UNIT I

 Theword disaster has roots in the Italian

word Disastro.

 Disaster
as a prejorative prefix “dis means
bad”, “aster has it origin astro which means
star”.
 Disaster
is a crisis situation that far exceeds
our capabilities to cope – Quarentelly (1985)

 An early definition Disaster was an event

that caused more than 10,000 deaths.

 Disastersmeans, many focus on the event in

terms of loss of life or damaged caused.
 The word hazard traces its origin to
“hasard”, in old french and “az-zahr” in
Arabic which means chance or luck.

 Defined as a source of potential loss or

circumstances that have the potential to
cause harm.
 They are said to be primary resources of risk
which result in disasters due to interactions
among the elements at risk in the community
and its environment.

 Hazard becomes an emergency when an

imminent situation requires immediate
attention.

 Hazards are classified with two classes,

 Those that are dictated by nature

 Those that are produced by human activities.

 Utmost important word
in disaster is vulnerability.

 It means susceptibility to harm those at risk.

 It is the intrinsic characteristic of the

elements at risk that determines the extent
of damage arising out of a hazard.

 Vulnerability can be classified into four basic

parts on the basis of effect of a hazard.
 According to Oxford dictionary ,
 is a situation involving exposure to danger or
the possibility that something unpleasant or
unwelcome will happen.

 In disaster management, risk is viewed as the

product of the interaction of potentially
damaging event and vulnerable conditions of
a society or element exposed.
 Natural
disasters

Classification
of disasters

Man
made
disasters
 • D T (subtypes tropical storm, extra tropical
metrological storm, winter storm).

• D T Earthquake(subtypes ground shaking,

tsunami)
geophysical • D T volcano mass movement(subtype
volcanic eruption, rock fall, landslide)

• D T flood ( subtypes general flood, flash

hydrological flood, rock fall, landslide)
 • D T extreme temperature
(subtypes heat & cold wave,
extreme winter conditions).
climatological
• D T Drought wildlife
(subtypes forest & land
fire).

• D T Epidemic (subtypes viral

infection disease, Bacterial
ID, Fungal ID, Prion ID).
biological
• D T insect, animal stampede
(subtypes grasshoppers,
worms).
 • Disaster types are Civil
Sociological disorder, terrorism.

• D T War
• Subtypes are chemical
Political weapons, Biological Weapons,
Nuclear Weapons and Armed
conflicts.
 • D T are chemical spill explosion
(subtypes are Nuclear plans &
others plans)
Industrial • D T transport accident (subtypes
are Airways, waterways, railways,
roadways).
• D T Engineering failure(subtypes
are Structural collapse).

• D T Human error of judgment (

airplane crashes, railway
accidents, road accidents).
Human • D T poisoning (subtypes food
poisoning, carbon monoxide
poisoning).
 reduce disaster vulnerability of urban
populations, infrastructure & lifeline
facilities & shelter in Asia
 facilitate development of sustainable
mechanisms for disaster mitigation
 build capacity of all stakeholders to
mitigate disaster risks
 promote replication and adaptation of
successful mitigation measures elsewhere
 Eachyear the influenza virus mutates slightly
so that it is different enough to infect even
people who were infected before and are
immune to the ‘old’ virus.

 Occasionallythe virus mutates greatly and

becomes more deadly and a “novel” flu virus
to which almost nobody has immunity (e.g.
the 1918 Pandemic).
 The influenza virus lives in humans, birds and
some mammals.
 The H5N1 virus is widely endemic in birds
and has the potential to become a very
deadly pandemic in humans.
 Spreads via waterborne droplets, close
contact, and fomites.
 The most common cause of spread is dirty
hands.
 When H5N1 spreads to humans (usually
directly from birds) the case fatality rate
(2010) is over 50%.

 Thereis no vaccine for a novel virus; it takes

a minimum of 4-6 months to produce a
vaccine, longer to produce a large quantity.

 H5N1 is showing resistance to some current

antiviral medications.
Climate Change represents a change in long-
term weather patterns. It may be due to natural
internal processes or external forcing, or due to
persistent anthropogenic changes in the
composition of the atmosphere or in land use.
These changes can be caused by dynamic
processes on Earth, external forces including
variations in sunlight intensity, and more
recently by human activities.
 Climate Change is a global challenge. To
launch India on a path of ecologically
sustainable development, the Government of
India released the ‘India national Action Plan
on Climate Change’ on 30th June, 2008. The
vision is to make India’s economic
development energy efficient.
 Itis entered into force on 21st March 1994.
 To reduce the Global Warming.
Three Principles
1. Common but differentiated responsibility
2. Precautionary approach
3. Sustainable Economic Growth ad
Development.