• The Earth is usually a

peaceful place,but sometimes

natural disasters can upset
life
• We have no control over these
but knowing them better will
help us take better care of
ourselves.
• Some of these are Volcanoes,
Earthquakes, Tsunamis,
Floods.
• Let us study some of these
• Disaster is a manmade or natural
event which results in
widespread human loss
• It is accompanied by loss of
livelihood, or property causing
human suffering
• It disrupts normal functioning of
the society
• A sudden movement of a part of the
earth’s surface.
• It is a severe shock that travels thru
solid rock from underground to surface
• The world’s deadliest recorded
earthquake occurred in 1556 in central
China, killing an estimated 830,000
people.
• Remember the earthquake that shook
Delhi a few days ago,or the one that
rattled Sikkim
• Each year the southern California
area has about 10,000 earthquakes.
• As there are earthquakes, there are
'moonquakes‘ and ‘icequakes’ too!
• In 1976 another deadly earthquake
struck in Tangshan, China, where
more than 250,000 people were
killed.
• Other signs from animals that an
earthquake is coming includes birds
flying in circles, dogs barking for
hours and elephants starting to run.
•Huge loss of life
•Damage to buildings and
service structures
•Water and electricity
supply is hit
•Transport network is
severely affected
• Earthquakes can occur at any time of
the day, night without any warning
so we need to follow certain
preventive measures
• Buildings should be constructed
keeping in mind building codes and
guidelines.
• To avoid constructions in earthquake
prone areas
• Create public awareness about
preventive measures during an
earthquake to reduce human loss
• Cyclones are violent storms,
often of vast extent
characterized by high winds
rotating about a calm centre of
low atmospheric pressure.
• Centre moves forward often with
a velocity of 100 km/hr
• They strike suddenly although
they take time to build up
• Structures are damaged or destroyed
by windforce ,flooding , storm surge.
• Roofs of lightweight materials suffer
severe damage
• Casualties are caused by flooding
and flying elements
• Contamination of water supplies lead
to viral outbreaks
• Crops and food supply is hit
• Communication and transport links
are hampered
• Hazard mapping should be done
to illustrate areas vulnerable to
cyclones
• Land use control to be done to
reduce setllements in more
prone areas
• Cyclone shelters should be
constructed in vulnerable areas
• Floods are temporary inundation of
large regions as a result of rivers
overflooding because of heavy rains,
high winds, cyclones ,tsunamis
• Floods can happen gradually and
take over hours or can happen
suddenly due to heavy rains, breach
of water storage and control
structures.
• Buildings, structures are damaged
by washing waters
• People and livestock deaths caused
by drowning
• Outbreak of epidemics, diarrhoea,
viral infections are common
• Shortage of food and clean water
• Loss of crops due to soil erosion
• Mapping the floodplain of the
region
• Construction of elevated structures
in flood prone areas
• Water holding areas should be
created into ponds, lakes
• Flood control ,flood diversion and
flood proofing should be done to
reduce damage