BLIS 4806: Disaster Preparedness and

Management in Information Services

Sellina Kapondera, PhD.
Disaster preparedness
Hazard
• Malawi faces a number of hazards or risks that can potentially develop into disasters of some kind
• A hazard is a potentially damaging physical event which may harm people, their economic assets,
infrastructure and environment.
• It is characterized by duration, magnitude. Area affected, speed of onset and frequency.
• Examples of hazards include:
• floods., droughts
• Strong winds
• Hail storms
• Electrical storms
• Climate change
• Fire
• Earthquakes
• Diseases
Disaster preparedness
• A hazard develops into a disaster when it affects a vulnerable population
• Miller (2010) defines a disaster as unexpected occurrence with seriously destructive consequences
• Miller’s definition could be misleading a bit as it recognizes a disaster as an unexpected
occurrence because as we have seen a disaster often results from a hazard which exists hence it
can be expected and measures could be taken either to mitigate its impact or manage it
Disaster preparedness

Mitigation
• Refers to structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the impact of
hazards in related to distasters
• Takes place before, during or after disaster
• An example of mitigation of disasters in a library setting could be installation of
fire extinguishers.

Response
• Provision of emergency services and public assistance during or immediately after
a disaster in order to save lives and ensure public safety
Disaster preparedness

Recovery
• Refers to the decisions and actions taken after a disaster with the view to restoring or improving
the pre-disaster living conditions of the stricken community while encouraging and facilitating
necessary adjustments to reduce disaster risks.
• It includes rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure and restoration of livelihoods

Disaster prevention
• Refers to activities or measures that provide outright avoidance of adverse impact of hazards and
related disasters.
• Examples
• Dams to prevent floods
Disaster Risk Management

• Refers to the systematic process of using administrative decisions and

organization’s operational skills and capacities to implement policies, strategies
and coping capacities of the society and communities to lessen the impact of
natural hazards and related environmental and technological disasters.
•
Disaster Risk Management Cycle

• It is a set of actions that are undertaken by various players before and after the
occurrence of a disaster.
• These actions are categorized into three.
• Pre-disaster
• Response
• Post disaster
Disaster Risk Management Cycle
Pre disaster
• Risk-Assessment
• Mitigation/prevention
• Preparedness
Disaster Risk Management Cycle

Response
• Warning/evaluation
• Saving people/information resources
• Providing immediate assistance
• Assessing damage
Disaster Risk Management Cycle

Post disaster
• Ongoing assistance
• Restoration of infrastructural services
• Reconstruction
• Resettlement
• Relocation
• Economic and social recovery
• Ongoing developmental activities
• Risk assessment/mitigation/prevention