Introduction

 Each hazard has its own characteristics.

 To understand the significance and implications of various
types of hazards we must have a basic understanding
about the nature, causes and effects of each hazard type
and the mitigation measures that need to be taken up.
 In this unit, we would discuss the following hazards namely
Earthquakes, Volcanisms, Cyclones, Tsunamis, Floods,
Droughts And Famines, Landslides and Avalanches that
we normally face in our country.
 Earthquake
 Earthquake is one of the most destructive natural hazards.
 They may occur at any time of the year, day or night, with
sudden impact and little warning.
 They can destroy buildings and infrastructure in seconds,
killing or injuring the inhabitants.
 Earthquakes not only destroy the entire habitation but may
de-stabilize the government, economy and social structure
of the country.
 It is the sudden shaking of the earth crust. The impact of
an earthquake is sudden and there is hardly any warning,
making it impossible to predict.
 The fault rupture generates vibration called seismic (from
the Greek 'seismos' meaning shock or earthquake) waves,
which radiates from the focus in all directions.
 Cause of Earthquake :
 The earth’s crust is a rocky layer of varying thickness ranging from a depth
of about 10 kilometers under the sea to 65 kilometers under the
continents.
 The crust is not one piece but consists of portions called ‘plates’ which
vary in size from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers
 The ‘theory of plate tectonics’ holds that the plates ride up on the
more mobile mantle, and are driven by some yet unconfirmed
mechanisms, perhaps thermal convection currents.
 When these plates contact each other, stress arises in the crust
 These stresses can be classified according to the type of movement along
the plate’s boundaries:
 a) pulling away from each other,
 b) pushing against one another and
 c) sliding sideways relative to each other.
General characteristics
 Earthquake vibrations occur in a variety of frequencies and velocities.
 The actual rupture process may last for a few seconds to as long as one
minute for a major earthquake.
 The ground shaking is caused by ‘body waves’ and ‘surface wave’.
 Body waves (P and S waves) penetrate the body of the earth,
vibrating fast.
 ‘P’ waves travel about 6 kilometers per hour and ‘S’ waves travel with a
speed of 4 kilometers per hour.
 Surface waves vibrate the ground horizontally and vertically.
 These long period waves cause swaying of tall buildings and slight waves
motion in bodies of water even at great distances from the epicenter.
 Damage occurs to human settlement, buildings, structures and
infrastructure, especially bridges, elevated roads, railways, water towers,
pipelines, electrical generating facilities.
 Aftershocks of an earthquake can cause much greater damage to already
weakened structures.
 Physical damage:
Tsunami
 The term Tsunami has been derived from a Japanese term Tsu
meaning 'harbor' and nami meaning 'waves'.
 Tsunamis are popularly called tidal waves but they actually have
nothing to do with the tides.
 These waves which often affect distant shores, originate by rapid
displacement of water from the lake or the sea either by seismic
activity, landslides, volcanic eruptions or large meteoroid impacts.
 What ever the cause may be, sea water is displaced with a violent
motion and swells up, ultimately surging over land with great
destructive power.
 The effects of a tsunami can be unnoticeable or even
General Characteristics:
 Tsunami differs from ordinary ocean waves, which are produced by wind
blowing over water.
 The tsunamis travel much faster than ordinary waves.
 Compared to normal wave speed of 100 kilometers per hour, tsunami in
the deep water of the ocean may travel the speed of a jet airplane - 800
kilometers per hour! And yet, in spite of their speed, tsunami increases
the water height only 30-45cm and often passes unnoticed by ships at sea.
 Contrary to the popular belief, the tsunami is not a single giant wave.
 It is possible for a tsunami to consist of ten or more waves which is then
termed as 'tsunami wave train'.
 The waves follow each other 5 to 90 minutes apart.
 Tsunami normally causes flooding as a huge wall of water enters the main
land.
 What is a Cyclone?
 Cyclone is a region of low atmospheric pressure surrounded by high
atmospheric pressure resulting in swirling atmospheric disturbance
accompanied by powerful winds blowing in anticlockwise direction in the
Northern Hemisphere and in the clockwise direction in the Southern
Hemisphere.
 They occur mainly in the tropical and temperate regions of the world.
 Cyclones are known by different names in different parts of the world:
 ¨ Typhoons in the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline
 ¨ Hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean
east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean.
 ¨ Tropical cyclones - the Southwest Pacific Ocean and Southeast Indian
Ocean.
 ¨ Severe cyclonic storm” (the North Indian Ocean)
 ¨ Tropical cyclone (the Southwest Indian Ocean)
 ¨ Willie-Willie in Australia
 ¨ Tornado in South America
FLOOD
 Flood is a state of high water level along a river channel or on the coast
that leads to inundation of land, which is not usually submerged.
 Floods may happen gradually and also may take hours or even happen
suddenly without any warning due to breach in the embankment, spill
over, heavy rains etc.
 There are different types of floods namely: flash flood, riverine
flood, urban flood, etc.
 Flash floods can be defined as floods which occur within six hours of
the beginning of heavy rainfall, and are usually associated with cloud
bursts, storms and cyclones requiring rapid localized warnings and
immediate response to reduce damage.
 Wireless network and telephone connections are used to monitor flood
conditions.
 In case of flash floods, warnings for timely evacuation may not always
be possible.
Causes:
 There are several causes of floods and differ from region to region.
 The causes may vary from a rural area to an urban area.
 Some of the major causes are:
 a. Heavy rainfall
 b. Heavy siltation of the river bed reduces the water carrying
capacity of the rivers/stream.
 c. Blockage in the drains lead to flooding of the area.
 d. Landslides blocking the flow of the stream.
 e. Construction of dams and reservoirs
 f. In areas prone to cyclone, strong winds accompanied by heavy
down pour along with storm surge leads to flooding.
Typical Adverse Effects:
 The most important consequence of floods is the loss of life and property.
 Structures like houses, bridges; roads etc. get damaged by the gushing
water, landslides triggered on account of water getting saturated, boats
and fishing nets get damaged.
 There is huge loss to life and livestock caused by drowning.
 Lack of proper drinking water facilities, contamination of water (well,
ground water, piped water supply) leads to outbreak of epidemics,
diarrhoea, viral infection, malaria and many other infectious diseases.
 Flooding also leads to a large area of agricultural land getting inundated as
a result there is a huge crop loss.
 This results in shortage of food, and animal fodder.
 Floods may also affect the soil characteristics.
 The land may be rendered infertile due to erosion of top layer or may
turn saline if sea water floods the area.
What is Drought?
 Drought is either absence or deficiency of rainfall from its normal pattern
in a region for an extended period of time leading to general suffering in
the society.
 It is interplay between demand that people place on natural supply of
water and natural event that provides the water in a given geographical
region.
 The state of Kerala which receives more than 3000 mm of
rainfall every year is declared drought affected as it is
insufficient to have two good crops.
 The more the imbalance in supply the higher is the drought.
 The following will help explaining this general definition of the drought
further.
 ¨ It is a slow on-set disaster and it is difficult to demarcate the time of its
onset and the end.
 ¨ Any unusual dry period which results in a shortage of useful water.
What is a landslide?
 The term’ landslide’ includes all varieties of mass movements of hill
slopes and can be defined as the downward and outward movement of
slope forming materials composed of rocks, soils, artificial fills or
combination of all these materials along surfaces of separation by
falling, sliding and flowing, either slowly or quickly from one place to
another.
 Although the landslides are primarily associated with mountainous
terrains, these can also occur in areas where an activity such as surface
excavations for highways, buildings and open pit mines takes place.
 They often take place in conjunction with earthquakes, floods and
volcanoes.
 At times, prolonged rainfall causing landslide may block the flow of
river for quite some time.
 The formation of river blocks can cause havoc to the settlements
downstream on its bursting.
Causes of Landslide
 There are several causes of landslide. Some of the major causes are as
follows:
 1. Geological Weak material: Weakness in the composition and
structure of rock or soil may also cause landslides.
 2. Erosion: Erosion of slope toe due to cutting down of vegetation,
construction of roads might increase the vulnerability of the terrain to
slide down.
 3. Intense rainfall: Storms that produce intense rainfall for periods as
short as several hours or have a more moderate intensity lasting several
days have triggered abundant landslides.
 Heavy melting of snow in the hilly terrains also results in landslide.
 4. Human Excavation of slope and its toe, loading of slope/toe,
draw down in reservoir, mining, deforestation, irrigation,
vibration/blast, Water leakage from services.