DISASTERS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

                     

NATURAL DISASTERS
 The Indian sub continent is highly prone to natural disasters. Floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes are recurrent phenomena in India
 Physical safety-especially that of the vulnerable groups is routinely threatened by hazards. Natural
disasters can not be prevented but their damaging impact can be reduced through better forecast, and
preparedness to take up effective rescue measures.
 The four major disasters mentioned above have very clearly illustrated that we need multi-hazard
prevention, response and recovery plans for natural hazards so that threat to human life and property is minimized.
 Disaster risk management is essentially a development problem.
 Preparedness and planning for disaster management have to be taken up along with environmental
concerns that the country is facing today

Type of disasters 
 There are two types of disasters namely natural disasters and man made disasters.

For example: fire, accidents (road, rail or air), industrial accidents or epidemics are some of the examples of man-made disasters, both natural and man-made disasters which have devastating input resulting loss of human life, loss of livelihoods, property and environmental degradation.
 Disasters disrupts normal functioning of society and leave long lasting impact. Earth quake, cyclone,flood and drought are examples of natural disasters

A. Natural disasters

Certain disasters occur in nature, without human provocation. They are described below.

(a) Floods

 sudden and temporary inundation of a large area as an overflowing of rivers or reservoirs(i) Causes
 caused by rains, high winds, cyclones, tsunami, melting snow or dam burst.
 happen gradually or can happen suddenly due to heavy rains, breach of the water storage and control
structures, spillover.
 Siltation of the rivers and reservoirs, and this can enhance the incidence and magnitude of floods.

(ii) Effects

Casualties

 drowning, serious injuries and outbreak of epidemics like diarrhea, cholera, jaundice or viral infections are common problems faced in flood affected areas.
 wells, other source of drinking water get submerged resulting in acute shortage of safe drinking water during floods.
 people are forced to drink the contaminated floodwater, which may cause serious diseases.

Structural damage

 mud huts and buildings built on weak foundations collapse endangering human lives and property. cause to roads, rail, dams, monuments, crops and cattle.
 uproot trees and may cause landslides and soil erosion.

Material loss
 Household articles including eatables, electronic goods, beds, clothes, furniture get submerged in water and get spoilt all materials mounted on ground e.g. food stock, equipment, vehicles, livestock, machinery, salt pan and fishing boats can be submerged and spoilt.

Utilities damage
 Utilities such as water supply, sewerage, communication lines, power-lines, transportation network and railways are put at risk.

Crop loss
 Apart from the loss of human and cattle life, floods cause severe devastation of standing agricultural crops.
 Floods water spoils the stored food-grains or harvested crop
 may affect soil characteristics and may turn them infertile due to the erosion of the top soil or in coastal areas agricultural lands may turn saline due to flooding by sea water.


Flood control

 reducing the run-off water through afforestation.
 Forests promote rainwater percolation in the ground, thus recharging the groundwater and reducing the run-off water.
 Construction of dams also reduces flood water through storage.
 Dams can store water, which can not be accommodated in the river downstream may cause floods.
 Water can be released in a controlled manner from the dam.
 Desilting, deepening and increasing embankment increase the capacity of a river/channel/drain.

(iii) Management
 The flood damage can be considerable reduced and loss of human lives can prevented through proper planning of flood control and management measures.

Identification of flood prone areas
 A rational planning for flood management involves identification the flood prone areas and frequency and magnitude of flooding in these areas.

Flood forecasting 

 Normally there is a reasonable timely warning by alerting people and moving them to safer area well in time.
 Measurement of intensity of rainfall in the catchment area provide sufficient clue to hydrology engineers to calculate the possible submergence area along a river well before the flooding occurs.
 Accordingly expected run-off volume people can be warned to evacuate the likely areas to be flooded and advise to go to safer places along with their belongings including livestock.
 In India has a large network of rain measuring stations, flood warnings are issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC), Irrigation and Flood Control Department and Water Resources Department.



(b) Drought
 an event that results from lower than normal expected rainfall over a season or period.
 The low rainfall is insufficient to meet the needs of human beings, plants, animals and agriculture.
 Short fall in rain results in drying of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and drying of wells due to excessive
withdrawal and poor recharge of ground water and loss of crop yield due to shortage of water are some of the main indicators of drought.

(i) Causes
 occurs due to shortage of rainfall.
 As per Meteorological Department if rainfall is deficient by more than 10% of the annual average
rainfall, the condition is said to be that of drought.
 The severity of drought is determined by the extent of deviation of rainfall from the average. In the recent past frequency of periods of drought have increasing due to deforestation and environmental degradation.

(ii) Effects
 severe effects on agriculture. To start with drought affects mostly rainfed crops and subsequently the irrigated crops. The herdsman, landless labours, subsistence farmers, women, children and farm animals are most affected.
• Crop failure or food shortage leading to large scale starvation and death.
• Affects dairy activities, timber and fisheries.
• Increases unemployment.
• Depletion of ground water
• Increases energy consumption for pumping water from deep aquifers
• Reduces energy production in hydro-electric power plants
• Loss of biodiversity; and reduced landscape quality
• Causes health problems, increased poverty, reduced quality of life and social unrest
leading to migration.

(iii) Management
 A regular monitoring of rainfall, water availability in reservoirs, lakes and rivers as well as in comparison it with the demand.
 When water availability decreases than demand, water consumption need to be reduced by adopting various water conservation measures.
 include economizing water consumption, by increasing water use efficiency, reducing wastage, reusing the wastewater for inferior uses.
 Use of efficient methods of irrigation and sowing low water-consuming crops are some important
measures to overcome drought.
 Rain water harvesting increases water availability.
 Water harvesting is done by either allowing the run-off water from all the catchment areas to a common point and storing it in a reservoir or allowing it to percolate into the ground so far recharging
groundwater.



(c) Earthquake
 Earthquake is a sudden release of energy accumulated in deformed rocks of earth crust causing the
ground to tremble or shake.
 Earthquake can occur suddenly any time of the year without any warning causing severe loss of life and property.
 It is measured with the help of an instrument known as seismograph

Intensity on Richter Scale                           Extent of damage
upto 3                                                                   No damage
3-5                                                              Cracks in old building
5-7                                                                 Cracks in roads
Above 8                                                     Collapsing of Buildings



(i) Causes
 natural ways of releasing energy by earth.
 occurs in certain pockets of the earth which has geological faults. Such areas have already been
identified.

(ii) Effects

Structural damage
 cause physical damage to the buildings, roads, dams and monuments.
 High rise buildings or building built on weak foundations are especially susceptible to earthquake
damage.
 Household articles including electronic goods and furniture get damaged. Human and livestock deaths or serious injuries from collapsing of building are common followed by outbreak of epidemics like cholera,diarrhoea, and infectious diseases.
 Utilities such as water supply, sewerage, communication lines, power-lines, transportation network, and railways get damaged.

 (d) Cyclone

 violent storms, often of vast extent, characterised by strong and high winds rotating about a calm center of low atmospheric pressure.
 moves onwards, often with velocity of around 50 km/h.
 Cyclones strike suddenly though it takes time for them to build up.
 generally followed by heavy rains causing floods.
 Satellite tracking can predict on possible affected areas and inhabitants fore-warned can be made for warning. Warning and evacuation is done along the projected path.

(i) Effects
 Light weight structures built of mud, wood, old buildings with weak walls and structure without proper anchorage to the foundation are at risk.
 The settlements located in low
 lying areas of coastal regions are directly vulnerable. Settlements in adjacent areas are vulnerable to floods, mudslide or landslide due to heavy rain.
 Telephone and electricity poles and wires, fences, light building structures such as thatched, tin sheds roofs, signboards, hoardings, fishing boats and trees are most vulnerable to cyclone damages.
 Due to heavy rains people and their property might be washed away in floods or blown away by cyclone itself.
 The cyclone along in the coastal areas may cause sea waves to enter on land and flood it. This may cause saline water contamination of soil and water in the affected area, affecting water supply and severely affecting agricultural crops.

(ii) Management

 No development should be permitted in cyclone – prone areas.
 The building should be designed to withstand forces of wind and floods. All the elements holding the structures need to be properly anchored to resist the uplift.
 Coastal green belt has been found very effective in minimizing the effects of cyclones.
 green belts (trees growing along the coast) need to be developed along the coasts.

(e) Tsunami 

 also called seismic sea wave, or tidal wave, catastrophic ocean wave, usually caused by a submarine earthquake occurring less than 50 km (30 miles) beneath the seafloor, with a magnitude greater than 6.5 on the Richter scale.
 Underwater or coastal landslides or volcanic eruptions also may cause a tsunami.
 The term tidal wave is more frequently used for such a wave, but it is a misnomer, for the wave has no connection with the tides.
 In a tsunami a train of simple, progressive oscillatory waves is propagated to great distances at the ocean surface in ever-widening circles, much like the waves produced by a pebble falling into a shallow pool.
 The observation has enormous practical value, enabling seismologists to issue warnings to endangeredcoasts immediately after an earthquake and several hours before the arrival of the tsunami.

(i) Effects

 The effects of tsunami are quite similar to those of cyclones or floods.
 Huge waves of sea water enters with great force and floods the land and washes away human settlements,agricultural crops and other properties.
 The famous tsunami of December 2004 has had devastating effects in many countries particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Srilanka, India etc.
 One large area of coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu.

(ii) Management

The mitigation measures are quite similar to those for cyclone or flood
B. Manmade or Anthropogenic Disasters

 Certains disasters occur in nature by humans activities. They are described below:

(a) Fires
 events of burning something.
 They are often destructive taking up toll of life and property. It is observed that
more people die in a fire than in a cyclone, earthquake, floods and other natural
disasters combined.
 a great threat to forests and wild life because they spread speedily and cause
tremendous damage in a short time.

(i) Causes
Some important ones are given here-

• Throwing burning matchsticks or cigarettes irresponsibility.
• Heating sources can cause fire in houses e.g. clothes may catch fire while cooking on kerosene stove or gas stove.
• Cooking accidents are a major cause of fire at home. Fire can result due to unattended cooking.
• A short circuit in an electric wiring can cause fire. Overheating of electric appliances, poor wiring
connections, use of sub-standard quality appliances can also result in a fire.
• Rubbish and waste materials often lying on roadsides or near houses may catch fire when people throw burning matchstick or cigarette butt.
Storage and transportation of inflammable material or explosive chemicals without proper precautions may cause fires.
• Forest fires may result from human negligence or carelessness.

(ii) Effects
Casualities

 Death of humans and livestock may occur due to burning or serious injuries from fire. In rural areas often the entire harvested crop stored in securely may catch fire and burn to ashes resulting in heavy loss to the owner.

(iii) Management

 Inventory of hazardous chemicals

 Location of industries

 Community preparedness

 Other measures

BIOLOGICAL DISASTERS

Epidemics
 defined as occurrence of an illness or other health related event that is unusually affecting a large
population.
 can be anticipated by a sudden increase in the number of people suffering from a particular disease,
increase in the population disease carrier.
 In order to control the spread of epidemics urgent measures are essential.
 Outbreaks of communicable disease to ready epidemic level are potentially high after a disaster.

(i) Causes

 The outbreak of diseases is mainly due to poor sanitary condition leading to contamination of water or spread of disease form breeding of the disease vectors.
 Other factors include seasonal changes that favour breeding of insects.
 Vectors, exposure of a non-immune population (eg tourists or migrants), poverty and overcrowding.

(ii) Effects

 cause mass illness or death.
 secondary effects such as disruption in the society and economic losses.
 Vulnerability is high among those who are poorly nourished, people living in unhygienic in sanitary conditions, poor quality of water supply, lack of access to health services.

(iii) Management Measures

 Preventive public health measures needs to be strengthened. Personal protection through vaccination is an effective mitigation measure.
 Improvement of sanitary conditions, fumigation of vector breeding sites and proper disposal of domestic and municipal wastes greatly reduce chances of epidemic spread of diseases.
 Contingency plan for dealing with the epidemics that are likely to occur in the region. Early warning system and regular surveillance are primary requirements so as to mount an effective control response in early stages to prevent any outbreaks.

Some common diseases that may reach epidemic proportions are described below:-

(a) Dengue

 Dengue is also called Breakbone Fever, or Dandy Fever. It is an acute, infectious, mosquito- borne
hemorrhagic fever.
 Besides fever, the disease is characterized by an extreme pain and stiffness of the joints (hence the name“breakbone fever”).
 Dengue is caused by a virus transmitted through a mosquito called Aedes aegypti or Asian tiger
mosquito.
 A mosquito becomes infected only if it bites an infected individual (humans) during the first three days of the victim‟s illness.
 It then requires 8 to 11 days to incubate the virus before the disease can be transmitted to another
individual.

(b) HIV and AIDS

 The year 2001 was the 20th anniversary of the initial reports of a mysterious deadly immune-system
disorder that came to be known as AIDS (or Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome).
 The disease epidemic that had killed more than 21 million people in the World.
 disease caused by virus, called HIV (Human Immune Virus) which is mostly transmitted through sexual union and blood transmission


COMMUNITY LEVEL DISASTER MANAGEMENT
 At the time of disaster, various agencies such as government, NGOs and community plays an important role for disaster management.
 These are preparedness, response, recovery and prevention details are on follows:
 Disaster management has four basic components:

Preparedness: Measure to ensure that communities and services are capable of coping with the effect of disaster. It has the following main elements:

• Community awareness and education;

• Preparation of disaster management plans for community, school, individual;

• Mock drill, training and practice;

• Inventory of resources both material resources and human skill resources;

• Proper warning systems;

• Mutual aid arrangement;

• Identifying the vulnerable groups;

Response: Measures taken in anticipation of, during and immediately after a disaster for minimizing its adverse impact.

 It has following main elements:

• Activate the emergency operation centres (control room);

• Deployment of search and rescue teams.

• Issuing updated warning;

• Setting up community kitchens using local groups;

• Set up temporary living accomodation and toilet faciliites;

• Set up medical camps;

• Mobilising resources;

Recovery: Measures are initiated to undertake reconstruction of the physical infrastructure and restoration of
economic and emotional well being. The main elements are as follows:

• Community awareness on health and safety measures;

• Counselling programme for those who have lost the near and dear ones;

• Restoring the essential services -roads, communication links, electricity etc.;

• Providing shelters;

• Collecting usable materials for construction from rubble;

• Providing financial support;

GOVT. INITIATIVES ON DISASTER MANAGEMENT

 The Government of India has set up a National Committee on Disaster Management (NCDM) under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister.

 The recommendations of this National Committee would form the basis of national disaster risk
management programme and strengthening the natural disaster management and response mechanisms.

 United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) has also been supporting various initiatives of the government to strengthen disaster management capacities.

The programme components would include the following:

• Development of state and district disaster management plans.

• Development of disaster risk management and response plans at Village/ Ward, Gram Panchayat,
Block/Urban Local Body levels.

• Constitutions of Disaster Management Teams and Committees at all levels with adequate representation of women in all committees and team. (Village/ Ward, Gram Panchayat, Block/Urban local body, District and State.)

• Capacity Building of Disaster Management Teams at all levels. Special training for women in first aid,shelter management, water and sanitation, rescue and evacuation, etc. Capacity Building in cyclone and earthquake resistant features for houses in disaster-

prone districts, training in retrofitting, and construction of technology demonstration units.

• Integration of disaster management plans with development plans of local self governments.