RAHUL CHOUDHARY & NEERU SHARMA
ABSTRACT: The United Nations defines
disaster as “the occurrence of
sudden or major misfortune which disrupts the basic fabric and normal
functioning of the society or community”.
Disasters are as old as human history but the dramatic increase and the
damage caused by them in the recent past have become a cause of national and
international concern. Over the past decade, the number of natural and manmade
disasters has climbed inexorably. The biggest rise has been in the countries of
low human development, which suffered an increase of approximately 142 per
cent.A disaster is a serious disruption,
occurring over a relatively short time, of the functioning of a community or a
society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss
and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to
cope using its own resources.
In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the
consequence of inappropriately managed risk. These risks are the product of a combination of both
hazards and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability
will never become disasters, as in the case of uninhabited regions.Developing
countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than
95percent of all deaths caused by hazards occur in developing countries, and
losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a percentage of GDP) in developing countries than
in industrialized countries. This paper discusses the basic concepts of natural
hazards and disaster management.
KEYWORDS:
Disaster Management,
Hazard, Vulnerability, Capacity, Prevention, Preparedness, Mitigation, Response,
Rehabilitation.
WHAT IS A DISASTER?
As per the Oxford dictionary a disaster is “a sudden accident or a natural
catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life”.
The term disaster owes its origin to the French
word “Desastre” which is a combination
of two words ‘des’ meaning bad and ‘aster’ meaning star. Thus the term
refers to ‘Bad or Evil star’. A
disaster can be defined as “A
serious disruption in the functioning of the community or a society causing
wide spread material, economic, social or environmental losses which exceed the
ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources”. A disaster is a result from the
combination of hazard, vulnerability and insufficient capacity or measures to
reduce the potential chances of risk. A disaster happens when a hazard impacts
on the vulnerable population and causes damage, casualties and disruption.Any
hazard – flood, earthquake or cyclone which is a triggering event along with
greater vulnerability (inadequate access to resources, sick and old people,
lack of awareness etc) would lead to disaster causing greater loss to life and
property. For example; an earthquake in an uninhabited desert cannot be
considered a disaster, no matter how strong the intensities produced. An
earthquake is disastrous only when it affects people, their properties and
activities. Thus, disaster occurs only when hazards and vulnerability meet. But
it is also to be noted that with greater capacity of the individual/community
and environment to face these disasters, the impact of a hazard reduces.
Therefore, we need to understand the three major components namely hazard, vulnerability and capacity with suitable examples to
have a basic understanding of disaster management.
WHAT IS A HAZARD ?
Hazard may be defined as “a
dangerous condition or event, that threat or have the potential for causing
injury to life or damage to property or the environment.” The word ‘hazard’ owes
its origin to the word ‘hasard’ in
old French and ‘az-zahr’ in Arabic
meaning ‘chance’ or ‘luck’. Hazards
can be grouped into two broad categories namely natural and manmade.
Natural hazards are hazards which are caused because of natural
phenomena (hazards with meteorological, geological or even biological origin).
Examples of natural hazards are cyclones, tsunamis, earthquake and volcanic
eruption which are exclusively of natural origin. Landslides, floods, drought,
fires are socio-natural hazards since their causes are both natural and
man-made. For example flooding may be caused because of heavy rains, landslide
or blocking of drains with human waste.
Manmade hazards are hazards which are due to human negligence.
Manmade hazards are associated with industries or energy generation facilities
and include explosions, leakage of toxic waste, pollution, dam failure, wars or
civil strife etc.
WHAT IS VULNERABILITY ?
Vulnerability may be defined as “The extent to which a community, structure, services 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 terrains or
a disaster prone area.”
Physical Vulnerability
includes notions of who and what may be damaged or destroyed by natural
hazard such as earthquakes or floods. It is based on the physical condition of
people and elements at risk, such as buildings, infrastructure etc and their
proximity, location and nature of the hazard. It also relates to the technical
capability of building and structures to resist the forces acting upon them
during a hazard event.
Socio-economic Vulnerability is the degree to which a population
is affected by a hazard will not merely lie in the physical components of
vulnerability but also on the socioeconomic conditions. The socio-economic
condition of the people also determines the intensity of the impact. For
example, people who are poor and living in the sea coast don’t have the money
to construct strong concrete houses. They are generally at risk and loose their
shelters whenever there is strong wind or cyclone. Because of their poverty
they too are not able to rebuild their houses.
WHAT IS CAPACITY ?
Capacity can be defined as “resources,
means and strengths which exist in households and communities and which enable
them to cope with, withstand, prepare for, prevent, mitigate or quickly recover
from a disaster”. People’s capacity
can also be taken into account.
Physical Capacity: People whose houses have been
destroyed by the cyclone or crops have been destroyed by the flood can salvage
things from their homes and from their farms. Some family members have skills,
which enable them to find employment if they migrate, either temporarily or
permanently.
Socio-economic Capacity: In most of the disasters, people suffer their
greatest losses in the physical and material realm. Rich people have the
capacity to recover soon because of their wealth. In fact, they are seldom hit
by disasters because they live in safe areas and their houses are built with
stronger materials. However, even when everything is destroyed they have the
capacity to cope up with it.
Hazards are always prevalent, but the hazard
becomes a disaster only when there is greater vulnerability and less of
capacity to cope with it. In other words the frequency or likelihood of a
hazard and the vulnerability of the community increases the risk of being
severely affected.
WHAT IS RISK ?
Risk is a “measure of
the expected losses due to a hazard event occurring in a given area over a
specific time period. Risk is a function of the probability of particular
hazardous event and the losses each would cause.”
The level of risk depends
upon the nature of the hazard,vulnerability of the elements which are affected and
the economic value of those
elements. A community or locality is said to be at ‘risk’ when it is exposed to hazards and is likely to be adversely
affected by its impact. Whenever we discuss ‘disaster management’ it is basically ‘disaster risk management’. Disaster risk management includes all
measures which reduce disaster related losses of life, property or assets by
either reducing the hazard or vulnerability of the elements at risk.
Disaster Risk Reduction can take place in the following
ways:
i.
Preparedness embraces measures which
enable governments, communities and individuals to respond rapidly to disaster
situations to cope with them effectively. Preparedness includes the formulation
of viable emergency plans, the development of warning systems, the maintenance
of inventories and the training of personnel. It may also embrace search and
rescue measures as well as evacuation plans for areas that may be at risk from
a recurring disaster. Preparedness therefore encompasses those measures taken
before a disaster event which are aimed at minimising loss of life, disruption
of critical services, and damage when the disaster occurs.
ii.
Mitigation embraces measures taken
to reduce both the effect of the hazard and the vulnerable conditions to it in
order to reduce the scale of a future disaster. Therefore mitigation activities
can be focused on the hazard itself or the elements exposed to the threat. Examples
of mitigation measures which are hazard specific include water management in
drought prone areas, relocating people away from the hazard prone areas and by
strengthening structures to reduce damage when a hazard occurs. In addition to
these physical measures, mitigation should also aim at reducing the economic
and social vulnerabilities of potential disasters.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: As per Disaster Management Act, 2005, “disaster
management” means a continuous and integrated process of planning,
organising, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or
expedient for:
(i) Prevention of danger or
threat of any disaster;
(ii) Mitigation or reduction of
risk of any disaster or its severity or consequences;
(iii) Capacity-building;
(iv) Preparedness to deal with
any disaster;
(v) Prompt response to any
threatening disaster situation or disaster;
(vi) Assessing the severity or
magnitude of effects of any disaster; evacuation, rescue and relief;
(vii)Rehabilitation
and reconstruction;
Disaster Management can be defined as the “organization
and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all
humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness,response and
recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters”.
Disaster
management includes7 administrative
decisions and operational activities that involve
· Prevention
·Mitigation
·Preparedness
·Response
·Recovery
·Rehabilitation
Disaster
management involves all levels of government. Nongovernmental and
communitybased organizations play a vital role in the process. Modern disaster
management goes beyond post-disaster
assistance. It now includes pre-disaster planning and preparedness
activities, organizational planning, training, information management, public
relations and many other fields. Crisis
management is important, but is only a part of the responsibility of a
disaster manager. The newer paradigm is the Total Risk Management (TRM) which takes a holistic approach to risk
reduction.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE: The traditional approach to disaster
management has been to regard it as a number of phased sequences of action or a
continuum. These can be represented as a disaster management cycle.It includes
sum total of all activities, programmes and measures which can be taken up
before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a disaster,
reduce its impact or recover from its losses. Traditionally ,people think of
disaster management only in term of the emergency relief period and post
disaster rehabilitation , instead of allocated funds before an event to ensure
prevention and preparedness. A successful disaster management planning must
encompass the situation that occurs before, during and after disasters.
The three key phases of activity that are taken up within disaster risk
management are:
·
Pre – Disaster Phase
Prevention and Mitigation: Reducing the risk of disasters
involves activities, which either reduce or modify the scale and intensity of
the threat faced or by improving the conditions of elements at risk. Although
the term ‘prevention’ is often used
to embrace the wide diversity of measures to protect persons and property its
use is not recommended since it is misleading in its implicit suggestion that
natural disasters are preventable. The use of the term reduction to describe
protective or preventive actions that lessen the scale of impact is therefore
preferred. Mitigation embraces all
measures taken to reduce both the effects of the hazard itself and the
vulnerable conditions to it in order to reduce the scale of a future disaster.
In addition to these physical measures, mitigation should also be aimed at
reducing the physical, economic and social vulnerability to threats and the
underlying causes for this vulnerability. Therefore, mitigation may incorporate
addressing issues such as land ownership, tenancy rights, wealth distribution,
implementation of earthquake resistant building codes, etc.
Preparedness: This brings us to the all-important issue of disaster
preparedness. The process embraces measures that enables governments,
communities and individuals to respond rapidly to disaster situations to cope
with them effectively. Preparedness includes for example, the formulation of
viable emergency plans, the development of warning systems, the maintenance of
inventories, public awareness and education and the training of personnel. It
may also embrace search and rescue measures as well as evacuation plans for
areas that may be ‘at risk’ from a
recurring disaster. All preparedness planning needs to be supported by
appropriate rules and regulations with clear allocation of responsibilities and
budgetary provision.
Early Warning: This is the process of monitoring the situation in
communities or areas known to be vulnerable to slow onset hazards, and passing
the knowledge of the pending hazard to people in harm’s way. To be effective,
warnings must be related to mass education and training of the population who know
what actions they must take when warned.
The Disaster impact: This refers to the real-time event of
a hazard occurring and affecting elements at risk. The duration of the event
will depend on the type of threat; ground shaking may only occur in a matter of
seconds during an earthquake while flooding may take place over a longer
sustained period.
·
During disaster Phase
Response: This refers to the first stage response to any calamity,
which include for examples such as setting up control rooms, putting the
contingency plan in action, issue warning, action for evacuation, taking people
to safer areas, rendering medical aid to the needy etc., simultaneously
rendering relief to the homeless, food, drinking water, clothing etc. to the
needy, restoration of communication, disbursement of assistance in cash or
kind. The emergency relief activities undertaken during and immediately following
a disaster, which includes immediate relief, rescue, and the damage needs
assessment and debris clearance.
·
The Post- disaster Phase
Recovery: It is used to describe the activities that encompass the
three overlapping phases of emergency relief, rehabilitation and
reconstruction.
Rehabilitation: It includes the provision of temporary public
utilities and housing as interim measures to assist long-term recovery.
Reconstruction: It attempts to return communities to improved
pre-disaster functioning. It includes such as the replacement of buildings;
infrastructure and lifeline facilities so that long-term development prospects
are enhanced rather than reproducing the same conditions, which made an area or
population vulnerable in the first place.
Development: In an evolving economy, the development process is an
ongoing activity. Longterm prevention/disaster reduction measures for examples
like construction of embankments against flooding, irrigation facilities as
drought proofing measures, increasing plant cover to reduce the occurrences of
landslides, land use planning, construction of houses capable of withstanding
the onslaught of heavy rain/wind speed and shocks of earthquakes are some of
the activities that can be taken up as part of the development plan.
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