Prepared by:

Ms. Mel Villaranda

1. Meaning of disaster/ Concept of Disaster
2. Differentiate the risk factors underlying disasters;
3. Describe the effects of disasters on one’s life;
4. Explain how and when an event becomes a disaster;
5. Identify areas/locations exposed to hazards that may lead
to disasters; and
6. Analyze disaster from the different perspectives (physical,
psychological, socio-cultural, economic, political, and
biological)
7. Enumerate elements exposed to hazards;
8. Explain the meaning of vulnerability;
9. Explain why certain sectors of society are more vulnerable
to disaster than others;
10. Analyze why certain structures are more vulnerable to
specific hazards than others;
Disaster is a catastrophic
event which has impacted a
community to a degree
such that the affected
community is not able to
respond to it effectively.
A disaster happens when the
probable destructive agent, the
hazard, hits a vulnerable populated
area. A natural event like volcanic
eruption or tsunami which hits an
uninhabited area does not qualify as
a disaster. It becomes a disaster
only if it hits a vulnerable
population and properties--- in
short, if there are victims.
Effects of a disaster:
1. Life’s normal functions are
disturbed.
2.A significant number of
infrastructures are damaged
3.Sources of livelihoods are either
diminished 0
resources and forced to seek
help from the Government.
Risk - pertains to the
possible losses in life,
property, livelihood, assets,
and services as a result of
interaction between the
hazards that can cause
disasters and the conditions
of a community.
Reduction- pertains to
diminishing the risk that arises
from exposure to disasters.
How and what are the
processes to be undertaken to
make this happen are the
elements that go onto Disaster
Risk Reduction.
Disasters are in fact the
convergence of hazard and
vulnerabilities. In brief, hazards
pertain to a dangerous
phenomenon that may cause loss
of lives and negatively affect
social, economic and
environmental concerns.
Meanwhile vulnerability is the
level of susceptibility of a
community to such hazards.
HAZARD:
Waves,
storms, EXPOSURE:
erosion, Population
earthquakes and
and sea Infrastructure
level rise situated in
Risk low- lying
coastal
areas

VULNERABILITY:
Susceptibility to
damage and
capacity to cope
and/or adapt
What is a disaster risk?
According to (ISDR) International
Strategy on Disaster Reduction,
disaster risk is a potential loss in
lives, health status, livelihoods and
various assets which are often
challenging to quantify.
Disaster Risk can be categorized as
either INTENSIVE OR EXTENSIVE.
Intensive risk involved the exposure of
a large number of people in a specific
geographic area to extreme events
that can further lead to catastrophic
disaster impact involving high
mortality rate and asset loss.
Extensive risk is concerned more on the
exposure on dispersed populations to
various hazards of low or moderate
intensity.
Natural Hazards

Natural hazards are phenomena

that may cause severe death
toll, damage to property,
environment and socio-
economic condition of
communities.
Types of Natural hazards:
Biological Hazard this is directly
linked to an organic in origin
caused by exposure of living
organism to toxic substance and
microorganisms that cause
sickness. Example includes
epidemic disease caused by viral
and bacterial infections.
Geological hazards events
that originated in solid
ground count as major
precursor. Examples are
earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions and emissions,
landslides and mudflows.
Human Induced Hazards:

Industrialization and
Globalization are the kind of
hazard that sprouts from
technological and industrial
condition which include
infrastructure failures or
specific human activities.
Examples:
 transport accidents and chemical spills
 Impact of natural hazard like the Japan
earthquake which caused nuclear
contamination.
 Because of our highly interconnected
world, the transportation of hazardous
products becomes easily available to
communities.
 Bombing and bioterrorism- deaths
among civilians because of armed
conflicts
 Hydrometeorological hazard
includes typhoons,
thunderstorms,, tornadoes, floods
and even drought. Basically, this
involves atmospheric,
hydrological or oceanographic
nature that may cause damage.
Hazard Assessment is the
process of estimating for
defined areas, the probabilities
of the occurrence of potentially
damaging phenomenon of given
magnitude within a specified
period of time.- UNDRO
Methods to Assess natural hazards:
QUATITATIVE Approach. Mathematical functions
or equations relating to the hazards variables
used and formulated or adopted to quantify
the hazard.
QUALITATIVE Approach. This method uses
expert opinion in ranking in relative terms (
e.g. high, moderate and low) the intensity or
probability of a hazard event.
DETERMINISTIC Approach. Subjective approach
of estimating probability of each hazard
affecting an area or region by considering
past record of events.
Exposure is another concept in disaster
risk. This refers to people and
properties that are affected by
hazards.

Exposure can be measured by the

number of people or types of assets in
an area. Also geographical location is
a crucial factor. Magnitude of
exposure varies depending on location
and interaction of elements.
Example:
Those who lived below the
mountainous areas are more
exposed to hazards such as
landslides and rock falls than
those who are in the
cityscapes.
 Disaster affects various groups of
people differently. The concept of
vulnerability explains how people
and the differences among them
contribute to the situation or
context wherein they operate.
It comes in many types: social,
psychological, and physical
vulnerability.
In social vulnerability , such as lack of
inclusion of women in decision making
may lead to more vulnerable
communities. And those who are new to
the community because they are not yet
equipped about their culture.
In psychological vulnerability pertains to
the trauma of the loss that may translate
to an unhealthy condition.
Physical vulnerability includes physical
assets such as money and houses.
Those who are under privileged because
of lack of resources.
It can be identified as direct, indirect and
intangible losses on environment and
society as a whole.

Direct losses- include physical effects

such as destruction and changes that
reduce the functionality of an
individual or structure. This involves
the damages to people, building,
vehicles, clean up, and disposal costs.
Indirect losses- affect society by
disrupting or damaging utility services
and local businesses. Ex. Loss of
revenue, increase in cost or expenses
connected to the provision of
assistance, lodging, drinking water.
Intangible losses- include psychological
challenges caused by both direct and
intangible losses that individual suffer
from a disaster.
 Direct

Destruction
of a site of Property
cultural damage
significance
Quantifiable
Non- Quantifiable
measured
(difficult to assign
Numerically (
a monetary value)
monetary terms)
Business
Lost interruption
education and lost
income

Indirect
Housing
Disasters often displace a considerable number of people. The
destruction of houses which may be brought by floods and
earthquakes can lead to homelessness. It is prevalent in
developing countries that houses are also the site of small
businesses and livelihoods. If their houses wre damaged, the
source of income will be impaired.

Health
Health care infrastructure in most parts of the developing world are
vulnerable to hazards because of poor facilities.

Education
School facilities often serve as evacuation and relief centers when a
disaster strike. Disruption of educational services that can have a
long effects to both students and teachers.
Basic structure of the economy is the major determining factor
on the degree of vulnerability to hazards.
For example, countries dependent solely on agriculture will
likely suffer more from extreme weather events than those
with other sources of livelihood.
Natural disasters tend to have stronger impact on countries
with major debt and poverty problems.
It can be seen that disaster s can cause short term gross
domestic product (GDP) decline and vital changes in public
expenditure. Portion of funds are used for reconstruction,
repair, rehabilitation and medical aid.
Moreover, location is an important factor on the effect of
natural disasters to the economy. An area that operates in
industrial and high income economy tends to have greater
economic input than those that have fewer assets.
Disaster create substantial environmental degradation and
ecological imbalance which lessens the quality of people’s
lives. Tress can be uprooted due to typhoons, hurricanes and
strong winds and there could be forest fires when lightning
hits a dry land. But can also be beneficial in ecological sense,
floods nourish the soil and provide fresh supplies of water,
nutrients and sediments.

Disastrous events:
In 1978 earthquake hits China which killed more than 100,000
people. It breaks the wall of dams and a collapse of oil
producing infrastructures that may result in contamination due
to release of oil in land and sea.
Tsunami that hits South Asian region in 2004 not only destroyed
properties and brought a high toll of death, it also devastated
ecological habitats, causing long term effect in population of
species.
Answer the following questions:
1. What makes the communities vulnerable to
disasters?
2. According to the UN International Strategy on
Disaster Reduction, disaster risk is the potential
loss in lives, health status, livelihoods, and
various assets. In your own opinion, how can
people help reduce the impact and damage
brought by disasters to communities?
3. How can communities increase their capacity to
adapt to environmental changes and disasters?
4. How can disasters be beneficial in an ecological
sense?
5. What makes the Philippines very vulnerable to
natural disasters?