DISASTER READINESS & RISK REDUCTION (PPT

1)

BASIC CONCEPT OF DISASTER

AND DISASTER RISK
KENNEDY F. VAGAY
Teacher II
Solotsolot National High School
CONCEPT OF DISASTER
What do they have in common?

All of theses are natural events.

When Does a Natural Event Become a Hazard?
HAZARD

 Is a phenomenon that poses threat to people, structure or economic assets.

 Any phenomenon that has the potential to cause disruption or damage to humans
and their environment. Or an event or occurrence that has the potential for
causing injury to life, property and environment.
How does HAZARD become a DISASTER?
How does HAZARD become a DISASTER?

 A disaster happens when the probable destructive agent, the hazard,

hits a vulnerable populated area.
How does HAZARD become a DISASTER?
 The “Crunch” Diagram

Vulnerability DISASTER Hazards

(exposure) (trigger
events)

D=HxVxE
DISASTER RISK
What is DISASTER RISK?

 Disaster risk refers to the expectation value of deaths, injuries, and property
losses that would be caused by a hazard.
 The probability that a community’s structure or geographic area is to be damaged
or disrupted by the impact of a particular hazard.
 It is derived from the interaction of social and environmental processes, from the
combination of physical hazards and the vulnerability of exposed elements.
 Elements of Disaster Risk

DISASTER RISK = HAZARD x EXPOSURE x VULNERABILITY

• Disaster risk is expressed as a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability

• It seeks to
 express chance of the disaster happening
 quantify the impact
 Disaster Risk Model

Magnitude of the disaster depends on:

• the severity of the natural event (hazard)
• the quantity of exposure of the elements at risk (lives and properties)
• vulnerability level or quality of exposure
 Minimizing Disaster Risk

Risk Reduction Through Reduction of Exposure and

Vulnerability

Level of vulnerability and exposure can be reduced by:

• Keeping people and property away from hazards
• Relocation must come hand in hand with mitigation and prevention
measures
 Why people are resistive to relocation?

• This would mean giving up their homes, land, and even

jobs;
• People tend to turn a blind eye;
• People remain in places previously hit by a disaster
thinking that after a large magnitude event occurs comes a
period that is safe from another event
• The most vulnerable are the poor who are forced to live in
unsafe places
NATURE OF DISASTERS
DISASTER

 A serious disruption in the functioning of a society, causing widespread human,

material or environmental losses which exceeds the ability of the affected society
to cope within its’ own resources.
 A sudden, calamitous event, bringing great damage loss, destruction and
devastation to life and property.
Nature of Disaster

 NATURAL DISASTERS
These originate from the different “forces” of nature (geological, meteorological,
hydrometeorological and biological). Natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
typhoons, and cyclones affect many countries in Asia particularly the Philippines.

 HUMAN-MADE DISASTERS
These disasters occur due to people’s actions against human, material and environment.
These include transport and industrial accidents, such as, air and train crashes, chemical spills,
and building collapses. Terrorism is also categorized as human-made disaster.
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING DISASTERS
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING DISASTERS

Severity of Exposure

 The amount of exposure to the hazard is highly related to risk of future mental
problems. At highest risk are those that go through the disaster themselves. Next
are those in close contact with victims. At lower risk of lasting impact are those
who only had indirect exposure, such as news of the severe damage.
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING DISASTERS

Gender and Family

 Disaster recovery is more stressful when children are present in the home.
Women with spouses also experience more distress during recovery. Having a
family member in the home who is extremely distressed is related to more stress
for everyone. Marital stress has been found to increase after disasters. Also,
conflicts between family members or lack of support in the home make it harder
to recover from disasters.
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING DISASTERS

Age

 Adults who are in the range of 40 – 60 are likely to be more distressed after
disasters. The thinking is that if one is in that age range, he / she has more
demands from job and family. Research on how children react to natural disasters
is still limited at this point in tie. In general, children show more severe distress
after disasters than adults do. Higher stress in the parents is related to worse
recovery in children.
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING DISASTERS

Low or Negative Social Support

 The support of others can be both a risk and a resilience factor. Social support can
weaken after disasters. This may be due to stress and the need for members of the
support network to get on with their own lives.
RISK FACTORS UNDERLYING DISASTERS

Developing Countries

 There is a strong body of evidence that these risk factors can be made worse if the
disaster occurs in a developing country.
 Disasters in developing countries, like Philippines, have more severe mental
health impact than disasters in developed countries. This is true even with less
serious disasters.
Several factors related to a survivor’s background and
resources are important for recovery from disasters.
Recovery is worse if survivors:

 Were not functioning well before the disaster

 Have had no experience dealing with disasters
 Must deal with other stressor after the disaster
 Have poor self – esteem
 Think they are uncared by others
 Think they have little control over what happens to them
 Lack the capacity to manage stress
  Bereavement (death of someone close)
 Injury to self or another family member
 Life threat
 Panic, horror, or feelings like that during the disaster
 Great loss of property
 Being separated from family (especially among youth)
 Displacement ( being force to leave home)
EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS ON HUMAN
LIFE

 DISPLACED POPULATIONS
 HEALTH RISKS
 FOOD SCARCITY
 EMOTIONAL AFTERSHOCKS
AREAS/ LOCATIONS EXPOSED TO
HAZARDS

EXPOSED TO NATURAL HAZARD

AREAS/ LOCATIONS EXPOSED TO
HAZARDS

EXPOSED TO MAN-MADE HAZARD

Disaster from Different Perspective

Disasters can be perceived from the following perspective:

 PHYSICAL PERSPECTIVE
 PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 SOCIO-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
 ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE
 POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
 ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
Physical Perspective

 From this view, disaster is defines as a phenomenon that can cause damage to
physical elements such as buildings, infrastructures, including people and their
properties, e.g. house and environmental sources of living.
 Physical effects are the most visible and quantifiable effects of disaster.
Psychological Perspective

 Studies has shown that disasters can cause serious mental health consequences for victims. These
consequences take the form of POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER and a variety of
other disorders and symptoms which have been less investigated.
 In psychological context, a disaster is regarded as an occurrence involving an unexpected or
uncontrollable event rather than a long term experience. In other words, a disaster is something
that could happen within a hazard rather than the hazard itself.
Psychological Perspective

 Other psychological effects of a disaster are the following:

a. EMOTIONAL EFFECTS: shock, terror, irritability, blame, anger, guilt, grief or sadness,
numbing, helplessness, loss of pleasure derived from familiar activities, difficulty of feeling
happy, difficulty of feeling loved.
b. COGNITIVE EFFECTS: impaired concentration, impaired decision-making ability, memory
impairment, disbelief, confusion, nightmares, decreased self-esteem, decreased self-efficacy,
self-blame, intrusive thoughts, memories, dissociation (e.g. tunnel vision, dreamlike or
‘spacey’ feeling)
Psychological Perspective

 Other psychological effects of a disaster are the following:

c. PHYSICAL EFFECTS: fatigue, exhaustion, insomnia, cardiovascular strain, startle
response, hyper arousal, increased physical pain, reduced immune response, headaches,
gastrointestinal upset, decreased appetite, decreased libido, vulnerability to illness.
d. INTERPERSONAL EFFECTS: increased relational conflict, social withdrawal, reduced
relational intimacy, alienation, impaired work performance, decreased satisfaction, distrust,
externalization of blame, externalization of vulnerability, feeling abandoned
SOCIO-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

 From the socio-cultural point of view, a disaster is analyzed based on how people
respond having as parameter their social conditions and cultural settings. These
two factors are important determinants of the degree of risk, resilience and
vulnerability of those affected. That is why some ethnic groups can easily cope
with disasters compared to other groups.
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

 From an economic perspective, a natural disaster can be defined as a natural

event that causes a perturbation to the functioning of the economic system, with a
significant negative impact on assets, production factors, output, employment and
consumption.
 One salient component of assessing the impact of disaster impact from this view
is defining direct economic cost and indirect losses.
POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

 From this view, natural disasters are commonly thought to be less politically contentious than
armed conflicts. Yet, politics are deeply wedded to both the impact of a natural disaster and the
subsequent delivery of humanitarian assistance.
 Government interventions during disasters should be present in following phases of DRRM:
a. PREVENTION
b. MITIGATION
c. PREPAREDNESS
d. RECOVERY
ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

 Disasters are not random and do not occur by accident. They are the convergence
of hazards and vulnerable conditions. Disasters not only reveal underlying social,
economic, political and environmental problems, but unfortunately contribute to
worsening them.