Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region VIII

Dr. V Orestes Romualdez Education Foundation Inc.

Senior High School Department
Brgy. 96, Calanipawan Road
Tacloban City, 6500

Module
In
Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction

Lesson 3 Basic Concept of Hazards

DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION
Lesson 3: Basic Concepts of Hazards
I. Overview:

 This lesson will demonstrate an understanding on the basic concept of Hazards

II. Objectives:

 Define and cite examples of the types of hazards

 Explain the impact of various hazards on people and the environment

III. Content Outline:

 Please take time to read and understand this part because all graded activities and quizzes
will be coming from these contents.

Hazards

Hazards are events that pose threat, danger, or risk to any element exposed to
them. Hazards are possibilities. They can strike anywhere and anytime. And, as
explained in module 2, hazards result in disasters if a community is left both exposed and
vulnerable to that hazard. Hence, it should be remembered that extreme hazard events are
not always associated with disaster. It is actually the circumstances of that community
that causes a hazard to bring in disaster.

Types of Hazards

Natural Hazards are those that are caused by physical and biological elements in the
environment. These are natural events that may not be controlled by human such as
earthquakes, floods, landslides, tornadoes, tsunamis, typhoons and wildfires.
Natural hazards are inevitable. They are part of the natural processes of Earth operating
throughout Earth’s history. They are natural events that are considered natural hazards
because of the risk of destroying the surroundings and jeopardizing people’s lives.

Man-made Hazards also known as technological hazards, are those caused by the factors
that are generally traced to human errors, intent or negligence, or glitches in technology.
These includes bomb explosions, chemical spills, nuclear plant blasts, radioactive
emissions, and wars.

Profiling Hazards

Profiling hazards is important in predicting the possible disasters that a certain hazard can
bring. They are useful in planning for a disaster especially if the same impacts are likely
to be brought by a hazard that frequents a certain place.
Hazards can be profiled in different ways: magnitude of event, frequency, duration and
causality of effects.
Magnitude or Strength of the Event

The magnitude of the hazard can be assessed by the measurements obtained from
scientific instruments. Sometimes, scaling can vary depending on the reference tables
used per country. For example, magnitude 5.0 above is considered high scale in
earthquakes based on the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
(PHIVOLCS). Floods reaching 1.0 meter is likewise considered high-scale. Typhoons
with winds up to 150 kph are deemed strong and powerful.

Frequency
The frequency of the hazard to occur in an area is important because it tells its
proneness to that hazard. For example, a coastal community may be frequented by storm
surges if it belongs to the typhoon bely. On the contrary, another coastal community may
be frequented by flooding, and not storm surges, if its topography or level of ground is
lower than the sea level.

Duration of Impact
The impact of hazards varies in duration. The assessment of the duration is either
short or long. In earthquakes for example, the length of shaking trembling, and even
after-shocks are recorded. If this event happened in a span or more than a minute, the
earthquake is deemed to be long. Another example is the volcanic eruption that can last
for days. The assessment of this duration can have implications on how extensive
preparatory activities should be and even the post-disaster plans.

Causality of Events
The impact of hazards can also be assessed based on the causality of events, that
is whether the exposed elements receive the likely disaster directly or indirectly.
Sometimes, other elements that are not visibly present in the site of event also suffer
some degree of consequences because all communities interact within and outside their
territory.

Hazard-prone Area

A hazard-prone area is a location where a natural hazard is likely to happen if

preventive measures are not implemented. Due mainly to its geography, the Philippines is
considered prone to natural hazards, and hence natural disasters as well. It is situated
along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area surrounding the basin of the Pacific Ocean where
many volcanoes have formed. Thus, seismic activities such as earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions frequently occur in the region. Around 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes
occur in this region.
Another reason the Philippines is considered prone to disasters is its major
tectonic feature, the Philippine Fault Zone (PFZ). A fault is a crack or break in Earth’s
crust along which rocks have moved. A rapid or sudden movement of rocks releases a
large amount of seismic waves, which cause the ground to move or shake. This sudden
shaking of the ground is called an earthquake.
Another reason is, its location in the Western Pacific Basin, the part of the world
that is most often visited by typhoons. The region is also called the typhoon belt.

Impact of Hazards

The impacts of hazards are the likely outcome of disaster. The exposed elements will
initially receive all the negative impacts. In some cases, however, not all impacts of
hazards are adverse. Some natural hazards result in changes that may be beneficial or
supportive of the other existing elements.
a. Physical Elements. People, buildings, roads, poles, bridges and all other material
objects may be ruined by hazards. Volcanic eruptions, explosions, fire, or lightning
may instantly burn or incinerate objects that it comes in contact with. Cracks, fissures
or total damage may happen in tremors, explosions, and landslides take place. All
 these, are possibilities still depending on many factors that increase or decrease the
disaster risk of a community.
b. Socioeconomic Elements. The positive impacts of hazards on the socioeconomic
elements may be in the form of introducing new habits, practices, systems or values
that may be geared toward the values of resiliency and recovery. The impacts will
induce adaptation on the part of the affected community. They will tend to create new
operations or ways of living that can withstand the next possible occurrence of the
same hazard.
c. Environmental Elements. Just like other exposed elements, perhaps the initial impact
of hazard to the ecosystems and other organisms in them may be disastrous.
However, in some cases, again due to adaptation, or because natural hazards are
natural events and hence part of the natural cycles of the Earth, the occurrence may
benefit certain components of Earth.