DRRR (terminology)

• Disasters usually follow hazards, but some hazards can be prevented or mitigated. Disaster risk and its impact can be reduced.
• Disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM)


  A systematic approach to identifying, assessing, and implementing strategies and plans that aims to reduce the damage caused by natural hazards
• If disaster risk is reduced, the probability of a hazard event becoming a disaster is small.
• DRRM includes


  • Mitigating and preparing for the adverse impacts of hazards
  • Reducing vulnerabilities to hazards
  • Wise management of land and the environment
  • Increasing disaster resilience of communities
• United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)


  Created by the UN General Assembly in 1999 as part of the UN Secretariat to guide and coordinate the efforts of a wide range of partners to achieve substantive reduction in disaster losses and build resilient nations and communities as an essential condition for sustainable development
• UNISDR objectives


  • Climate change adaptation
  • Increasing investments for DRRM
  • Building disaster-resilient cities, schools, and hospitals
  • Strengthening the international system for DRRM
• UNISDR now leads the global forum for disaster risk reduction where various communities and countries share strategies and guidance.
• Acceptable Risk


  The level of loss a society or community considers acceptable given existing social, economic, political, cultural, technical and environmental conditions
• Building Codes


  Ordinances and regulations controlling the design, construction, materials, alteration and occupancy of any structure to ensure human safety and welfare
• Capacity


  A combination of all the strengths and resources available within a community, society or organization that can reduce the level of risk, or the effects of a disaster
• Capacity Building


  Efforts aimed to develop human skills or societal infrastructures within a community or organization needed to reduce the level of risk
• Climate Change


  The climate of a place or region is changed if over an extended period there is a statistically significant change in measurements of either the mean state or variability of the climate for that place or region
• Coping Capacity


  The means by which people or organizations use available resources and abilities to face adverse consequences that could lead to a disaster
• Counter Measures


  All measures taken to counter and reduce disaster risk, including both structural and non-structural measures
• Disaster


  A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources
• Disaster Risk Management


  The systematic process of using administrative decisions, organization, operational skills and capacities to implement policies, strategies and coping capacities of the society and communities to lessen the impacts of natural hazards and related environmental and technological disasters
• Disaster Risk Reduction (Disaster Reduction)


  The conceptual framework of elements considered with the possibilities to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout a society, to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development
• Disaster risk reduction framework


  • Risk awareness and assessment
  • Knowledge development
  • Public commitment and institutional frameworks
  • Application of measures
  • Early warning systems
• Early Warning


  The provision of timely and effective information, through identified institutions, that allows individuals exposed to a hazard to take action to avoid or reduce their risk and prepare for effective response
• Ecosystem


  A complex set of relationships of living organisms functioning as a unit and interacting with their physical environment
• El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)


  A complex interaction of the tropical Pacific Ocean and the global atmosphere that results in irregularly occurring episodes of changed ocean and weather patterns in many parts of the world, often with significant impacts
• Emergency Management


  The organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all aspects of emergencies, in particularly preparedness, response and rehabilitation
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)


  Studies undertaken in order to assess the effect on a specified environment of the introduction of any new factor, which may upset the current ecological balance
• Environmental Degradation


  The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs
• Forecast


  Definite statement or statistical estimate of the occurrence of a future event
• Geological Hazard


  Natural earth processes or phenomena that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)


  Analysis that combine relational databases with spatial interpretation and outputs often in form of maps
• Greenhouse Gas (GHG)


  Gas, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), that absorbs and re-emits infrared radiation, warming the earth's surface and contributing to climate change
• Hazard


  A potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon or human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation
• Hazard Analysis


  Identification, studies and monitoring of any hazard to determine its potential, origin, characteristics and behavior
• Hydrometeorological Hazards


  Natural processes or phenomena of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature, which may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation
• La Niña


  Approximately the opposite condition to El Niño
• Land-use Planning


  Branch of physical and socio-economic planning that determines the means and assesses the values or limitations of various options in which land is to be utilized with the corresponding effects on different segments of the population or interests of a community taken into account in resulting decisions
• Mitigation


  Structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of natural hazards, environmental degradation and technological hazards
• Natural Hazards


  Natural processes or phenomena occurring in the biosphere that may constitute a damaging event
• Preparedness


  Activities and measures taken in advance to ensure effective response to the impact of hazards, including the issuance of timely and effective early warnings and the temporary evacuation of people and property from threatened locations
• Prevention


  Activities to provide outright avoidance of the adverse impact of hazards and means to minimize related environmental, technological and biological disasters
• Public Awareness


  The processes of informing the general population, increasing levels of consciousness about risks and how people can act to reduce their exposure to hazards
• Public Information


  Information, facts and knowledge provided or learned as a result of research or study, available to be disseminated to the public
• Recovery


  Decisions and actions taken after a disaster with a view to restoring or improving the pre-disaster living conditions of the stricken community, while encouraging and facilitating necessary adjustments to reduce disaster risk