UNIT – II

Topic – Understanding Disasters & Hazards, and related issues Social and
Environmental

Difference between a hazard and a disaster

Hazard is a condition/event that has potential for causing injury/ loss of life or
damage to property/environment.
Disaster is an event that occurs suddenly/unexpectedly in most cases and disrupts
the normal course of life in affected area; results in loss or damage to life property
or environment and is beyond the coping capacity of local affected
population/society and therefore requires external help.
Imagine you are in the desert and earthquake occurs. Now earthquake is a hazard
but in open desert it does not make in damage to you. No threat to your life. So it
does not become disaster. It remains as a hazard. Now imagine earthquake in a
city. There buildings collapse, people die or are injured, normal life is disrupted.
This is disaster situation.
A hazard is a situation where there is a threat to life, health, environment or
property. ...
These hazards are termed as disasters when they cause widespread destruction
of property and human lives. Once a hazard becomes active and is no longer just
a threat, it becomes a disaster.
 Social and Environmental impacts of disasters

Social impacts of disasters

Natural Disasters can cause social impacts that are similar in different types of
communities such as the need for rebuilding, urgent access to health care, simply
accessing shelter during/after a storm, availability to food and water, turning
towards the government and religious organization for aid and moral support.
Increased mental health issues, alcoholism, domestic violence, chronic disease
and short-term unemployment have resulted from extreme weather events such
as bushfires, severe storms, cyclones, floods and earthquakes
Emergency situations can be an incredibly stressful, disruptive and traumatic time
for those affected Whole communities can be uprooted, friends and family
divided, homes, livelihoods and of course, lives can be lost. In the aftermath of
such a disaster, people may experience a range of physical, psychological,
emotional or behavioural reactions that while perfectly natural, can significantly
impact their ability to cope with the situation.
People may experience shock and disbelief, fear and apprehension, anger, and
shame and guilt in the early days after an event, and in some cases over the longer
term. Trauma and grief will put personal, family and community relationships
under pressure. The mental health impacts of disasters can lead to an increase in
problematic alcohol and drug use, self-harm, violence and abuse - which may
well act as early warning signs. Whether or not they have experienced direct
losses, the disaster may trigger post-traumatic stress for people who have
experienced previous trauma, including war service, previous bushfires or house
fires, and family loss.
In addition, the ability of a community to recover from a disaster reflects its
underlying functioning. Communities that function well in everyday life, with
strong social connections and plentiful resources will often be most resilient when
facing a crisis. People and communities with pre-existing vulnerabilities or who
are disadvantaged are more at risk of the immediate, medium and long-term
effects of disasters, such as loss, injury, and social and economic hardship.
Environmental impacts of disasters
Major floods create myriad effects on river-floodplain ecosystems. During
periods of low flow, typically in midsummer, the rivers occupy channels. During
rainy seasons, rivers spill into their floodplains, recharging the surrounding
wetlands, forests, and lakes with fresh supplies of water, nutrients, and sediments.
During great floods, floodplains do not merely store water, but become part of
the flowing river itself, conveying water slowly downstream through the forests
and marshes. Plant and animal species have adapted over time to exploit, tolerate,
or escape seasonal floodpulses and exceptional great floods. The combination of
the flood-adapted animals and plants, the seasonal flows and great floods, the
river and its channels, and the complex patchwork of floodplain habitats
constitute the dynamic and phenomenally productive river floodplain ecosystem.

Large river-floodplain ecosystems provide valuable hydrological and ecological

services and functions, such as flood storage and conveyance; the maintenance of
biodiversity, retention, recycling, and conversion of potentially polluting
nutrients into useful biomass; production of fish, wildlife, and forests; and the
provisions of corridors for migratory fish and wildlife. Annual floodpulses help
regulate and maintain these ecosystems by promoting exchanges of water,
sediment, nutrients, and organisms between the rivers and their floodplains.
Moreover, infrequent great floods and droughts help maintain habitat and species
diversity.
Unlike floods, droughts also generally damage ecological systems and yield few
offsetting benefits. In fact, the most subtle and enduring impacts of droughts
occur in the environment. The cumulative stress on wetlands, wildlife, forests,
ground water, and soils cannot be measured accurately, and many effects occur
slowly and over a period of years, making them extremely difficult to quantify.

The problems generated by droughts begin with changes in the quantity and
quality of water available in the hydrologic system. Drought damages both plant
and animal species by depriving them of food and water, increasing their
susceptibility to disease, and increasing their vulnerability to predation. As with
floods, droughts produce a loss of biodiversity, and often increase erosion of dried
soils when rain eventually comes. Droughts also degrade water quality, shifting
salt concentration, pH levels and dissolved oxygen, while increasing water
temperatures. Even air quality is diminished because of increased dust and
pollutants. Droughts also lead to more wildfires, while adversely changing
salinity levels in coastal estuaries and reducing the flushing of pollutants.
Hurricanes and tropical storms create environmental damages within paths that
vary from 50 to 150 miles in width. The environmental consequences largely
consist of damages to trees and underbrush in the storm path. At the same time,
the long-term ecosystem damages of these storms are uncertain. To be sure,
during coastal storms in particular there is often significant erosion of shores and
beaches. In the long run, however, nature generally has adapted to these events,
so the extent of negative impacts of these events is not clear.
 Vulnerability and Risk

What is Vulnerability

Vulnerability describes the characteristics and circumstances of a community,

system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a
hazard. There are many aspects of vulnerability, arising from various physical,
social, economic, and environmental factors. Examples may include:
 poor design and construction of buildings,
 inadequate protection of assets,
 lack of public information and awareness,
 limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures, and
 disregard for wise environmental management.
Vulnerability varies significantly within a community and over time. This
definition identifies vulnerability as a characteristic of the element of interest
(community, system or asset) which is independent of its exposure.
There are four (4) main types of vulnerability:
1. Physical Vulnerability may be determined by aspects such as population
density levels, remoteness of a settlement, the site, design and materials used for
critical infrastructure and for housing.
Example: Wooden homes are less likely to collapse in an earthquake, but are
more vulnerable to fire.
2. Social Vulnerability refers to the inability of people, organizations and
societies to withstand adverse impacts to hazards due to characteristics inherent
in social interactions, institutions and systems of cultural values. It is linked to
the level of well being of individuals, communities and society. It includes
aspects related to levels of literacy and education, the existence of peace and
security, access to basic human rights, systems of good governance, social
equity, positive traditional values, customs and ideological beliefs and overall
collective organizational systems.
Example: When flooding occurs some citizens, such as children, elderly and
differently-able, may be unable to protect themselves or evacuate if necessary.
3. Economic Vulnerability. The level of vulnerability is highly dependent upon
the economic status of individuals, communities and nations. The poor are
usually more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the resources to build
sturdy structures and put other engineering measures in place to protect
themselves from being negatively impacted by disasters.
Example: Poorer families may live in squatter settlements because they cannot
afford to live in safer (more expensive) areas.
4. Environmental Vulnerability. Natural resource depletion and resource
degradation are key aspects of environmental vulnerability.
Example: Wetlands, are sensitive to increasing salinity from sea water, and
pollution from stormwater runoff containing agricultural chemicals, eroded
soils, etc.

What is Risk?

Risk (or more specifically, disaster risk) is the potential disaster losses (in terms
of lives, health status, livelihoods, assets and services) which could occur to a
particular community or a society over some specified future time period.
It considers the probability of harmful consequences, or expected losses (deaths,
injuries, property, livelihoods, economic activity disrupted or environmentally
damaged) resulting from interactions between natural or human induced hazards
and vulnerable conditions.
Risk can be calculated using the following equation:
Risk = Probability of Hazard x Degree of Vulnerability.
There are different ways of dealing with risk, such as:
Risk Acceptance: an informed decision to accept the possible consequences
and likelihood of a particular risk.
Risk Avoidance: an informed decision to avoid involvement in activities
leading to risk realization.
Risk Reduction refers to the application of appropriate techniques to reduce the
likelihood of risk occurrence and its consequences.
Risk Transfer involves shifting of the burden of risk to another party. One of
the most common forms of risk transfer is Insurance.