Chapter 1: What is disaster and disaster risk?

What is disaster?

event that causes serious damage, loss of life, property destruction, and disruption to a community

When do a disaster occurs?

when a hazard affects the vulnerable people and exceeds their ability to cope using their own resources.

What are the two elementsaffected when there’s a disaster?

life and property

Enumerate the key characteristics of disaster

Can be natural or human-caused, cause damage, injuries, deaths, and disruption, May occur suddenly or develop slowly, affect people, property, the economy, and the environment, Often require emergency response and recovery efforts

3 effects of Disaster

Minor, Major, Total Destruction.

What is a minor damage?

broken windows and doors

Major Damage

like torn rooftops, collapsed walls

Total Destruction

completely destroyed houses and structures rendering them useless and inhabitable (can lead to death)

What is disaster risk?

possibility of hazard to cause harm, damage, or losses to people, property, livelihoods, and the environment

Nature of Disasters

characteristics and effects of disasters (how they occur, their causes, impact on peoplem property, and environment)

What are the 3 impacts of Disaster?

Loss of Service, Social and Economic Destructions, and Environmental Degradation

Classification of Disasters

Natural Disaster and Man-Made Disaster

Natural Disasters

is subdivided into two categories: Sudden impact or Acute Onset and Slow or Chronic Onset

Sudden impact or Acute Onset of Natural Disasters

Geological or climate hazards: Earthquakes, Floods, temp extremes, landslides, tornadoes. Epidemics: food, water, vector-borne diseases, person to person transmission diseases.

Slow or Chronic Onset Natural Disaster

famine and drought

Natural Phenomenon

cause by natural forces such as earthquakes, typhoon, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, fires, tornados, and extreme temparatures.

Man-Made Disasters (human-made induced hazards)

are caused by human activities, it can be prevented. (Technological/Industrial Disasters, Terrorism/Violence, and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

Technological/Industrial Disasters

larger in scale and are the result of technological failures or industrial accidents. Can affect both local population and may even cover a much larger area. EX. leaks of hazardous materials, accidental explosions, bridge/road collapses, or vehicle collisions, power cuts

Terrorism/Violence

the threat of this has also increased due to the spread of technologies involving nuclear, biological, and chemical agents used to develop weapons of mass destruction. (bombs/explosions, release of chemical materials, release of biological agents, releae of radioactive agents, muliple or massive shootings, mutinies)

Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

humanitarian emergency resulting from an international or civil war. large number of people are displaced