Lesson 1

Disaster
Disaster is often used and related to an undesirable event or a bad experience. It is common
to hear “What a disaster!” from someone who is facing a difficult situation. What really is a
disaster and how is it related to hazard and vulnerability. Mistakenly, we call storms, floods,
earthquakes, explosions, pandemics, and many more as disasters, but they really are just
events called “hazards” that can be categorized asto natural or man-made.

What is hazard?
A dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life,
injury or other negative health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services,
social and economic disruption, orenvironmental damage.

What is vulnerability?
The characteristics and circumstancesof a community, system or asset that make it
susceptible (easily affected by) to the damaging effects of a hazard. If the hazard is present
but have not yet interacted with the vulnerable entities like people or structure, the damage
and losses that will probably happen are called risk, meaning a disaster haven’t occurred yet,
still they are being foreseen already. 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. In technical settings, hazards are
described quantitatively by the likely frequency of occurrence of different intensities for
different areas, as determined from historical data or scientific analysis.

What is risk?
The probability of harmful consequences, or expected loss of lives, people injured, livelihoods,
disruption of economic activities and damages to the environment as a result of interactions
between natural or human induced hazards and vulnerable/ capable conditions.

How does a hazard become a disaster?

Extreme natural events (hazards) do not necessarily turn into disasters. The World Risk
Report shows that the disaster risk is always made up of two components: exposure to
natural hazards and climate change, and social vulnerability. Relationship between
hazard, disaster, and vulnerability (a) No hazard or disaster (b) Disaster

Weakness in the system that makes the impact of the disaster greater. Human
activities 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). If the
geophysical hazard and human activity are closer together, a disaster can result. The more
severe the geophysical event and/or the more vulnerable the human population, the more the
two overlap and the larger the disaster.

What is disaster?
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.

In technical settings, hazards are described quantitatively by the likely frequency of

occurrence of different intensities for different areas, as determined from historical data or
scientific analysis.
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.

The following terms used in this module are defined as follows:

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)- is an infectious disease caused by severe acute

respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a new strain of virus first detected in
Wuhan, China in 2019.

Disaster- natural or man-made emergencies that cannot be handled by affected

communities
who experience severe danger and incur loss of lives and properties causing disruption in its
social structure and prevention of the fulfillment of all or some of the affected community’s
essential functions.

Disaster Impact- actual hazard event or its immediate consequences requiring

extraordinary
response.

Geophysical- deals with the physics of the Earth, including weather, winds, tides,
earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. and their effect on the planet Earth.

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.

Man-made hazard- hazard caused by human action or inaction.

Natural hazard- elements of the physical environment, harmful to man and caused by
forces extraneous to him; is an extreme event that occurs naturally and causes harm to
humans.

Pandemics- a disease outbreak that spreads across countries or continents.

Risk- the expected number of lives lost, persons injured, damage to property and disruption
of economic activity due to natural phenomenon, and consequently the product of specific
risk and elements at risk.

Susceptible- easily affected, influenced, or harmed by something.

Vulnerability- factors of the community that allow a hazard to cause a disaster. Or the
result of several factors that increase the chances of a community being unable to cope with
an emergency.

Lesson 2
Why Vanuatu is the world's most 'at-risk' country for natural hazards

Vanuatu is the world's most at-risk country for natural hazards, according to a UN University
WorldRisk Index. And it's not just storms, earthquakes, volcanoes or tsunamis that are the
problems. For four years running, Vanuatu has been ranked the world's most disaster-prone
country in an annual World Risk Report published by the United Nations University's Institute
for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).But just what is it that makes life on
Vanuatu so dangerous?

1. Natural disasters
Name a natural hazard, and Vanuatu likely knows it. In a country of roughly 250,000 people,
earthquakes place on average 90,000 per year at risk. Then again, what's "yearly risk" with
regard to rising sea levels or (infrequent) earthquakes? The exposure figure is an average: A
quake affecting a million people once a decade places 100,000 per year "at risk." The same
holds true for storms. Future rising sea levels of one meter will put about 30,000 people at
risk. This means 64 percent of Vanuatu's citizens are exposed to natural hazards every year.
It's significant in that nearby Tonga comes in at just 55 percent and that both volcanoes and
tsunamis - risk factors for both countries - were not in the global analysis. "Vanuatu is
unique," said the scientific head of the WorldRiskIndex, Professor Jörn Birkmann, in an
interview with Deutsche Welle (a German Television Network DW). Storms affect the small
island nation far differently than, say, Indonesia, the Philippines or US. "You might have
Hurricane Sandy going through the east coast, but the other parts of the country are not
exposed," Birkmann says. When a storm hits tiny Vanuatu, the entire country is affected -
including the capital.

2. Coping
This is another way of saying, "Will relief efforts actually get to the people who need them?"
With eighty-one percentage points on the index, Vanuatu lacks coping capacities. First, this
reflects a government's inability to help citizens in distress. Second, it's a deeper problem of
corruption and poor governance. For example, the UNU-EHS' index bases its numbers on data
in the Failed State Index by the US-based Fund For Peace (non-governmental research and
educational institution: works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security), as
well as the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International (German
nongovernmental organization, purpose is to take action to combat global corruption). One of
point of comparison: Manila was better able to "cope" with Typhoon Haiyan since the
Philippine capital was not struck severely by the storm. Porta Vila, Vanuatu, however, was
struck as fiercely as its outlying islands. Helicopters were unable to conduct immediate search
and rescue operations on its 65 inhabited islands.

3. Susceptibility
On susceptibility, Professor Birkmann cites sanitation as an indirect indicator: In good times,
just 57 percent of Vanuatu's citizens enjoying access to sanitation and sufficient sewage
(waste water) disposal. "This might sound high - it's more than half - but here in northern
countries you have 98, 99 percent. Or compare it to the Philippines, and problems with
Typhoon Haiyan, where access to sanitation is still much higher at 74 percent. So Vanuatu
has severe deficits and challenges," he says. Other contributing factors: Roughly ten percent
of the country lives in extreme poverty, with eight percent of people chronically
undernourished.

4. Adaptation
"Usually the Red Cross looks at a months-long recovery process. But for us it was important
to look ahead, 50 years, at the capacity to change," says Birkmann. Factors include adult
literacy rates, school enrollment, gender equality, investment, public health expenditures, life
expectancy, and others. Importantly, it also includes a factor which some countries can
change, but Vanuatu mostly cannot: Where its citizens live. "In the US or UK you could
prohibitconstruction in flood areas. But here, you don't have too many places that are not
exposed to hazards," Birkmann says. Professor Birkmann says politicians often fail to think
about and begin to deal with - or intentionally avoid - social and governmental failings when
addressing disaster prevention and relief.

World Risk Index

To arrive at Vanuatu's overall WorldRiskIndex number of 36.5 percentage points, the UN
University researchers took the number of citizens potentially exposed to natural hazards and
multiplied it by an overall "vulnerability" - an average based on susceptibility, lack of coping
capacities and a lack of adaptive capacities.Birkmann cites Japan as an example. "Japan is
highly exposed with the number of peopleexposed to earthquakes, but disaster risk is lower
due to a higher level of preparedness with regard to building codes and infrastructure there,"
he says. "The question of whether an extreme impact is a catastrophe heavily depends on the
vulnerability."

Disaster Risk
Disaster risk- refers to the expectation value of deaths, injuries, and property losses that
would be caused by a hazard. It tends to quantify/measure the impact.

What are the Elements of Disaster Risk?

Disaster risk is expressed as a function/relationship between hazard, exposure and
vulnerability.

Disaster Risk = Hazard X Exposure X Vulnerability

What is the basis for quantifying disaster risk?
The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in
Bonn calculated a risk score for 173 countries throughout the world. The Philippines ranks
third highest to risk to disasters in the 2015 World Risk Report released by UNU-EHS. The
report measures risks using a system called the World Risk Index.

What is World Risk Index?

The world risk index is composed of 28 indicators grouped into four components namely:
exposure, susceptibility, coping capacity and adaptive capacity.

Four Components of World Risk Index:

1. Exposure to natural hazards such as earthquakes, storms, floods, droughts and sea
level rise. The following hazards were selected for they were responsible for most of the
human casualties and material damage; entities (persons, resources, infrastructure,
production, goods, services or ecosystems and coupled social-ecological systems) exposed
and prone to be affected by a hazard event.

2. Susceptibility is understood as the likelihood of suffering harm and damages in case of

the occurrence of a natural hazard. Conceptually, susceptibility has been separated into
subcategories that reflect the living situation and conditions of people within a country:
public infrastructure, housing conditions, nutrition, poverty and dependencies,
economic capacity and income distribution.

3. Coping capacity (short-term)- ability of societies and exposed elements (such as systems
and institutions) to minimize the negative impact of natural hazards and climate change
through direct action and resources to avert damage; characterized by government and
authorities, disaster preparedness and early warning, medical services, social
networks, and material coverage.

4. Adaptive capacity (long-term)- intended to future natural events and climate change;
permanent change that would enable adaptation to environmental and societal change
through: education and research, gender equity, environmental status/ecosystem
protection, adaptation strategies, and investments.

1. Exposure
Population exposed to:
A. Earthquakes
B. Storms
C. Floods
D. Droughts
E. Sea level rise

2. Susceptibility
Public infrastructure
A. Share of the population without access to improved sanitation
B. Share of the population without access to an improved water source
Housing conditions
C. Building material Nutrition Poverty and dependencies
D. Share of the population below the local poverty line
E. Assistance for the poor
F. Dependency ratio (share of under 15 and over 65-year-olds in relation
to the working population)
G. Share of female-headed households Economic capacity and income
distribution
 H. Gross regional product
I. Income distribution

3. Coping capacities Government and authorities

A. Sustainable security (share of villages where at least one riot has
occurred)
B. Unemployment rate Disaster preparedness and early warning
Medical services
Social networks:
C. Number of cooperatives and social organizations per 10,000 inhabitants
D. Presence of active NGOs per villageMaterial coverage
E. Diversification of household income
F. Landownership
G. Income per capita

4. Adaptive capacities
Education and research
A Gross school enrolment
B Educational achievement Gender Equity
C Share of female village heads or mayors Environmental status /
ecosystem
protection
D Ecological footprint Adaption strategies
E Diversification of the labour market at the district level
Investment

 Susceptibility, coping capacity and adaptive capacity focuses on characteristics of

vulnerability of societies and social actors.
 Susceptibility, coping capacity and adaptive capacity are sometimes seen as the
before,
during and after the disaster.

As you can see a lot of factors are being considered, because the impact of disaster is not
dependent alone to the magnitude/strength of the hazard, a reason why the indicators and
data acquired globally by United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human
Security (UNU-EHS) scientists and practitioners are always being updated.

How can we reduce disaster risk?

Can we control or stop natural hazards like

storms and earthquakes from happening?
The following terms used in this module are defined as follows:
Adaptive capacity – refers to the size of the population that can survive on available resources.
Carrying capacity – serves as the basis for sustainable development policies that attempt to
balance the needs of today against the resources that will be needed in the future.
Catastrophe – an unexpected event that causes great suffering or damage.
Coping capacity – the ability of people, organizations and systems, using available skills and
resources, to manage adverse conditions, risk or disasters.
Disaster risk – expressed as the likelihood of loss of life, injury or destruction and damage from a disaster
in a given period of time.
Exposure – the extent of the effect in terms of land area or number of persons of a natural hazard towards
a community.
Foresighting – is a systematic process of collecting information, analyzing facts and making conclusions
about needed actions that are actually purposeful.
Hazards – phenomenon that can pose danger and cause damage in general.
Indicators - measure the potential impact of natural hazards, the key element of those countries’
vulnerability, and their capacity to manage risk; indicators are designed to generate knowledge and awareness
within the Bank and among its member countries of the importance of disaster risk management for
development.
Impact – the extent of the effect of a natural hazard towards a community.
Mind map – is a diagram used to visually organize information.
Resilient – the ability of a community to resist and adapt upon exposure to hazards.
Storm surge – phenomenon that deals with abnormal rise or change in water level due to its relative storm
path.
Susceptible - easily affected, influenced, or harmed by something.
Vulnerability – state of being open to damage or injury.
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Disasters whether natural or man- made in origin affects the usual way the society
acts and to the people’s lives directly and indirectly. Physical losses, damages to
structures, creation of mitigation structures and materials are direct effects.
Increasing material costs and expenses, psychological effects are indirect effects.

Furthermore, normally we see the effect of disasters on their physical effects but
aside from it there are many aspects of the society that we should look into. We must
also widen our views including the political, biological, economical, socio-cultural and
psychological sides of an occurring disaster.

Let us look into the different perspectives in analyzing a disaster.

A. Different perspectives of disaster

1. Physical
The presence of tangible objects and infrastructure affects people and the
environment. Physical factors refer to structures such as evacuation centers, sea and
river walls, fire exits, fire hydrants and objects such as signages which could help
people during disaster. In contrary, it also refers
to objects and structures which could contribute in harming and disrupt people’s life
and intensify the effect of disaster such as hanging debris, exposed wirings etc. The
intensity of a destruction of a disaster depends on the presence and quantity of
objects and infrastructures to mitigate the disaster or contribute to its complexity.
Physical effects can either harm or help you. Typhoon Nina hit Bicol Region in
December, 2016 which lead to destruction of houses and infrastructures.
Catanduanes as one of the centers of destruction experienced devastation in houses,
public and
commercial buildings and vehicles. Roads were covered with mud and uprooted trees;
electrical posts and telecommunication lines were distorted. Disasters such as
typhoons, earthquakes, fires, and tsunamis have been known to cause massive and
long-lasting effect. As the country experience different types of disaster several
advancements in technology have been done such as:

• The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration

(PAGASA) for instance have utilized doppler radars in Baras, Catanduanes and other
areas of the country and;
• flood/flashflood hazards maps to mitigate the risks from severe winds and floods.
• The Department of Science and Technology started disaster science research and
development to use technologies for innovative information services to support the
government's disaster prevention and mitigation efforts.

2. Psychological
The strength of a disaster is usually measured through the extent ofphysical
destruction than the mental well-being of people.Assuming that people have been hit
by typhoon, earthquake, floods
and fire the mental health is affected as well. Stressors caused by certaintype of
disasters can persist longer than the physical effects. Facing grief,fear and
unexpected intrapersonal and societal changes can be tough to people.Psychological
aspects of disasterinclude mental health
capacity and self-awareness of people which could help or worsen the complexity of a
disaster. This includes the capability of people to respond to disaster and their extent
to which they could respond to it and accept results. Wars have greatly affected
peoples’ lives especially in children.
Efforts so that panic and fear will be less when facing threats of disasters are done. In
fact, The Disaster Risk Reduction Management Plan 2011-2028 included disaster
preparedness in schools and the community through
a. Advocacy;
b. information;
c. education and;
d. communication such as capability buildings, drills and
symposiums and curricular inclusions.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) has strategize the
plan “Volcano, Earthquake, and Tsunami Disaster Risk Reduction Program,” which
includes seminars, workshops, trainings, lectures and drills for various individuals.

3. Sociocultural
Culture and tradition are rarely seen to change because of the occurrence of disasters
but various socio-cultural actions and disaster risk are related. Socio-cultural factors
of disaster include religion and faith, societal traditions, perceptions and social
standings. In some situations, culture has become a factor for communities’ survival
from disasters where as in some situations culture has acted as a barrier for effective
risk reduction activities.Filipinos are known for its resiliency amidst calamities. They
remain steady and positive to face challenges that come each day. These are various
coping strategies which most Filipinos do to respond to demands from unexpected or
terrifying Familial support Faith Based Resiliency Positivity Flexibility Sense of humor

4. Economic
Physical damages on assets, machineries and livestock in addition to property loss,
environmental damage, trauma, health, loss of lives and disruption of communities
can severely affect economic activity in periods depending on the extent of damage.
The figure below shows a disaster’s
economic impact. Economic factors include assets and liabilities, income, economic
class, etc. Normal business, establishments and work processes such as
manufacturing, delivering and processing can stop during disasters. The country’s
economy can be affected depending on the strength its capability to endure the
irregularities. Countries with weaker economy take longer time in recovering than
more stable countries that is why third world countries such as the Philippines
experiences more problems during disasters. Today, closure among business
establishments and livelihood, competition to resources are among the many effects
of the Corona Virus Disease which threatens economic stability of the Philippines
today. On the positive side, in the study Natural Disasters, Public Spending, and
Creative Destruction: A Case Study of the Philippines showed that the preventive and
post disaster actions of the local government units in the Philippines helps in
decreasing economic impacts of disaster. The allocation of funds for reconstruction
and rehabilitation can open ways for updating structures, machineries and technology
thereby posing better long-term effect to the economy. Reports show economic
resilience of the Philippines amidst several disasters such as typhoons and
earthquakes.

5. Political
Politics can be affected in the time of a disaster. Government structure and political
actions can change depending on the need. Political actions during and after a
disaster can be ways to update existing laws, rules and physical aspects of the
government. Resources and funds can be realigned to focus on building local
resilience and for rehabilitation and reconstruction. People turn to their leaders on
how they respond to the needs of the society during catastrophic events on the other
hand differences in political views can also result to conflicts.

6. Biological
Disaster can affect plant and animal habitats which can change the way our biosphere
work. Our environment heals itself as it has faced several disasters long before we
existed in this planet. Moreover, studies shown that most causes of disasters came
from manmade activities. On the other hand, When the environment is sustainably
managed it can contribute to physical and economic aspects of the community. Plants
an animal can be sources of food, medicine and even building materials for shelter.
Furthermore, it could also be sources of income such as tourism.
Thereby decreasing the consequences of a disaster.
In terms of humanitarian health, the occurrence of disasters exposes people to
acquire communicable diseases e.g. diarrhea, fractures, respiratory illness, fever
among others. Early detections, treatments and advancements in medical facilities
reduces the complexity of problems due to disasters. Vaccines and drugs are made to
treat diseases and infections.

B. Analyzing different perspectives of Disaster in the Philippines

The Philippines’ form of government is unitary presidential constitutional republic
serving over 100 million Filipinos of different ethnic groups and cultures. The chief
source of living in the country is agriculture-related farming, mining, forestry, and
fishing with a gross Domestic Product of (GDP-PPP) of7,41202 million US dollars per
capita. In 2015, it is considered as a lower middle-income country.