DISASTER MANAGEMENT

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6 Solved Questions with Answers

• 2019
8. Vulnerability is an essential element for defining disaster
impacts and its threat to people. How and in what ways can
vulnerability to disasters be characterized? Discuss different
types of vulnerability with reference to disasters.

HIDE ANSWER

According to United Nation Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR),

Vulnerability can be defined as the conditions determined by physical, social,
economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase the
susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts
of hazards.
Vulnerability assessment needs to be based on a systematization and
conceptualization of vulnerability describing the main linkages between the
different components of risk. Only if the population and decision makers know
where and how vulnerable the system is and which social–economic, physical,
and environmental factors play a major role in it, adequate measures can be
implemented to reduce vulnerabilities to disasters. It involves two approaches:

▪ Scientific Approach: It includes the research line of practical

measurement approaches of vulnerability and disaster risk reduction.
▪ Policy Approach: It provides information about the spatial distributions of
vulnerability to different natural hazards upon which the authorities need
to take actions.
• Different Types of Vulnerability
▪ Physical Vulnerability: The potential for physical impact on the physical
environment – which can be expressed as elements-at-risk (EaR). The
degree of loss to a given EaR or set of EaR resulting from the occurrence
of a natural phenomenon of a given magnitude and expressed on a scale
from 0 (no damage) to 1 (total damage)”.
 ◦ For Example: A wooden house is sometimes less likely to collapse
in an earthquake, but it may be more vulnerable in the event of a fire
or a hurricane.
▪ Economic Vulnerability: The potential impacts of hazards on economic
assets and processes (i.e. business interruption, secondary effects such
as increased poverty and job loss) vulnerability of different economic
sectors.
◦ For Example: Families with low incomes often live in high-risk areas
around cities, because they can’t afford to live in safer (and more
expensive) places.
▪ Social Vulnerability: The potential impacts of events on groups such as
the poor, single parent households, pregnant or lactating women, the
handicapped, children, and elderly; consider public awareness of risk,
ability of groups to self-cope with catastrophes, and status of institutional
structures designed to help them cope.
◦ For Example: Women and children are more vulnerable to disasters
as compared to men.
▪ Environmental Vulnerability: The potential impacts of events on the
environment (flora, fauna, ecosystems, biodiversity).
◦ For Example: People living in the tropical areas are more
vulnerable to tropical cyclones as compared to people living in
temperate region.
•

• 2016
15. The frequency of urban floods due to high intensity rainfall is
increasing over the years. Discussing the reasons for urban
floods, highlight the mechanisms for preparedness to reduce the
risk during such events. (2016)

HIDE ANSWER

Flooding and disruption have become the new normal for the monsoon season
 in urban India. Recent water logging in Gurgaon, urban flood in Mumbai and
Srinagar shows the increasing intensity of urban flood disasters in India.
These are some of the reasons of urban floods in case of Indian cities.

▪ A special feature in India is heavy rainfall during monsoons. There are

other weather systems also that bring in a lot of rain. Storm surges can
also affect coastal cities/ towns.
▪ The urban heat island effect has resulted in an increase in rainfall over
urban areas. Global climate change is resulting in changed weather
patterns and increased episodes of high intensity rainfall events occurring
in shorter periods of time.
▪ Stormwater drainage systems in the past were designed for rainfall
intensity of 12–20 mm. These capacities get easily overwhelmed
whenever rainfall of higher intensity is experienced. Further, the systems
very often do not work to the designed capacities because of very poor
maintenance.
▪ Encroachments are also a major problem in many cities and towns. The
flow of water has increased in proportion to the urbanization of the
watersheds. Ideally, the natural drains should have been widened (similar
to road widening for increased traffic) to accommodate the higher flows of
stormwater. But on the contrary, there have been large scale
encroachments on the natural drains and the river flood plains.
Consequently the capacity of the natural drains has decreased, resulting
in flooding.
▪ Improper disposal of solid waste, including domestic, commercial and
industrial waste and dumping of construction debris into the drains also
contributes significantly to reducing drainage capacities.
▪ Presence of impervious cover near trees and on road pavements also
reduces water runoff.
• To reduce these risk following measure can be taken:

▪ Pre-Monsoon Desilting of drainage system.

▪ Solid waste disposal and its proper management has significant effect on
drainage performance and reduces the chances of choking of drainage
system.
 ▪ Protection and conservation of wetlands near urban habitats increase the
water holding capacities and they also act as natural barriers against any
surge in water level.
▪ Rain water harvesting reduces the load of excess rain water of rain and
help in mitigating urban floods.
•

• 2016
16. With reference to National Disaster Management Authority
(NDMA) guidelines, discuss the measures to be adopted to
mitigate the impact of recent incidents of cloudbursts in many
places of Uttarakhand. (2016)

HIDE ANSWER

Cloudburst is a short-term extreme precipitation of 10 cm or above rainfall in

an hour which occurs over a small area.
When saturated clouds are unable to produce rain because of the upward
movement of warm current of air leading to excessive condensation, raindrops
are carried upwards by the air current instead of dropping as rainfall. After a
point raindrops become too heavy to be carried upwards and drop together in
a quick flash. This phenomenon is known as cloudbursts.
Rainfall does not directly cause death but the consequences of the
cloudbursts in the form of rainfall triggers landslides, flash floods, houses and
establishment getting swept and cave in lead to death and damage. Restoring
settlements near mountain foothills is difficult due to flashfloods that might
happen from cloudburst.
Ways to minimise the loss of life and property
Detecting cloud bursts is a difficult task as it covers small areas so precaution
will go a long way in lessening the damage.

▪ Stopping haphazard construction in hilly areas.

▪ Preventing encroachments of riverbeds.
▪ Afforestation programmes specially on hill slopes to prevent landslides.
▪ Alert-relay system (Early warning system) should be put in place so that
people can evacuate on time.
• The damaged ground must be replanted as soon as possible since erosion
caused by loss of ground soil cover can lead to flash flooding and additional
landslides in the near future.
Space Application Centre (SAC) of ISRO has developed a model for heavy
rainfall/cloud burst alert to prevent the damage caused by a cloudburst. It is
currently working on pilot basis but once its effectiveness is proven, it will go a
long way in saving lives.

• 2019
18. Disaster preparedness is the first step in any disaster
management process. Explain how hazard zonation mapping will
help disaster mitigation in the case of landslides.

HIDE ANSWER

Disaster preparedness refers to measures taken to prepare for and reduce the
effects of disasters i.e. to predict and prevent disasters, mitigate their impact,
and respond to and effectively cope with their consequences. These are
achieved through programs that strengthen the technical and managerial
capacity of governments, organizations, and communities.
Disaster preparedness is a continuous and integrated process resulting from a
wide range of risk reduction activities and resources. It is considered as the
first step in any disaster management process as it involves:

▪ Risk assessment (to point out which measures to implement) and early
warning systems
▪ Life safeguarding equipment, for example, cyclone shelters
▪ Resources and emergency kits in anticipation of need, maintaining
emergency rosters and evacuation plans, emergency information and
communication systems
▪ Training to ensure adequate emergency response capacity, maintenance
of preparedness levels, public education and preparedness campaigns
• That said, hazard zonation mapping is one of the disaster preparedness
mechanisms to mitigate the risks associated with landslides. Landslides
involve mass movement of loose soil and uncompact rock materials under the
 effects of gravity along a sliding plane.
According to a recent study, India is among the most landslides affected
countries, accounting for at least 28% of such events in the past 12 years. In
such a scenario, hazard zonation mapping will help disaster mitigation in the
case of landslides.

▪ Landslide hazard zonation (LHZ) mapping refers to the division of land

into homogeneous areas and ranking of these areas according to their
degrees of actual or potential hazard caused by landslides and mass
movements.
▪ The susceptibility of a given area to landslides can be determined and
depicted using hazard zonation. Once landslide susceptibility is identified,
intervention projects can be developed which avoid, prevent, or
substantially mitigate the hazard.
▪ These maps provide important information to support decisions for urban
development and land use planning. Also, effective utilization of these
maps can considerably reduce the damage potential and other cost
effects of landslides.
▪ The LHZ maps identify and delineate unstable hazard-prone areas, so
that environmental regeneration programmes can be initiated adopting
suitable mitigation measures.
▪ Even if the hazardous areas cannot be avoided altogether, their
recognition in the initial stages of planning may help to adopt suitable
precautionary measures.
• Landslides and their consequences are still a great problem for many
countries, particularly in India due to rapidly increasing populations. The most
recent example being that of Kerala. For this reason, landslide hazard
zonation mapping serves as one of the many components in an integrated
disaster management planning.

• 2018
18. Describe various measures taken in India for Disaster Risk
Reduction (DRR) before and after signing 'Sendai Framework for
 DRR (2015-30)'. How is this framework different from ‘Hyogo
Framework for Action, 2005’? (2018)

HIDE ANSWER

Disaster leads to sudden disruption of normal life, causing severe damage to

life and property. Its origin can be natural or man-made. India due to its
geography and scarce resources is more prone to Disasters.
In order to manage disaster, prior to the signing ‘Sendai Framework for DRR
(2015-30)’ in 2016, India has taken following steps:

▪ The Disaster Management Act was enacted in 2005, which ushered in a

paradigm shift from a relief-centric approach to a more proactive regime
that laid greater emphasis on preparedness, prevention and mitigation.
▪ The National Policy on Disaster Management (NPDM) has been prepared
in pursuance of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which laid the
framework/roadmap for handling disasters in a holistic manner.
▪ In 2016, India released the country’s first ever National Disaster
Management Plan, a document based on the global blueprint for reducing
disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. It will
cover all phases of disaster management, from prevention and mitigation
to response and recovery.
• India is the largest democracy which has adopted the Sendai framework for
disaster risk reduction and the first country to have drawn a national and local
strategy with a short term goal achievement target set for 2020.
The difference between Hyogo Framework and Sendai Framework is:

▪ The Sendai Framework (2015-30) is the successor instrument to the

Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-15).
▪ The Hyogo framework was the first plan which explained, described and
detailed the work that is required from all different sectors and actors to
reduce disaster losses.
▪ Sendai framework recognizes that the State has the primary role to
reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other
stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other
stakeholders.
•

• 2017
18. On December 2004, tsumani brought havoc on fourteen
countries including India. Discuss the factors responsible for
occurrence of tsunami and its effects on life and economy. In the
light of guidelines of NDMA (2010) describe the mechanisms for
preparedness to reduce the risk during such events. (2017)

HIDE ANSWER

On December 26, 2004 the gigantic tsunami waves generated due to a great
undersea earthquake off the coast of Banda Aceh, northern Sumatra. This
earthquake occurred along a thrust fault in the subduction zone where the
Indian tectonic plate was going below the overriding Burmese plate. As a
result, the ocean floor broke and there was a vertical displacement of about 15
to 20 meters along the fault causing large scale displacement of water and
thus, generating tsunami waves.

▪ Typically, for an average ocean depth of 4 km, like in the Indian Ocean/
Bay of Bengal region, the speed of the tsunami waves can go up to 720
km/h or about the speed of a jet airliner. As the tsunami waves approach
the shore, the water depth becomes shallower, waves slow
down, wavelength becomes shorter and the waves gain larger amplitude
or heights and become destructive.
• Effect on life and economy

▪ Tsunami waves destroy boats, buildings, bridges, cars, trees, telephone

lines, power lines - and just about anything else in their way. Once the
tsunami waves have knocked down infrastructure on the shore they may
continue to travel for several miles inland, sweeping away more trees,
buildings, cars and other man made equipment. Small islands hit by a
tsunami are left unrecognizable.
▪ After a tsunami strikes, landscapes that previously constituted
picturesque beaches or seaside towns become a wasteland. In addition
to the destruction of human construction, tsunamis destroy vegetation
 such as trees, resulting in landslides and coastlines that slip into the sea
as deep root systems that previously held land in place are ripped out.
• Preparedness in light of NDMA Gudelines

▪ The 2004 tsunami prompted NDMA to formulate Tsunami Risk

Management Guidelines to outline inter-agency roles and responsibilities,
tsunami risk preparedness, mitigation and response.
▪ In order to reduce risk of tsunami it is pertinent to explore options for
effective dissemination of tsunami alert and warning messages generated
by INCOIS to the concerned agencies and coastal vulnerable
communities exposed to tsunamis in a coordinated manner.
▪ Structural Mitigation measures, as envisaged in the Guidelines, gives a
brief guidance on design and construction of new structures as well as
strategies for protecting lifeline and priority structures from tsunamis
along the seafront.
▪ A robust techno-legal regime through efficient land use
practices, bioshields, shelter belt plantation and mangrove regeneration
with community involvement will also help towards the cause.
•