lesson 1

• hazard


  is a phenomenon that poses threat to people, structure or economic assets
• hazard


  Any phenomenon that has the potential to cause disruption or damage to humans and their environment. Or an event or occurrence that has the potential for causing injury to life, property and environment.
• natural hazard


  is a natural event or process which affects people causing loss of life or injury, economic damage, disruption to peoples’ lives or environmental degradation
• vulnerable population

  Human activity and physical. processes do not interact and there is no hazard or disaster (e.g. a volcanic eruption on a remote unpopulated island, or a landslide in an unsettled area)
• A disaster happens when the probable destructive agent, the hazard, hits a vulnerable populated area.
• disaster


  UN defines it as 'a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources
• RA10121


  A serious disruption in the functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceeds the ability of the affected society to cope within its’ own resources. (RA 10121 -
• French word “Disastre”, “Des” meaning “Bad” and “Aster” meaning “Star” thus it refers to “Bad or Evil Star”.
• disaster


  “occurrence either nature or manmade that causes human suffering and creates human needs that victim cannot alleviate without assistance.” according to American Red Cross
• disaster


  The World Health Organization defines an event as a disaster when “normal conditions of existence are disrupted and the level of suffering exceeds the capacity of the hazard-affected

  community to respond to it.”
• The disaster is caused by natural or man-made hazards
• 
  

  At least 20% of the population are affected & in need of assistance

  emergency assistance or those dwelling units have been destroyed.

  2.

  Agreat number or at least 40% of the means of livelihood such as bancas, fishing boats, vehicles and the like are destroyed.

  3.

  Major roads and bridges are destroyed and impassable for at least a week, thus disrupting the flow of transport and commerce.

  4. Widespread destruction of fishponds, crops, poultry and livestock, and other agricultural products, and
• MAGNITUDE AND INTENSITY

  SPEED OF ONSET

  DURATION


  Important Aspects of Hazards
• Magnitude of the event is a measure of its strength

  and is an indication of how destructive it can be.
• Intensity is a measure on the impacts on the ground,

  on people, and on structures.
• Duration becomes a concern as the chance of experiencing severe damage will depend on how long the hazard affects an area.


  ?
• HAZARDS MAYBE INEVITABLE BUT DISASTERS CAN BE PREVENTED
• Vulnerability –it describes the condition of a society or community, asset or system that make then prone to the impact of a hazard.
• Exposure is the tendency of losing property, people, systems and other elements in the society due their presence within the hazard.
• Risk the possibility that something bad or unpleasant (such as an injury or a loss) will happen (Merriam-Webster).
• Hazard – a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage
• Capacity is the combination of all strengths, attributes and resources available within a community, society, or organization that can be used to achieve agreed goals.
• Disaster risk refers to the expectation value of deaths, injuries, and property losses that would be caused by a hazard.
• Resilience is the ability of a community to cope with a hazard; some communities are better prepared than others so a hazard is less likely to become a disaster. It also includes the ability to return to normal following a disaster.
• Elements of Disaster Risk

  Hazard x exposure x vulnerability
• Disaster risk is expressed

  as a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability
• DISASTER RISK

  “The potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged

  assets which could occur to a system, society or a community

  in a specific period of time, determined probabilistically as a

  function of hazard, exposure, and capacity”.
• Minimizing Disaster

  Risk Reduction Through Reduction of Exposure and Vulnerability
• 
  

  CLIMATE CHANGE

  will create a new hazard such as glacier melting, sea-level rise, and extreme weather events in proportions never seen before. This will aggravate the existing disaster risks and vulnerabilities and expose millions of people never affected before around the world.
• RAPID AND UNPLANNED URBANIZATION


  The rapid growth of cities, combined with climate change and the urban population explosion, will create new stresses for urban settlements and make city dwellers increasingly vulnerable
• Poverty


  and socio-economic inequalities are aggravating disaster factors. They not only make poor people more vulnerable to disasters but they trap them in a vicious circle of .
• ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION 


  Communities can all too often increase the probability and severity of disasters by destroying the forests, coral reefs, and wetlands that might have

  protected them
• Natural Disaster – these originate from the different ‘forces’ of nature.
• Meteorological disasters are caused by extreme

  weather, e.g. rain, drought, snow, extreme heat or cold,

  ice, or wind.
• Topographical Disaster (Geological)


  • They include internal earth processes or are tectonic in origin (earthquakes, geological fault activity, tsunamis, volcanic, emission, etc)
  • Includes external processes such as mass movement. (landslides, rock falls or avalanches, mudflows, etc)
• An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity
• Quasi-natural hazards

  • arise through the interaction of natural processes and human activities
• topographical / geological


  earthquakes, geological fault activity, tsunamis, volcanic, emission, etc)
• meteorological 


  rain, drought, snow, extreme heat or cold,

  ice, or wind
• quasi natural


  pollution or desertification, smog and fog