all the identified hazards at home,
there is a possibility that some family members might be susceptible or prone to accidents due to the
presence of hazards.
Vulnerability is also situation-specific. This means that if a specific province is prone to
earthquakes, it does not mean that all localities in that province is vulnerable to it. The vulnerability of
different towns or cities or even provinces differ in the way they prepare for the hazard and the amount and
type of resources they have to prevent and manage it.
To lessen vulnerability means to make the community prepared and ready for the possible damaging
effects of the hazard. This further means that to make the community less vulnerable, it must be resilient. So,
to develop resiliency at home, you should first identify the hazards, be prepared all the time for the possible
outcome, and respond immediately.

6. Vulnerability in Disaster

Factors affecting the vulnerability of one’s community:

1. Population density near a hazard event.

• Population differs from population density.
• Population refers to the number of individuals inhabiting a particular space at the same time. If
people are well distributed, there is less effect of disaster.
• Population density refers to the number of individuals living in an area about the size of an area. If
population density is high, it means that the number of individuals is high but the space is very small.
In that case, if fire breaks in that area, there is little space for the population to escape quickly and
easily. So, crowded communities have a higher vulnerability to hazards.
• The primary consideration is not the population size but the population density.

2. Capacity and efficiency to reduce Disaster Risk.

• Less vulnerable Communities can reduce disaster risk because;

1. It can provide accessibility and availability of services and facilities during and after a disaster.
2. It can anticipate, adapt, and respond to possible disasters.

• Is it appropriate to say that The Philippines is less vulnerable to typhoons? Nowadays, our country
has advanced technology to predict super typhoons, and several municipalities already provided
evacuation centers to provide temporary housing for victims when disasters occur.

7. Vulnerabilities of Different Elements Exposed to Hazards

Vulnerabilities of different elements are determined due to their exposure to particular hazards.

Physical vulnerability - includes population density levels, place of a settlement, the site design,
and materials used for infrastructure and housing. When hazardous events occur, normally physical
elements are severely damaged.

Social vulnerability happens due to the inability of people, organizations, and societies to prevent
 severe effects from hazards because of the expected behavior in social interactions, institutions, and
systems of cultural values.

Economic vulnerability is based on the economic status of individuals, communities, and nations.
The poorer the country, the more vulnerable to disasters because they lacks the funds or budgets to
build sturdy structures and put other engineering measures in place that protect them from being
affected by disasters.

Socioeconomic vulnerability. Social and economic vulnerability can be combined.

Environmental vulnerability is caused by natural resource depletion and destruction. Organisms

like humans, animals, and plants are all dependent on the environment for survival. Human activities
like deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, and kaingin affect the natural abilities of the environment
to protect itself from any natural hazard.

The Philippines has high vulnerability due to the following reasons:

• It lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we are visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year.
• The rugged nature of the landscape makes it vulnerable to landslides, mudflows, and other
disasters.
• It is an archipelagic country with many small islands where some areas are below sea level.
• It has the longest shoreline in the world at 32,400 km making it vulnerable to storm surges.
• It is still a primary agricultural and fishing economy.
• With poor institutional and social capacity to manage, respond, and recover from natural hazard
events. • With a high level of poverty
• Aside from typhoons, it is also at risk of volcanic eruptions, quakes, and floods.

8. Effects of Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability to Disaster Risks

Defining Hazard, Vulnerability, and Risk

A hazard is a harmful condition, substance, human behavior, or condition that can cause loss of life,
injury, or other health effects, harm to property, loss of livelihood and services, social and economic
disruption, or damage to the environment. Any imminent risk is a threat.

Exposure is the presence of elements at risk or chance of being harmed from a natural or man-made
hazard event. Elements include the individuals, households or communities, properties, buildings and
structures, agricultural commodities, livelihoods, public facilities, infrastructures, and environmental
assets present in an area that are subject to potential damage or even losses.

Vulnerability means the characteristics and circumstances of a community, system, or asset, that
make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard and the inability of a community to prevent,
mitigate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events.

Risk implies the probability of possible adverse effects. This results from the interaction of social
and environmental systems, from the combination of physical danger, and exposed item
vulnerabilities.

Disaster is a serious disruption to the functioning of a community or society that causes widespread
human, material, economic, or environmental losses that exceed the capacity of the community or
society concerned to cope with the use of their resources.
Exposure and vulnerability on the other hand, are distinct. A certain community can be exposed but
it does not mean that it is vulnerable. Buildings and structures in Japan are exposed to earthquakes,
but they are not vulnerable since their architectural and engineering designs are earthquake-proof or
resistant. However, to become vulnerable, it must be exposed to hazard first.