DISASTER PREVENTION AND

PREPAREDNESS
FOR SECOND YEAR PUBLIC HEALTH
OFFICER STUDENTS

By:-Mohammed Siraj (Bsc,MPH)

 Learning objectives

• Up on completion of this course, the student will be

able to:
1. Define disaster
2. Describe the Epidemiology and significance of disaster
3. Classify the types and causes of disaster
4. Identify the most common types of disaster in
Ethiopia
5. Describe the health consequences of disaster
6. Design appropriate preventive and control measures
in disaster situations
 CHAPTER –ONE
INTRODUCTION
• Disasters and emergencies are fundamental
reflections of normal life.
• They are consequences of the way society
structure themselves, economically and
socially; the way societies and states interact;
and the way that relationships between the
decision makers are sustained.
 Con…………
• The magnitude of each disaster, be in terms of
deaths, property damage or costs for a given
developing country increases with the
increment of marginalization of the
population.
 Con…………
• Disasters have massive human and economic
costs. They may cause many deaths, severe
injuries, and food shortages.
• Most incidents of severe injuries and deaths
occur during the time of impact, whereas
disease outbreaks and food shortages often
arise much later, depending on the nature and
duration of the disaster.
 WHAT IS DISASTER
• Disaster: is “a sudden ecological phenomenon of
sufficient magnitude to require external
assistance”.(WHO)
• It is also defined as any event, typically occurring
suddenly, that causes damage, ecological
disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of
health and health services, and which exceeds
the capacity of the affected community on a
scale sufficient to require outside assistance.
 Cont……
• It is an emergency of such severity and magnitude that
the resultant combination of deaths, injuries, illness,
and property damage cannot be effectively managed
with routine procedures or resources.
• Disaster is further defined as an event in which a
society or a community undergoes acute deprivation of
food and other basic necessities due to natural and
man made calamities to such an extent that the normal
function of the society or the community is disrupted
and that it cannot subsist without outside intervention.
 Cont……
• The occurrence of an abnormal event
triggered by a hazards that impacts a
vulnerable community, geographical area,
infrastructure, etc, in significant levels causing
damage or casualties, leaving the affected
entity unable to function normally, eroding
survival mechanism and forcing it to seek
outside assistance for survival.
 Cont……
• Emergency is a state in which normal
procedures are suspended and extra-ordinary
measures are taken in order to avert a disaster.
o The delivery of essential services & activities
that are undertaken in the aftermath of a
disaster to assist disaster victims.
o An emergency can be defined in the context of
the social, political and epidemiological
circumstances in which it occurs.
 Cont……
• Hazard is a rare or extreme event in the
natural or human made environment that
adversely affects human life, property or
activity to the extent of causing a disaster.
o It is essential to make a distinction between
hazards and disasters, and to recognize that
the effect of the former upon the latter is
essentially a measure of the society’s
vulnerability.
 Cont……
• Vulnerability: is the degree of loss resulting
from a potentially damaging phenomenon.
o The degree to which an area, people, physical
structures or economic assets are exposed to
loss, injury or damage caused by the impact of
hazard.
o It is the susceptibility of a population to
specific type of event.
 Cont……
• The presence of hazard by its self can neither
cause risk nor disasters.
• There are different predisposing factors that
make vulnerable the survivors.
 Cont……
• The following are some of such underlying causes:
o Poverty: Virtually all disaster studies show that the
wealthiest of the population survive the disaster, remains
unaffected or are able to recover quickly.
o Population growth: Increasing number of people will
compete for limited amount of resources which can lead
to conflict and conflict may result in crisis-induced
migration.
o Rapid urbanization: competition for scarce resources is
an inevitable consequence of rapid urbanization, leading
to human-made disasters.
 Cont……
• Transitions in cultural practices: Societies are
constantly changing and in continuous state of
transition.
• These transitions are often extremely
disruptive and uneven, leaving gaps in social
coping mechanisms and technology.
• Conflicts as well as transitional cultural
practices can also lead to civil conflict.
 Cont……
• Environmental degradation: Deforestation
leads to rapid rain run off, which contributes
to flooding.
• Lack of awareness and information: Disasters
can also happen because people vulnerable to
them simply do not know how to get out of
harm’s way or to take protective measures.
• Wars and civil strife
 Cont……
• Disaster mainly occurs when vulnerability and
hazard meet.

• The interaction and association of such

phenomena is depicted in the following figure
 Cont……
• Mitigation: is permanent reduction of the risk
of a disaster.
o Actions or processes designed to reduce the
severity of potential consequences or level of
likely harm of a hazard.
o Mitigation measures can be both
physical/structural & non-structural and can
take place before, during, or after a disaster.
 Cont……
o Primary mitigation refers to reducing the
resistance of the hazard and reducing
vulnerability.
o Secondary mitigation refers to reducing the
effects of the hazard (preparedness).
o Mitigation includes recognizing that disasters will
occur; attempts are made to reduce the harmful
effects of a disaster, and to limit their impact on
human suffering and economic assets.
 Cont……
• Prevention :- is defined as those activities taken to
prevent a natural phenomenon or potential hazard
from having harmful effects on either people or
economic assets.
• Disaster prevention refers to measures taken to
eliminate the root causes that make people vulnerable
to disaster.
• For developing nations, prevention is perhaps the most
critical components in managing disasters, however, it
is clearly one of the most difficult to promote.
 Cont……
• Prevention planning is based on two issues:
• Hazard identification:-identifying the actual
threats facing a community
• Vulnerability assessment :-evaluating the risk
and capacity of a community to handle the
consequences of the disaster.
• Once these issues put in order of priority,
emergency managers can determine the
appropriate prevention strategies.
 Cont……
• Preparedness: Are the measures that ensure the
organized mobilization of personnel, funds, equipments,
and supplies within a safe environment for effective
relief.
• Disaster preparedness is building up of capacities before
a disaster situation prevails in order to reduce impacts.
• Its measures include availability of food reserve,
emergency reserve fund, seed reserve, health facilities,
warning systems, logistical infrastructure ,relief manual,
and shelves of projects
 Cont……
• Risk assessment is a term used widely for a systematic
approach to characterize the risks posed to individuals
and populations by potentially adverse exposures.
• The process of gathering all relevant data about the
community, such as physical characteristics (e.g. location,
area, natural resources, climate, etc), demographic
features, economic & sociopolitical aspects of the
community, environmental problems, etc and able to
determine the nature and extent of risk by analyzing the
characteristics of hazards, the degree of vulnerability &
community capacity.
 Cont……
• Risk :-The probability of a specific hazard
occurring in a given location and its likely
consequences for people and property.
• is the expected losses (lives lost, persons
injured, damages to property and disruption of
economic activity) due to a particular hazard.
Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability
Capacity
 Cont……
• Warning: Signs and signals including scientific,
indigenous indicators that hazard is likely to
happen.
• Early warning: The provision of timely & effective
information through identified institutions that
allows governments, communities and individuals
exposed to a hazard to take action to avoid or
reduce their risk & prepare for effective response.
• Forewarning: The time between warning & impact.
 Cont……
• Response: is 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.
• Reconstruction: the full resumption of socio-
economic activities plus preventive measures.
• Rehabilitation: is the restoration of basic
social functions.
THANK YOU