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Disaster Management Basics: Meaning, Hazard, Vulnerability, Capacity and Risk | UPSC Notes

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Disaster Management Basics: Meaning, Hazard, Vulnerability, Capacity and Risk

Disaster

  • A disaster can be defined as “A serious disruption in the functioning of the community or a society causing widespread material, economic, social or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources”. 
  • A disaster is a result from the combination of hazard, vulnerability and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce the potential chances of risk 
  • A disaster happens when a hazard impacts on the vulnerable population and causes damage, casualties and disruption.

Hazard

  • Hazard may be defined as “a dangerous condition or event that threatens or has the potential for causing injury to life or damage to property or the environment.” 
  • Hazards can be grouped into two broad categories namely natural and manmade. 
    • Natural Hazards
      • Natural hazards are hazards which 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, fires are socio-natural hazards since their causes are both natural and man made. 
        • For example flooding may be caused because of heavy rains, landslides or blocking of drains with human waste. 
    • Manmade hazards
      • Manmade hazards are hazards which are due to human negligence. 
      • Manmade hazards are associated with industries or energy generation facilities and include explosions, leakage of toxic waste, pollution, dam failure, wars or civil strife etc.

Vulnerability

  • Vulnerability may be defined as “The extent to which a community, structure, services or geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular hazard, on account of their nature, construction and proximity to hazardous terrains or a disaster prone area.” 
  • The vulnerability could be divided into four types, viz: 
  • Physical vulnerability 
    • Physical vulnerability includes the risk to the tangible things having physical structure or configuration, such as infrastructure, amenities, houses, buildings, bridges, and other assets which can be directly hit by a hazard event. 
    • For example, in case of an earthquake, old and structurally weak buildings are vulnerable to damage or collapse. 
  • Environmental vulnerability 
    • Environmental vulnerability represents the risk to land and landscape, land-use, existing ecological settings including natural resources and ecosystem services, and thereby, also referred to as underlying causes of socio-economic vulnerability. 
    • For example, urban activities on the coastline of cities like Mumbai make the mangrove vegetation cover recede. This environmental vulnerability increases the chances and impact of urban flooding and causes further socio-economic vulnerability in urban coastal communities and slum areas. 
  • Socio-economic vulnerability 
    • Social vulnerability means the threat to life and livelihood based on factors like caste, ethnicity, age, gender, ability, health status, etc due to a hazard. 
    • Key variables explaining the variation of impact include class, occupation, caste, ethnicity, gender, disability and health status, age and immigration state and social networks. 
  • Systemic vulnerability 
    • Systemic vulnerability represents the state of intactness in the governance and administration against the risk of disaster incidents. 
    • This includes management and inter-relationship between different levels of governments, and within and among organizations, agencies and, thus, represents the effectiveness of coordination even during a disaster situation

Capacity

  • Capacity can be defined as “resources, means and strengths which exist in households and communities and which enable them to cope with, withstand, prepare for, prevent, mitigate or quickly recover from a disaster” 
    • Physical Capacity
      • Physical capacity refers to the material resources and practical skills available with people or communities that help them face, cope with and recover from disasters.
    • Socio-economic Capacity
      • Socio-economic capacity refers to the economic strength, social position and support systems that enable people or communities to cope with disaster losses and recover quickly.
      • Rich people have the capacity to recover soon because of their wealth. 
  • Hazards are always prevalent, but the hazard becomes a disaster only when there is greater vulnerability and less capacity to cope with it. In other words the frequency or likelihood of a hazard and the vulnerability of the community increases the risk of being severely affected

Risk

  • Risk is a “measure of the expected losses due to a hazard event occurring in a given area over a specific time period. ” 
    • The IPCC defines disaster risk as an expression of the likelihood that a particular shock or stress can become a disaster (by causing damage and losses) and may be expressed mathematically as a function of shocks or stresses, vulnerability, exposure and capacity. 
  • The level of risk depends upon: 
    • Nature of the hazard 
    • Vulnerability of the elements which are affected 
    • Economic value of those elements

Disaster risk management

Disaster risk management includes all measures which reduce disaster related losses of life, property or assets by either reducing the hazard or vulnerability of the elements at risk.

Disaster Management Cycle

  • Disaster Risk Management includes the sum total of all activities, programmes and measures which can be taken up before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses. The three key stages of activities that are taken up within disaster risk management are: 
  • Before a disaster (pre-disaster)
    • Activities taken to reduce human and property losses caused by a potential hazard. 
    • For example carrying out awareness campaigns, strengthening the existing weak structures, preparation of the disaster management plans at household and community level etc. 
    • Such risk reduction measures taken under this stage are termed as mitigation and preparedness activities. 
  • During a disaster (disaster occurrence)
    • Initiatives taken to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met and suffering is minimized. Activities taken under this stage are called emergency response activities. 
  • After a disaster (post-disaster)
    • Initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve early recovery and rehabilitation of affected communities, immediately after a disaster strikes. 
    • These are called as response and recovery activities.

Disaster risk reduction

  • Disaster risk reduction is aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development. 
  • Disaster Risk Reduction can take place in the following ways: 
    • Preparedness 
      • This protective process embraces measures which enable governments, communities and individuals to respond rapidly to disaster situations to cope with them effectively. 
      • Preparedness includes the formulation of viable emergency plans, the development of warning systems, the maintenance of inventories and the training of personnel. 
      • It may also embrace search and rescue measures as well as evacuation plans for areas that may be at risk from a recurring disaster. 
      • Preparedness therefore encompasses those measures taken before a disaster event which are aimed at minimising loss of life, disruption of critical services, and damage when the disaster occurs. 
    • Mitigation 
      • Mitigation embraces measures taken to reduce both the effect of the hazard and the vulnerable conditions to it in order to reduce the scale of a future disaster. 
      • Therefore mitigation activities can be focused on the hazard itself or the elements exposed to the threat. 
      • Examples of mitigation measures which are hazard specific include water management in drought prone areas, relocating people away from the hazard prone areas and by strengthening structures to reduce damage when a hazard occurs.

Sample Mains Questions

Q1. Explain the relationship between hazard, vulnerability, capacity and disaster risk.
(150 words, 10 marks)

Q2. A hazard becomes a disaster only when vulnerability is high and coping capacity is low. Discuss.
(150 words, 10 marks)

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