UNIT 1 UNDERSTANDING NATU

-
L DISASTERS - -

Structure
1.0 Learning Outcome
I. 1 Introduction
I .2 Natural Disaster: Meaning and Nature
1.3 Types of Natural Disasters in India
1.4 Disaster Profile of India: Regional and Seasonal
1.5 Effects of Disasters
1 .G Efforts to Mitigate Disasters
1.7 Conclusion
1.8 Key Concepts
1.9 References and Further Reading
1.10 Activity

1.0 LEARNING OUTCOME

After studying this Unit, you should be able to:
r understand the meaning and nature of natural disasters;
0 explain the types of natural disasters in India with special reference to their regional and
seasonal distributions;
e discuss the effects of such disasters; and
r describe briefly the efforts to mitigate disasters,

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Natural disasters, which are often sudden and intense, result in considerable destruction,injuries
and deaths, disrupting normal life as well as the process of development.Increasing population
and various other socio-economicfactors have forced people to live in vulnerable areas. Natural
disasters are perceived to be on the increase in their magnitude,frequency, and economjc impact,
Its uulique geo-climaticconditions make the Indian region particularly vulnerableto natural disasters.
Floods and high winds account for around 60 percent of all disasters. About 54 percent of the
sub-continent's landmass is vulnerable toearthquakes, while about4 crore hectares, that is about
1 2 percent of the country is vulnerable to periodic floods. The total expenditure on relief and
reconstruction in Gujarat alone after the severe earthquake of January 200 1 has been about Rs.
11,500 crore in that year, just to quote an example. New disaster threats have also developed
such as the tsunami disaster of December 2004, which was an unprecedented natural disaster.
In this Unit, we will discuss the meaning and nature of natural disasters. In addition, their effects will
also be highlighted. Keeping in view the variety of natural disasters that occur in India, we will
explain the types with special reference to their regional and seasonal distributions.Lastly, we will
deal with efforts to mitigate natural disasters.

\
 14 Understanding Natural Disasters

1.2 NATURAL DISASTERS: ANING AND NATURE

A natural disaster could occur due to an immediate extreme event or it could be the result of a long
duration process, which disrupts normal human life in its established social, traditional andeconomic
system to a considerable extent. The UnitedNations define it as "..........the occurrence of a
sudden or major misfortune which disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of a society (or
community)." Today, the term 'Disaster' is commonly used to denote any extreme event, be it
natural or man-made, which brings about loss of life, property, infrastructure,essential services
and means of livelihood to an extent that it becomes difficult to cope with the situation due to it
being beyond the normal capacity of the affected communities to deal with unaided. A hazardous
situation turns into a disaster event when the affected community (or district or state or country)
needs immediate and prolonged assistance and support to deal with the situation and its aftereffects.
Thus, a disaster is the culminationof a hazard in a situation where the impact is accentuated by the
vulnerability of the community. To be more specific, a hazard may be regarded as ape-disaster
situation, in which some risk of disaster exists. In fact, hazards can be posed both by natural
phenomena and by man-made events. By the same definition, disasters can be natural or man-
made. The man-made disasters will be covered in Course 2 and here we will confine ourselves to
the study of natural disasters.
It may be noted at this stage that the severity of a disaster is assessed on the basis of disruption to
the noimal pattern of life; impacts like loss of life and property, injuiy, hardship and adverse effects
on health; coinmunity needs, specially shelter, food, clothing, medical assistance and social care;
damage to infrastructure, buildings, communications; and the requirements of rehabilitation.
The misery of the affected community is usually increased by poverty, high population density,
weak infrastructure,proximity to river,sea or mountains, lack of cooperation within the community
and poor governance.

1.3 TYPES OF NATURAL DISASTERS IN INDIA

h

As already mentioned in section 1.1 above, India's unique geoclimatic position makes the country
particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. hdiais a vast peninsula of sub-continental size and is
surrounded by sea on three sides and has the Himalayan range on the fourth side, which has some
of the tallest mountains of the world. That is why India has to face avery large variety of disastrous
events of geological, oceanic or climatic origin. Thus we can list the natural disasters expected in
India on the basis of their origin as follows:
I Wind andlor Water related natural disasters
Floods
Droughts
Cyclones
Tsunmi
Climate related disasters
Heat and cold waves
Global wa~ming
Sea level rise
Ozone depletion
Understanding Natural Disasters

o Mountain area disasters

Landslides
Snow avalanches .
o Geological disasters
Earthquakes
Volcanic eruptions
This is a broad classification, although one can suggest a different categorisation. For example,
tsunami can be considered to be of geological origin but it has been put under the water related
category in the above classification because the disastrous effect is caused by the giant sea waves.
Each of these phenomena are explained and discussed in detail in the subsequent Units of this
course. However, at this introductory stage, brief descriptions are given here beginning with disasters
of geological origin.
i) Earthquake
A sudden geological event below the surface of the earth results in generation of waves that travel
far and wide and cause vertical and horizontal vibrations. The consequential motion causes
destruction.
The severity of the impact depends on the magnitude of the earthquake, which in turn depends on
the amount of energy released at the spot where the geological event tookplace below the surface
k e s suddenly, and thus there is no dependable technique for prediction
of the earth. ~ a ~ ~ l h p aoccur
of earthquakes as yet.
India is highly vulnerable to earthquakes and has been visited by some very severe earthquakes,
which are mentioned in the following table.
Table 1.1: Damaging Earthquakes in India since 1950

Year Region Deaths

Assam 1500
1 1
1950
1988 N. Bihar 1,300
1 1993
I Marathwada .
I 10,000

I 2001 Gujarat 18,250

i i) Volcanic Eruption
Volcano can be described as a vent or chimney, to the earth's surface, from a reservoir of molten
rock, called magma, deep in the crust of the earth. It is not that volcanoes are always emitting lava,
steam or smoke. Many volcanoes have been "sleeping" for decades or even longer. In the
context of forecasting of volcanic eruptions, it can be stated that short-term forecasts within hours
or days may be made through volcano monitoring techniques. In the Indian territory, there are only
two volcanoes viz., Narcondam and Barren Island- both in the Andamans. Both are 'sleeping
volcanoes' although the Barren Island volcano emits some heat and smoke occasionally and goes
to sleep again. In any case, there is no evidence of any serious dqmage by these volcanoes in the
known past. Thus, India is not much affected due to volcanoes. However, other countries like
Italy, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia and Icelandme worst affected.
 Understanding Natural Disasters

iii) Lalidslides
Landslides are defined as the mass movement of rock debris or mud down a slope and have come
to include a broad range of motions, whereby falling, sliding and flowing under the influence of
gravity dislodges earth material. They also occur as secondary effects of heavy rainstorms,
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In almost all cases, landslides occur as a consequence of
changes, either sudden or gradual, in the composition and structure of rocks or vegetation on a
slope, which loosens the soil or rocks which slide on a trigger such as heavy rains or vibrations in
the earth's surface.
Landslide can be caused by poor ground conditions, geomorphic phenomena, heavy rainfall,
earthquakes or undercutting of the base of slopes by rivers and quite often due to heavy spells of
rainfall co~ipledwith impeded drainage. They are common in mountainousareas, such as Himalayas
and the Western Ghats where they frequently destroy the infrastructure,agriculture, and dwellings,
resulting in considerable loss of life and property besides blocking vital roads in the inaccessible
areas.
, iv) Snow Avalanche
An avalanche is defined as the event in which a large mass of snow, ice, rock or other material
moves swiftly down a mouiltain side or over a precipice and crushes everything in its path. An
avalanche starts when the large Inass of snow, ice and rock overcomes the frictional resistance of
the sloping surface, either due to rain, melting of ice base or vibrations of any kind.
It will be seen that landslides and avalanches are events of mountain regions and are rather similar
in nature and impact. The basic difference is that landslide involves movement of rock, soil and
mud whereas avalanche comprises, snow, ice and rock. Landslides can occur in smaller hills or
rocky slopes but avalanches occur in high mountains with snow in abundance.
V) Tsunami
*
Tsunami is a Japanese term for sea waves generated by undersea earthquakes. These waves may
originate from undersea or coastal seismic activity, or volcanic eruption. Whatever may be the
catlse, seawater is displaced into a violent and sudden motion ultimately breaking over land even at
very long distances with great destructive power. It is to be noted that while the coasts are hit by
very high waves of water, there is hardly any appreciable wave on the high seas. Therefore, ships
on the high seas are not affected.
In most cases, tsunami could be the after-effect of undersea earthquake due to which the abrupt
vertical movement of ocean floor generates waves, which travel at high speed in the ocean. As
they approach land, their speed decreases while their height increases. It can be highly destructive
to coastal areas as was witnessed during the catastrophic tsunami event in December 2004.
+a

vi) Cyclone
Tropical cyclones are characterised by destructive winds and copious rainfall, which causes flooding.
In such storms, winds can exceed speeds of over 120 kmph. Due to such strong wind forcing,
sea-water accumulates ahead of the cyclone as it moves towards the coast. When a cyclone hits
the coast, the accumulated enormous mass of sea- water strikes the coast as a giant sae wave
called s t o m surge which can have heights of the order of tens of metres. The storm surge with
torrential rains and very strong winds brings widespread devastation to coastlines and islands lying
in their paths. Cyclones pose a major threat to life and property. These storms are called cyclones
in India. In other parts of the world they have different nomenclature, like hurricanes in America
and lyphoons in Japan.
 Understanding Natural Disasters 17

Tropical cyclones are weather systems with strong winds that circulate anti-clockwise around a
low-pressure area in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. They
form in certain tropical areas over the open seas where the sea surface temperature is around
26OC. The necessary atmospheric and oceanic conditions for the formation of cyclone are a warm
sea temperature, high relative humidity, atmospheric instability and a location around at least 4-5
degree latitude away from the equator.
In India, there are two cyclone seasons viz., Pre-monsoon (April and May) and Post-monsoon
(October and November). More cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal than in the Arabian Sea. As
cyclones move generally westwards or northwestwards, the east coast of India is more vulnerable
to cyclones than the west coast.
vii) Flood
Flood denotes inundation or accumulation of water. In other words, it results from an imbalance
between inflow and outflow of water, Floods can occur through heavy rains, dam failures, rapid
snow melts, river blockages or even bursting of water mains. Floods result in damage, deaths and
injuries, and create problerns in drinking water supply and food shortages. In India, 40 million
hectare area is vulnerable to floods,and about 8 million hectare area is affected by floods annually.
Thus India is highly prone to floods especially in the monsoon and cyclone seasons. The Mumbai
flood disaster of July 2005 is fresh in memory.
There are three types of floods i.e.flash floods, river floods, andcoastal floods. Flash floods are
generally events of hill areas where sudden very heavy rain over a limited area can cause strong
flow. Flash floods also occur when a temporary blockage in hilly areas impounds water, which
when released suddenly creates the havoc. River floods occur due to heavy inflow of water from
heavy rainfall, snowmelt, and short intense storms. Hooding in rivers is also caused by inadequate
. capacity within the banks of the river to contain high flows, riverbankerosion and silting of riverbeds,
syn'chronisationof flood in the main and tributary rivers, and flow retardation due to tidal and
backwater effects. Coastal floods are caused due to tsuinani or heavy rainfall fro~n cyclones and
the storm surge associated with a cyclone. The situation could be aggravated due to high tide.
Tidal flooding is saline from the backflow of sea-water into coastd rivers at high tides. Flood due
to storm surge is also saline and therefore, more corrosive.
viii) Drought
Drought is a temporary reduction in water availability on an area for unusually long period.
Depending on the resulting water scarcity, a drought has disastrous and long-term socio-ebonomic
impacts, which may last for months and in some cases years. It is aslow onset phenomenon.
Three types of droughts are recognised:
e Meteorological drought: When the monthly or seasonal rainfall over an area is appreciably
below normal.
e Hydrological drought: When the water scarcity over an area results in reduction in the available
water in surface water bodies and the water table alsorecedes. Needless to state, prolonged
meteorologicaldrought leads to hydrological drought.
e Agricultural drought: When the water scarcity results in partial or total loss of crops and
affects agricultural activity adversely.
Drought is generally caused by adverse water balance, or scarcity of water to satisfy the normal
needs of agriculture, livestock or human population.It can also occur in areas that normally enjoy
adequate rainfall and'moisture levels, Drought may be caused due to excessive evapo-transpiration
losses, high temperature and low soil holding capacity.
 18 Understanding Natural Disasters

PI-olonged drought can result in aridity or even desertification when the exceptionally dry soil can
no longer sustain any biological activity, whether organisms or vegetation.
ix) Neat Wave and Cold Wave
As the name implies, these are spells of extreme surface air temperatures over a region for rather
prolonged periods of several days or few weeks. When the maximum temperature in the day over
an area ovesshoots in the hot weather months (March to June), it leads to heat wave. Similarly,
when the minimum temperature falls appreciably below normal in the winter months, it is called
cold wave. Both the phenomena are extreme weather events and lead to very considerable
discomfost, illness, epidemics and deaths due to exposure.
X) Global Warming
Increase in greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and others) retards cooling
of the earth's surface at nights and this tends to increase the minimum temperature (the morning
temperature) almost all over the globe resulting in the phenomenon called Global Warming. Even
though the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is due mostly to human activities, it is
advisable to study Global Warming as a natural disaste~becauseit involves the atmosphere in
general and is global in nature and its impacts are global even if the human activity is local or
regional. (The same argument applies in treating Sea level rise and Ozone depletion under the
category of natural disasters). It inay be noted that there would not only be less cooling of the
earth's surface at night but the atmosphere will also get warmer due to trapping of the heat on
account of green-house effect. All these aspects will be discussed in detail in Unit 18 later.
xi) Sea Ievel Rise
Any increase in the average temperature of the earth is bound to have two impacts. Firstly, the
glaciers, pelmafrost, ice caps on the poles and mountain peaks will witness increased melting and
consequent increase in the waters in rivers and oceans. Secondly, the large body of water in the
seas will expand in volume due to increased temperature. Both these factors will create arise in
the level of water in the seas and oceans, which eventually poses serious problems to the inhabitants
of coastal and island areas and affects their socio-economic wellbeing. In fact, sea-level rise
threatens the very existence of numerous islands and coastal zones.
xii) Ozone Depletion
Ozone, which is an isotope of oxygen, is created in the lower stratosphere where under conditions
of I ow atmospheric pressure, the ultraviolet radiation in the sun's rays breaks the oxygen molecule
into atomic oxygen, which combines with oxygen molecule to form ozone. The ultraviolet radiation
bl-eaksup the ozone molecule into a normal oxygen molecule and atomic oxygen. Thus the process
goes on and creates a layer of ozone in the upper atmosphere with maximum density of ozone
around 20 km or so above the earth. This process also consumes a large part of the harmful
ultraviolet radiation in the sun's rays and thus saves human, animal, and plant life on the earth from
the haimful effects of ultraviolet radiation.
However, certain chemicals, in use on earth, send chlorine up in the upper atmosphere where
under certain conditions of low temperature and darkness, chlorine consumes atomic oxygen in a
che~nicalreaction with the result that ozone foilnation is reduced thus lowering the ozone density in
the so-called ozone layer in the upper atmosphere. This process of ozone depletion ensures that
less amount of the ultraviolet radiation in the sun's rays gets consumed in the ozone layer and more
ultraviolet radiation reaches the earth's surface to create harm.
The entire process of ozone depletion and its effects are more complicated than the simple description
above. Moreover, significant success has been made in combating ozone depletion through
U~zdtrstal.zdirzgNnt~iralDisasters

international cooperation. All these aspects will be discussed in detail in Unit 20, which is entirely
devoted to ozone depletion.

1.4 DISASTER PROFILE OF INDIA:

REGIONAL AND SEASONAL
As already stated at the beginning of the previous section, India is highly vulnerable to all types of
natural disasters with the possible exception of volcanic eruptions about which also we cannot
affford to be complacent. The natural disasters take place with various intensities and in different
regions due to unique and widely valying climatic, geographicaland geological conditions.Therefore,,
there is a significant regional and seasonal aspect in the occurrence of natural disasters in I n d i ~ ~ I n
this part of the Unit, we will concentrate on the pattern of regional and seasonal occurrence of
natural disasters in the country.
However, earthquakes are in a class by themselves. While they do exhibit a regional profile with
[he Himalayan belt, Kutcll, ~undarbansand Andaman andNicobar Islands being most vulnerable,
and peninsular part of the country being less vulnerable, earthquakes do not exhibit a seasonal
profile for the simple reason that this phenomenon is not climate related.
i) Regional Disaster Profile of India
North India comprising the Himalyan mountainous region and the Indo-Gangetic plains has highly
variable topography with some of the tallest mountains and perennial rivers.
Its northern no st boundary also happens to be the zone of collision of two major tectonic plates,
viz. h e Indian plate and the Asian plate. The area also has many geological faults. North India is
also characterised by spells of hot, cold and rainy weather and these attributes can vary within
wide 1imits crealing unusual situations. As a result of these characteristic geographical, climatic,
and geological features. North Indian states ( J & IC, HP, Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Delhi,
UP, Bihar) are visited by natural disasters in the form of earthquakes, landslides, avalanches,
tloods, droughts, heat and cold waves.
The location and climate of East andNorth East India (W.B., Sikkiln, Assam, Aunacl~alPrddesh,
Nagnland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram) are such that these States are visited by
earthquakes, lanclslides, floods, and droughts. West Bengal can be affected by cyclones also.
The central parts of the country (Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand; M.P, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Goa ) have a highly variable rainfall regime, both in time and space. Therefore,
tloods and droughts are major disasters in the area. Orissa, and Gujarat suffer heavily from cyclones.
Although Goa and Maharashtra escape the fury of cyclones, they suffer from heavy to very heavy
rain fury due to the combined effect of depressions and the topography of the Western ghats
which aIso creates landslides. In recent years, Orissa has suffered considerably from heat waves.
The peninsular India (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala ) suffers mainly from
cyclones, floods and droughts. While Kerala escapes the hly of cyclones, it suffers from earthquakes
and landslides in addition to floods and droughts. The Telangana andRayalaseema areas of Andhra
Pradesh are highly rain-deficient areas and thereforesuffer drought conditions often.
Among the Island groups, Andaman and Nicobar Islands are vulnerable to earthquakes, heavy
rains and occasionally cyclones. Andatnan Islands also have two sleeping volcanoes, (Narcondarn
and &wren Island) of which Barren Island Volcano occasionally shows some mild short duration*
activity which has not proved harrnful so far,
 lJndars.tarzding Natural Disasters

The Lakshdweep Iblands are coral islands and therefore are only a few centimetres above the sea
level. In the event of a significant sea level rise as a result of global warming, they could be threatened.
111case there is a significant sea level rise in
the coming decades (uncertainties prevail), mn~lchof the
large coast line of Indiamay be threatened by the rising sea. This could threaten some of India's
biggest cities like Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, which are commercial hubs.
The December 2004 experience of Tsunami has made the entire coast line (especially the eastern
coast ) of the country vulnerable to this serious disaster, which might be rare'in occurrence but is
extremely destructive.
ii) Seasonal Disaster Profile of India
From the climatic point of view, India experiences four distinct seasons as follows:
a Winter season (December, January & February)
a Pre-monsoon or Hot Weather season (March, April and May )
0 Monsoon season (June to September )
a Post-monsoon season (October, November)
The natural disasters that occur in different parts of India are indicated below, seasonwise. But it
should be noted that earthquake and tsunami have no seasonal aspect and can occur any time.
Winter season (December, January & February)
During thesemonths, Himalayan ranges receive copious amounts of rain and snow and the weather
phenomena know as " western disturbances" also bring in strong winds with rain, which at time
can be heavy. Hence, the mountainous areas of north India are prone to snow avalanches and
landslides. In the aftermath of rainy spells in this cold season, one or two spells of cold waves
occur usually. Heavy fog (at times for days together) creates aviation hazard, and hail damages
crops and orchards in the plains of north India.
Pre-monsoon o r Hot Weather season (March to May).
Cyclones take shape over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and move westward or
northwestward. Thus the eastern coast is more vulnerable to cyclones and accompanying storm
surges. The cyclones that generate in the Arabian Seamove west or northwestwards,thus sparing
the west coast but pose serious risk to the oil exploration outfits in the Arabian Sea. If a cyclone
recurves, it affects Gujarat adversely and gives considerable rains in Rajasthan as well and creates
floods sometimes.
Monsoon season (June to September)
Generally, this is the flood season for the entire country and floods occur wherever monsoon
becomes inore active. Conversely, the areas where the monsoon i-emainsweak, suffer from drought
in this season. Landslides are a common feature in the hilly areas of Himalyas from J&K to the
northeastern States. Landslides also occur in the Western Ghats and in the hilly areas of Kerala in
this season.
I Post monsoon season (October and November)
This is again a cyclone season when cyclones generate in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea and
move west or northwestwards in the same general fashion as in the pre-monsoon season. But the
cyclonic activity is usually more pronounced in this post monsoon season as compared to that in
the pre-monsoon season . This is also the season when the southern states of Andhra Pradesh
(coastal areas), I<arnataka,Tamil Nadu and Kerala receive considerable rainfall from the northeast
monsoon, and are therefore vulnerable to the threat of floods.
Understarzding Nat~iralDisasters 21

1.5 EFFECTS OF DISASTERS

It is comrnon knowledge that natural disasters have catastrophic effects on the place and people
who are unfortunateenough to come within their field of strike. The adverse impacts are much
more in the developing countries with a large population and high vulnerability in tenns of weak
infrastructureand poor support systems. Disasters not only do enormous damage, cause deaths,
destroy food sources, spread disease and epidemics and create unemployment but they unsettle 4
the entire rhythm of life of the affected community (or state or country) for a long time. It requires
enormous physical,financial and motivational resources to bring the impoverished and demoralised
co~ninunityback on rails.
As most of the natural disasters occur suddenly or with short notice, direct effects include damage
to houses, equipments, crops, infrastructure (bridges and roads), and loss of life. Malnutrition,
disease and migration are the indiiect effects. Econo~nicimpact can be seen in the foiln of emergency
relief costs to individuals, care for evacuees, clean-up after flood or clearance after landslides or
avalanches, and wages and sales lost due to business interruption. As a result, timely repair,
'replacement, and reconst~~~ction divert the national resources.
The slow onset disasters are slow in materialising and showing their effects such as prolonged
drooughts and resultant crop failure. The situation may further deteriorate with time if a drought is
allowed to continue without adequate response. The affected area may also be very large in a
continuing disaster, such as drought. This compounds long-standing problems of deforestation,
enctaoaching,desertification and soil degradation over vast stretches of land if these pre-exist. In
such a situation, agriculture suffers severe setback and large groups of affected people ~nigkatein
search of e~nploymentopportunities, which cause pressure on neighbouring areas, resulting in
conilict situations. Anti-social practices such as hoarding of essential goods and price escalation
also create law and order problems. Malnutrition becomes rampant.
Thus disasters dis111pt social life and economic activities. The damage and rehabilitation work.after
the disasters generally halts developmental activities. Beca~lseof the circumstances in the aftermath
of disasters, the human and financial resources earmarked for development have to be shifted to
relief and rehabilitation at least partly if not fully. .\

The impact of disasters on disadvantaged section of the society ase all the more severe and threaten
their survival if they were lucky to escape death or serious injury. Their meagre belongings may be
wiped out by disasters. In such situations,they migrate to urban centres in search of livelihood,
which tends to increase the difficult urban plight. The physically weak groups including children,
pregnant and lactating mothers, the aged and infirm are the worst sufferers in such circumstances.
As disasters affect the economy and development of a country, any action that can be taken to
reduce disaster-related loss must be seen as logical and desirable, in fact essential. This applies to
all countries and it underlines the need for all countries to try to evolve and maintain an effective
disaster management capability appropriate to their needs. It also emphasises the necessity for co-
operative and co-ordinated internationalaction in order to strengthen the economy and development
of dl nations through effective disaster management.In this regard, disaster mitigation should be
regarded as an important tool in successfully coping with crises, at the national and global levels.

1.6 EFFORTS TO MITIGATE DISASTERS

While we cannot wish away the natural disasters that nature throws up from time to time, we can
certainly mitigate the resultant misery, Mitigation refers to the efforts for reducing the adverse
effects of a disaster On people, stmctures, and socio-economic syitems. Mitigation activities are
 v.

22 , Utzderstanding Nat~lrulDisasters

useful before, during and after a disaster and thus overlap all phases of disaster management.
There are two types of mitigation activities i.e. structural and non-structural. The structural activities
include physical steps, such as construction of dams, bridges, disaster-resistantbuildings, to protect
against disasters. Non-structural activities relate to development of land-use plans, zoning laws,
training and warning . For the success of mitigation strategy, it should be supported by all stake-
holders viz the people, government at all levels, non-governmental organisations, academic and
research organisations, and the media. Themagnitude of damage wreaked by natural disasters can
be reduced considerably by adopting the twin strategies of "culture of prevention" and "spirit of
cooperation" through awareness, knowledge, training and proper use of new technologies.
Government of India has adopted both mitigation and prevention components for disaster
management. The Tenth Five Year Plan document contained a detailed chapter on disaster
management.This document ernphasised that developmentcannot be sustainable without mitigation
being built into development process. Hence, disaster mitigation is being institutionalised into
development planning. At the national level, National Disaster Management Authority has been
constituted under the Chairmanshipof thePrimeMinister.The State Governments are establishing
similar disaster management authorities at the state level. Necessary legal framework is to be
provided through appropriate legislation, and human resource development.
At global level, the UN General Assembly in 1989 made adecision to launch afar-reaching global
programme to save lives and reduce the adverse impacts of natural disasters. The decade 1990-
2000 was declared the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). According
to the plan of the IDNDR, it was intended that all countries should develop and prepare
colnprehensive national assessments of risks from natural hazards, and these assessments should
be taken into account in preparing development and mitigation plans at national andlor local levels.
After completion of JDNDR programme in 2000, the InternationalStrategy for Disaster Reduction
(ISDR) has been adopted. The ISDR has been programmed to take best advantage of the
networking and experience gained under IDNDR. The main achievement of IDNDR was to create
awareness among the people and policy makers. The ISDR is aimed at upgrading this awareness
into real istic action plans, with focus on continuing the efforts to increase awareness; ensuring
commitment from public authorities;creating disaster conscious and disaster resistant communities
thus reducing loss of lives and socio-economiclosses.

1.7 CONCLUSION
In this Unit, we have explained the meaning and nature of natural disasters. It has been emphasised
that a disaster retards the development process in the affected area and extends to the neighbouring
regions also. Various types of natural disasters that occur in India have been described very briefly
and the regional and seasonal profiles of their occurrence have been outlined. It may be noted that
every type of natural disaster is dealt with in detail in the subsequent units. Effects of various
disasters and the mitigation efforts have been explained thereafter. The twin strategies of "Culture
of Prevention'' and "Spirit of Cooperation"go a long way to mitigate the adverse effects of natural
disasters.

11.8 KEY CONCEPTS

Avalanche : It is a rapid and sudden sliding of large mass of a mixture of
snow dnd ice with rock material.
chlorine : It is,atoxic gas of the halogen family.
-. --
 Understanding Natural Disasters 23

Hydrological : Related to water.

Landslide : Rapid movement of soil and rock material downhill.
Rapid Onset Disaster : Disasters that develop fast and strike quickly. Most of the
natural disasters are of this type. Earthquakes and landslides
are the worst examples.
Slow Onset Disasters : Disaster that develop over aperiod of time such as drought.
Tectonic Plates : Earth's crust is'dividedinto various "Plates" which follow
their directions of movement and either collide with each
other or cut below or ride over the other. This movement
although slow involves massive parts of the earth's crust and
often results in the occurrence of earthquakes.
Ultraviolet Radiation : Radiation with wavelength smaller than that pertaining to the
violet part of the visible spectrum.
Vulnerability : Extent to which a community, region, country or even a
structure is likely to be hurt or damaged by a disaster.
Vulnerability is an indication of the inherent or created
weakness to face the particular type of disaster.

REFElRENCES AND FUIITIHER READLNG

NDM Division, DisasterManagement in In&:
Government of India, Ministery of Home ~ffairs,
A Status Report, August 2004, New Delhi. .
Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Division,Disaster
Risk Reduction: The Indian Model, 2005, New Delhi.
.,NIDM, 2005, Reading Material, Training Programme on Disaster Management, NIDM,
;Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi.
Oliver, John E. (Ed.), 2005, Encyclopedia of World Climatology, Springer, Netherland.
Sinha, D.K., 2006, Towards Basics of Natural Disaster Reduction, Researchco. Book Centre,
-
New Delhi.
Singh, Tej,2006, Disaster ManagementApproachesandStrategies, Akanksha Publishing House,
New Delhi.
A Handbookfor Emergencies, CASA, New Delhi.
Thomas, Babu, 1993, ~ i s a s i~espunse:
r

1) List the natural disaster phenomenalikely in the Indian subcontinent.Describe the regional
and seasonal profile of any two disasters,
2) Prepare a list of natural disasters, which are affecting your area and explain their impacts.
3) Visit any disaster prone area, prepare the seasonal profile of natural disasters i n that area and ,

list the likely adverse effects.

4) List some of the mitigation efforts undertaken on international level.
5) Describe how a drought develops from the stage of meteorological drought to agricul&d
drought.