Types of natural disasters,

Disaster management cycle

Disaster profile of India

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Definition and Concepts in
Disaster Management
HAZARD
Phenomenon or situation, which has
the potential to cause disruption or
damage to people, their property, their
services and their environment
There is a
potential for
occurrence
of an event

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 Disaster

A serious disruption of the functioning of

a community or a society causing
widespread human, material, economic
or environmental losses which exceed
the ability of the affected community or
society to cope using its own resources.

UNISDR-United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction 5/80

Disaster

A catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave

occurrence in any are, arising from natural
Or manmade causes, or by accident or
Negligence which results in substantial loss
of life or human suffering or damage to, and
Destruction of, property, or damage to, and
degradation of, environment, and is of such a
Nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping
capacity of the community of the affected area.

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Disaster Management

A continuous and integrated process of planning,

organising, coordinating and implementing
Measures which are necessary or expedient for
prevention of danger or threat of any disaster:
mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or
its severity or consequences; capacity building,
Preparedness to deal with any disaster, prompt
Response to any threatening disaster situation
Or disaster, assessing the severity or magnitude
Of effects of any disaster, evacuation, rescue and
Relief, and rehabilitation and reconstruction. 6/80
Disaster Management
A collective term
encompassing all
aspects of planning for
preparing and
responding to disasters.
It refers to the
management of the
consequences of
disasters.
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Risk

The probability that a

community’s
structure or
geographic area is to
be damaged or
disrupted by the
impact of a particular
hazard, on account of
their nature,
construction, and
proximity to a
hazardous area.
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Elements at Risk
Persons, buildings,
crops or other such like
societal components
exposed to known
Exposed Elements
hazard, which are likely
to be adversely
affected by the impact
of the hazard.
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 High Risk Areas
Geographical areas which fall under
seismic zones III, IV, and V, which are
vulnerable to potential impact of
earthquake, landslide, rock falls or
mudflows.

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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.

RISK If any one of these sides

increases, the area of the
triangle increases, hence the
amount of risk also increases.
Exposure If any one of the sides reduces,
the risk reduces.
It is the state of being physically
affected from a hazard If we can eliminate one side
there is no risk.
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 Risk Assessment
The determination of the nature and extent
of risk by analysis potential hazards and
evaluating existing conditions of
vulnerability that could pose a potential
threat or harm to people, property,
livelihood and the environment.

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 Risk Management
The systematic process of using
administrative decisions, organization,
operations skills, and capacities to
implement policies, strategies and coping
capacity of the society and communities to
lessen the impact of hazards.

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Disaster Risk Management
A broad range of activities
designed to:

Prevent the loss of lives 

Minimize human suffering 
Inform the public and
authorities of risk
Minimize property damage
and economic loss
Speed up the recovery
process
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 Disaster risk management - Stress on
proactive disaster management responses
of prevention, mitigation and preparedness

9 Prevent, reduce, transfer or live with disaster risk 9

Public safety, disaster resilience, sustainable development
for all 10/80
 Non structural measures
Non- engineered measures to reduce or
avoid possible impacts of hazards such as
education, training, capacity development,
public awareness, communication etc.

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 Resilience
The capacity of a system to tolerate
perturbation or disturbances without
collapsing into a qualitatively different
state, to withstand and rebuild when
necessary.

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Vulnerability

Is a condition
or sets of
conditions that
reduces
people’s ability
to prepare for,
withstand or
respond to a
hazard
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 Vulnerability
The degree of loss to a given element at
risk Or set of such elements resulting from
the occurrence of a natural phenomenon
(or man made) of a given magnitude and
expressed on a scale from 0 (no damage)
to 1 ( Total loss)

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VULNEARABILITY

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Capacity
Those positive
condition or
abilities which
increase a
community’s
ability to deal with
hazards.
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 Disaster Management Cycle
Three stages
1)-Pre- Disaster stage
Efforts are made to reduce potential for human,
material, or environmental losses caused by
hazards and to ensure that these losses are
minimised when the disaster actually strikes.
Support systems are strengthened. People are
trained, and duties assigned periodic drills are
organised. There fore, the pre disaster stage
can also be termed as the prevention, mitigation
and preparedness stage.
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 During the Disaster
During the disaster, emphasis is on
survival and protection with special
arrangements to ensure that the needs of
victims are met to alleviate and minimise
suffering during the difficult period to the
extent possible. In this phase, most of the
action lies from within the affected
community who are the first responders
before outside help arrives. Thus this is
the response phase.
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 Post Disaster Stage
In the last, post-disaster stage, maximum efforts
are made to achieve rapid and durable recovery,
which does not reproduce the original vulnerable
conditions in affected area. The aim is to bring
the affected community back on rails as quickly
as possible with improved ability to face
disasters so that the development work can
resume. This phase can thus be termed as the
recovery and development phase.

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Disaster Management Cycle

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Response
Actions taken
immediately
following the impact
of a disaster when
exceptional
measures are
required to meet the
basic needs of the
survivors.

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Relief
Measures that are
required in search and
rescue of survivors, as
well to meet the basic
needs for shelter,
water, food and health
care.

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 Response & Relief
Response and Relief refer to the first stage
response to any disaster, which includes setting
up control rooms, putting the contingency plan in
action, issuing warning, taking action for
evacuation i.e. taking people to safer areas, and
rendering medical aid simultaneously providing
food, drinking water, clothing etc.. to the
homeless, restoration of communication , and
disbursement of assistance in cash or kind.

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Recovery
The process
undertaken by a
disaster affected
community to fully
restore itself to
pre-disaster level
of functioning.

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 Recovery
The recovery stage includes activities that encompass the
three overlapping phases of emergency relief, rehabilitation
and reconstruction. Emergency relief activity such as
immediate relief, rescue, damage assessment, and debris
clearance are undertaken during and immediately following a
disaster. Taking precautions against spread of diseases is
also an important activity during this stage. Rehabilitation
includes the provision of camps with temporary public utilities
and shelter as interim measures to assist long-term recovery.
Reconstruction efforts are made to return communities to
improved pre-disaster functioning, which include repair and
reconstruction of buildings, infrastructure and lifeline facilities
so that long-term development prospects are enhanced.
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 Development
The next stage of development process is an
ongoing activity which has to be resumed. It
deals with long-term prevention/disaster
reduction measures. In this regard, construction
of embankments against flooding, irrigation
facilities as drought proofing measures, land use
planning, construction of houses capable of
withstanding the onslaught of future disaster are
taken up as part of development plans.

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Rehabilitation
Actions taken in the
aftermath of a
disaster to:
• assist victims to
repair their
dwellings;
• re-establish
essential services; •
revive key economic
and social activities
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Reconstruction
Permanent
measures to repair
or replace damaged
dwellings and
infrastructure and to
set the economy
back on course.

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Development

Sustained
efforts intended
to improve or
maintain the
social and
economic
well-being of a
community

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 Prevention
Thereafter comes the stage of prevention and mitigation
which refer to such preventive actions during disaster
free period that would lessen the impact if a disaster
recurs. Thus, mitigation embraces all measures taken to
reduce both the effect of the hazard itself and the
vulnerable conditions of the community in order to reduce
the adverse impacts of a future disaster. Lastly, the
preparedness process embraces measures that enable
the government, community and individuals to respond
rapidly to disaster situation in order to cope with them
effectively. It includes the formulation of viable
emergency plans, development of warning systems,
maintenance of inventories, mock drills, and training of
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personnel.
Prevention
Measures taken to
avert a disaster
from occurring, if
possible (to
impede a hazard
so that it does not
have any harmful
effects).
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Mitigation
Measures taken prior
to the impact of a
disaster to minimize
its effects
(sometimes referred
to as structural and
non-structural
measures).

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 Mitigation
Measures aimed at reducing the risk,
impact or effects of a disaster or
threatening disaster situation

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 MITIGATION

Mitigation refers to all actions taken before a disaster to reduce its

impacts, including preparedness and long-term risk reduction measures.
Mitigation activities fall broadly into two categories:

1 Structural mitigation – construction projects which reduce economic

and social impacts

2 Non-structural activities – policies and practices which raise

awareness of hazards or encourage developments to reduce the impact
of disasters.

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Four sets of tool to mitigate Disaster

a Hazard management and vulnerability reduction

b Economic diversification
c Political intervention and commitment
d Public awareness

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Mitigation strategies
Two aspects of mitigation include:

1 Hazard identification and vulnerability analysis and

2 Various mitigation strategies or measures.

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Mitigation strategies or measures

ƒAdjusting normal development programmes to reduce losses.

For instance, varieties of crops that are more wind, flood or drought
resistant can often be introduced in areas prone to floods, drought and
cyclones.

ƒEconomic diversification.
In areas where the principal or sole source
of the income may be threatened, attempts should be made to diversify
the economy and introduce the economic activities that are less
vulnerable. Diversification is extremely important where economies
are dependent on a single cash crop.

ƒDeveloping disaster resistant economic activities.

Some economic activities are relatively unaffected by disasters. For instance,
situating warehouses in flood plains may be more appropriate than
manufacturing plants in the same location. Coconut palms could be
more suitable than other fruit trees in cyclone-prone coastal areas.
Efforts should be made to identify and encourage the development of 1/80
enterprises that are less vulnerable to the hazards.
 Disaster Mitigation and Infrastructure

1Investment in infrastructure to support sustainable socioeconomic

development;

2 Investment in infrastructure for reconstruction and recovery.

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Preparedness

Measures taken in
anticipation of a disaster
to ensure that
appropriate and effective
actions are taken in the
aftermath.

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During the preparedness phase, governments, organizations, and
individuals develop plans to save lives, minimize disaster damage, and
enhance disaster response operations. Preparedness measures include:

ƒPreparedness plans
ƒEmergency exercises/training
ƒWarning systems
ƒEmergency communications systems
ƒEvacuations plans and training
ƒResource inventories
ƒEmergency personnel/contact lists
ƒMutual aid agreements
ƒPublic information/education

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 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

DRR recommendations for countries :

ƒPolicy, planning and capacity building in disaster
management

ƒPhysical prevention; example, building sea-walls

against storm surge or flood shelters during flood
events

ƒCapacity building at institutional and systemic

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 Conclusion

• Clear cut distinction between different

terminologies
• Difference between Preparedness, Mitigation,
and Prevention,
• Difference between Recovery, Rehabilitation
and Reconstruction
• Difference between DM and DRM
• Sharpen our knowledge about different
terminologies
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