Hazard, Risk,Vulnerability

and Disaster?

How these terms are

interconnected to each other?

Objectives of the discussion

9 Distinguish between the concepts of hazard,

hazard event, secondary hazards, multiple hazards
and disaster
9 Classify and describe types of hazards
9 Explain hazard characteristics such as magnitude,
frequency, intensity and rate of onset and their
importance
• Conduct hazard identification, hazard assessment
and hazard mapping and explain their functional
value

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 Risk Management

There is a
potential for
occurrence
of an event

HAZARD is any substance,

phenomenon or situation, which has
the potential to cause disruption or
damage to people,their property, their
.
services and their environment
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center Training & Education Division

LANDUSE-
LAO PDR
Classification of Hazards

ƒNatural
ƒBiological
ƒTechnological
ƒSocietal

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 ¾ Atmospheric Atmospheric
S ingle elemen t Comb ined elemen ts/even ts
Exce s s rainfall Hurricane s
Fre ez ing rain (glaze) ‘Glaze’ storms
Hail Thunde rstorms
Heavy s now falls Blizza rds
High wind speeds Tornadoes
Extreme tempe ra tures He at/cold stres s

2. Hydrologic
Floods – river and coa stal
Wa ve ac tion
Drought
Rapid g lacier ad vance
4. Biologic
Epide mic in hu mans
Epide mic in p lan ts
Epide mic in an imals
Locus ts
3. Geologic
Mass -movemen t
Land slides
Muds lide s
Avalanche s
Ea rthquake
Volcan ic erupt ion
Ra pid sed imen t move ment
5. Tech nologic
Transpo rt acciden ts
Indus trial explos ion s and f ires
Acciden tal relea se of toxic
chem icals
Nuclea r ac cident s
Collapse of pub lic bu ildings

Secondary hazards

These are hazards that follow as a result of other hazard events. Hazards
secondary to an earthquake may be listed as follows to illustrate the
concept. Primary hazard is the earthquake. Secondary hazards are

• Building collapse
• Dam failure
• Fire
• Hazardous material spill
• Interruption of power/ water supply/ communication/
transportation/ waste disposal
• Landslide
• Soil liquefaction
• Tsunami (tidal wave)
• Water pollution
Rate of onset

Include rapid-onset and slower-acting (slow onset) natural hazards.

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Multiplehazards

Whenmore thanone hazardeventimpacts the samearea, there arises a

multiple hazard situation. These different hazard events may occur at the
same timeor maybespaced out in time.

The Return Period

Majority of hazards have return periods on a human time-scale.

Examples are five-year flood, fifty-year flood and a hundred year flood.
This reflects a statistical measure of how often a hazard event of a given
magnitude and intensity willoccur. The frequency is measured in terms of
a hazard’s recurrence interval.

Hazards on the rise?

Climate
Change
Sea level rise
Global worming • Urbanization
• Population growth
• Land degradation
• poverty

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 Hazard assessment
INTRODUCTION
• A hazard is a potentially damaging event and the measure of hazard is
it’s probability of occurrence at a certain level of severity within a
specified period of time in a given area.

• Hazard identification implies to “what

might happen and where?”
• Hazard assessment implies to “How and
when?”

HAZARD ASSESSMENT
"The process of studying the nature
of natural /man made hazards
determining its essential
features(degree of severity
,duration,extent of the impact
area)and their relationship"..

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 ASSESSMENT APPROACHES

Quantitative Approach

• Use mathematical functions with numerical

values
• Each variable will describe the relationship
among parameters that characterize the
phenomena

ASSESSMENT APPROACHES

Qualitative Approach

• Use qualitative descriptions (such as low,

medium or high) instead of numerical
values

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 ASSESSMENT METHODS

Deterministic Approach.

• Determined through associated physical

characteristics and analysis of
consequences.

ASSESSMENT METHODS
Probabilistic Approach

• Estimates the probability of each hazard affecting

an area or region, and likelihood of occurrence
and can be determined through research studies,
simulation studies, etc (eg. Flood/erosion
simulation studies, slope stability calculations,
landslide hazard zonation).

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 ASSESSMENT METHODS

Informal Ranking
• Uses subjectively defined scales to rank the
hazards and associated risks according to an
area specific or country specific ranking
system.

USAGE OF HAZARD
INFORMATION IN NATURAL
HAZARD ASSESSMENT
Sources.
(1) Myths and legends,
(2) Historic records,
(3) Research data.

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 HAZARD ASSESSMENT
TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS
Hazard Zonation mapping

• Hazard maps outline zones that are defined in terms

of the probability of occurrence of potentially
damaging phenomena within a certain span of time
within a specified location or an area.(Varnes,1984)

Data presentation
Methods to be considered.
Maps
Cross sections
Block diagrams
GIS
Requirements and Limitations
-Perception of what hazards can do and where?
-Projections into the future.
-Forecast the future.

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 Vulnerability

There is a
potential for
an event to
occur

VULNERABLE
AREA

Vulnerability is a concept which describes factors or constraints of an

economic, social, physical or geographic nature, which reduce the ability to
prepare for and cope with the impact of hazards.

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 Categories of Vulnerabilities
• Hazard-specific:
– a characteristic which makes the element concerned susceptible to
the force/s or impact of a hazard. The geo-physical and locational
attributes of the element/s concerned are considered in this
category. Based on the present-knowledge of the distribution and
frequency of hazards, a community or country may be threatened
by specific hazards.

Categories of Vulnerabilities
• Setting-specific:
– this is concerned with the prevailing socio-economic arrangement
of the area concerned as to whether it is predominantly rural or
urban. There are inherent setting characteristics that may be
common to both as well as exclusive to each which contribute to
the general susceptibility of the area.

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 Characteristics of Urban Setting
Vulnerabilities
• Concentrations and Crowdedness - the three aspects are crowdedness and
disease; crowdedness and buildings; crowdedness and resource base.
• Numbers of Peoples and Activities - the two aspect of this condition are
Technologies and the Management System.
• Proximity to Man-made Hazards - the aspects considered are Technological
hazards, Economic hazards, and Social Hazards

Other Factors Contributing to

Urban Vulnerability
• Interdependency of Lifelines

– Major lifelines of the urban area are dependent on each other to

function effectively. This interdependency is a factor that may

contribute to the area’s vulnerability.

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 Other Factors Contributing to
Urban Vulnerability
• Social and Organizational Dimension
– The existing arrangement of a society regarding relationships of
individuals, groups and institutions may create adverse situations
that weakens the these elements’ capabilities to face or withstand
hazards and contribute instead to the intensifying of the effects.

Other Factors Contributing to

Urban Vulnerability
• Attitudinal and Motivational Dimension
– The prevalent worldview of the society or certain

groups within society may contribute to a passive or

non-active stance regarding the disasters that beset the

area.

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 Capacity

Definition of Capacity

• The resources, means and strengths

possessed by persons, communities,

societies or countries which enable them to

cope with, withstand, prepare for, prevent,

mitigate or quickly recover from a disaster.

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 Dimensions
• Awareness
– this state of being refers to a population’s level of understanding of
the hazards, the warning systems, preparedness measures and the
ability to respond or utilize information to counter the effects of the
hazards;
• Laws and Regulations
– these refer to a society’s existing statutes that guide the use of
resources for preparation and response to risks brought about by
hazards;

Dimensions
• Prevention and Mitigation Activities and
Projects
– these refer to the existing and proposed actions and
activities designed to impede the occurrence of a
disaster event and/or prevent such an occurrence having
harmful effects on the communities and key
installations;
• Preparedness
– this refers to measures which enable governments,
communities and individuals to respond rapidly and
effectively to disaster situation

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 Dimensions
• Public, Government and NGO Participation and
Resources:
– this refers both to the relationship the three sectors (i.e., public,
government and no) and the use of resources relative to the
disasters in the area

Types of Resources
There are two (2) types of resources: national
and international. The national resources
have two (2) subdivisions: government
resources and non-government resources.
• National Resources are “assets” and/or “wealth”
which a country possesses
• International Resources are external “means”
which a country may tap or access for disaster
management purposes.

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 Evaluation of Resources by
Assessing
• Capability
• Availability

• Durability

• Operational Integrity

Coping Mechanisms

• Actions resorted to by individuals or groups

in face of adverse effects of a disaster in
order to survive/withstand and move
towards normalization.

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 There is a potential
for an event to
Risk
occur. Therefore
there is a risk

Elements at
risk
VULNERABLE AREA

RISK is the probability that negative consequences may arise when hazards
interact with vulnerable areas, people, property, environment.
RISK is a concept which describes a potential set of consequences that may
arise from a given set of circumstances.

Concepts of the Risk and its Analysis:

Risk is a combination of the

The Risk Triangle: interaction of hazard, exposure,
and vulnerability, which can be
represented by the three sides of
a triangle.
Vu
lne
d

If any one of these sides

r
za

ra

increases, the area of the triangle

Ha

RISK
bil

increases, hence the amount of

yit

risk also increases.

If any one of the sides reduces,
Exposure the risk reduces.
If we can eliminate one side there
is no risk.

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 Parameters of Risk
Hazards are the source of risks

Hazards create risks by exposing

pre-existing vulnerabilities

The risk that a community faces

is mitigated by its level of
preparedness, response and
recovery or readiness

HOW TO DEFINE POSSIBLE ELEMENTS AT

RISK
Consequence Measure Tangible Intangible

Deaths No. of Loss of active Social and

People individuals. psychological
effects of
remaining
community.

Injuries No. of Medical Costs Social and

people loss of psychological
productivity. effects of
% disability Temporary loss relatives &
of economic injured, pain &
activity. recovery.

Continued…..

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 Loss
Consequence Measure Tangible Intangible

Physical No. of Replacement Cultural losses,

damaged costs, Social effects.
Damage houses,
structures etc., rehabilitation &
agricultural repairs cost.
areas. Level of
damage %

Emergency No. of man- Mobilisation Stress &

days costs
operations overwork of
Equipment
Investments in relief workers.
and resources
hours. preparedness
measurers.

Continued…..

Loss
Consequence Measure Tangible Intangible

Disruption No. of lost Cost of lost Opportunities

of working days, productivity. competitiveness
Economy value of reputation.
production
lost.

Social No. of Cost for Psychological,

Disruption displaced, temporary social contacts
No. of housing, relief, cohesion
homeless. health care. morale.

Environmental Scale Maintenance Health risks,

Impact & & Future disaster
Severity repair cost. risk.

Continued…..

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DAMEGES CAUSED BY DISASTERS

Damages

TANGIBLE LOSSES -Measurable effects in

Monetary Terms.
INTANGIBLE LOSSES -Effects those can not
be converted to
Monetary Terms.

PREPAREDNESS

WATCH OUT!
THE ROCK IS
FALLING

Short term risk reduction measures taken in anticipation of a

disaster to ensure that appropriate and effective actions are
taken in the aftermath.

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MITIGATION Strong buildings &
structures,strict building
codes compliance,landuse
planning,capacity
building,awareness
creation etc.

•Long term risk reduction measures taken prior to the impact

of a disaster to minimize its effects (sometimes referred to as
structural and non-structural measures).

What are we going to manage?

Disasters or Disaster Risk

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 What do you mean by hazard?
What are the type How do we reduce
of vulnerabilities? risk due to
natural hazards ?

What is the inter-

connection between
vulnerability and
capacity?

Thank you

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