Understanding the

Basics of
Hazard
 What is a hazard?
A dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or
condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health
impacts, property damage, loss of livelihood and services,
social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Human injury or death
Damage to environment
Damage to physical assets
Loss of production
NATURAL HAZARD
Potentiallydamaging natural phenomena that may
occur within specific period of time in a given area
that may cause danger to people, structures or
economic assets and which may lead to a disaster.
 Hydro-Meteorological
Phenomena and Hazard
 Tropical Cyclone
 Thunderstorms
 Storm Surge
 Flood
 Landslides
 Mudflow or Mudslide
 Global Warming
 Extreme Climatic Variability
Tropical Cyclones
 These are intense low pressure systems which are
characterized by strong spiral winds towards the
center called the “Eye” in a counter-clockwise flow
in the northern hemisphere.
 Tropical
cyclones are characterized by strong winds
and heavy precipitations. Hazards due to tropical
cyclones are strong winds, heavy rainfall that could
cause wide spread flooding, storm surges, landslides
and mudflows.
How are tropical cyclones classified?
 Tropical cyclones are classified according to their strength, and
are grouped according to the maximum sustained winds near
the center.
 Tropical Depression : 61 kph or less
 Tropical Storm : 62 kph – 88 kph
 Severe Tropical Storm : 89 kph – 117 kph
 Typhoon : 118 kph –
220 kph
 Super Typhoon : more than 220 kph
Thunderstorms
 A thunderstorms is a violent,
transient type of weather
disturbance associated with
thousands of meter tall
cumulonimbus clouds and which
usually involves lightning and
thunder, strong winds, intense
rainfall, and occasionally tornadoes
and hail.
Storm Surge
 Storm surge is a localized unusual increase of sea
water level beyond the predicted astronomical tide
level primarily due to intense winds and lowered
atmospheric pressure during the passage of an intense
tropical cyclone from the sea to the land. While storm
surges can also be formed by tropical cyclones coming
from the land going to the sea, these are more likely
to be weaker. Storm surges are the primary cause of
about 90% of casualties and damage to properties in
coastal areas during tropical cyclones.
Flooding
 Flooding is the abnormal rise of water level in water
level in rivers, coastal areas, plains, and in highly
urbanized centers which may be a result of natural
phenomena, human activities, or both. During floods,
land which is usually dry becomes submerge. Floods, at
the very least, can cause inconvenience, for instance to
travelers. In extreme cases, flooding can cause damage
to property and can result to loss of lives. Flooding
duration can be as short as a few minutes but can take as
long as several days or even weeks to subside.
 Landslides
 Landslide is the sliding down of a mass of soil or rock on a steep
slope. Sometimes landslides or landslips are minor and hardly
noticeable. Others times however, they can be substantial and
destructive. As the descent or materials progresses down, it can
pick up great speed and energy to travel a distance.
The causes of Landslide
 soil erosion
 earthquake
 ground water building up due to rain
 volcanic eruption
 heavy machine vibrations
 deforestations
Mudflow or Mudslides

A mudflow or mudslide is the most rapid (1 to 5 km/h) and

fluid type of downhill mass wasting. Similar terms are debris
flow (e.g. in high mountain, mudslide (not very liquid) and
mud stream (e.g. from volcanoes)
Global Warming
 Global warming is the process of warming the earth caused
by the so called green house effect which traps the solar
radiation in the atmosphere due to the presence of carbon
dioxide methane and other nitrous-oxide.
 Global Warming causes changes in rainfall patterns, a rise
in sea level and a wide range of negative impacts on plants,
wildlife, and humans.
 Extreme Climatic Variabilities
A. El Niño which or “Boy Child” or “ Little One” is a large scale
oceanographic/meteorological phenomenon that develops in the
Pacific Ocean, and is associated with extreme climatic variability
i.e. devastating rains, winds, drought, etc. It is the migration from
time to time or warm surface waters from the western equatorial
Pacific Basin to the eastern equatorial Pacific region, along the
coasts of Peru and Ecuador. This condition can prevail for more than
a year thus adversely affecting the economy both local and global
scale. The effect of El Niño is generally below normal annual
rainfall.
B. LaNiña (the little girl) was used by many scientist and
meteorologist to differentiate it from El Niño. It is a large-
scale oceanographic and meteorological phenomenon that
develops over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific and is
characterized by unusually cold surface temperatures of the
ocean. La Niña is associated with extreme climatic variability
such as devastating rains, winds, drought and others. The
effect of La Niña is generally above normal annual rainfall.
Geological Phenomena
and Hazards
 Earthquake
 Tsunami
 Landslides
 Volcanic Eruption
 Earthquake
 It refers to the shaking of the ground caused by a sudden
slippage of rock masses below or at the surface of the earth. It is
a wave-like movement of the earth’s surface. Earthquake may
be classified as either tectonic or volcanic.
Tsunami
 Tsunamis are giant sea waves generated by under-the-sea
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Not all submarines
earthquakes, however, can cause the occurrence of tsunamis.
Tsunamis can only occur when earthquake is shallow-seated
and strong enough (M7.0) to displace parts of the seabed and
disturb the mass of water over it.
Landslide
 Landslide as a geological hazard is caused by earthquake or
volcanic eruption. This is initiated when a section of a
hillslope or sloping section of a seabed is rendered weak to
support its own weight. Again, susceptibility of hillslope to
landslide is developed as a result of denudation of
mountainsides which removes the ground cover that holds
the soil or alteration of the surface of the ground like grading
for road or building construction.
Volcanic Eruption
 VolcanicEruption is a process wherein volcanic materials such as
molten or hot fragmented rocks or gaseous materials are ejected
from a volcano.
 Hazards from volcanoes may be different in nature. These
hazards include flowing of fast-moving molten rocks and other
ejecta. The ejected fragments range in size from fine dust
(volcanic ash) to large boulders (volcanic bombs or blocks).
Besides liquid and solid materials, volcanoes give off poisonous
gases. Other hazards are the associated volcanic earthquakes,
fissuring caused by the force of upward-moving magma, tsunami
and water displacement, subsidence due to retreat or withdrawal
of magma, landslides due to too much bulging on one side of the
Astronomical Hazards
Can you identify the natural hazard
represented by the icon?
MANMADE/HUMAN INDUCED
HAZARD
 Man-Made or Human Induced hazards are threats
having an element of human intent, negligence, error
and involving a failure of a system.
 Man-Made disasters are a result of inadequately
managed human-made hazards
 Technological Hazards
Structure Collapse
Fire (Building Fire, Forest Fire, Arson)
Vehicular Related Accidents
Chemical Spill (Laboratory)
Electrical Blackout
Food Poisoning
Structure Collapse

 This is often caused by engineering failures such

as under-design of structures components, by
corrosion attack and by aerodynamic flutter of the
deck
Fire
 Fire starts when a flammable or a combustible material
combined with sufficient quantity of oxygen-rich compound is
exposed to a source of heat. Fire requires fuel, oxygen and heat
to burn. Fire has the potential to cause physical damage through
burning

 Building Fire
 Forest Fire
 Arson
Vehicular Related Accidents
 Some students go to school aboard a school service, be it
a bus, jeepney, tricycle, or van. It is also common practice
of parents or guardians to accompany their children all the
way to school and back.
 Still,the school service presents certain risk to the
student’s safety. Potential dangers happen especially when
students board and alight from the service vehicle.
Chemical Spill (Laboratory)
 One of the hazards of laboratory works is chemical spill.
It becomes hazardous when pupils/students come in
contact with poisonous/dangerous chemical that has
spilled or been split.
Environmental

Hazards
Red Tide
Pollution
Socio-Economic Political,
Security Hazards
Bomb Threats
Kidnapping
Ambush
Highjacking/hostage taking
Civil Disorder
 Impacts of Hazards
HAZARDS Urban Human Health Vulnerable
Infrastructure & & Safety Communities
Built Environment
Earthquake

Typhoon

Fire

Volcanic Eruption
 “Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent
about the things
that matter.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sources:

* Disaster Risk Reduction Resource

Manual, DepEd.

* file:///C:/
Users/DRR/Downloads/CDRM-
LectureNotes-ORETA.pdf
Thank You!