Today I will discuss the physical and psychological risk factors from pages

12-18

In basic terms, physical risk factors encompass everything that can be

touched or felt. In addition, the Rapid Growth of Cities contributes to the
Physical Risks that aggravates the effect of the disasters. Due to
overpopulation, many marginalized urban residents are
opting for improvised housing structures. These are houses that can
built as quickly as possible; standing too close
together, full of corners, and devoid of signs and
railings.
Improvised Housing Structures
Flimsy Method of Construction

As we all know, shelter is said to be one of the basic needs of human

survival. That’s why, inappropriate housing solutions together with
poorly constructed houses are considered as one of the main sources of
risks to disasters like structural collapse with a risk of falling from the
collapsed structure, being hit by falling material, and being crushed by
debris. Based on the article, Dhaka or Manila are all too often not only
forced to live in highly exposed locations, but frequently have to make do
with improvised housing structures which are highly susceptible to
damage or destruction, e.g. through flooding or storms.

Lack of Escape Routes and Barrier Free Spaces

Presence of Open Manholes and Trip Hazards

Lack of Escape routes and obstructions in fire exit routes, such as boxes,
equipment, stock etc. can in a fire or any emergency situations cause
people to fall, seriously hurt themselves, and even block the exit
passageway for others. Keeping exit passageways clear of obstacles
enables people to exit a building more quickly and safely. Furthermore,
based on Christoffel-Blindenmission(CBM) shows that in the event of a
disaster, persons with disabilities run a greater risk of injury or death,
on the one hand because they are forgotten when others escape the
danger or because obstacles prevent them from getting away in time, and
on the other hand because shelters and emergency accommodations are
often not designed with their needs in mind. Practice has shown that
many measures to create barrier-free areas can be implemented
in a very simple way and at a low cost – especially if they
are already considered when buildings are in the planning
stage.

Presence of Open Manholes and Trip Hazards can also play a role to the
occurence of potential dangers which may result in serious accidents.
The common one include falls and/or slips. It is also recognize that
citizens have been known to open up sanitary sewer manhole covers in
an attempt to drain flood waters. It is important for us to know that in as
little as six inches of swift moving water, an adult person can be knocked
off their feet. That’s why, opening up the manhole cover can cause an
inrush of groundwater that can suck in persons and debris causing
drowning and loss of life.

PSYCHOLOGICAL RISK FACTORS:

There are a variety of risks to healthy psychological functioning that an
individual can face, such as the death of or the separation from a loved
one, illness or poverty, as well as disaster experiences such as flood or
fire; they constitute potential sources of stress and trauma.

“Mind set that frames natural hazards as chiefly a problem of remote rural
areas, rather than urban centers”

This kind of mind set can be dangerous since emergencies and disasters
can occur anywhere in the world, affecting human health, people’s lives
and the infrastructure built to support them.

ASSOCIATE THEM IN YOUR LIFE IF IT MAY DIRECTLY

AFFECT YOU OR NOT
I think somehow the physical and psychological risk factors affected me
in some ways, because it affected the people that I know, because I still
remember when I was in Grade 4 or 5, there was a huge fire in apelo
cruz that our class were suspended, I think it was way back 2013, and a
lot of my classmates, friends and schoolmates lives in apelo cruz. The fire
started from one house because of a gas leak from a gas tank or LPG,
but because a lot of the houses in apelo were Improvised Housing
Structures therefore, it is poorly constructed houses that are standing too
close together full of corners and are made of light materials. Therefore,
the small fire that started in one house swiftly spread to other houses,
destroying hundreds of houses in the area and affecting many families.
In addition, the street was so narrow that the fire department struggled
to extinguish the fire. Overall, it affected many families in that area. And
during the fire some people were seriously injured and a lot of people
experienced anxiety and depression from losing their houses from the
fire.