STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
SY 2019 – 2020

Disaster readiness and risk reduction is the course that focuses on the application of scientific
knowledge and the solution of practical problems in physical environment. It is designed to bridge the
gap between theoretical science and daily living. Disaster risk reduction is a systematic approach to
identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities
to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them.
Typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruption, floods, drought and extreme temperatures
strike communities around the world each year. The top ten disasters of 2004, in terms of number of
people affected, were all weather and climate-related. As climate change begins to manifest itself – in the
form of increased frequency and intensity of
hazards such as floods, storms, heat waves,
and drought – the need for communities to
address climate risks is becoming urgent. The
coming decades are likely to bring, among
others, changes, altered precipitation patterns
so that many areas will experience more
frequent floods and landslides, while others
will experience prolonged drought and
wildfires.
As many communities are not
prepared to cope with natural and man-made
disasters facing them today, an ongoing
challenge is to build their resilience. In
answer to this challenge, Disaster Readiness
and Risk Reduction (DRR) aims to address a
comprehensive mix of factors contributing to
communities’ vulnerabilities. Having proper
knowledge and skills in disaster risk
reduction will increase and ensure the chance
of coping and survival of different exposed elements.
It is significant to recognize the inclusion of Disaster readiness and risk reduction in the Senior
High School curriculum given the fact that classroom instruction of DRR can be a solid foundation for
mainstreaming DRR education. Many students can utilize whatever they learn in this course to empower
not only themselves but also their respective families and communities with information that can spell
the difference between survival and grief in the face of a disaster.
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

UNIT I – Basic Concept of Disaster, Disaster Risk and Hazards

Objectives

In this unit you are expected to:

1. Explain the meaning of disaster.

2. Differentiate the risk factors underlying disasters
3. Describe the effects of disasters on one’s life.
4. Explain how and when an event becomes a disaster.
5. Identify areas/locations exposed to hazards that may lead to disasters.
6. Analyze disaster from the different perspectives (physical, psychological, socio-cultural, economic,
political, and biological).
7. Define hazards.
8. Give examples of the types of hazards.
9. Explain the impact of various hazards on different exposed elements.
10. Identify various potential earthquake hazards.
11. Recognize the natural signs of an impending tsunami.
12. Analyze the effects of the different earthquake hazards.
13. Interpret different earthquake hazard maps.
14. Apply precautionary and safety measures before, during and after an earthquake.

Unit Introduction

“The man does better who runs from disaster than he who is caught by it.” – Homer

It has been said that Mother Nature is a “Great leveler”. When a disaster or catastrophe occurs,
everyone regardless of race, gender and economic status will be and can be affected at varying
proportions and magnitude. Thus, it is imperative that a thorough understanding of what a disaster is
and its accompanying risks be provided in order to manage its potential impact and mitigate its effects.
This will be the focus of this unit in order to ensure that basic understanding of disaster and its related
concepts will be thoroughly given.

LESSON I – BASIC CONCEPTS OF DISASTER AND DISASTER RISK

INTRODUCTION:

Disasters, disaster risk, and hazards greatly affect our daily lives and it is important to be aware
and prepared when these happen.

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Explain the meaning of disaster.
2. Differentiate the risk factors underlying disasters.
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

3. Describe the effects of disasters on one’s life.

4. Explain how and when an event becomes a disaster.
5. Identify areas/locations exposed to hazards that may lead to disasters.
6. Analyze disaster from the different perspectives (physical, psychological, socio-cultural, economic,
political, and biological).

SUBJECT MATTER:

I. Concept of Disaster
A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving
widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and
impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or
society to cope up using its own resources.
In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the
consequence of inappropriate managed risk.
Disasters are a result of the combination of the exposure to a
hazard; conditions of vulnerability that are present; and
insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the
potential negative consequences. (Philippine Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Act of 2010) Figure 1: Severe flooding

Hazard- is defined as a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may
cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social
and economic disruption, or environmental damage.

Types of Hazards
1. Natural Hazards- which are naturally occurring phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
droughts and epidemics.
2. Man-made Hazards- also called technological hazards like industrial accidents, transport accidents
and famine. (What is a disaster? 2016)

Vulnerability- is the characteristics and circumstances of a community, system, or asset that make it
susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard.
Disaster Risk/Risk- is the product of the possible damage caused
by a hazard due to the vulnerability within a community (Dar,2014)
Types of Disasters
1. Natural disasters: including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and
volcano eruptions that have immediate impacts on human health and
secondary impacts further causing death and suffering from floods,
landslides, fire, tsunamis.
2. Environmental emergencies: including technological or
industrial accidents, usually involving the production, use, or Figure 2: Risk Factor
transportation of hazardous material which occur where these
materials are produced, used or transported, and forest fires caused
by humans.
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

3. Complex emergencies: involving a break-down of authority, looting and attacks on strategic

installations, including conflicts situations and war.
4. Pandemic emergencies: involving a sudden onset of contagious disease that affects health, disrupts
services and businesses, and brings economic and social costs.

How and When an event becomes a Disaster?

A natural event such as a tsunami becomes a hazard if it
poses a threat to people. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake is usually
strong enough to generate tsunamis that could be destructive to
nearby coastal areas. The tsunami waves that are about to hit a
beach area with people, animals, trees, and houses are considered
as a hazard. After the tsunami hits the populated area, it is no
longer just a hazard but a disaster with victims and destruction or
damage all over the place.

Figure 3: Types of Disaster

II. Risk Factors- A number of factors make it more likely that someone will have more severe or
longer-lasting stress reactions after disasters.
Severity of Exposure
 The amount of exposure to the disaster is highly related to risk of future mental problems. The
highest risks are those that have gone through the disaster themselves.
 Next are those in close contact with victims.
 Injury and life threat are the factors that lead most often to mental health problems. Studies show
that at least half of survivors suffer from distress or mental health problems that need clinical care.
Gender and Family
 Almost always, women or girls suffer from more negative effects than men or boys. Disaster recovery
is more stressful when children are present in the home.
 Having a family member in the home, who is extremely distressed, is related to more stress to
everyone.
 Marital stress has been found to increase after disasters. Also, conflicts between family members or
lack of support in the home make it harder to recover from disasters.
Age
 In general, children show more severe distress after disasters rather than adults. Higher stress in the
parents is related to worse recovery of children.
Other Specific Factors of the Survivors
 Have had no experience dealing with disasters
 Have to deal with other stressors after the disaster
 Lack of capacity to manage stress
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

Developing Countries
 Risk factors can be made worse if the disaster occurs in a developing country. Disasters in developing
countries have more severe mental health impact than disasters in developed countries.
Low or Negative Social Support
 The support of others can be both a risk and a resilient factor. Social support can weaken after
disasters. This may be due to stress and the need for members of the support network to get on with
their own lives

III. Effects of Disasters

Disasters take a heavy toll on human population and its effects are indeed felt by everyone from all
walks of life. The following are some of the most frequent notable effects of disasters.
Displaced Populations
 When countries are ravaged by earthquakes or other powerful forces of nature, many people have
to abandon their homes and seek shelter in other regions.
 A large influx of refugees can disrupt accessibility of health care and education, as well as food
supplies and clean water.

Health Risks
 Severe flooding can result in stagnant water that allows breeding of waterborne bacteria and
malaria-carrying mosquitos. Without emergency relief from international aid organizations and
others, death tolls can rise even after the immediate danger has passed.

Food Scarcity
 After natural disasters, food often becomes scarce. Thousands of people around the world go
hungry as a result of destroyed crops and loss of agricultural supplies.
 Food prices rise, reducing families’ purchasing power and increasing the risk of severe
malnutrition or worse.
 The impacts of hunger following an earthquake, typhoon or hurricane can be tremendous, causing
lifelong damage to children’s development.

Emotional Aftershocks
 Natural disasters can be particularly traumatic for young children.
 Confronted with scenes of destruction and the deaths of friends and loved ones, many children
develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a serious psychological condition resulting from
extreme trauma.
 Left untreated, children suffering from PTSD can
be prone to lasting psychological damage and
emotional distress.

The Philippines, by virtue of its location, climate,

 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

and topography, is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world (Alampay, 2014). The Philippine
land area measures around 299,764 km2 and its coastline is about 36,000 km, known to be one of the
longest coastlines in the world ranking at the fourth spot.
Moreover, the Philippines is surrounded by three bodies of water: on the west and north by the West
Philippines sea; on the east by the Pacific Ocean; and on the south by the Celebes sea and the coastal
waters of Borneo. The archipelagic nature of the Philippine coastal and extended swamp areas increases
vulnerability to storm surges, tsunamis and sea level changes.
By virtue of its geographical location and features, the Philippines is exposed to a high potential for
natural disasters and anthropogenic hazards. In fact, the Philippines is one of the most hazard-prone
countries in the world (Cola, 1993; Benson, 1997).
Over the years, the country has suffered from an inexhaustible number of deadly typhoons, earthquakes,
volcano eruptions and other natural disasters. This is due to its location along the Ring of Fire, or typhoon
belt – a large Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur
(Brandlin&Wingard, 2013).

IV. Hazard Prone Areas

Many hazard prone areas, such as coastlines, volcanic/mountain slopes and
flood plains, attract economic and urban development, offer significant
economic benefits or are of cultural or religious significance to the
people who live there.
As more people and assets are exposed, risk in these areas becomes
more concentrated. At the same time, risk also spreads as cities
expand and as economic and urban development transform
previously sparsely populated areas (UNISDR, 2009).
Unfortunately, the location and changing
climate patterns also have made it difficult to
make a long-lasting disaster risk reduction
and management patterns. One such
example is the rampage of Super
Typhoon Yolanda (International
Codename: Haiyan) during the
closing months of the year 2013.
The loss incurred by Yolanda is
tragic, and the battered locations
are still recovering from the horrific
event even today.
This 600km diameter Typhoon Haiyan
crossed the Philippine archipelago, bringing
strong winds, heavy rainfall and storm surges that
caused extreme loss of lives and
widespread damage to property; it
caused devastation to the whole
country and left 6,300 dead, 1, 061
missing and 28, 689 injured in
Haiyan’s aftermath (Lagmay et al. 2014).

V. Characteristics of Disasters
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

Disasters are inherently unexpected or come quickly with little or no warning. As a result, disasters cause
widespread death, injury, and property damage. This underscores the need for timely warnings and
quality hazard-related information issued by competent monitoring and warning agencies.
Disasters cannot be managed through normal means. These requires immediate and effective
intervention of national government agencies (NGAs) and non-government organizations (NGOs) to help
meet the needs of the victims. Disasters create demands beyond the capacity of a government. During a
disaster, the situation is usually beyond the capabilities of local government units (LGUs) or national
government to respond and handle.
The following also characterize disasters:
 Knows no political boundary
 Requires restructured and new responding organizations
 Creates new tasks and requires more people as disaster responders.
 Exposes lack of disaster planning, response and coordination. Inexperienced disaster
organizations often fail to see what their proper roles are.

VI. Impacts of Disasters

Disasters often result from the failure to anticipate the timing and enormity of natural hazards.
Disasters do not only result in deaths and destruction or damage to homes and buildings but also in the
destruction of crops and decreased quality or quantity of water.

 Medical effects
The medical effects of disasters include
traumatic injuries, emotional stress,
epidemic diseases, and indigenous diseases.

 Damage to critical facilities

Widespread disasters can destroy or

damage facilities that may be critical not only
in maintaining a safe environment and public
order, but also in responding to the disaster.
Among these are communication
installations, electrical generating and
transmission facilities, hospitals, water
facilities (storage, purifications, and
pumping), and other public and private
buildings.

 Disruption of transportation
During the initial stages of a disaster, almost all surface means of transportation within a
community are disrupted by broken bridges and roads and streets that are rendered impassable
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

by landslides or floods. The restricted mobility of vehicles makes rescue and other emergency
operations doubly difficult.

 Economic Impact
As a result of the destruction and damage to critical facilities, especially to transportation
and communication facilities, disasters disrupt economies as normal business operations and
other economic activities are curtailed. People must also leave their jobs and devote their time to
disaster-related activities, such as search and rescue, or to caring for survivors.

 Global environmental change

There is increasing evidence

of global climatic change brought
about by both human activity and
disasters. Although the long-range
consequences are hard to predict,
more severe cyclonic storms, an
increase in both flooding and
drought, and a trend towards
desertification cannot be ruled out.
The changes could result in a wide
range of more hazards such as
wildfires and mudslides, reduced
productivity in the oceans, and
weakened immune systems of people and animals.
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

 Social and Political Impacts

As a large segment of the

population in developing countries
consists the poor, who are the most
vulnerable whenever a disaster
strikes, these countries are the most
affected. The poor are the most prone
to disasters like earthquakes and
typhoons because of the structures
they live in which are reinforced and
poorly built. These are also often
located in marginal lands. When
disasters happen, social and political
inequities are usually exposed, which
may lead to major political and social
changes.

LESSON II– BASIC CONCEPTS OF HAZARDS

INTRODUCTION:
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

Disasters, disaster risk, and hazards greatly affect our daily lives and it is important to be aware
and prepared when these happen.

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Define hazards.
2. Give examples of the types of hazards.
3. Explain the impact of various hazards on different exposed elements.

SUBJECT MATTER:

Hazards are events or human activities that pose threats to life, property, economy and environment
(Makoka&Kaplan, 2005).
It has the potential to cause harm to:
1. People- death, injury, disease and stress
2. Human activity- economic, educational etc.
3. Property- property damage, economic loss
4. Environment- loss fauna and flora, pollution, loss of amenities
Types of hazards
1. Natural Hazards are caused by the environment and thus cannot be prevented by human
intervention, but the effects and impact can be mitigated.
2. Man-made Hazards is the result of human activities
Prevention is to ensure that human action or natural phenomena do not result in disaster or emergency.
Mitigation means to reduce the severity of the human and material damage caused by the disaster.
Modes of Hazards
1. Dormant - The situation presents a potential hazard, but no people, property, or environment are
currently affected. For instance, a hillside may be unstable, with the potential of for a landslide, but
there is nothing below or on the hillside that could be affected.
2. Armed – People, property, or environment are in potential harm’s way.
3. Active – A harmful incident involving the hazard has actually occurred. Often this is referred to
not as an “active hazard” but as an accident, emergency, incident, or disaster.
Classification of Hazards
1. Biological hazards known as biohazards, are agents that may cause potential harm to human
health and other organisms. They are comprised of microorganisms, pathogens, fungi and other
substances that produce biological effects (Driscoll et al., 2005; OSHA, 2007).
The physical impact of biohazards concerns with the health of the people.

Here are some examples of Biohazards:

 Human blood and blood products. This includes items that have been contaminated
with blood and other body fluids or tissues that contain visible blood.
 Animal waste. Animal carcasses and body parts, or any bedding material used by
animals that are known to be infected with pathogenic organisms.
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

 Human body fluids. Semen, cerebrospinal fluid,

pleural fluid, vaginal secretions, pericardial
fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva, and peritoneal fluid.
 Microbiological wastes. Common in laboratory
settings, examples of microbiological wastes
include specimen cultures, disposable culture
dishes, discarded viruses, and devices used to
transfer or mix cultures.
 Pathological waste. Unfixed human tissue
(excluding skin), waste biopsy materials, and
anatomical parts from medical procedures or
autopsies.

2. Radioactive hazards define the risks produced upon

exposed elements (living and non-living), may it be of long-
term exposures or short contact in minutes quantities
(“Radiation Hazards,” n.d.)

The harmful types of radiation are derived from “ionizing

radiation” that are produced due to nuclear reactions.
Ionizing radiations include alpha and beta particles that may
cause disadvantageous health effects like body cells
impairment.

3. Chemical hazards are substances that can cause harm or

damage to the body, property or the environment. Chemical
hazards can be both natural and human made origin.
According to Comcare (2016), health risk from chemical from
chemical substances is an outcome from direct contact with a
particular chemical,
through inhalation or consumption while physiochemical
risks are solely reliant on the physical and chemical properties
of the substance or material (flammability, corrosiveness,
oxidizing property and explosiveness of a substance or
material.
Knowing the physical states of hazardous chemicals is an
important factor in understanding their health effects as their
physical state determines how it may enter the body. For example, a
gas may enter the body by inhalation, whereas liquids may be absorbed by the skin.
Some commonly used workplace chemical hazards include:
1. Acids
2. Caustic substances
3. Cleaning products such as toilet cleaners, disinfectants, mildew remover and chlorine bleach
4. Glues
5. Heavy metals, including mercury, lead, cadmium, and aluminum
6. Paint
7. Pesticides
8. Petroleum products
9. Solvents
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

10. Photocopier toner

4. Physical hazard is any condition – a substance or an activity –

having the potential to cause harm or adverse effect to the body.
It is any factor from the environment that can cause the body to
become physically stressed. This type of hazard includes but is
not limited to pressure, electricity, radiation, temperature,
confined spaces, falls, and machines amongst many others.

 Noise is considered a physical hazard for too much of it can

have negative impacts to the physical body. Temporary hearing
loss is one of the impacts and risks of too much noise. Chronic
exposure to loud noises can also cause permanent loss of
hearing. Another impact is the condition called Tinnitus. It is a
condition wherein the person hears sound or ringing in the ear
even without external sound present.

 Temperature- sudden changes in

temperature also have crucial effects on
the human body. The risk of extreme
temperature includes fatigue, nausea,
dizziness and headache, or difficulty I n
staying alert.

 Confined spaces refer to a space or

area which by design has limited or
small opening for entry and exit; the
space is not good and not designed for long-time occupancy
due to its unfavorable natural ventilation. This might
contain or produce nasty air contaminants which might be
harmful and life-threatening (Pettit, et. Al., 1979)

5. Ergonomic hazards are physical factors in the

environment that occur when the kind of work, positioning
of the body and working conditions put tension and stress
on your body which causes adverse effects on the body’s
musculoskeletal system. This type of hazard is the hardest
to spot since you do not immediately notice the strain on
your body when working or the harm that these hazards
cause.

Ergonomic injuries include sprains, strains, and other related

problems as well. Other impacts of this type of hazard are a
number of Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTD) which
affects the cervical spine area, the lower back, arms, hands,
wrists, elbows, and shoulders.

Ergonomic Hazards includes:

 Poor posture or body mechanics
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

 Carrying out tasks in the same motion for a long period of time
 Using physical force to lift heavy objects
 Improperly adjusted workstations and chair
 Poor physical design of workspaces, workstations and stools/chairs.

6. Psychological hazard is a type of occupational hazard that influences the mental health of
workers, including their capability to partake in a work environment among other people.

7. Safety hazard is the

most common and
will be current in
uttermost work
environments at one
time or another. They
incorporate perilous states that may cause injury, illness and death.

Safety hazard includes:

 Spills with respect to floors or tripping hazards, such as blocked aisles or ropes running
crosswise over the floor.
 Working from heights,
including ladders, scaffolds,
roofs or other high-risk areas
 Unguarded technologies and
moving machinery parts;
removed guards or moving
parts that a laborer might
inadvertently touch
 Electrical dangers like frayed
cords, missing ground pins,
inappropriate wiring
 Machinery-related dangers
(lockout/tag out, heater
safety, forklifts, and so on).

8. Natural hazard is a threatening

event, or probability of occurrence of
a potentially damaging phenomenon
within a given time period and area.
Natural hazards are classified as
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

geological, hydrological, atmospheric or meteorological and climatological.

LESSON III– EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS

INTRODUCTION:

The great Albert Einstein once said that the trouble with people’s memory is that it is too short
compared with the return periods of disasters like earthquakes. Earthquakes strike suddenly anywhere
like the proverbial thief in the night. This lesson hopes to solve part of the problem these predicaments
bring. Safety from earthquakes requires constant preparedness, even long before a potentially disastrous
event happens.

OBJECTIVES:
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Identify various potential earthquake hazards
2. Recognize the natural signs of an impending tsunami
3. Analyze the effects of the different earthquake hazards
4. Interpret different earthquake hazard maps
5. Apply precautionary and safety measures before, during and after an earthquake.

SUBJECT MATTER:

Earthquake
An earthquake is ground shaking caused by the sudden and rapid movement of one block of rock slipping
past another along fractures in Earth’s crust called faults. Initial mild shaking may strengthen and
become extremely violent within seconds. Additional earthquakes, called aftershocks, may follow the
initial earthquake.
Earthquakes tend to occur along preexisting faults where
internal stresses have caused the crustal rocks to rupture or
break into two or more units. The location where slippage
begins is called the hypocenter, or focus. Earthquake waves
radiate from this spot outward into the surrounding rock. The
point on Earth’s surface directly above the hypocenter is
called the epicenter.

Magnitude is a measure of the “size,” or amplitude, of the

seismic waves generated by an earthquake source and
recorded by seismographs.
The intensity is a number describing the severity of an earthquake in terms of its effects on the earth's
surface and on humans and their structures. Several scales exist, but the one most commonly used is the
Modified Mercalli scale. There are many intensities for an earthquake, depending on where you are,
unlike the magnitude, which is one number for each earthquake.

Earthquake Hazard
• Ground shaking
It is caused by the passage of the waves called seismic waves near the epicenter of the earthquake.
Structures can be harmed by the shaking itself or by the ground underneath them settling to a different
level than it was before the earthquake which may lead to different forms of ground failure which can
cause damage to the ground and built environment.

The intensity of the ground shaking depends on:

1. Conditions of the ground. Solid bedrock is far less subject to intense shaking than loose sediment.
2. The duration and the intensity of the earthquake depends on its size.
 STEM 2019-2020 Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction FEU Senior High School

3. Distance. The distance from the epicenter drops off so the intensity of the shaking decreases.

Effects of Ground Shaking:

1. It can cause damage to
buildings, roads and
other structures
2. Death or injuries
3. Some infrastructures
may even settle on
different level than they
were before the
earthquake

• Ground displacement/Ground
Rupture
It is brought about by long duration and serious
shaking of the ground. Ground rupture is
likewise the secondary impact of the earthquake
and will happen when the movement of the fault
will get through the surface. Structures along
the surface fault are liable to experience great
harmful cracks.
Possible effects:
1. Can generate deep cracks and large craps
on the surface
2. Building constructions over these zones will collapse
3. Can cause landslides and flooding from dams and rivers

• Liquefaction
Liquefaction is the blending of sand and soil and
groundwater amid the shaking of a moderate or solid
earthquake. At the point when water and soil are
blended, the ground turns to be delicate and acts like
sand trap. After the earthquake happens, the ground
will solidify again and the water will be down to its
standard spot (underneath the ground). Liquefaction
may happen in the zones that have groundwater and
sand in the surface.

Dangerous effects are:

1. The area surface might loosen and act like a liquid in the midst of seismic tremor or the ground
may be unstable.
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2. The affected construction might collapse and sink underneath the ground may be unstable
3. A built construction may tilt due to softened ground

• Ground subsidence
Land subsidence is characterized as the lowering of
the area surface. Many distinctive variables can
bring about the area surface to subside. Subsidence
can happen quickly because of a sinkhole or
underground mine breakdown, amid a major
earthquake or a series of earthquake. Movement
that occurs along faults can be horizontal or vertical
or both. Subsequently, a substantial territory of area
can subside definitely amid a seismic tremor. Land
subsidence can likewise be brought amid
liquefaction.

Possible effects of ground subsidence:

1. Disappearance of a large scale of an area
2. Appearance of sinkholes
3. Building structures are debilitated and
crumble or weakened and collapse
4. Railways lines and streets are turned and
broken

• Tsunami
Tsunami is a Japanese term meaning “harbor waves”
It is one of the most dangerous effects of an
earthquake. Tsunamis are created by big “splashes”
made in deep oceans by faulty movements, volcanic
eruptions or caldera collapses, and landslides.

Natural Signs of an Impending Tsunami

1. Unusual sea level fluctuations
2. rapid increase and decrease in coastal water
3. drawback of water from the shore (the ocean
floor was exposed)
4. blaring ocean roar similar with the sound of an aircraft or train

• Earthquake-induced Landslide
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Landslide is the movement of the

rock, earth debris or earth down an
incline. It results from the failure of
materials which make up the
landform slope and are driven by
the power of gravity. The events of
earthquakes in steep ground
shaking greatly accounts to the
probability that landslides will
happen.

Possible effects that might happen:

1. Massive damage to infrastructure
2. Death
3. Changes in surface landscape
4. Rock fall
5. The soil falling from the mountain
comes in a large scale that can
bury a house or even a community