Disaster Management:- Disaster, Effects of Disaster, Hazard, Vulnerability and types of vulnerability.

 Disaster:-

                       A Disaster refers to a sudden or extreme event that causes significant damage, destruction, or disruption, resulting in human, economic, and environmental losses that exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

Disasters can be natural(such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes)or human-made(such as industrial accidents, terrorist attacks).

  → A disaster can be defined as an event that occurs in most cases suddenly and unexpectedly, causing severe disturbances to people, or objects affected by it, and resulting in loss of life and harm to the health of the population, the destruction or loss of community property and severe damage to the environment.

→A disaster is a natural or manmade event that negatively affects life, property, livelihood, or industry often resulting in permanent changes to human societies, ecosystems, and the environment.

→As per Disaster Management Act,2005":-

                                                                  Disaster means a Catastrophe, mishap, calamity, or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes.

Effects of Disaster

The following are the related impacts of disasters:-

1. Falling apart from the normal pattern of life

2. Loss of life and property

3. Adverse impact on economic and social structure.

4. Disruption in community needs of shelter, food, clothing, and medical help

5. Loss of livelihood

6. Disruption of communication, transport, and infrastructure

7. Law and order problems.

Hazard:-

  →   Hazard may be defined as" a dangerous condition or event, that threat or have the potential for causing the injury of life or damage to property or the environment.   

→Hazard is a potential threat or source of danger that has the potential to cause harm, damage, or loss. Hazards can be natural( such as earthquakes Storms, and wildfires) or human-made( such as chemical spills, nuclear accidents, and infrastructure failures). Hazards become disasters when they interact with vulnerable populations or areas.

→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 social natural in origin.

Hazards can be grouped into two broad categories:-

1. Natural Hazard

2. Man-made Hazard

Natural hazards:-

                              These are hazards that are caused because of natural phenomena( hazards with meteorological, geological, or even  biological origin)

 →Examples of natural hazards are cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, which are exclusively of natural origin. 

→Landslides, floods, drought, and fires are social natural hazards since their causes are both natural and manmade. For example, flooding may be caused by heavy rains, landslides, or blocking drains with human waste.

Man-made hazards:-

→Hazards that are due to human negligence.

→ Man-made hazards are associated with Industries or energy generation facilities and include explosions, leakage of toxic waste, pollution, dam failure, wars or civil strike, etc.

Vulnerability:-

→It may be defined as the extent to which a community, structure, services or geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impacts of particular hazard, on account of their nature, construction and proximity to hazardious terrains or a disaster prone area.

→Vulnerability refers to the characteristics and circumstances of an individual, community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging effect of a hazard. it is determined by various factors such as social, economic, political and environmental conditions. vulnerability can be influenced by factors like poverty, lack of infrastructure, inadequate access to healthcare and social inequalities.

→There are many aspects of vulnerability arising from various physical, social, economic and environmental factors.

 Examples may include:- 

1. Poor design and construction of building

2. inadequate protection of assets

3. lack of Public Information and awareness

4.  Limited official recognition of risk and preparedness measures.  5. Disregard for wise environmental management.

There are four main types of Vulnerability

1.Physical Vulnerability:-

→It may be determined by aspects such as population density levels, remoteness of settlement, the site, design, and materials used for critical infrastructure and for housing 

example:- wooden homes are less likely to collapse in an earthquake but are more vulnerable to fire.

2. Social Vulnerability:-

→It refers to the inability of people, organizations, and societies to withstand adverse impacts to hazards due to characteristics inherent in social interactions, institutions, and systems Of Cultural values.

→ It includes aspects related to literacy and education levels, peace and security, access to basic Human Rights, good governance system, social equity, positive traditional values, customs and ideological beliefs, and overall collective organizational systems.

 example:- when flooding occurs some citizens such as children elderly and differently-abled may be unable to protect themselves or evacuate if necessary.

3. Economic Vulnerability:-

→The level of vulnerability is highly dependent upon the economic status of individuals communities and nations.

→The poor are usually more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the resources to build sturdy structures and put other engineering measures in place to protect themselves from the negatively impacted of disasters.

 example:- poorer families may live in squatter settlements because they cannot afford to live in safer areas.

4. Environmental Vulnerability:-

→Natural resource depletion and resource degradation are key aspects of environmental Vulnerability.

 Examples:-  wetlands such as the Caroni swamp, are sensitive to increasing salinity from seawater, and pollution from stormwater runoff containing agricultural Chemicals, etc.