DISASTER MANAGEMENT

•The Disaster is a sudden, calamitous event bringing great damage, loss,

destruction and devastation to life and property.
•damage caused by disaster is immeasurable and varies with the geographical
location, climate and the type of the earth surface.
• This influences the mental, socio-economic, political and cultural state of the
affected area. Generally, disaster has the following effects in the concerned Areas,
1. It completely disrupts the normal day to day life
2. It negatively influences the emergency systems
3. Normal needs and processes like food, shelter, health, etc. are affected and
deteriorate depending on the intensity and severity of the disaster.
•It may also be termed as “a serious disruption of the functioning of society,
causing widespread
•human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected
society to cope using its own resources.”
• Types of Disaster
• Generally, disasters are of two types – Natural
and Manmade. Based on the devastation,
these are further classified into major/minor
natural disaster and major/minor manmade
disasters. Some of the disasters are listed
below.
 NATURAL DISASTER
• Major natural disasters:
• • Flood
• • Cyclone
• • Drought
• • Earthquake
• Minor natural disasters:
• • Cold wave
• • Thunderstorms
• • Heat waves
• • Mud slides
• • Storm
 MANMADE DISASTER
• Major manmade disaster:
• • Setting of fires
• • Epidemic
• • Deforestation
• • Pollution due to prawn cultivation
• • Chemical pollution.
• • Wars
• Minor manmade disaster:
• • Road / train accidents, riots
• • Food poisoning
• • Industrial disaster/ crisis
• • Environmental pollution
 DISASTER MANAGEMENT
• Disaster Management
• There are no standardized rules defining the different
phases of the disaster management cycle.
• Different agencies use different cycles depending
upon their objectives. However, while approaches
• vary, it is agreed that disaster management activities
should be carried out in a cycle. The following
• figures illustrates the phases of the disaster
management cycle, which are described as follows:
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE
 Disaster Warning

• Disaster Warning
• Disaster Reduction identifies several key parties that play major roles in
the disaster management process, especially in disaster warning .
• Communities,
• Local governments
• National governments
• Regional institutions and organizations
• International bodies
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
• The private sector
• The media
• The scientific community
 Channels Used for Disaster Warning
• Radio and Television
• Telephone (Fixed and Mobile)
• Short Message Service
• Satellite Radio
• Internet/Email
• GIS and Remote Sensing in Disaster
Management
 Disaster management in India
• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the
Prime Minister of India, is the Apex Body for Disaster Management in India.
The setting up of the NDMA and the creation of an enabling environment for
institutional mechanisms at the State and District levels is mandated by the
Disaster Management Act, 2005.

• Evolution of NDMA

• Emergence of an organization is always an evolutionary process.

Establishment of NDMA has also gone through the same processes. Towards
this aim, the Government of India (GOI), in recognition of the importance of
Disaster Management as a national priority, has set up a High-Powered
Committee (HPC) in August 1999 and also a nation committee after the 2001
Gujarat earthquake, for making recommendations on the preparation of
Disaster Management plans and suggestion effective
mitigation mechanisms.
 Floods
• A flood is an expanse of water submerging land.
• A flood is caused by excess water in a location,
usually due to rain from a storm or thunderstorm
or the rapid melting of snow.
• A flood happens when an area of land, usually
low-lying, is covered with water. The worst
floods usually occur when a river overflows its
banks. The flood is constituted not only of the
overflowing water but also of all other waters that
are unable to drain off into water channels.
 Causes of floods
• 1) When snow on a mountain melts or when a river or a lake
of some sort overflows
• 2) Flooding from water displacement, such as in a landslide,
• 3) The failure of a dam,
• 4) An earthquake induced tsunami,
• 5) A hurricane’s storm surge or melt water from volcanic
activity.
• 6) Flooding of Coastal areas by high tides or by tsunami
waves caused by undersea earthquakes.
• 7) A flood that rises and falls rapidly with little or no
advance warning is called a flash flood. Flash
• floods usually result from intense rainfall over a relatively
small area.
 Elements at risk
• 1) Buildings built of earth (mud),weak
foundation and water soluble material.
• 2) Basement of buildings.
• 3) Utilities such as sewerage, water supply.
• 4) Agricultural equipment and crops, vehicles,
fishing boats etc.
 Effects of flood

1) Physical damage- structures such as buildings get

damaged due to flood water. Landslides
2) can also take place. Top soil gets washed away
3) Causalities - people and livestock die due to
drowning. It can also lead to epidemics and diseases.
4) Water supplies- Contamination of water. Clean
drinking water becomes scarce.
5) Crops and food supplies- shortage of food crops can
be caused due to loss of entire harvest.
 Flood management
• Flood management involves the following activities:
• 1) Mapping- of the flood prone area.
• 2) Land use control- no major development should be permitted in the areas subjected to
• flooding.
• 3) Construction of engineered structures- strong structures to withstand flood forces.
• Moreover the buildings should be constructed on an elevated area and if necessary
• should be build on stits.
• 4) Flood control- it aims to reduce flood damage. It includes:
• a) Flood reduction
• b) Flood diversion
• c) Flood proofing
• For example,
• o London is protected from flooding by a huge mechanical barrier across the river
• Thames, which is raised when the water level reaches a certain point.
• Notable floods
• o Jakarta on January 2007 till now is having a 1.5 M flood. whole city is affected. 80 people
• killed.
• o The floods in peninsular Malaysia, Sabha and Sumithra in December 2006 and January 2007
• is considered to be the worst in 100 years, resulting in evaluation of over 100,000 people in
• the worst-hit state of Johor at its peak.
• o Ethiopia saw one of its worst floods in August 2006.
 CYCLONE
• The name cyclone was first coined by Captain Henry
Piddington, Chairman of Marine Court,
• Calcutta in 1848. It is derived from Greek word means coil of
a snake. Cyclone is an meteorological phenomena in which an
area of low pressure characterized by inward spiraling winds
that rotate counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and
clockwise in the southern hemisphere of the earth.
• Near the places of their origin they are only 80 Km in
diameter, but well developed cyclones have their diameter
ranging from 300 to 1500 km. They move at faster rate over
the oceans than over the land because the irregularities of the
land surface retard their speed. The six main types of cyclones
are polar cyclone, polar low, extra tropical, subtropical,
tropical and mesoscale.
 EARTHQUAKE
• Earthquake is those movements of the earth crust which
make the ground vibrate and shake backward and forward.
The shaking of earth crust proceeds in the form of waves
from the centre of disturbance.
• Longitudinal waves, transverse waves and surface waves
are the 3 types of waves. Earthquake may be caused by two
types of forces.
• 1) Tectonic occurrence: tectonic occurrence like faulting,
breaking of rocks, raising or sinking of layers of the earth,
folding of the strata or vapour seeking to escape from the
earth.
• 2) volcanic activity: violent eruptions and intrusion of
igneous magma from below the earth.
 Types of earthquake:
• Volcanic earthquake: are associated with the
flow of hot magma interrupting volcanoes.
These happen to be localized and seldom cause
any extensive damage.
• Tectonic earthquake: are those which result
from structural and injustments inside the earth.
• Plutonic earthquake: are those which have
their origin at greater depths. They may also be
generated in the same manner as the tectonic
earthquake far below the surface of the earth.
 Effects of earthquake:
• Collapse of manmade structure like building,
bridges, towers etc.
• • Roads get affected due to subsidence of the
ground and enormous fissures appear on land.
• • Extensive landslides in hilly regions and
rocky debris come down to block the path of
streams.
• • When earthquake are accompanied by
volcanic activity, the destruction is very
enormous.
 Mitigation measures:

• • Damage to structure can be avoided by prohibiting

restriction on such earthquake prone zones.
• • Power lines and pipelines can be built with extra
slack where they cross such earthquake prone zones.
• • New buildings should be constructed with proper
earthquake resistant measures. They require secure
anchoring and tight bonding of foundations, frame,
outer and inner walls, floors and roofs.
• • Vulnerable older building located in high risk areas
might be rebuilt to withstand anticipated earth quake.
 Land Slides and Mitigation
Measures
• In the recent years, intensive construction activity and the
destabilizing forces of nature have aggravated the land Slide
problem. Landslides refer to the downward sliding of huge
quantities of land masses. Sliding occurs along steep slopes of
hills of mountains.
• The rate of movement of such a mass is never constant.
Landslides occur as a result of changes on a slope, sudden or
gradual, either in its composition, structure, hydrology or
vegetation. The changes can be due to geology, climate,
weathering, changing land use and earthquakes.
• The causes of landslides may be grouped into two types:
• • Inherent or internal causes.
• • Immediate causes.
 Effect of landslides:
• Landslides are not only destructive to the man but
also to the structures. One of the most disastrous
landslides occurred in Switzerland in 1806, when
great masses of loose rock and soil suddenly slide
down into the valley form the mountainside. It
resulted in killing of 800 persons. Initially the
Vajont Dam, was the highest arch failed due to
landslide on October 9, 1963, when a rock mass
of about 600 million tons slide down into the
lake.
• A significant reduction in hazards caused by landslides can be achieved by
prevention of
• the exposure of population and facilitates by physically controlling the landslides.
• • Development programs that involve modification of the topography, exploitation
of
• natural resources and change in the balance load on the ground should not be
• permitted.
• • Some critical measures that could be undertaken to prevent further landslides are
• drainage measures, erosion control measures such bamboo check-dams, terracing,
jute
• and coir netting and rock control measures such as grass plantation, vegetated dry
• masonry walls, retaining walls and, most importantly, preventing deforestation and
• improving afforestation.
• • Disasters cannot be totally prevented. However, early warning systems, careful
planning
• and preparedness on part of the vulnerable community would help in minimizing
the
• loss of life and property due to these disasters.