DISASTER READINESS AND RISK REDUCTION
Disaster
 a natural or man-made event that negatively
affects life, property, livelihood or industry often
resulting in permanent changes to human
societies, ecosystems and environment.
 can be caused by naturally occurring events, such
as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, or
tornadoes, or they can be due to man-made
events, either accidental (such as an accidental
toxic spill or nuclear power plant event), or
deliberately caused (such as various terrorist
bombings and poisonings).
Disaster risk
 refers to the potential disaster losses, in lives,
health status, livelihoods, assets, and services
which could occur in a community or society
over some specified future time period.
Important elements/variables of disaster risk:
Exposure - refers to people, property, systems, or other
elements present in hazard zones that are thereby subject
to potential losses.
Hazard - any source of potential damage.
1. Natural - environmental events that happen without
human intervention.
a. Geologic - related to the ground and land
formations such as volcanic activities,
earthquakes, and landslides.
b. Hydrometeorological - related to water, wind,
temperature, precipitation, and other climate
systems such as typhoons, floods, and drought.
c. Astronomical - related to the contact of heavenly
bodies on earth such as meteor showers, fall of an
asteroid, and solar storm.
d. Biological - widespread disease or epidemic on
humans and animals, and agricultural pests.
2. Human-made - prevalence of a disaster due to
deliberate or non-deliberate acts of people.
Vulnerability - the inability to resist a hazard or to
respond when a disaster has occurred.
Capacity - refers to all the strengths, attributes and
resources available within a community, organization or
society to manage and reduce disaster risks and strengthen
resilience.
What is the difference between hazard and risk?
 A hazard is something that has the potential to
cause harm while risk is the likelihood of harm
taking place, based on exposure to that hazard.
Risk factors
 affect the severity of the impact of a disaster. It
can either aggravate or mitigate the effects of a
disaster.
Risk Factors Underlying Disasters:
1. Severity of exposure
- Measures those who experience disaster firsthand which has the highest risk, followed by
those in contact with the victims (rescue
workers, etc.) and the lowest risk.
2. Gender and Family
- The female gender suffers more adverse
effects. This worsens when children are
present at home.
3. Age
- Adults in the age range of 40-60 are more
stressed after disasters but in general,
children exhibit more stress after disasters
than adults do.
4. Economic status of a country
- Evidence indicates that severe mental
problems resulting from disasters are more
prevalent in developing countries like the
Philippines.
Secondary Factors Underlying Disasters:
1. Climate change – severe changes in weather
condition.
2. Environmental degradation – changes to the
environment can influence the frequency and
intensity of vulnerability and exposure to hazards.
3. Globalized economic development – results in an
increased polarization between the rich and poor
on a global scale.
4. Poverty and inequality – impoverished people are
more likely to live in hazard-exposed areas and
are less able to invest in risk-reducing measures.
5. Poorly planned and managed urban development
– people, poverty, and disaster risk are
increasingly concentrated in cities.
6. Weak governance – weak governance zones are
investment environments in which public sector
actors are unable or unwilling to assume their
roles and responsibilities in providing basic
services and public services.
Effects of disasters
1. Loss of life
2. Physical Injury and disability
3. Malnutrition
4. Spread of disease
5. Psychological
6. Displaced population
EXAMPLE: Eruption of the taal volcano.
7. Health Risks
EXAMPLE: Natural disasters, pandemic
8. Food Scarcity
9. Emotional Aftershock
EXAMPLE: One of the family members died
10. Property loss
11. Lack of education
Disaster from different perspectives
1. Physical Perspective
 Calamities are phenomena that cause great phy
sical
damage
in
a
community's
infrastructure, its people and their properties,
e.g.
houses and environmental source
of living.
These cited effects of
a
disaster can be easily measured and the most
common.
Effects of Physical Disasters
 Injuries
 Physical disabilities or illness
 Sanitation
 Damage in infrastructure
2. Psychological Perspective
 Disasters affect the emotional and mental
stability of individuals. Victims of disasters may
suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) and other serious mental health
conditions, which are not given much attention by
the authorities or the victims themselves.
Psychological effects of a Disaster:
 distress
 hopelessness
 intrusion/avoidance
 hatred/revenge
 dependence/insecurities
 grief/withdrawn/isolation
 guilt feeling
 helplessness
 lack of trust
3. Socio-Cultural Perspective
 Socio-Cultural perspective is used in disciplines
like psychology and education to convey
understanding of people's environments and how
their behaviors are uniquely influenced by their
social, cultural, and environmental contexts.
Socio-Cultural Effect of Disaster
 change in individual roles
 disruption of social relationships and personal
connections

increase or reduce people's vulnerability to
natural hazards
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.
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
 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 haza
rd 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
Effects of Biological Disasters
 loss of lives
 public demobilization
 negative economic effect


unemployment
hunger
Prepared by Group 3