Key Terms and Concepts used in

Disaster management

Puleh Steven Sean

Dep’t of Health Sciences
DISASTERS

& EMERGENCIES

DEFINITIONS
DISASTER :
A disaster is an occurrence disrupting the
normal conditions of existence and causing a
level of suffering that exceeds the capacity of
adjustment of the affected community.

It is the people who matter most, and

without the people we have no disaster.
THE DISASTER -DEVELOPMENT
 DRR Key Concepts: Session
Objectives
At the end of this session, participants will:
 Understand commonly used disaster management
terminology
 Be able to explain what is meant by and the difference
between disaster preparedness, mitigation, prevention and
response
 Begin to consider how these concepts in relation to
education and how they vulnerability and capacity impacts
upon education at individual, community and system levels
Natural Hazard Vs disaster
A natural hazard is a natural phenomenon
that can potentially trigger a disaster

Examples include earthquakes, mud-slides,

floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis,
drought
These physical events need not necessarily
result in disaster
A disaster is a serious disruption of the
functioning of a community or a society
involving widespread human, material,
economic or environmental losses and
impacts, exceeding the ability of the
community to cope using own resources
What is risk?
The product of hazards over which we have
no control. It combines:
the likelihood or probability of a disaster
happening
the negative effects that result if the
disaster happens
Risk
These are increased by vulnerabilities
(characteristics/circumstances that make
one susceptible to damaging effects of a
hazard)
and decreased by capacities (combination of
strengths, attitudes and resources)
 Terminology

Prevention: outright avoidance of the adverse

affects of hazards / disasters
Mitigation: the process of lessoning or
limiting the adverse affects of hazards /
disasters
Preparedness: knowledge and capacities to
effectively anticipate, respond to and
recover from impacts of likely hazard
Terminology
Risk Reduction: practice of reducing risks
through systematic efforts to analyze and
manage the causal factors of disasters,
including through reduced exposure,
lessened vulnerability, improved
preparedness
Response: provision of emergency services
to save lives, meet needs
 Appropriate disaster prevention,
mitigation, preparedness and
response builds on people’s
capacities and tackles the causes of
vulnerability
How do the concepts of vulnerability and
capacity apply to education?

Within education systems, what kinds of

vulnerabilities typically exist?
What capacities exist that could enable
education to continue with minimum
disruption?
How can education be used as a vehicle for
increasing capacities to reduce vulnerability
to disaster?
 CONTINUUM RELIEF-
DEVELOPMENT

DISASTER

Response
Preparedness

Rehabilitation
Prevention

Reconstruction

Disaster prevention, mitigation & preparedness

safeguard development.
Good response facilitates recovery and
development.
Africa’s hazards and vulnerabilities have been
the targets of 30 years of
development: their persistence testifies to as
many failures.
Today, ever-increasing resources are spent for
disaster relief, at the expense of development.
But only development can reduce
vulnerabilities, and the hazards arising from
the socio-economic structure.
 THE DISASTER-
DEVELOPMENT CONTINUUM

Disasters and crisis

(“emergencies”) are not aberrant phenomena.

They are reflections of the ways societies

structure themselves and allocate their
resources.
 Every year
Western Governments spend
USD 100 billion subsidizing power stations
( i.e. Global Warming )
USD 300 billion subsidizing agriculture
( i.e. Deforestation and Overgrazing )
USD 50 billion subsidizing fisheries ( i.e.
Overfishing )

(Worldwatch Institute, 1996)

EMERGENCY
a state in which normal procedures are
suspended and extra-ordinary measures are
taken in order to avert a disaster
Definition:
HAZARD
A natural or human-made event that
threatens to adversely affects human life,
property or activity to the extent of causing
a disaster.
HAZARDS AND DISASTERS: CLASSIFICATION
STORM

HEAT WAVE
SUDDEN
OCCURRENCE
FREEZE
MONOCAUSAL
EARTHQUAKE

BY NATURAL
CAUSES VOLCANIC ERUPTION
INSUFFICIENT
CAPACITY OF
RESPONSE
LANDSLIDE

DROUGHT
PROGRESSIVE
OCCURRENCE FLOOD

MULTICAUSAL
EPIDEMIC

PEST
DISASTER
FIRE

EXPLOSION
SUDDEN
OCCURRENCE COLLISION

MONOCAUSAL
SHIPWRECK

BY HUMAN STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE

CAUSES
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
PROGRESSIVE
OCCURRENCE WAR
MULTICAUSAL
ECONOMIC CRISIS
 A disaster occurs when hazards and vulnerability meet

VULNERABILITY DISASTER HAZARD

Underlying causes Dynamic pressures Unsafe conditions

Trigger event
Poverty Lack of Fragile physical
Limited access to - local institutions environment
- power structures - education - dangerous locations
Earthquake
- resources - training - dangerous buildings, High winds, storm
Ideologies - appropriate skills etc. Floods
Landslide
Economic systems - local investments Vulnerability
Age - local markets Fragile local economy Volcanic eruption
Sex - services - low levels of income + Hazard Drought
Illness and disabilities - press freedom - livelihoods at risk War, civil strife
=DISASTER
Economic crisis
Macro-forces Public actions
Technological accident
- population expansion
- urbanization
- environment de gradation
VULNERABILITY
the predisposition to suffer damage due to
external events
SUSCEPTIBILITY exposure to danger
 RESILIENCE

• adaptability, capacity to recover

• Poverty,
• population growth
• and urbanization force
• living in unsafe areas
Site after pressures from population growth and urbanization
 Disaster Management and
Emergency Management

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Preparedness Response/Relief

Rehabilitation
Mitigation/
Prevention

Reconstruction
Pre-disaster: risk reduction
Post-disaster: recovery
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT RELIEF
AIMS OF DISASTER
MANAGEMENT

Reduce (avoid, if possible) the

potential losses from hazards

Assure prompt and appropriate

assistance to victims when necessary

Achieve rapid and durable recovery

CAPACITY
Ability, ableness to do

Capacity for emergency management is

made of:
INFORMATION
AUTHORITY
INSTITUTIONS
PARTNERSHIPS
PLANS, RESOURCES AND
PROCEDURES
TO ACTIVATE THEM
MITIGATION: permanent reduction of the risk of
disaster
“Primary Mitigation”

reducing the PRESENCE of the Hazard

reducing VULNERABILITY
“Secondary” Mitigation:

reducing the EFFECTS of the Hazard

( Preparedness )
PREPAREDNESS

The measures that ensure the organized

mobilization of personnel, funds, equipment

and supplies within a safe environment for

effective relief
RESPONSE

The set of activities implemented after the

impact of a disaster in order to assess the
needs, reduce the suffering limit the spread
and the consequences of the disaster open
the way to rehabilitation
REHABILITATION:
The restoration of basic social functions.
RECONSTRUCTION:
The full resumption of socio-economic
activities plus preventive measures.
 ELEMENTS OF DISASTER
MANAGEMENT
Disaster preparedness planning
* vulnerability and risk assessment
Disaster response
* Disaster assessment
Rehabilitation & reconstruction
Disaster mitigation
Thank you