EFFECTS OF DISASTERS IN

ONE’S LIFE
What is the difference between hazard and disaster?
A hazard is a dangerous situation or event that carries a threat to humans. A
disaster is an event that harms humans and disrupts the operations of society.
Hazards can only be considered disasters once it affected humans. If a disaster
happened in an unpopulated area, it is still a hazard.

The Human Effect of Natural and Man-Made Disasters

1. Displaced Populations
One of the most immediate effects of natural disasters is population displacement.
When countries are ravaged by earthquakes or other powerful forces of nature,
many people need 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.
2. Health Risks
Aside from the obvious immediate danger that natural disasters present, the
secondary effect can be just as damaging. Severe flooding can result in stagnant
water that allows breeding of waterborne bacteria and malaria-carrying
mosquitoes. Without emergency relief from international aid organizations and
others, death tolls can rise even after the immediate danger has passed.
3. Food Scarcity
The aftermath of natural disasters affects the food supplies. Thousands of people
around the world are hungry because of destroyed crops and loss of agricultural
supplies, whether it happens suddenly in a storm or gradually in a drought. As a
result, 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.

4. 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 Devastating Impact on Natural Disasters’, ChildFund, last modified May 30, 2020,
https://www.childfund.org/Content/NewsDetail/2147489272/
Great damage caused by a disaster can be
reduced if everyone will take responsibility
in anticipating its effects. Here are some
ways on how to plan ahead of a disaster:

1. Check for hazards at home.

2. Identify safe place indoors and outdoors
3. Educate yourself and family members
4. Have Disaster kits/supplies on hand.
5. Develop an emergency communication
plan.
6. Help your community get ready.
7. Practice the Disaster Preparedness
Cycle
DISASTER FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE
The Different Perspectives of Disaster
1. Physical perspective
Calamities are phenomena that cause great physical damage in a community
infrastructure, its people and their properties, e.g. houses and environmental sources of
living. These cited effects of a disaster can be easily measured and the most common.
Natural disasters generally affect the physical infrastructural facilities, agricultural
productivity and even lead to loss of life and cause damage to property. Various factors
influence the effects of a disaster on a country among them are the magnitude of the
disaster, the geography of the area affected, and the recovery efforts directed towards
reducing the immediate effects of a disaster.
“Effects of a natural Disasters on a Country Essay”, Ivy Panda Free Study Hub, January
20, 2020, https://ivypanda.com/essays/effects-of-a-natural-disaster-on-a-country/
Effects of Physical Disasters
- Injuries
- Physical disabilities or illness
- Sanitation
- Damage in infrastructure
2. Psychological Perspective
Victims of disasters may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other serious mental
health conditions, which are not being given much attention to by the authorities or even by the victims,
themselves. (This may be sensitive statement)
Disasters are mostly unpredictable, which leave the victims in a state of shock. They tend to deny the
loss and try to escape from reality. Being in a denial state makes the victims more vulnerable to
stress, anxiety, and other different maladaptive reactions. Death of a closed one also leaves
the victim in a state of insecurity because the sense of love, attachment and belongingness are
deprived.
Makwana, Nikunj Disaster and its impact on mental health: A narrative review, October 31,
2019 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6857396/
Psychological effects of a Disaster:
• distress hopelessness
• intrusion/avoidance emotional effects
• hatred/revenge cognitive Effects
• dependence/insecurities physical Effects
• grief/withdrawn/isolation interpersonal effect
• guilt feeling helplessness
• lack of trust
3. Socio-cultural Perspective
Filipinos are generally known as “matiisin”, resourceful, helpful, optimistic, and prayerful. These
characteristics are manifested in the country’s recent fight against COVID19.Due to the National
Health Emergency, Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) prevailed in the whole country. A lot
of people temporarily lost their jobs, some people stranded in different regions, repatriated OFWs
were held in different quarantine facilities in Metro Manila, and all people were restricted to go out
of their homes for months. As a result, most Filipino families would rely on government’s help for
them to get by. However, limited resources and aids from the government make people find possible
ways to survive amid the pandemic.
These traits help a lot of Filipinos to survive the challenge of COVID19 in the country. To people
who are used to natural calamities like typhoons, flash floods, and volcanic eruptions most citizen
would find contentment with what they have at the moment. The culture of “malalampasan din
natin ‘to..” belief and “ bahala na and Diyos” syndrome give hope to most Filipino in the midst of a
disaster. Such perspective helps a lot especially those who belong to the marginalized sector to be
hopeful and continue fighting against any challenge at hand. Their belief that a help from someone
or from God would arrive at a time they most needed. It also helps most people survive a lot of
oddities in life.
Socio-Cultural Effect of Disasters
 change in individual roles
 disruption of social relationships and personal connections
4. Economic Perspective
Disasters affect the economic condition of a community because they reduce local and
international trade. It can also partially or totally paralyze a country’s transportation system, just
like what happened in the COVID19 pandemic.
Implementation of a partial and total shut down of local business operations result to a lot of
people losing means of living.
Economic Effects of Disasters
- loss of life
- unemployment
- loss of property
loss of household articles
- loss of crops
loss of public infrastructure
5. Political Perspective
Natural disasters are commonly thought to be less politically argumentative than armed conflicts,
yet a closer look shows that both the effects of a natural disaster and the resulting distribution of
humanitarian aid are profoundly linked to politics.
• The latest figure
translates to 1.83
million unemployed
individuals, lower
than the 2.18
million in
November 2022
and 2.09 million in
October 2023. This
is the lowest
recorded
unemployment rate
since the PSA
introduced a new
methodology for
measuring the labor
force survey in
2005.
Just as vulnerability to disasters is mediated by the political system of a country, disasters can have
major consequences for political stability and political legitimacy (Hörhager, July 2017. Since agencies of
government have a significant role to play in directing disaster preparedness, prevention and recovery.
Social systems establish vulnerability to natural disasters and governments are often considered to be
responsible for the disaster effects.
Political Effects of a Disaster
- People who have trust in political institution will assess the government’s risk assessments as credible
and accept their hazard policies (Johnson 1999)
- Low level of trust in public institutions therefore means that citizens may ignore the recommendations
and disregard the information provided by these institutions (McCaffey 2004).
- If individuals are confident that they will receive sufficient aid from the government when a disaster
occurs, they might not be motivated to take measures on their own (King and Kang 2000).

6. Biological Perspective
The disturbing effects caused by a prevalent kind of disease or virus in an epidemic or pandemic level is
known as biological disaster.
(a) Epidemic Level: Biological disaster affects large numbers of people within a given community or area.
Ex: Dengue.
(b) Pandemic Level: Biological disaster affects a much large region, sometime spanning entire continents
or the globe
ex. Swine Flue
Biological disasters can wipe out an entire population at a short span of time.
Example of it is the COVID19 pandemic which infected millions in less than a month and left
thousands of deaths in the same duration. Viral respiratory infections can lead to anything from a
mild cough that lasts a few weeks or months to full-blown persistent wheezing or asthma (Martin,
2020). He added that when there is a severe respiratory infection, recovery can be prolonged with a
general increase in shortness of breath— even after normal lung function returns. Since COVID19
is a respiratory disease, the public is advised by health authorities to do health precaution to
prevent social contamination. Examples are: observing physical distancing, appropriate washing of
the hands, wearing of mask at all times once outside of one’s home, and boosting one’s immune
system.
COVID19 patients who have strong immune system can likely soon recover from the disease. Also,
those who follow the health precaution strictly have less chance of being infected. As such, the
effects of a biological disaster can be reduced.
Effects of Biological Disasters
➢ loss of lives
➢ public demobilization
➢ negative economic effect
➢ unemployment
➢ hunger