Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction

Lesson 1: Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk

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Basic Concept of Disaster and cope with the potential negative

Disaster Risk consequences.
CLASSIFICATION OF DISASTERS
[1] Natural Disasters - a natural
DISASTER - is "a sudden, calamitous phenomenon is caused by natural
occurrence that causes great harm, forces, such as earthquakes, typhoon,
injury, destruction, and devastation to volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, fires,
life and property”. tornados, and extreme temperatures.
They can be classified as rapid onset
 A preceding definition of disaster
disasters and those with progressive
stresses that two elements are
onset, such as droughts that lead to
affected – life (whether human or
famine. These events, usually
animal) and property.
sudden, can have tremendous effects.
[2] Man-made Disasters - Disasters
“a serious disruption of the functioning
caused by man are those in which
of a community or a society involving
major direct causes are identifiable
widespread human, material,
intentional or non-intentional human
economic or environmental losses
actions.
and impacts, which exceeds the
ability of the affected community or
society to cope using its own Subdivided into three categories:
resources”
1.
- Food and Agriculture Organization - Unregulated industrialization and
(FAO, 2008) inadequate safety standards increase
“a serious disruption of the functioning the risk for industrial disasters.
of a community or a society involving EXAMPLE: leaks of hazardous
widespread human, material, materials; accidental explosions;
economic or environmental losses
and impacts, which exceeds the
ability of the affected community or 2.
society to cope using its own terrorism has also increased due to
resource” the spread of technologies involving
- United Nations International Strategy nuclear, biological, and chemical
for Disaster Reduction agents used to develop weapons of
Disasters are often a result of the mass destruction.
combination of: the exposure to a
hazard; the conditions of vulnerability
that are present; and insufficient EXAMPLE: bombs or explosions;
capacity or measures to reduce or release of chemical materials; release
of biological agents; release of
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 1: Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk
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radioactive agents; multiple or
massive shootings; mutinies.
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 1: Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk
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3. Complex humanitarian resilience to the vulnerability of a
emergencies - the term complex community
emergency is usually used to describe
the humanitarian emergency resulting
from an international or civil war. has 3 important elements:
EXAMPLE: conflicts or wars and 1. Exposure - the “elements at risk
Genocide the deliberate killing of a from a natural or man-made
large group of people, especially hazard event.” (Quebral, 2016).
those of a particular ethnic group or 2. Hazard potentially dangerous
nation. physical occurrence, phenomenon
or human activity.
3. Vulnerability - condition
Risk - defined as “the combination of determined by physical, social,
the probability of an event and its economic and environmental
negative consequences” (UNISDR, factors, which increase the
2009). susceptibility of a community to the
impact of hazard.

Disaster Risk - refers to the potential

(not actual and realized) disaster
losses, in lives, health status,
livelihoods, assets, and services
which could occur in a community or
society over some specified future
time period.
“Disaster risk is the product of the
possible damage caused by a hazard
due to the vulnerability within a
community.”
- Von Kotze, 1999:35

can be determined by the presence of

three variables:
1. hazards (natural or
anthropogenic)
2. vulnerability to a hazard
3. coping capacity linked to the
reduction, mitigation, and
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 1: Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk
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 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 2: Risk Factors Underlying Disasters
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Risk Factors Underlying developing countries like the

Disasters Philippines.

RISK FACTORS - are processes or Factors which underlie disasters:

conditions, often development-related,
 Climate Change
that influence the level of disaster risk
 Environmental Degradation
by increasing levels of exposure and
 Globalized Economic
vulnerability or reducing capacity.
Development
 Poverty and Inequality
The ff. are also taken into
 Poorly planned and Managed
consideration when risk factors
Urban Development 6. Weak
underlying disaster are involved :
Governance

 Severity of exposure - which

measures those who experience
disaster first hand which has the
highest risk of developing future
mental problems, followed by
those in contact with the victims
such as rescue workers and health
care practitioners and the lowest
risk are those most distant like
those who have awareness of the
disaster only through news.
 Gender and Family - the female
gender suffers more adverse
effects. This worsens when
children are present at home.
Marital relationships are placed
under strain.
 Age - adults in the age range of
40-60 are more stressed after
disasters but in general, children
exhibit more stress after disasters
than adults do.
 Economic status of country -
evidence indicates that severe
mental problems resulting from
disasters are more prevalent in
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 3: Vulnerability: Its Definition and The Vulnerable Sectors in the Society
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hazards and the effects of a disaster.
Vulnerability: Its Definition
These sectors are characterized by
socio-economic and demographic
VULNERABILITY - refers to the indicators.
characteristics and circumstances of
Socio-economic Indicators. People
people, community, system or
who have low income, work usually in
properties that increases the chances
agriculture or contractual job, and
of suffering from a disaster.
have low educational attainment are
SUSCEPTIBILITY - This refers to vulnerable to disaster.
your proximity and exposure to a
Low Income. People with low income
hazard.
tend to have limited resources. They
PROXIMITY - means your physical would not be able to buy the
closeness to a hazard zone. necessary things for disaster
preparedness because of their low
EXPOSURE - refers to your physical income.
presence in the hazard zone.
Occupation. The common livelihood
RESILIENCE - This refers to your in the country is forestry, farming,
ability to adjust and recover. Your mining, and fishing because of the
ability depends on your capacity, country’s vast natural resources such
preparedness, and response. as soil, forest, mountain, and bodies
CAPACITY - refers to all resources of water.
utilized to handle an incident caused Educational Attainment. Families
by a hazard or to cope with the effects often prioritize food instead of
of a disaster. education and other essential things
PREPAREDNESS - are the actions before and after disaster occurs.
taken before a disaster happens that Demographic Indicators. Young
will guide us how to act once a people, aging people, pregnant
disaster occurs. women, undernourished people, and
RESPONSE - are the appropriate people with pre-existing medical
actions taken during or after a disaster conditions are mainly vulnerable to
to help lessen the negative effects. the effects of a disaster.
Young people. These people are in
The Vulnerable Sectors in the the age of 18 and below.
Society
Aging People. These people are
aged 60 and above. Getting old is not
There are several sectors in the really a factor to be vulnerable.
society which are vulnerable to
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 3: Vulnerability: Its Definition and The Vulnerable Sectors in the Society
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Pregnant women. Women carry a
child inside their womb for an average
of nine months. Within that period,
they experience a lot of physical,
emotional and mental changes.
People with pre-existing medical
conditions. These are people who
have lifelong illnesses such as
diabetes, heart conditions, lung
problems, and hypertension.
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 4: Disasters from Different Perspectives
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 interpersonal effect guilt feeling
Disasters from Different
3. Socio-cultural Perspective -
Perspectives
Filipinos are generally known as
“matiisin”, resourceful, helpful,
optimistic, and prayerful. These
1. Physical perspective - Calamities
characteristics are manifested in the
are phenomena that cause great
country’s recent fight against
physical damage in a community
COVID19.Due to the National Health
infrastructure, its people and their
Emergency, Enhanced Community
properties, e.g. houses and
Quarantine (ECQ) prevailed in the
environmental sources of living.
whole country. A lot of people
These cited effects of a disaster can
temporarily lost their jobs, some
be easily measured and the most
people stranded in different regions,
common.
repatriated OFWs were held in
Effects of Physical Disasters different quarantine facilities in Metro
Manila, and all people were restricted
 Injuries to go out of their homes for months.
 Physical disabilities or illness As a result, most Filipino families
 Sanitation would rely on government’s help for
 Damage in infrastructure them to get by.
The culture of “malalampasan din
2. Psychological Perspective - natin ‘to..” belief and “ bahala na and
Victims of disasters may suffer from Diyos” syndrome give hope to most
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Filipino in the midst of a disaster.
(PTSD) and other serious mental Such perspective helps a lot
health conditions, which are not being especially those who belong to the
given much attention to by the marginalized sector to be hopeful and
authorities or even by the victims, continue fighting against any
themselves. (This may be sensitive challenge at hand. Their belief that a
statement) help from someone or from God
Psychological effects of a Disaster: would arrive at a time they most
needed. It also helps most people
 distress survive a lot of oddities in life.
 hopelessness
 intrusion/avoidance Socio-Cultural Effect of Disasters
 emotional effects  change in individual roles
 hatred/revenge  disruption of social
 cognitive Effects relationships and personal
 dependence/insecurities connections
 physical Effects
 grief/withdrawn/isolation
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 3: Vulnerability: Its Definition and The Vulnerable Sectors in the Society
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 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 4: Disasters from Different Perspectives
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4. Economic Perspective - Disasters the information provided by these
affect the economic condition of a institutions (McCaffey 2004).
community because they reduce local  If individuals are confident that
and international trade. It can also they will receive sufficient aid from
partially or totally paralyze a country’s the government when a disaster
transportation system, just like what occurs, they might not be
happened in the COVID19 pandemic. motivated to take measures on
their own (King and Kang 2000).
Implementation of a partial and total
shut down of local business
operations result to a lot of people 6. Biological Perspective - The
losing means of living. disturbing effects caused by a
prevalent kind of disease or virus in
Economic Effects of Disasters
an epidemic or pandemic level is
 loss of life known as biological disaster.
 unemployment
Epidemic Level: Biological disaster
 loss of property
affects large numbers of people within
 loss of household articles
a given community or area. Ex:
 loss of crops
Dengue.
 loss of public infrastructure
Pandemic Level: Biological disaster
affects a much large region, sometime
5. Political Perspective - Natural
spanning entire continents or the
disasters are commonly thought to be
globe
less politically argumentative than
armed conflicts, yet a closer look Effects of Biological Disasters
shows that both the effects of a
 loss of lives
natural disaster and the resulting
 public demobilization
distribution of humanitarian aid are
 negative economic effect
profoundly linked to politics.
 unemployment
Political Effects of a Disaster  hunger
 People who have trust in political
institution will assess the
government’s risk assessments as
credible and accept their hazard
policies (Johnson 1999)
 Low level of trust in public
institutions therefore means that
citizens may ignore the
recommendations and disregard
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 6: Vulnerability in Disaster
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Vulnerability in Disaster

Factors affecting vulnerability of one’s

community:
1. Population density near a hazard
event
 refers to the number of individuals
living in an area in relation to the
size of an area. If population
density is high, it means that the
number of individuals is high but
the space is very small.
 crowded communities have higher
vulnerability to hazards.
2. Capacity and efficiency to
reduce Disaster Risk
Community that is less vulnerable has
the capacity to reduce disaster risk
because;
 It can provide accessibility and
availability of services and facilities
during and after disaster.
 It has the ability to anticipate,
adapt, and respond to possible
disaster.
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 7: Vulnerabilities of Different Elements Exposed to Elements Exposed to Hazards
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which protect them from being
Effects of Hazard, Exposure, and
affected by disasters.
Vulnerability to Disaster Risks

Social and economic vulnerability can

Vulnerabilities of different elements
be combined also known as
are determined due to its exposure to
socioeconomic vulnerability.
particular and exposure to particular
and specific hazard.
ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITY
PHYSICAL VULNERABILITY  is caused by natural resources
depletion depletion and
 includes population density levels,
destruction.
place of a settlement, the site
design, and materials used for
infrastructure and housing.

SOCIAL VULNERABILITY
 happens due to inability of people,
organization, and societies to
prevent severe effects from
hazards because of the expected
behavior in social interactions,
institutions, and system and
system of cultural values of
cultural values.

ECONOMIC VULNERABILITY
 is based on the economic status of
individual of individuals,
communities s, communities, and
nations. , and nations. The poorer
the count The poorer the country,
the ry, the more vulnerable to
disasters because they lack the
funds or budgets to build sturdy
structures and put other
engineering measures in place
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 8: Effects of Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability to Disaster Risks
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Effects of Hazard, Exposure, and DISASTER - A serious disruption to

Vulnerability to Disaster Risks the functioning of a community/society
which causes widespread human,
material, economic or environmental
losses that exceed the capacity of the
HAZARD - A harmful condition,
community concerned, to cope with
substance, human behavior or
the use of their own resources.
condition that can cause loss of life,
injury or other health effects, harm to EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY -
property, etc. A certain community can be exposed
but it does not mean that it is
EXPOSURE - The presence of
vulnerable. Exposure to hazard can
elements at risk or chance of being
make a community vulnerable.
harmed from natural or man-made
Vulnerability depends on the
hazard events. The more the
preparedness and readiness to a
community is exposed to hazard
hazard of the community. It depends
factors, the higher is the disaster risk
mostly on how they mitigate, respond,
or higher chance of disaster
and recover.
occurrence.
DISASTER MITIGATION
Elements include:
MEASURES - Those that
 Individuals eliminate/reduce the impacts and risks
 Households/ of hazards by means of proactive
communities measures taken before an emergency
 Properties or disaster takes place.
 Buildings and structures
MITIGATION - Is the action of
 Agricultural commodities
reducing something’s severity,
 Livelihoods - Public
seriousness, or painfulness.
facilities
 Infrastructures
 Environmental assets
VULNERABILITY – The
characteristics and circumstances of a
community, system, or asset, that
make it susceptible to the damaging
effects of a hazard and inability of a
community to prevent, mitigate,
prepare for and respond to hazardous
events.
RISK - Implies the probability of
possible adverse effects.
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 9: Hazards and Its Types
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Hazards and its Types EXPLODING BOMB

- Explosives
- Self-reactives
TYPES OF HAZARDS
- Organic
1. Natural hazards - arise from Peroxides
natural processes in the
environment.
2. Quasi-natural hazards - arise
through the interaction of natural
processes and human activities.
3. Technological (or man-made) SKULL AND CROSSBONES
hazards - These arise directly as a
result of human activities. - Fatal or toxic
- Acute toxicity

HAZARD SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

FLAME
- Flammable
- Self-heating
- Emits QUASI-NATURAL SIGNS AND
Flammable SYMBOLS
Gas
- Pyrophoric
AQUATIC TOXICITY

HEALTH HAZARD
- Reproductive
toxicity
- Respiratory
sensitizer
- Target organ AIR TOXICITY
toxicity
- Aspiration
toxicity
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 10: Hazards: Its Impact, Identification, and Risk Assessment
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Hazards: Its Impact, 5. Environmental impact

Identification, and Risk  Loss of forest due to forest fires
Assessment  Loss of freshwater due to
salinization
SIX SPECIFIC TYPES OF HAZARD  Disturbance of biodiversity
IMPACTS  Loss of natural rivers
1. Physical impact 6. Biological impact
 Physical injuries (bone fracture,  Epidemic to people, flora and
wounds, bruises) fauna
 Destruction and loss of vital  Chronic and permanent illness
infrastructure like transportation caused by biological agents
systems, roads, bridges, power
lines and communication lines.
 Widespread destruction of housing HAZARD IDENTIFICATION - the
and buildings process of determining all physical
and nonphysical agents in the
2. Psychological impact
workplace or specific environment.
 Grief and psychological illness
 Marital conflict
 Depression due to loss of loved RISK ASSESSMENT - is a way to
ones and properties determine which hazards and risks
 Chronic anxiety should prioritized by taking into
consideration the probability and
3. Socio- cultural impact
severity of impact.
 Displacement of population
 Loss of cultural identity
 Forced of adoption of new sets of STEPS IN HAZARD
culture IDENTIFICATION AND RISK
 Ethnic conflicts ASSESSMENT
4. Economic impact
 Loss of job due to displacement 1. Identify the hazards.
 Loss of harvest and livestock
Use the following methods:
 Loss of farms, fish cages and
other source of food a. Observation - use your senses of
 Loss of money and other valuables sight, hearing, smell and touch -
combined with knowledge and
experience.
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 10: Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk
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b. Material Safety Data Sheets
(MSDSs) - obtain them from
manufacturers and suppliers. It
gives information on possible harm
from hazardous substances and
precautions that need to be taken.
c. Hazard and risk surveys -
interview other people about their
safety concerns as far as the
workplace is concerned. Utmost
consideration should be given to
children or visitors who could be at
risk.
d. Discussion groups - are useful for
identifying hazards and
recommending solutions.
e. Safety audits – a committee must
be assigned to periodically check
safety in the area.

2. Assess the Risk - Once a hazard

has been identified, the likelihood and
possible severity of injury or harm will
need to be assessed before
determining how best to minimize the
risk.
3. Make the changes - Once risks
are assessed, the next step is to
make decision for some necessary
changes.
4. Checking the changes made - To
make sure risk has been minimized,
and a further hazard has not been
created, the new safety measures
may need to be carefully tested before
work begins again.
 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 10: Basic Concept of Disaster and Disaster Risk
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 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Lesson 10: Hazards: Its Impact, Identification, and Risk Assessment
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