Disaster

an event which causes widespread damage, injury, and loss of lives

a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human,
material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the communitys or societys ability to cope using its
own resources.

Factors of Disaster Risk: Hazard, Vulnerability and Exposure

Disaster risk signifies the possibility of adverse effects in the future. It derives from the interaction of social and
environmental processes, from the combination of physical hazards and the vulnerabilities of exposed elements.

1) A hazard is threatening event, or the probability of occurrence of a potentially damaging

phenomenon within a given time period and area. Disaster often follows natural hazards.

i) Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either by rapid or
slow onset events which can be:
1. geophysical (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic activity),
2. hydrological (avalanches and floods),
3. climatological (extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires),
4. meteorological (cyclones and storms/wave surges) or
5. biological (disease epidemics and insect/animal plagues)

ii) Technological or man-made hazards are events that are caused by humans and occur in or
close to human settlements which includes environmental degradation, pollution and
accidents.
These hazards can be:
1. complex emergencies/conflicts
2. famine
3. displaced populations
4. industrial and transport accidents and transport accidents
2) Vulnerability refers to the natural tendency of exposed elements such as human beings, their
livelihoods, and assets to suffer adverse effects when impacted by hazard events.

A disaster occurs when a hazard impacts on vulnerable elements like assets.

(VULNERABILITY+ HAZARD) / CAPACITY = DISASTER
3) Exposure refers to the inventory of elements in an area in which hazard events may occur. Hence,
if population and economic resources were not located in (exposed to) potentially dangerous
settings, no problem of disaster risk would exist.

Disaster risk reduction is the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze
and reduce the causal factors of disasters.
Exposure and Vulnerability
(VULNERABILITY+ HAZARD) / CAPACITY = DISASTER
Disasters often follow natural hazards. A hazard is a phenomenon that could pose a threat to people, houses, and
the environment. It can also cause disasters. Thus, a disaster occurs when a hazard impacts on vulnerable people.
Vulnerability can be defined as the diminished capacity of an individual or group to anticipate, cope with, resist
and recover from the impact of a natural or man-made hazard. Vulnerability is most often associated with poverty,
but it can also arise when people are isolated, insecure and defenseless in the face of risk, shock or stress.
Exposure
People differ in their exposure to risk as a result of their social group, gender, ethnic or other identity, age and
other factors. Vulnerability may also vary in its forms: poverty, for example, may mean that housing is unable to
withstand an earthquake or a hurricane, or lack of preparedness may result in a slower response to a disaster,
leading to greater loss of life or prolonged suffering.

To determine peoples vulnerability, two (2) questions need to be asked:

To what threat or hazard are they vulnerable?
What makes them vulnerable to that threat or hazard?

Counteracting vulnerability requires:

reducing the impact of the hazard itself where possible (through mitigation, prediction and warning, preparedness);
building capacities to withstand and cope with hazards;
tackling the root causes of vulnerability, such as poverty, poor governance, discrimination, inequality and
inadequate access to resources and livelihoods.

Earthquake Hazards

Potential Earthquake Hazards

1. Ground shaking disruptive up-down and sideways movement or motion experienced

during an earthquake. (Samar and Baguio)
2. Ground rupture displacement on the ground due to movement of fault.
This will be experienced by areas where fault passes through (note not all cracks on the
ground that people see after a strong earthquake are faults, some may just be surficial
cracks because of ground failure)
The movement may have vertical and horizontal component and may be as small as less
than 0.5 meters (Masbate 1994 earthquake) to as big as 6 meters (16 July 1990
Earthquake).
3. Tsunami sea waves resulting from the disturbance of ocean floor by an earthquake. This
is a series of giant sea waves commonly generated by under-the-sea earthquakes and
whose heights could be greater than 5 meters. Banda Aceh Earthquake (Indonesia), and
March 2011 (Eastern Japan) (Tsunami Flyer, English)28 August 2015
4. Liquefaction is a process that transforms the behavior of a body of sediments from that
of a solid to that of a liquid when subjected to extremely intense shaking.
5. Land subsidence is defined as the lowering of the land surface. Many different factors
can cause the land surface to subside. Subsidence can occur rapidly due to a sinkhole or
underground mine collapse, or during a major earthquake.
6. Landslide is the movement of rock, debris or earth down a slope. They result from the
failure of the materials which make up the hill slope and are driven by the force of gravity.
Landslides are known also as landslips, slumps or slope failure.
What to do when there is an EARTHQUAKE

Before

1. Know if your area is above or near a fault line.

2. Know the projected period and intensity of fault line movement.
3. Prepare you survival kit.
4. Participate in an earthquake drill.
5. Check for possible sources of hazard which may be affected by the shaking of the ground.

During

1. Stay calm alert and focused

2. Drop cover hold
3. Never use elevator
4. Got to an open area
5. Stay safe from falling object

After

1. Stay calm alert and observer your surroundings

2. Exit the building in an orderly manner dont push one another to pevent injuries
3. Check yourself if you have injuries
4. Watch out for any chemical and fire hazard that spilled in the area
5. Go outside as fast as you can and take the safest way out.
Volcanic Phenomena
1. Lava Flow are stream-like flows of incandescent molten rock erupted from a crater or fissure.
When lava is degassed and/or very viscous, it tends to extrude extremely slowly, forming lava
domes.
2. Ashfall or tephra fall are showers of airborne fine- to coarse-grained volcanic particles that
fallout from the plumes of a volcanic eruption; ashfall distribution/ dispersal is dependent on
prevailing wind direction.
3. Pyroclastic flows and surges (Pyroclastic density current) are turbulent masses of ejected
fragmented volcanic materials (ash and rocks), mixed with hot gasses (200C to 700C to as hot
as 900C) that flow downslope at very high speeds (>60kph). Surges are the more dilute, more
mobile derivatives or pyroclastic flows.
4. Lahars are rapidly flowing thick mixture of volcanic sediments (from the pyroclastic materials)
and water, usually triggered by intense rainfall during typhoons, monsoons, and thunderstorms.
What used to be white steam slowly or drastically change to gray to dark (suggests increasing
presence of ash).
5. Ballistic projectiles are Volcanic materials directly ejected from the volcanos vent with force
and trajectory.
6. Volcanic gasses gasses and aerosols released into the atmosphere, which include water vapor,
hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride.
7. Tsunami- sea waves or wave trains that are generated by sudden displacement of water (could
be generated during undersea eruptions or debris avalanches)
8. Debris avalanche or volcanic landslide - massive collapse of a volcano, usually triggered by
an earthquake or volcanic eruption.
Other Geologic Hazards
I. Rainfall-induced Landslide
Also known as a landslip.
A form of mass wasting that includes a wide range of ground movements.
Can occur in underwater, called a submarine landslide, Coastal, and Onshore

Environments.
CAUSES:
Groundwater pressure acting to destabilize the slope
Loss or absence of vertical vegetative structure, soil nutrients, and soil structure
Erosion of the toe of a slope by rivers or ocean waves
Weakening of a slope through saturation by snowmelt, glaciers, melting or heavy rains
Earthquakes
Volcanic Eruptions
Deforestation
Vibration from machinery or traffic
Blasting
Construction, Agriculture or Forestry Activities

II. Sinkhole
1. Natural sinkholes occur due to erosion or underground water. They start developing a
long time before it actually appears. The ground beneath our feet is not as much of a solid
structure as we think it is. The ground is made from dirt, along with many rocks and
minerals. There is water continually seeping in between the mud, rocks, and minerals, as it
makes its way down to the ground water reservoirs.
2. Man-made sinkholes are formed due to activities like drilling, mining, constructio n,
broken water or drain pipes, improperly compacted soil after excavation work or even
heavy traffic can result in small to large sinkholes. Water from broken pipe can penetrate
through mud and rocks and erode the ground underneath and cause sinkholes.