Types of Disasters

Disasters can take many different forms, and the duration can range from an hourly disruption to days or
weeks of ongoing destruction. Below is a list of the various types of disasters – both natural and man-
made or technological in nature – that can impact a community.

Natural Types of Disasters

 Agricultural diseases & pests

 Damaging Winds  Hurricanes and tropical storms
 Drought and water shortage  Landslides & debris flow
 Earthquakes  Thunderstorms and lighting
 Emergency diseases  Tornadoes
(pandemic influenza)  Tsunamis
 Extreme heat  Wildfire
 Floods and flash floods  Winter and ice storms
 Hail  Sinkholes

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Hurricanes and tropical storms are among the most powerful natural disasters because of their size and
destructive potential. Tornadoes are relatively brief but violent, potentially causing winds in excess of 200
mph. Both earthquakes and tornadoes strike suddenly without warning.

Flooding is the most common of natural hazards, and requires an understanding of the natural systems of
our environment, including floodplains and the frequency of flooding events. Wildfires are more prevalent
in the event of a drought. Disasters impacting food supply can be extremely costly; American officials say
that a food contamination scare similar to the one that hit the Belgian poultry industry in the 1990’s could
jeopardize U.S. agricultural exports in excess of $140 billion.

Man-Made and Technological Types of Disasters

 Hazardous materials
 Power service disruption &  Chemical threat and biological
blackout weapons
 Cyber attacks
 Nuclear power
 Explosion
plant and nuclear blast
 Civil unrest
 Radiological emergencies

Disasters also can be caused by humans. Hazardous materials emergencies include chemical spills and
groundwater contamination. Workplace fires are more common and can cause significant property
damage and loss of life. Communities are also vulnerable to threats posed by extremist groups who use
violence against both people and property.

High-risk targets include military and civilian government facilities, international airports, large cities and
high-profile landmarks. Cyber-terrorism involves attacks against computers and networks done to
intimidate or coerce a government or its people for political or social objectives.

Disaster risk
Disaster risk is expressed as the likelihood of loss of life, injury or
destruction and damage from a disaster in a given period of time.

UNISDR Global Assessment Report 2015

Disaster risk is widely recognized as the consequence of the

interaction between a hazard and the characteristics that make people
and places vulnerable and exposed.

What is disaster risk

Disasters are sometimes considered external shocks, but disaster risk results from the
complex interaction between development processes that generate conditions of
exposure, vulnerability and hazard. Disaster risk is therefore considered as the
combination of the severity and frequency of a hazard, the numbers of people and assets
exposed to the hazard, and their vulnerability to damage (UNISDR, 2015a). Intensive
risk is disaster risk associated with low-probability, high-impact events, whereas
extensive risk is associated with high-probability, low-impact events.
There is no such thing as a natural disaster, but disasters often
follow natural hazards.
The losses and impacts that characterise disasters usually have much to do with the
exposure and vulnerability of people and places as they do with the severity of the
hazard event (UNISDR, 2013).

Disaster risk has many characteristics. In order to understand disaster risk, it is

essential to understand that it is:

 Forward looking the likelihood of loss of life, destruction and damage in a given
period of time
 Dynamic: it can increase or decrease according to our ability to reduce vulnerability
 Invisible: it is comprised of not only the threat of high-impact events, but also the
frequent, low-impact events that are often hidden
 Unevenly distributed around the earth: hazards affect different areas, but the
pattern of disaster risk reflects the social construction of exposure and vulnerability in
different countries
 Emergent and complex: many processes, including climate change and globalized
economic development, are creating new, interconnected risks

Disasters threaten development, just as development creates

disaster risk.
The key to understanding disaster risk is by recognizing that disasters are an indicator
of development failures, meaning that disaster risk is a measure of the sustainability of
development. Hazard, vulnerability and exposure are influenced by a number of risk
drivers, including poverty and inequality, badly planned and managed urban and
regional development, climate change and environmental degradation (UNISDR,
2009a, 2011, 2013 and 2015a).

Understanding disaster risk requires us to not only consider the hazard, our exposure
and vulnerability but also society's capacity to protect itself from disasters. The ability of
communities, societies and systems to resist, absorb, accommodate, recover from
disasters, whilst at the same time improve wellbeing, is known as resilience.

Risk is a forward looking concept, so disaster risk can be understood as the likelihood (or probability) of loss of life,
injury or destruction and damage from a disaster in a given period of time (adapted from UNISDR, 2015a).

Hazard
A hazard is a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause
loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and
economic disruption or environmental degradation. Hazards may be
natural, anthropogenic or socionatural in origin (UNISDR, 2016).

UNISDR Terminology (2017)

Why does it matter?

Hazards are often categorized by whether they are natural (sometimes termed physical)
or technological (sometimes called man-made or human-induced). The term ‘peril’ is
sometimes used instead of hazard, particularly in the insurance industry.

Effective disaster risk reduction requires the consideration of

not just what has occurred but of what could occur. Most
disasters that could happen have not yet happened (UNISDR,
2013).
Natural (or physical) events are only termed hazards when they have the potential to
harm people or cause property damage, social and economic disruption. The location of
natural hazards primarily depends on natural processes, including the movement of
tectonic plates, the influence of weather systems, and the existence of waterways and
slopes (e.g. that might generate landslides). But processes such as urbanization,
environmental degradation and climate change can also influence the location,
occurrence (frequency) and intensity of natural hazards (UNISDR, 2011). These
processes are known as risk drivers.

The classification schemes for hazards vary across different research institutions and
governments, but these can be divided into (UNSIDR, 2017):

 Biological hazards are of organic origin or conveyed by biological vectors, including

pathogenic microorganisms, toxins and bioactive substances. Examples are bacteria,
viruses or parasites, as well as venomous wildlife and insects, poisonous plants and
mosquitoes carrying disease-causing agents.
 Environmental hazards may include chemical, natural and biological hazards. They
can be created by environmental degradation or physical or chemical pollution in the air,
water and soil. However, many of the processes and phenomena that fall into this
category may be termed drivers of hazard and risk rather than hazards in themselves,
such as soil degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, salinization and sea-level
rise.
  Geological or geophysical hazards originate from internal earth processes.
Examples are earthquakes, volcanic activity and emissions, and related geophysical
processes such as mass movements, landslides, rockslides, surface collapses and debris
or mud flows. Hydrometeorological factors are important contributors to some of these
processes. Tsunamis are difficult to categorize: although they are triggered by undersea
earthquakes and other geological events, they essentially become an oceanic process that
is manifested as a coastal water-related hazard.
 Hydrometeorological hazards are of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic
origin. Examples are tropical cyclones (also known as typhoons and hurricanes); floods,
including flash floods; drought; heatwaves and cold spells; and coastal storm surges.
Hydrometeorological conditions may also be a factor in other hazards such as landslides,
wildland fires, locust plagues, epidemics and in the transport and dispersal of toxic
substances and volcanic eruption material.
 Technological hazards originate from technological or industrial conditions,
dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures or specific human activities. Examples
include industrial pollution, nuclear radiation, toxic wastes, dam failures, transport
accidents, factory explosions, fires and chemical spills. Technological hazards also may
arise directly as a result of the impacts of a natural hazard event

Each hazard often triggers a sub-set of hazards, for instance tropical cyclones (known as
hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, cyclones in the Indian Ocean and typhoons in the
Northern Pacific Ocean) can bring intense winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall, as well
as trigger secondary hazards, for instance landslides. A series of triggering relationships
can cause a domino or cascading effect, for instance in the case of the tsunami-
earthquake-nuclear crisis in Japan, 2011.

Exposure
The situation of people, infrastructure, housing, production capacities
and other tangible human assets located in hazard-prone areas.

UNISDR 2017 Terminology

Why does it matter?
If a hazard occurs in an area of no exposure, then there is no risk (GFDRR, 2014a). Take
the example of typhoons (tropical cyclones that occur in the Pacific Ocean). In October
2013 a Category 5 super typhoon (known as Lekima) hit the North West Pacific Ocean.
Its winds reached peaks of around 240 kilometres per hour, but caused no impact on
people or assets. In November 2013 another Category 5 Super Typhoon Haiyan
(Yolanda) hit the region, with winds peaking at 315 kilometres per hour. Haiyan affected
11 million people, causing more than 6000 casualties and the loss of more than 1.5
billion US dollars. The difference in impact was because there were no people or
property in the path of Lekima; in other words, there was no exposure (see the map
comparing the paths of the two typhoons).

Source: UNITAR (2014) with data from NASA

The extent to which exposed people or economic assets are actually at risk is generally
determined by how vulnerable they are (UNISDR, 2009), as it is possible to be exposed
but not vulnerable (IPCC, 2012).

However, increasing evidence suggests that the case of extreme hazards the degree of
disaster risk is a consequence of exposure more than it is a result of vulnerability
(UNISDR, 2015a). For instance, in the case of the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami all those exposed to tsunamis were at risk, no matter their income, ethnicity or
social class (UNISDR, 2011).
 Typhoon Lekima and Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) comparisonSource: UNITAR (2014)

What drives exposure?

People and economic assets become concentrated in areas exposed to hazards through
processes such as population growth, migration, urbanization and economic
development (UNISDR, 2009b). Previous disasters can drive exposure by forcing people
from their lands and to increasingly unsafe areas. Consequently, exposure changes over
time and from place to place.

Many hazard prone areas, such as coastlines, volcanic slopes and flood plains, attract
economic and urban development, offer significant economic benefits or are of cultural
or religious significance to the people who live there. As more people and assets are
exposed, risk in these areas becomes more concentrated. At the same time, risk also
spreads as cities expand and as economic and urban development transform previously
sparsely populated areas (UNISDR, 2009b).
Large volumes of capital continue to flow into hazard-prone areas, leading to significant
increases in the value of exposed economic assets. If global exposure continues to trend
upwards, it may increase disaster risk to dangerous levels (UNISDR, 2015b).

Vulnerability
The characteristics determined by physical, social, economic and
environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of
an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of
hazards.

What makes people vulnerable?

Vulnerability is the human dimension of disasters and is the result of the range
of economic, social, cultural, institutional, political and psychological factors that shape
people’s lives and the environment that they live in (Twigg, 2004).

Vulnerability can be a challenging concept to understand because it tends to mean

different things to different people and because it is often described using a variety of
terms including ‘predisposition’, ‘fragility’, ‘weakness’, ‘deficiency’ or ‘lack of capacity’.

Some definitions of vulnerability have included exposure in addition to susceptibility to

harm. However, it is now understood that exposure is separate to the ‘susceptibility’
element of vulnerability since it is possible to be exposed, whilst at the same time not
susceptible to natural hazards.

Despite some divergence over the meaning of vulnerability, most experts agree that
understanding vulnerability requires more than analysing the direct impacts of a
hazard. Vulnerability also concerns the wider environmental and social conditions that
limit people and communities to cope with the impact of hazard (Birkmann, 2006).

Vulnerability is complex.
Vulnerability is not simply about poverty, but extensive research over the past 30 years
has revealed that it is generally the poor who tend to suffer worst from disasters (Twigg,
2004; Wisner et al., 2004; UNISDR, 2009b). Poverty is both a driver and consequence
of disaster risk (particularly in countries with weak risk governance) because economic
pressures force people to live in unsafe locations (see exposure) and conditions (Wisner
et al., 2004). Poverty and the other multi-dimensional factors and drivers that create
vulnerability mean that susceptibility to the impacts of hazards is often, but not always,
associated with certain groups, including women, children, the elderly, the disabled,
migrants and displaced populations, amongst others.

Vulnerability relates to a number of factors, including:

Physical factors

e.g. poor design and construction of buildings, unregulated land use planning, etc.

Social factors

e.g. poverty and inequality, marginalisation, social exclusion and discrimination by

gender, social status, disability and age (amongst other factors) psychological factors,
etc.

Economic factors

e.g. the uninsured informal sector, vulnerable rural livelihoods, dependence on single
industries, globalisation of business and supply chains, etc.

Environmental factors

e.g. poor environmental management, overconsumption of natural resources, decline of

risk regulating ecosystem services, climate change, etc.

In addition, vulnerability is determined by historical, political, cultural and institutional

and natural resource processes that shape the social and environmental conditions
people find themselves existing within (IPCC, 2012). These processes produce a range of
immediate unsafe conditions such as living in dangerous locations or in poor housing,
ill-health, political tensions or a lack of local institutions or preparedness measures
(DFID, 2004).

Many of the underlying drivers of vulnerability, including poorly managed urban

development, are increasing, resulting in vulnerability increasing in many countries and
regions of the world. While evidence suggests that wealthier, well governed countries
are able to reduce disaster risks (UNISDR, 2009b, 2011, 2013), some countries have
exhibited rapid economic growth in the last few decades without a commensurable rate
of vulnerability reduction (UNISDR, 2015a).
Why does vulnerability matter?
By including vulnerability in our understanding of disaster risk, we acknowledge the fact
that disaster risk not only depends on the severity of hazard or the number
of people or assets exposed, but that it is also a reflection of the
susceptibility of people and economic assets to suffer loss and
damage. Levels of vulnerability (and exposure) help to explain why some non-extreme
hazards can lead to extreme impacts and disasters, while some extreme events do not
(IPCC, 2012). In the context of extensive risk in particular, it is often people’s
vulnerability that is the greatest factor in determining their risk (UNISDR, 2009a).

In the context of different hazards, some groups are more susceptible to damage, loss
and suffering than others and likewise (within these groups) some people experience
higher levels of vulnerability than others (Wisner et al., 2004). Vulnerable groups find it
hardest to reconstruct their livelihoods following a disaster, and this in turn makes them
more vulnerable to the effects of subsequent hazard events (Wisner et al., 2004).
Consequently, we have to reduce vulnerability in order to reduce disaster risk.

How do we measure vulnerability?

Vulnerability is complex. It has many dimensions, it is driven by factors at different
levels, from local to global, and it is dynamic as it alters under the pressure of these
driving forces (Twigg, 2004). Furthermore, the complex factors that make people
vulnerable are not always immediately obvious.

The chain of causes of vulnerability, from the underlying drivers of vulnerability (e.g.
socio-economic processes) to the immediate conditions that present themselves (e.g.
poor quality housing), can be both long and complex; but by tracking it we can identify
the progression of vulnerability that builds pressures on communities. These pressures
can be released by taking measures to reduce vulnerability at various points along the
causal chain (Twigg, 2004).

Owing to its different facets, there is no one single method for assessing
vulnerability. Ideally, any assessment should adopt a holistic approach to assessing
vulnerability. In reality, methods are usually divided into those that consider physical
(or built environment) vulnerability and those that consider socio-economic
vulnerability.

Assessing the vulnerability of the built environment to hazards is extremely

important in assessing potential consequences of an event and for mainstreaming
disaster risk reduction into the local development planning process. Understanding the
response of existing structures to potential hazards, such as ground shaking from
earthquakes and wind from tropical cyclones, requires the knowledge of building
materials and engineering practices. This information base can only be reliably and
sustainably developed at the local level (UNISDR, 2013).

Local engineers are increasingly dedicating themselves to understanding the

vulnerability of their local building stock (which varies significantly from country to
country and within countries) to different natural hazards. Engineers in the Philippines
and Indonesia, for instance, are developing vulnerability calculations relevant to their
own national building stocks. However these examples represent the exception.
Likewise, opportunities for damage and loss data collection (critical to understanding
futures risks) following disaster events continue to be missed (GFDRR, 2014a).

Efforts to quantify socio-economic vulnerability and poverty remain

limited, and information of this kind is rarely integrated into risk assessments
(GFDRR, 2014a). Quantifying social vulnerability remains a challenge, but indicators
and indices to measure vulnerability have been created (quantified and descriptive),
ranging from global indicators to those that are applied at the community level. These
indicators are usually used to track changes in vulnerability over time. Qualitative
approaches to vulnerability assessment have focused on the assessment of the capacity
of communities to cope with natural events.

Vulnerability analysis involves understanding the root causes

or drivers of vulnerability, but also peoples capacities cope and
recover from disasters
At the community level, a number of researchers and humanitarian and development
non-governmental organisations, as well as some local governments, have implemented
vulnerability and capacity assessments (VCA), primarily through participatory methods.
A VCA considers a wide range of environmental, economic, social, cultural, institutional
and political pressures that create vulnerability and is approached through a number of
different frameworks (Benson et al., 2007). According to Benson, VCA is typically
applied as:

 A diagnostic tool to understand problems and their underlying causes.

 A planning tool to prioritise and sequence actions and inputs.
 A risk assessment tool to help assess specific risks.
 A tool for empowering and mobilising vulnerable communities.

By identifying their vulnerabilities and capacities, local communities identify strategies

for immediate and longer-term risk reduction, as well as identifying what they can do
themselves to reduce risk and where they need additional resources and external
assistance.