Hazard and Its Types Health Hazard

 Reproductive toxicity
Natural hazards - arise from natural processes in the  Respiratory sensitizer
environment.  Target organ toxicity
e.g. earthquakes, tsunami, landslides, volcanic eruptions and  Aspiration toxicity
floods
Exploding Bomb
Quasi-natural hazards- arise through the interaction of  Explosives
natural processes and human activities  Self-reactives
e.g. pollution or desertification, smog and fog
 Organic Peroxides
Technological (or man-made) hazards- These arise directly
as a result of human activities.
SKULL AND CROSSBONES
e.g. accidental release of chemicals, toxic and pesticides to
Fatal or toxic
floral and fauna
Acute toxicity
Hazards Signs and Symbols
Natural Hazards Signs and Symbols
These signs and symbols with corresponding meaning below
help people to be extra cautious, aware and observant in
surroundings.

Each picture is designed to become recognizable to

anyone as a signal word like “danger” or “warning”

Technology or Man Made Hazards Signs and Symbols

Flame
 Flammable Quasi-Natural Signs and Symbols
 Self-heating ENVIRONMENT
 Emits Flammable Gas
 Pyrophoric Aquatic toxicity

Air toxicity

Philippines: A Country Prone to Natural Disasters
The Philippines has experienced from an inexhaustible number of
deadly earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and other natural
disasters. This is due to its location along the Ring of Fire, a large
Pacific Ocean region where many volcanic eruptions and
earthquakes occur
Disaster
a sudden, calamitous occurrence that causes great harm,
injury, destruction, and devastation to life and property
Two elements that are affected
 Life
 Property
The effects vary – it maybe a minor damage (like broken
windows and doors), major damage (like torn rooftops, collapsed
walls), total destruction (like completely destroyed houses and
structures rendering them useless and inhabitable) and the worst
scenario, it can lead to death.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization
“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”
Disasters are often a result of the combination of: the exposure to
a hazard; the conditions of vulnerability that are present; and
insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the
potential negative consequences.
Its impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and other
negative effects on human physical, mental, and social wellbeing,
together with damage to properties, destruction of assets, loss of
services, social and economic disruptions, and environmental
degradation
Classification of Disasters
Natural Disasters – a natural phenomenon is caused by natural
forces, such as earthquakes, typhoon, volcanic eruptions,
hurricanes, fires, tornados, and extreme temperatures. They can
be classified as rapid onset disasters and those with progressive
onset, such as droughts that lead to famine. These events, usually
sudden, can have tremendous effects.
Man-made - Disasters caused by man are those in which major
direct causes are identifiable intentional or non-intentional human
actions.
Subdivided into three categories
Technological/industrial disasters - Unregulated
industrialization and inadequate safety standards increase the risk
for industrial disasters.
EXAMPLE: leaks of hazardous materials; accidental explosions;
bridge or road collapses, or vehicle collisions; Power cuts
.Terrorism/Violence - the threat of terrorism has also increased
due to the spread of technologies involving nuclear, biological,
and chemical agents used to develop weapons of mass could occur in a community or society over some specified future
destruction. time period.
EXAMPLE : bombs or explosions; release of chemical materials; the product of the possible damage caused by a hazard due to the
release of biological agents; release of radioactive agents; vulnerability within a community. It should be noted that the effect
multiple or massive shootings; mutinies of a hazard (of a particular magnitude) would affect communities
differently.
Complex humanitarian emergencies - the term complex
emergency is usually used to describe the humanitarian
emergency resulting from an international or civil war. In such
situations, large numbers of people are displaced from their
homes due to the lack of personal safety and the disruption of
basic infrastructure including food distribution, water, electricity,
and sanitation, or communities are left stranded and isolated in
their own homes unable to access assistance.
EXAMPLE: conflicts or wars and Genocide the deliberate killing of
a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic
group or nation
The damage caused by disaster cannot be measured. It also
differs with the kind of geographical location, climate, earth’s
specific characteristics, and level of vulnerability. These
determining factors affect generally the psychological, socio –
economic, political, and ethnical state of the affected area.
Risk and Disaster Risk
Risk - the combination of the probability of an event and its
negative consequences.
It is usually associated with the degree to which humans cannot
cope (lack of capacity) with a situation
Disaster Risk - potential (not actual and realized) disaster losses,
in lives, health status, livelihoods, assets, and services which
Recognize vulnerabilities of different elements exposed
to specific hazards
Physical vulnerability includes population density levels, place of
a settlement, the site design, and materials used for infrastructure
and housing. When hazardous events occur, normally physical
elements are severely damaged.
For example, UP Visayas buildings were totally destroyed
during the super typhoon Yolanda in 2008 leaving the
structure totally damaged. Another example is the decreased
in population density like what happened in Baguio during the
1990 earthquake in North Luzon when a lot of people were injured
and died
Social vulnerability happens due to inability of people,
organization, and societies to prevent severe effects from
hazards because of the expected behavior in social
interactions, institutions, and system of cultural values.
For example, during typhoon the line of communications were cut
off when cell sites shutdown or disruption of transport system due
to inability of small vehicles to pass through the flooded areas or
unpassable roads and bridges. With some difficulties in the
delivery of services such as relief goods and medicines, a lot of
problems occurred like shortage of food and spread of
infectious diseases. Therefore, when social elements were
exposed to hazard, these may lead to disruption of normal
processes and activities in the community.
Level of economic vulnerability is based on the economic status
of individuals, communities, and nations. The poorer the country,
the more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the funds or
budgets to build sturdy structures and put other engineering
measures in place which protect them from being affected by
disasters.
So, we can say that Philippines is more vulnerable to an
event such as earthquake compared to Japan. Though both
countries are exposed to earthquake hazard because both are
located in the Pacific ring of fire, but due to differences in
economic status, Japan is more resilient because of its ability
to afford changes in architectural and engineering designs of
building and infrastructures to make them less vulnerable
to earthquake. Another example is the Covid-19 pandemic
wherein the most affected are those who belong to low income
and informal workers.
Environmental vulnerability is caused by natural resources
depletion and destruction. Organisms like humans, animals,
and plants are all dependent on the environment for survival.
Human activities like deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, and
kaingin affect the natural abilities of the environment to protect
itself from any natural hazard due to absence of trees which may
cause landslide and flashfloods. Sometimes the effects are
irreversible.
Quantifying vulnerability is used in estimating how
much mitigation and preparedness measures will be applied.
Computation is based on the previous hazard events and
severity of their effects. Vulnerability can be expressed as: 0 =
lowest degree of vulnerability and 1 as the highest degree.
Vulnerability of people is the ratio of casualties or injured to the
total population. Vulnerability of buildings is expressed as a
repair cost or degree of damage.
The Philippines has high vulnerability due to the following
reasons
•It lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we are visited by an
average of 20 typhoons every year.
•Rugged nature of the landscape makes it vulnerable to Vulnerability in Disaster
landslide, mud flows, and other disasters.
•It is an archipelagic country with many small islands where Factors affecting vulnerability of one’s community
some areas are at below sea level
•It has the longest shoreline in the world at 32,400 km making it
vulnerable to storm surges.
•It is still a primary agricultural and fishing economy.
•With poor institutional and social capacity to manage,
respond, and recover from natural hazard events.
•With high level of poverty
•Aside from typhoon, it is also at risk to volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, and floods.
Differentiating Risk Factors
Underlying Disaster
RISK FACTORS
Exposure - the “elements at risk from a natural or man-made
hazard event (Quebral, 2016).
Hazard - a potentially dangerous physical occurrence,
phenomenon or human activity that may result in loss of life or
injury, property damage, social and economic disruption, or
environmental degradation.
Vulnerability - the condition determined by physical, social,
economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase
the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazard (Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United nation, FAO 2008).
Reduction of the level of vulnerability and exposure is
possible by keeping people and property as distant as possible
from hazards. We can not avoid natural events from occurring, but
we can concentrate on addressing the reduction of risk and
exposure by determining the factors causing disasters.
Risk Factors are processes or conditions, often
development-related, that influence the level of disaster risk by
increasing levels of exposure and vulnerability or reducing
capacity.
Take into consideration when risk factors underlying disaster
Severity of exposure - which measures those who experience
disaster first-hand which has the highest risk of developing
future mental problems, followed by those in contact with the
victims such as rescue workers and health care practitioners
and the lowest risk are those most distant like those who have
awareness of the disaster only through news.
Gender and Family - the female gender suffers more adverse
effects. This worsens when children are present at home. Marital
relationships are placed under strain.
Age - adults in the age range of 40-60 are more stressed after
disasters but in general, children exhibit more stress after
disasters than adults do.
Economic status of country - evidence indicates that
severe mental problems resulting from disasters are more
prevalent in developing countries like the Philippines.
Furthermore, it has been observed that natural disasters tend to
have more adverse effects in developing countries than do
man-caused disasters in developed countries.
Factors which underlie disasters:
Climate Change - can increase disaster risk in a variety of ways –
by altering the frequency and intensity of hazards events,
affecting vulnerability to hazards, and changing exposure
patterns. For most people, the expression “climate change” means
the alteration of the world’s climate that we humans are causing
such as burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other practices
that increase the carbon footprint and concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is in line with the
official definition by the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that climate change is the
change that can be attributed “directly or indirectly to human
activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and
which is in addition to natural climate variability observed
over comparable time periods”
Environmental Degradation - changes to the environment of disasters on the poor can, in addition to loss of life, injury and
can influence the frequency and intensity of hazards, as well as damage, cause a total loss of livelihoods, displacement, poor
our exposure and vulnerability to these hazards. For instance, health, food insecurity, among other consequences. Vulnerability
deforestation of slopes often leads to an increase in landslide is not simply about poverty, but extensive research over the past
hazard and removal of mangroves can increase the damage 30 years has revealed that it is generally the poor who tend to
caused by storm surges (UNISDR, 2009b). It is both a driver suffer worst from disasters
and consequence of disasters, reducing the capacity of the
Poorly planned and Managed Urban Development - A new
environment to meet social and ecological needs. Over
wave of urbanization is unfolding in hazard-exposed countries and
consumption of natural resources results in environmental
with it, new opportunities for resilient investment emerge. People,
degradation, reducing the effectiveness of essential ecosystem
poverty, and disaster risk are increasingly concentrated in cities.
services, such as the mitigation of floods and landslides. This
The growing rate of urbanization and the increase in population
leads to increased risk from disasters, and in turn, natural
density (in cities) can lead to creation of risk, especially when
hazards can further degrade the environment.
urbanization is rapid, poorly planned and occurring in a context
Globalized Economic Development - It results in an of widespread poverty. Growing concentrations of people and
increased polarization between the rich and poor on a global economic activities in many cities are seen to overlap with areas
scale. Currently increasing the exposure of assets in hazard of high-risk exposure.
prone areas, globalized economic development provides an
Weak Governance - weak governance zones are investment
opportunity to build resilience if effectively managed. By
environments in which public sector actors are unable or
participating in risk-sensitive development strategies such as
unwilling to assume their roles and responsibilities in
investing in protective infrastructure, environmental
protecting rights, providing basic services and public services.
management, and upgrading informal settlements, risk can be
Disaster risk is disproportionately concentrated in lower-income
reduced. Dominance and increase of wealth in certain regions and
countries with weak governance (UNISDR, 2015a). Disaster
cities are expected to have increased hazard exposure (Gencer,
risk governance refers to the specific arrangements that
2013).
societies put in place to manage their disaster risk (UNISDR,
Poverty and Inequality - Impoverished people are more likely to 2011a; UNDP, 2013a) within a broader context of risk
live in hazard-exposed areas and are less able to invest in governance (Renn, 2008 in UNISDR, 2015a). This reflects how
risk-reducing measures. The lack of access to insurance and risk is valued against a backdrop of broader social and economic
social protection means that people in poverty are often concerns (Holley et al., 2011).
forced to use their already limited assets to buffer disaster losses,
which drives them into further poverty. Poverty is therefore both a
cause and consequence of disaster risk (Wisner et al., 2004),
particularly extensive risk, with drought being the hazard most
closely associated with poverty (Shepard et al., 2013). The impact
Expose of Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability to Disaster Vulnerability means the characteristics and circumstances of a
Risk community, system, or asset, that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of a hazard and inability pf a community to
prevent, mitigate, prepare for and respond to hazardous event
Vulnerability
Vulnerability is a state of being at risk. According to Republic Act
10121 also known as ‘Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Act of 2010’, vulnerability is defined as the
characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or
resource that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a
hazard. With all the identified hazard at home, there is a possibility
that some family members might be susceptible or prone to the
accident due to the presence of hazard.
Vulnerability is also situation specific. This means that if a
specific province is prone to earthquake, it does not mean that all
localities on that province is vulnerable to it. The vulnerability of
different towns or cities or even provinces differ in the way they
prepare for the hazard and the amount and type of resources they
have in order prevent and manage it. To lessen vulnerability
means to make the community prepared and ready for the
possible damaging effect of the hazard. This further means that to
make the community less vulnerable, it must be resilient. So, to
develop resiliency at home, you should first identify the hazards
and be prepared all the time for the possible outcome and
respond immediately.
Moreover, it is also hazard specific. A community that is vulnerable
to earthquake hazard does not necessarily mean that it is also
vulnerable to typhoons. Hazards have different traits that can
influence the disasters possible to happen.
Disasters from Different Perspectives
The Different Perspectives of Disaster
Physical Perspective
Calamities are phenomena that cause great physical damage in a
community infrastructure, its people and their properties, e.g.
houses and environmental sources of living. These cited effects of
a disaster can be easily measured and the most common. Natural
disasters generally affect the physical infrastructural facilities,
agricultural productivity and even lead to loss of life and cause
damage to property. Various factors influence the effects of a
disaster on a country among them are the magnitude of the
disaster, the geography of the area affected, and the recovery
efforts directed towards reducing the immediate effects of a
disaster.
Effects of Physical Disasters
 Injuries
 Physical disabilities or illness
 Sanitation
 Damage in infrastructure
Psychological Perspective
Victims of disasters may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) and other serious mental health conditions,
which are not being given much attention to by the authorities or
even by the victims, themselves. (This may be sensitive
statement) Disasters are mostly unpredictable, which leave the
victims in a state of shock. They tend to deny the loss and try to
escape from reality. Being in a denial 7 state makes the victims
more vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and other different maladaptive
reactions. Death of a closed one also leaves the victim in a state
of insecurity because the sense of love, attachment and
belongingness are deprived
Psychological effects of a Disaster:
 distress hopelessness
 intrusion/avoidance emotional effects
 hatred/revenge cognitive Effects
 dependence/insecurities physical Effects
 grief/withdrawn/isolation interpersonal effect
 guilt feeling helplessness
 lack of trust
Socio-cultural Perspective
Filipinos are generally known as “matiisin”, resourceful, helpful,
optimistic, and prayerful. These characteristics are manifested in
the country’s recent fight against COVID19.Due to the National
Health Emergency, Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)
prevailed in the whole country. A lot of people temporarily lost
their jobs, some people stranded in different regions, repatriated
OFWs were held in different quarantine facilities in Metro Manila,
and all people were restricted to go out of their homes for months.
As a result, most Filipino families would rely on government’s help
for them to get by. However, limited resources and aids from the
government make people find possible ways to survive amid the
pandemic.
These traits help a lot of Filipinos to survive the challenge of
COVID19 in the country. To people who are used to natural
calamities like typhoons, flash floods, and volcanic eruptions most
citizen would find contentment with what they have at the moment.
The culture of “malalampasan din natin ‘to..” belief and “ bahala na
and Diyos” syndrome give hope to most Filipino in the midst of a
disaster. Such perspective helps a lot especially those who belong
to the marginalized sector to be hopeful and continue fighting
against any challenge at hand. Their belief that a help from
someone or from God would arrive at a time they most needed. It
also helps most people survive a lot of oddities in life.
Socio-Cultural Effect of Disasters
 change in individual roles
 disruption of social relationships and personal connections
Economic Perspective
Disasters affect the economic condition of a community because
they reduce local and international trade. It can also partially or
totally paralyze a country’s transportation system, just like what
happened in the COVID19 pandemic. 8 Implementation of a
partial and total shut down of local business operations result to a
lot of people losing means of living.
Economic Effects of Disasters
 loss of life
 unemployment
 loss of property
 loss of household articles
 loss of crops
 loss of public infrastructure
Political Perspective
Natural disasters are commonly thought to be less politically Pandemic Level: Biological disaster affects a much large region,
argumentative than armed conflicts, yet a closer look shows that sometime spanning entire continents or the globe
both the effects of a natural disaster and the resulting distribution
ex. Swine Flue
of humanitarian aid are profoundly linked to politics
Just as vulnerability to disasters is mediated by the political
system of a country, disasters can have major consequences for Effects of Biological Disasters
political stability and political legitimacy (Hörhager, July 2017.
Since agencies of government have a significant role to play in  loss of lives
directing disaster preparedness, prevention and recovery. Social  public demobilization
systems establish vulnerability to natural disasters and  negative economic effect
governments are often considered to be responsible for the  unemployment
disaster effects.
Political Effects of a Disaster

 People who have trust in political institution will assess the

government’s risk assessments as credible and accept
their hazard policies
 Low level of trust in public institutions therefore means that
citizens may ignore the recommendations and disregard
the information provided by these institutions
 If individuals are confident that they will receive sufficient
aid from the government when a disaster occurs, they
might not be motivated to take measures on their own

Biological Perspective
The disturbing effects caused by a prevalent kind of disease or
virus in an epidemic or pandemic level is known as biological
disaster.
Epidemic Level: Biological disaster affects large numbers of
people within a given community or area. Ex: Dengue.