CONCEPT OF

DISASTER
Lesson 1
What is a Disaster?
Disasters are serious disruptions to the functioning
of a community that exceed its capacity to cope using its
own resources. Disasters can be caused by natural, man-
made and technological hazards, as well as various factors
that influence the exposure and vulnerability of a
community. It is also called as a calamity.
 A serious disruption of the
functioning of a community or a society at
any scale due to hazardous events
interacting with conditions of exposure,
vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or
more of the following: human, material,
economic and environmental losses and
impacts.
Emergency is sometimes used
interchangeably with the term disaster, as,
for example, in the context of biological and
technological hazards or health
emergencies, which, however, can also
relate to hazardous events that do not
result in the serious disruption of the
functioning of a community or society.
 Disaster damage occurs during and
immediately after the disaster. This is usually
measured in physical units (e.g., square meters
of housing, kilometres of roads, etc.), and
describes the total or partial destruction of
physical assets, the disruption of basic services
and damages to sources of livelihood in the
affected area.
 Disaster impact is the total effect,
including negative effects (e.g., economic
losses) and positive effects (e.g., economic
gains), of a hazardous event or a disaster. The
term includes economic, human and
environmental impacts, and may include death,
injuries, disease and other negative effects on
human physical, mental and social well-being.
 Disasters can be caused by
many different kinds of hazards.
The frequency, complexity and
severity of their impacts are
likely to increase in the future
due to factors such as climate
change, displacement, conflict,
rapid and unplanned
urbanization, technological
hazards and public health
emergencies.
 But disasters can
and should be
prevented. We can
prevent hazards from
becoming disasters by
helping communities
to be prepared, reduce
their risk, and become
more resilient.
 TYPES OF
DISASTER
1. Natural Disaster: A
disaster caused by natural
factors called as a natural
disaster e.g., earthquake,
flood, cyclone etc.
2. Man-made disaster: A
disaster caused due to the
human activities e.g., wars, fire
accidents, industrial accidents
etc.
CONCEPT OF DISASTER
RISK
Disaster Risk
Disaster risk is expressed as the likelihood of loss of
life, injury or destruction and damage from a disaster in a
given period of time.

Disaster risk is widely recognized as the consequence of the

interaction between a hazard and the characteristics that make
people and places vulnerable and exposed.
 Disaster Risk
Disasters are sometimes considered
external shocks, but disaster risk results from the
complex interaction between development
processes that generate conditions of exposure,
vulnerability and hazard. Disaster risk is
therefore considered as the combination of the
severity and frequency of a hazard, the numbers
of people and assets exposed to the hazard, and
their vulnerability to damage. Intensive risk is
disaster risk associated with low-probability,
high-impact events, whereas extensive risk is
associated with high-probability, low-impact
events.
 Disaster risk has many characteristics.
In order to understand disaster risk, it is
essential to understand that it is:
• Forward looking the likelihood of
loss of life, destruction and damage
in a given period of time
• Dynamic: it can increase or decrease
according to our ability to reduce
vulnerability
• Invisible: it is comprised of not only
the threat of high-impact events,
but also the frequent, low-impact
events that are often hidden
• Unevenly distributed around the
earth: hazards affect different
areas, but the pattern of disaster
risk reflects the social
construction of exposure and
vulnerability in different
countries
• Emergent and complex: many
processes, including climate
change and globalized economic
development, are creating new,
interconnected risks
 Disasters threaten development,
just as development creates
disaster risk.
Understanding disaster risk
requires us to not only consider the
hazard, our exposure and vulnerability
but also society's capacity to protect
itself from disasters. The ability of
communities, societies and systems to
resist, absorb, accommodate, recover
from disasters, whilst at the same time
improve wellbeing, is known as
resilience.
 RISK FACTORS
UNDERLYING DISASTER
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change is already
impacting health in a myriad of ways,
including by leading to death and
illness from increasingly frequent
extreme weather events, such as
heatwaves, storms and floods, the
disruption of food systems, increases
in zoonoses and food-, water- and
vector-borne diseases, and mental
health issues.
 ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
Environmental degradation is both a
driver and consequence of disasters, reducing
the capacity of the environment to meet social
and ecological needs.
Over consumption of natural resources
results in environmental degradation, reducing
the effectiveness of essential ecosystem
services, such as the mitigation of floods and
landslides. This leads to increased risk from
disasters, and in turn, natural hazards can
further degrade the environment.
 GLOBALIZED ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Globalized economic
development has resulted in increased
polarization between the rich and
poor on a global scale. This has
increased vulnerability to disasters in
some cases, whilst increasing
exposure to hazards in others as more
(and often more valuable) assets are
developed in hazard-prone areas.
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
Poor rural livelihoods are
highly exposed and vulnerable to
weather-related hazards and have a
low resilience to loss because they
have little or no surplus capacity to
absorb crop or livestock income
losses and to recover. Even a small
loss might feedback into further
poverty and future vulnerability.
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
Poverty and disaster risk are also
pervasive in urban areas. Generally,
poor urban households derive most or
all their income from work in the
informal economy, meaning that
precise figures on urban poverty are
lacking. Housing is usually the principal
economic asset of poor urban
households, providing not only shelter
and personal security, but also often
their livelihood.
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
Damage or loss to housing, together
with essential domestic possessions,
therefore, places enormous strain on
household economies, given the high
monetary cost of replacing lost assets,
relative to low and irregular incomes, and
the absence of insurance or safety nets.
Urban poverty is now understood to have
many additional dimensions - including
'voicelessness' and 'powerlessness', and
inadequate provision of infrastructure and
basic services.
 POORLY PLANNED URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
Urban development can change the
environment or ecosystem through, for
instance, the expansion of paved,
impermeable areas, which prevent rain
from being absorbed by the soil thereby
increasing flood hazard, particularly in low-
lying areas.
Inadequately planned and managed
cities also create new risks which threaten
to erode current development gains. The
lack of adequate infrastructure and
services, unsafe housing, inadequate and
poor health services can turn natural
hazard into a disaster.
 POORLY PLANNED
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
For example, poor solid waste
management can cause blockage to storm
water and sewage networks that can lead
to waterlogging and flooding. Destruction
or damage to infrastructure can lead to
water scarcity or contamination. Lack of
access to safe housing with good provision
for water, sanitation, health care and
education affects the capacity of urban
residents to recover.
 WEAK
GOVERNANCE
Weak governance zones
are areas where governments
are unwilling or unable to carry
out their responsibilities. This
means that public authorities do
not protect rights (including
property rights) or provide basic
public services (e.g. social
programmes, infrastructure
development and prudential
surveillance).
WEAK GOVERNANCE
Weak governance zones are
investment environments in which
public sector actors are unable or
unwilling to assume their roles and
responsibilities in protecting rights,
providing basic services, public
services, and ensuring that public
sector management is efficient and
effective. These “government failures”
lead to broader failures in political,
economic and civic institutions that are
referred to as weak governance.
WEAK GOVERNANCE
Weak governance is a driver of
disaster risk, and is linked to many other
risk drivers such as poverty and
inequality, poorly planned urban
development, and globalised economic
development. To be most effective in
reducing disaster risk, an integrated
systems approach to governance,
featuring strong coordination across
sectors and a delegation of
responsibilities to the local level is
needed.
References:
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Concept of Disaster
1. What makes communities vulnerable to disaster?
2. According to the United Nations International Strategy on
Disaster Reduction (ISDR) disaster risk is the potential loss in
lives, health status, livelihoods and various assets. In your
opinion, how can people help reduce the impact and damages
brought by disasters to communities?
3. How can communities increase their capacity to adapt to
environmental changes and disasters?
4. How can disasters be beneficial in an ecological sense?
5. What makes the Philippines very vulnerable to natural disasters?