INTRODUCTION TO

DISASTERS AND
DISASTER RISKS
• In the Philippines, we have experienced extreme
natural or man-made events that have claimed
thousands of lives and damaged billions of pesos’
worth of property. More often than not, these
events have been ingrained such as extreme
events. Some vents are sudden and unexpected,
such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,
while in other events, we have enough time for
early warning system to be put in effect, such as
when there are storm surges or typhoons.
What is disasters?
When we hear the word “disaster”, several
extreme events come into mind, depending on
our geographical location, knowledge, and own
experiences. Some might think a typhoon that
caused severe flooding and affected hundreds
of people in their barangay can be considered a
disaster. Other might think a severe earthquake
that led to the collapse of houses, burying
household members, is undoubtedly a disaster.
• Disasters are integral to human lives. The world
experiences disasters almost everyday. We are
informed of such events through various media
platforms including television, radio, and even
on our smartphones. In the Philippines, being
nestled along the Pacific Ring of Fire, disasters
such as typhoons and earthquakes are normally
experience year-round.
• According to World Disaster Report 2013, the
Philippines is in fact the world’s third most
prone to disasters.
 What is disaster?
• The term “disaster” originated from the French
word “desastre” which is a combination of the
words “des” meaning bad and “aster” meaning
star. From this, it can be inferred that disaster is
literally means bad star.
• Disaster is a serious and tragic event that causes
loss of lives, human suffering, and great
damages to properties and environment. It
disrupts the current state of communities,
affecting wide- ranging aspects of community life.
 HAZARD: EXPOSURE:
Population and
Waves, Storms, erosion,
infrastructure situated in
sea level rise low-lying coastal areas.

RISK

Vulnerability:
Susceptibility capacity to
cope and/ or adapt
 What is disaster risk?
• Disaster pose various risks to society.
According to United Nations International
Strategy on Disaster Reduction (ISDR),
disaster risk is the potential loss in lives,
health status. Livelihoods, and various assets
which are often challenging to quantity.
However, by having knowledge on the
scientific and local context behind hazards,
disaster risks can be assessed and mapped.
• Disaster risks can be categorized as either
intensive or extensive.
Intensive Risks – involve the exposure of large
number of people in a specific geographic area
to extreme events that can further lead to
catastrophic disaster impacts involving high
mortality rate and asset loss.
Extensive Risks- concerned more on the
exposure of dispersed populations to various
hazards of low or moderate intensity.
Disaster can considered as “acute” or “slow” at
their onset.

Acute Slow
Earthquake Drought
Flood Famine
Hurricane Desertification
Typhoon Deforestation
Tornado Pest Infestation
Fire
Tsunami
Storm surge
Volcanic eruption
Extreme cold or blizzard
HAZARD
 NATURAL HAZARDS
• Nature operates dynamically, making it very
unpredictable. Natural hazards are
phenomena that may cause severe death toll,
damages to property, environment, and socio-
economic condition of communities.
 Different types of Natural
Hazards
Biological hazard – This is directly
linked to an organic origin caused by
exposure of living organisms to toxic
substances and microorganisms that can
cause sickness.
Examples:
- Epidemic diseases caused by viral and
bacterial infection
 Different types of Natural
Hazards
Geologic hazard – In this hazard , events
that originated in solid ground count as
major precursor. These include earthquake,
volcanic eruptions and emission, and other
secondary hazards such as landslides and
mudflows.
 Different types of Natural
Hazards
Hydrometeorological hazard – This hazard
includes typhoons, thunderstorms, tornadoes,
floods, and even drought, among others.
Basically, this involves phenomena that are of
atmosphere, hydrological or oceanographic
nature that may cause loss of life, injury or other
health impacts, property damage, loss of
livelihoods and services social and economic
disruption or environmental damage.
 Exposure
• Concept of 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. Magnitude of
exposure varies depending on location and
interaction of elements.
Example: Those who live below the mountainous
areas are more exposed to hazards such as
landslides and rock falls those are in the cityscapes.
 Sensitivity
• Prevalent when we talk about disaster risk.
This is the degree to which a certain
community can be affected by hazards.
For instance, a community dependent on rain-
fed agriculture is more sensitive to rainfall
pattern changes than a community where
mining is the primary source of income.
 Vulnerability
• The concept of vulnerability explains how people and the
differences among them contribute to the situation or
context wherein they operate.
Vulnerability can be seen in various ways
- Economic factors associated with the levels of savings, debt ,
and availability of credit and insurance;
- Physical vulnerabilities including geographical location and
infrastructures and
- Social vulnerabilities such as education, peace and order,
good governance, health and nutrition and religion and
culture.
 Impacts of Disasters
• The impact of disaster can be identified as direct
indirect and intangible.
Direct losses – Includes physical effects such as
destruction and changes that reduce the
functionality of an individual or structure.
Indirect losses - affect society by disrupting or
damaging utility services and local businesses.
Intangible losses – include psychological
challenges caused by both direct and intangible
losses that individuals suffer from a disaster
 Social Impacts
• The primary damage disasters could be the
destruction of buildings and infrastructures. It
is in fact the most obvious form of onslaught
brought by disaster.
However, it cannot be denied that the impacts of
disasters are intertwined with the social aspect
of communities, including housing, health,
education, transportation and poltical instability
 Economic Impacts
• Some experts say that the basic structure of the economy is a
major determining factors 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.
In the case of earthquakes, the phenomena can temporarily
shutdown the production of industries and can also destroy
factories, roads, electricity lines, and offices.
This can have a negative impact in economic growth wherein the
damages may lead to a decline in capacity to import and export.
 Environmental Impacts
• Disasters create substantial environmental
degradation and ecological imbalance which
lessens the quality of people’s lives. Tress can
be uprooted due to the typhoons, hurricanes,
and strong winds, and there forest fires when
lighting hits a dry land