HAZARD AND DISASTER

WHAT IS HAZARD?HOW IT IS CLASSIFIED?

1.A dangerous condition or events that threaten or have the potential for causing injury to life or damage to 

property or the environment. They can be categorized in various ways but, based on the origin, hazards 

worldwide are basically grouped in two broad headings: 

1. Natural Hazards (hazards with meteorological, geological or even biological origin) 

2. Unnatural Hazards (hazards with human-caused or technological origin) 

It is also important to know that natural phenomena are extreme climatological, hydrological, or 

geological, processes that do not pose any threat to persons or property. A massive earthquake in an 

unpopulated area, for example, is a natural phenomenon, not a hazard. It is when these natural 

phenomena interact with the man made environment or fragile areas which causes wide spread damage.
                           
                             

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WHAT ARE DISASTERS?

Almost everyday we witness in the newspaper or on the TV, there are reports of disasters around the 

world. So what are disasters? How are they different from accidents? Disaster is defined as: 

",,,,,a serious disruption of the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material, or 

environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources." 

* A disaster is the product of a hazard 

such as earthquake, flood or 

windstorm coinciding with a vulnerable 

situation which might include 

communities, cities or villages. There 

are two main components in this 

definition: hazard and vulnerability. 

Without vulnerability or hazard there is 

no disaster. A disaster occurs whenA disaster is the product of a hazard 

such as earthquake, flood or 

windstorm coinciding with a vulnerable 

situation which might include 

communities, cities or villages. There 

are two main components in this 

definition: hazard and vulnerability. 

Without vulnerability or hazard there is 

no disaster. A disaster occurs when A disaster is the product of a hazard 

such as earthquake, flood or 

windstorm coinciding with a vulnerable 

situation which might include 

communities, cities or villages. There 

are two main components in this 

definition: hazard and vulnerability. 

Without vulnerability or hazard there is 

no disaster. A disaster occurs when A disaster is the product of a hazard 

such as earthquake, flood or 

windstorm coinciding with a vulnerable 

situation which might include 

communities, cities or villages. There 

are two main components in this 

definition: hazard and vulnerability. 

Without vulnerability or hazard there is 

no disaster.

A disaster is the product of a hazard 

such as earthquake, flood or 

windstorm coinciding with a vulnerable 

situation which might include 

communities, cities or villages. There 

are two main components in this 

definition: hazard and vulnerability. 

Without vulnerability or hazard there is 

no disaster. A disaster occurs when

Destructive Potential, Human Vulnerability etc determine the difference. 

WHAT IS VULNERABILITY?

* Vulnerability is defined as “The extent to which a community, structure, service, or geographic area is 

likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular hazard, on account of their nature, 

construction and proximity to hazardous terrain or a disaster prone area."

Now take for example a house built from cane and thatch and the other a brick building. The house built 

from cane and thatch that can be blown in a tropical cyclone are more vulnerable to the wind than a brick 

building. A badly constructed brick building is more likely to disintegrate with the violent ground shaking 

of an earthquake than cane or thatch hut and is more vulnerable to earthquake hazard. Hence structures 

should be built strong enough to resist maximum force exerted by any event or for combination of event. 

Such measure will take care of the physical vulnerability. 

Social and economic conditions also determine the vulnerability of a society to an extent. It has been 

observed that human losses in disasters in developing countries like India tend to be high when compared to developed countries where material losses predominate. 

See the figure where the 

settlements are located in 

hazardous slopes. Many 

landslide and flooding disasters 

are linked to what you see in 

the figure below. Unchecked 

growth of settlements in unsafe 

areas exposes the people to the 

hazard. In case of an earthquake or landslide the ground may fail and the houses on the top may topple 

or slide and affect the settlements at the lower level even if they are designed well for earthquake forces

WHAT IS RISK?

* Risk is a measure of the expected losses (deaths, injuries, property, economic activity etc) due to a 

hazard of a particular magnitude occurring in a given area over a specific time period

The figure on the right illustrates essentially the four 

factors essentially hazards, location, exposure, and 

vulnerability which contribute to risk. They are: 

ƒ Hazards (physical effects generated in the naturally 

occurring event), 

ƒ Location of the hazards relative to the community at 

risk, 

ƒ Exposure (the value and importance of the various 

types of structures and lifeline systems such as water￾supply, communication network, transportation network 

etc in the community serving the population, and 

ƒ Vulnerability of the exposed structures and systems to 

the hazards expected to affect them during their useful life

DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE. 

*

Disaster management can be defined as the body of policy and administrative decisions and operational 

activities which pertain to the various stages of a disaster at all levels. Broadly disaster management can 

be divided into pre-disaster and post-disaster contexts. There are three key stages of activity that are taken up within disaster management model.They are..

1.. Before disaster strikes 

* Activities taken to reduce 

human and property losses 

caused by the hazard and 

ensure that these losses are 

also minimized when the 

disaster strikes. Risk reduction 

activities are taken under this 

stage and they are termed as 

mitigation and preparedness

2.During disaster 

* 

Activities taken to ensure that 

the needs and provisions of 

victims are met and suffering 

is minimized. Activities taken 

under this stage are called as 

emergency response activity 

3.Post disaster 

*Activities taken to achieve early recovery and does not expose the earlier vulnerable conditions. Activities taken under this stage are called as response and recovery activities 

PERSNAL  AND COMMUNITY AWARENESS 

* As Indians we need to be aware of likely hazards and potential hazards, how, when and where they are 

likely to occur, and the problems which may result of an event. With 60% of the land mass susceptible to 

seismic hazard damage (Moderate, High and Very High Zone); 40 million hectares (8%) of landmass 

prone to floods; 8000 Km long coastline with two cyclone seasons; 68% of the total area vulnerable to 

drought; Hilly regions vulnerable to avalanches/landslides/Hailstorms/cloudbursts; other Human caused 

hazards it is important most of all, we should be aware of how to cope with their effects. 

During the time of a disaster there will be delay before outside help arrives. At first, self-help is essential 

and depends on a prepared community – that is a community which has: 

ƒ An alert, informed and actively aware population 

ƒ A Preparedness and Response Plan 

ƒ An active and involved local Government, 

ƒ Agreed, coordinated arrangements for response, preparedness and mitigation measures.