(English captions by Trisha Paul, University of Michigan.)
This is the first session in the first unit of our series.
This session, we shall provide an introduction to disasters.
We shall discuss the background concepts, meaning, and key issues related to disasters
as well as terminologies commonly used in disasters.
We shall also look at the classification of disasters, and the public health consequences
of disasters.
What does the term 'disaster' mean to you?
A disaster can be defined as "a serious disruption of the functioning of a community
or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed
the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources."
The key issue to note here is that the disruption exceeds the ability of the affected community
to cope, and they often need a ton of help.
This definition is by the World Health Organization.
We shall define other terms.
What is an emergency?
It is a state in which normal procedures are suspended and extraordinary measures are taken
in order to avert a disaster.
Often times these two terms, emergency and disaster, are used interchangeably.
But, emergencies involve suspension of normal procedures, the normal way that we've been
doing things so that we put in place emergency procedures to overt the possibility of occurrence
of a catastrophe.
Let us look at the terms, at other terms.
Hazard, Risk, Vulnerability, and Capacity.
What is a hazard?
A hazard is a threatening event or potentially damaging incident.
It hasn't yet occurred, but it is a potential source of a disaster.
What is risk then?
It is the probability of suffering damage (to life, property, economic disruptions and
environment) from a hazard for a given area and reference period.
Risk is a term usually used in probability, and it is the product of hazard and vulnerability.
What is vulnerability then?
Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility to physical or emotional injury following
a disaster.
It is the degree to which an area, people, physical structures or economic assets are
exposed to loss, injury or damage caused by the impact of a hazard.
What is capacity?
It refers to the resources available, including human, material, and other types of resources,
that will enable a community to cope with a threat or resist the impact of a hazard.
What is then the relationship between these terms?
Disaster Risk can be mathematically given by the equation: Risk equals to hazard times
vulnerability minus capacity.
Disasters may be natural.
They may be technological, that is, human generated.
Then there are those that are in between, also called 'hybrid' disasters.
Another way to classify disasters is based on speed of onset.
Disasters may be rapid onset or slow onset.
Slow onset natural disasters can include drought and desertification, famine, deforestation,
and pests and plant diseases.
Rapid onset natural disasters may include climatic disasters like floods, windstorms,
wildfires, and hail storms, and geological disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity,
and landslides.
Technological disasters are often man-made.
They result from activities by human beings or emissions by human beings.
They include conflict and wars leading to refugees and internal displacement.
These are often called Complex Emergencies.
Technological disasters also include disasters like structure failure, building collapse,
transportation crashes, and accidents both on water and on roads and other types of accidents
like chemical explosions, factory explosions, and these types of accidents.
Technological disasters also include military accidents, fire disasters, terrorism, and
Industrial incidents.
Hybrid disasters.
In some situations, it is difficult to classify a disaster on the basis of whether it is natural
or technological.
For instance, where do epidemics fall?
We shall now look at the Public Health Consequences of Disasters.
There are several consequences, and they include death, injuries, loss of clean water, loss
of shelter, loss of personal household goods, major population movements, loss of sanitation,
loss of routine hygiene, disruption of solid waste management, Public concern for safety
that may include panic, increased pests & vectors, damage to health care system, worsening of
chronic illnesses, loss of electricity, toxic/ hazardous exposure, loss of food supply, standing
surface water.
This is a pictorial presentation of some of the consequences of drought and famine.
This is an illustration of some of the effects of flash floods.
This is an illustration of some of the effects of slow onset floods.
This is an illustration of some of the effects of landslides.
The Hyogo Framework for Disaster Management is an international framework that emphasizes
the following at all levels (including operational levels): establishment of subtle early warning
systems, capacity building, emphasis on capacity building, emphasis on safety and resilience
of communities, reducing risk factors, and strengthening disaster preparedness at all
levels.
Pre Disaster Definitions include Preparedness, which implies actions that result in persons
knowing what to do and how to respond after a disaster has occurred.
Prevention which means activities designed to provide permanent protection from disaster
which include engineering and physical protective measures as well as legislation to control
land use and urban planning.
Then mitigation which refers to measures taken in advance of an event aimed at decreasing
or eliminating its impact on society and in the environment.
Post disaster definitions include response.
These are decisions and actions taken during and after disaster, and they include immediate
relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Recovery is another post disaster term.
It refers to activities that restore vital life support systems to normalize operating
standards and long term activities that return life to normal in the post disaster phase.
Other definitions: Relief and rescue.
This occurs in the time period immediately following the disaster period.
Exceptional measures are taken to save lives and care for survivors as well as meet their
basic needs.
There is a distinction between rescue and relief.
Rescue is mainly aimed at securing life while relief is mainly meant to sustain life.
Rehabilitation, on the other hand, is a process that occurs after the closure of the relief
phase.
There is no more dependency or support needed for basic needs.
Basic needs have already been satisfied.
It involves restoring mental and physical health and stability of a community.
It involves instilling principles of sustainable livelihoods and empowering victims/survivors.
It should lead to better developments.
Examples of rehabilitation include Early Recovery Plans for IDPs, Re-afforestation programmes,
Post Recovery Plans.
The emphasis is on the restoration of original status before the disaster.
Recovery examples include physical infrastructure repairs, enhancement of the pre-disaster state,
building resilience of communities, providing new structures/housing that will be able to
withstand a similar disaster in future.
There is an evolutionary approach from response and relief to disaster risk reduction.
A challenge to you: what mechanisms have you put in place to prevent disasters in your
district?
To reduce vulnerability to disasters in your district?
To prepare for disasters in case they occurred in your district?
All disasters are local.
All disasters occur locally in a particular community.
The earliest response to disasters often comes from the community itself.
The capacity of the community to respond to disasters should therefore be built.
Thank you for listening to this presentation.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community