Reduction Of Disaster Risk From Natural Hazards

In the previous post we learned about Vulnerability This blog explores disaster risks for various demographics and how they are related. It also covers mitigation techniques and methods to lower disaster risk.

Introduction
Definition of disaster
Disaster risk reduction (DRR)
Major disasters
DRR and Sustainable development

Introduction

Since the 1990s, there has been an increase in the frequency of natural catastrophes and related environmental problems (UN, 2001; UNDP, 2004). 174 disaster occurrences have place in 68 different nations in just the first half of 2006, affecting 28 million people and causing $6 billion in property and asset damage (UNDP, 2007). The UN Millennium Development Goals face a challenge as a result of the effects of earthquakes, landslides, drought, floods, storms, and tropical cyclones, which pose a serious threat to human existence and sustainable livelihoods. Disasters significantly reduce human life expectancy, damage livelihoods, and devastate social and economic infrastructure (UN, 2002). Natural catastrophes are more likely to occur as a result of climate change, environmental degradation, and resource exploitation that isn't sustainable, unplanned development, and unequal asset distribution (UN, 2002).

The environment is negatively impacted by natural disasters, which are frequently made worse by environmental deterioration and poor management. The opposite is true with effective management systems and procedures, creating a clear connection between environmental management and disaster mitigation (King, 2002).

Definition of disaster

Five subgroups have been created to characterise disasters based on general factors.

Sub-Group I – Water and Climate Related Disasters

This sub-group consists of Cyclones, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Hailstorms, Cloudbursts, Heat Waves, Cold Waves, Snow Avalanches, Droughts, Sea Erosion, Thunder & Lightning, and Floods & Drainage Management.

Sub-Group II - Geologically related disasters

Disasters connected to geology It consists of mudflows and landslides, earthquakes, dam failures and dam bursts, as well as mine fires.

Sub-Group III- Chemical, Industrial & Nuclear related disasters

Catastrophes involving chemicals, industry, and nuclear energy Chemical, industrial, and nuclear disasters have all been categorised under this heading.

Sub-Group IV- Accident related disasters

catastrophes caused by accidents Disasters associated to festivals include forest fires, urban fires, mine fires, flooding, oil spills, significant building collapses, and serial bomb blasts (such as by overcrowding), Fires and electrical disasters; accidents involving aircraft, trains, and buses; boat capsizes; and village fires

Sub-Group V – Biologically-related disasters

Biologically based catastrophes The biological catastrophes and epidemics, pest attacks, cattle outbreaks, and food poisoning are all included in this subcategory.

Disaster risk management

Disaster risk management, or DRM, is a systematic process that employs organisational choices, operational capabilities, and operational skills to put into place policies, strategies, and coping mechanisms of the society and communities to lessen the effects of natural disasters and related environmental and technological disasters.

Disaster risk reduction (DRR)

Disaster Risk Reduction, or DRR, is the umbrella term for a conceptual framework of factors taken into account with the potential to reduce vulnerabilities and disaster risks across a society. Strategies for disaster risk reduction (DRR) include assessing vulnerabilities and risks, institutional capabilities, and raising awareness. Effective early warning systems, as well as technical, scientific, and other specialised skills, are essential. Accepting shared duties and cooperating can inspire local community involvement in important ways. The increased exposure and networking can be facilitated by modern methods of information access and communication. It's interesting to remember that pre-industrial societies had an intuitive grasp of nature that they had accumulated over many generations of experience.

A few examples:

The Chinese created an ingeniously straightforward seismograph that assessed earthquake force and pointed in the direction of the epicentre about 2,000 years ago.
Chinese people have built defence dykes for more than a thousand years in anticipation of the Yangtze and other major rivers' yearly flooding.
In order to preserve the limited soil and water needed for their crops, the Incas, who lived in the Andes between the 13th and the 15th centuries, took great care to build terraces on high hillsides. Today, several of these terraces still exist.
Similar terrace structures with a 1,000-year history can be found in the mountainous regions of the Philippines and Indonesia.

The Indian Famine Commission developed the guiding principles for famine relief in 1878, listing "to be properly prepared for famine or scarcity" as its first directive. The Madras Famine Code of 1883 directed civil officials in the old state of Madras to “to monitor grain prices as an indicator of famine" The Bengal Famine Code was established in 1895 and contains these measures as well as numerous more specific recommendations. Even after 100 years, many of these administrative directives and readiness processes are still applicable.

Prevention/Early warning

This includes delivering pertinent and useful information through recognised institutions, enabling people exposed to hazards to take action to lower their risk and get ready for a successful response. Community radios have been used as a well-known example to broadcast cyclone and flood warnings.

Mitigation

Mitigation is the process of taking structural and non-structural actions to lessen the negative effects of technological, environmental, and natural hazards. Examples of mitigation include building homes that can withstand earthquakes and enhancing the quality of natural resources by desalinating land that has been flooded by seawater, among other things.

Preparedness

The term "preparedness" refers to the actions and preparations made in advance to ensure an effective response to dangers, including the prompt and effective distribution of early warnings and the temporary removal of people and property from danger zones. The establishment of administrative organisations, training of the police force, relief organisations, communities, etc., are examples of preparedness. Locally evolved knowledge of weather patterns or naturally occurring indications in plants and animals to foretell exceptionally harsh conditions have affected traditional behaviours of people all across the world. Although imperfect, these techniques show a knowledge of prospective dangers that has caused people to think about alternative courses of action to save their livelihoods.

Response

Responses are a range of short- and long-term actions done to address the effects of disasters. To limit the number of fatalities, rescue and relief efforts following earthquakes and floods are absolutely crucial. As time goes on, the need changes, and the response must do the same. Planning and conducting a successful response depends largely on assessing the damage.

Reconstruction

Following the initial response, this is the next and most crucial activity. In order to make up for the losses, reconstruction involves a lot of development activity. Reconstruction strategies include repairing homes and other damaged property, providing sufferers with psychological support, and reviving the economy. In order to be ready for future disasters, resilience-building strategies must be implemented during the reconstruction period.

Major disasters

Floods

A flood is defined by the European Union (EU) Floods Directive as the water covering of territory that is not ordinarily covered by water. The tide's inflow may also be described using this term. Flooding can happen when water from bodies of water, such as a river, lake, or ocean, overflows and breaches barriers, allowing some of the water to escape its normal confines. When the Himalayan glaciers melt or during the monsoon season, rivers in India experience an increase in water flow (the river Ganges is an example). The water then covers the flat, riverside lowlands. The floodplains are located here. This is an organic occurrence that benefits riverfront agriculture. However, there were numerous attempts to seize the area for residential use due to a desire for land. Technical steps were tried to avoid floods, such as the construction of walls, but these were typically useless against the laws of nature.

Floods made the floods worse, and each year Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam suffer losses in terms of money as well as lives and property. Regional plans were created to discourage settlement in flood plain areas, but real estate developers disregarded them. A major dispute sprang up in 2016 when a cultural event was planned within the Yamuna flood plains. The organisers were assessed a fine of 5 crore rupees by the National Green Tribunal for breaking the rules.

Bangladesh has a comprehensive Flood Action Plan since it is a low-lying nation that frequently floods. Instead of attempting to control nature's strong forces, it advises investing in "floodproofing" civilizations by teaching people how to live with the inevitable floods in a way that would reduce damage and loss. Without the yearly floods that replenish and extend its landscape, the nation would not exist or be as productive as it is. Alluvial soils in Bangladesh create fragile char lands, which can be washed away by floods and leave people without any land. Bangladesh has received international funds to assist the underprivileged residents of the char lands. Women who have access to cash engage in significant homestead gardening and cultivate plants that have therapeutic qualities for in-home healthcare. Common practises developed over time by women to make life safer during floods include seed preservation, water conservation, composting to improve poor char soil, building homes resistant to strong winds, and planting seedlings to stabilise the shifting char lands.

Cyclone

Along the east coast of India's country, near the Bay of Bengal, cyclones frequently occur. The 1999 Super Cyclone was one of the most catastrophic storms ever to hit the North Indian Ocean and the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded there. The impacted areas included Sundarban and Odisha, which weren't ready for the calamities. Government estimates put the number of deaths in coastal Odisha at around 9000. Property was severely damaged, which hindered development in the already underdeveloped areas. Climate change is predicted to worsen and increase the frequency of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. The Odisha government undertook extensive disaster risk preparedness and management initiatives as a result of lessons learned from the past. Phailin, a very strong cyclone, made landfall on India's east coast in 2013. It was the most powerful tropical storm to hit India since the cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999. More than 550,000 people were evacuated from the coast in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh by state administrations that were ready for the situation and carried out India's largest evacuation. 500 specially constructed cyclone camps were set up in the two states to house the majority of the evacuated residents. Up to 1,500 people could be housed in each cyclone shelter, while cattle were kept on the ground floors. There were just 44 reported fatalities, which is a significant decrease from the several thousand fatalities in 1999. Property loss was also significantly less.

The way mangrove woods near the shore might lessen a cyclone's impact on villages was one of the lessons learned from prior storm studies. Since then, the government has carried out extensive mangrove restoration projects along the coast, benefiting the locals and promoting ecological resilience in the area.

Earthquakes

Himalayan regions are frequently affected by earthquakes. However, there have also been several instances of earthquake devastation in western India. A 1993 earthquake in Maharashtra's Latur district destroyed 52 villages, claimed 10,000 lives, and injured 30,000 more. The region was never thought to be earthquake-prone. Reclassification of earthquake-prone zones followed studies. The occurrence at night, when most people are inside their homes, and dwellings made of loose stone, which are widespread in the area, were blamed for the severe damage. The state legislature passed stronger building codes and improved administration, completely overhauling the state's catastrophe risk management strategies. Since then, more and more buildings are being built to withstand earthquakes. Approximately 400,000 homes were destroyed and between 13,805 and 20,023 people were killed during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, which lasted for more than 2 minutes. The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which kept records of member homes in some of the worst-affected areas following the Gujarat earthquake, was crucial in ensuring that relief supplies reached women fairly.

After the earthquake in Gujarat, SEWA realised that women urgently needed money, so in addition to coordinating and delivering emergency food, clothing, and water, it also gave craft kits to women artisans anxious to start working again despite being housed in tents. They kept up their efforts to create livelihoods that would be disaster-resistant.

Ecosystems and disasters

A further tenet of sustainable development, the environmental system, is strongly related to disaster reduction. Both the constructed and natural landscapes are impacted by disasters. Degradation of natural resources increases the frequency of slow-onset catastrophes like land degradation and drought as well as small- or medium-impact disasters like recurring floods or minor landslides. Ecosystems have been changed by human activities. Natural disaster recovery capacity has significantly decreased. A increasing amount of research shows that many of the internal and external conflicts that lead to many complex emergencies are caused by environmental deterioration and competition for natural resources (McNeely 2000). For instance, desertification intensified the violence in Darfur by forcing people to flee their homes and move to regions where they had to compete with one another for limited resources like land and water (Harvey 2007). Violent conflict and complex emergencies are facilitated by severe environmental stress when it is combined with underlying social or ethnic conflict, poverty, and poor governance (UN 2001, 2002).

Natural catastrophes can occur in both developed and developing nations, but developing nations are still more susceptible to these dangers and suffer bigger losses. When disasters strike, the effects on nations that suffer comparable patterns of natural hazards, such as floods and droughts, frequently vary greatly. The impact is significantly influenced by prior investments in the right infrastructure, urban design, and catastrophe risk management and reduction strategies (UNDP 2004).

The socially and economically disadvantaged continue to be the most vulnerable people in developing nations. The most vulnerable lands are frequently inhabited by the poorest, who depend on unstable livelihoods in regions vulnerable to drought, flooding, and other dangers. The huge developing slums located on low-lying areas, coastal mangrove flats, etc. are the only places where poor migrants from rural areas may survive in Mumbai. Every monsoon, a high sea surge that is spreading through the area floods them. However, there is no other place to reside because the cost of land in safer places is unreasonably exorbitant, ranking among the highest in the world. Additionally, they are more vulnerable to risks brought on by subpar building materials and informational limitations (Kumar-Range 2001).

Water sources frequently deteriorate as a result of natural disasters. Flooding causes the contaminated water from sewage and drainage systems to combine with sources of drinking water, contaminating the water. Waterborne illnesses like diarrhoea and cholera, which flourish in such circumstances, are particularly dangerous to children and expectant women. Women take more risks because of their responsibilities for maintaining the water supply in the home and household duties. In several parts of the developing world, men's out-migration has surged as a result of slow-onset disasters including land degradation and drought. Women in charge of households are referred to as "widows of the drought" in Brazil, for instance. Without having equal access to financial, technological, and social resources, women who are left behind assume the conventional duties and obligations of men, adding to their workloads (Lambrou and Laub, 2004). In some locations, such as Australia, where women go to metropolitan areas in search of greater money while their husbands stay on the farm, women's outmigration occurs in conjunction with drought (Alston, 2006). 25 million environmental refugees are said to have fled their homes due to resource rivalry or environmental degradation on a local level (Tickell, 2001).

People who have been uprooted frequently face protection and safety issues, with women particularly vulnerable to sexual and physical assault. The areas outside of camps where women get water and firewood might be dangerous. While displaced, women endure greater violence than they would under normal conditions. Natural risks become more severe as a result of environmental degradation, which is frequently what turns a danger into a tragedy. For instance, deforestation, which in turn causes erosion and clogs rivers, can exacerbate or even cause river and lake floods. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the recent increase in the frequency of floods and droughts has already had an impact on social and economic systems. As a result, effective disaster mitigation should improve environmental quality, which includes safeguarding open spaces and natural resources, controlling water runoff, and lowering pollution.

DRR and Sustainable development

The prevention of disasters has become a crucial requirement for sustainable development. At 2015, decreasing risk and vulnerability was one of the key goals of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which was endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. The greatest time to incorporate catastrophe reduction into sustainable development planning is during the reconstruction phase following a disaster. When adaptive and risk management methods are incorporated into sustainable development strategies, societies will become resilient. This means the need to safeguard livelihoods against risk and uncertainty caused by global environmental changes, based on trade-offs between various strategic development framework components.

Reference

An Interim Report of the Sub Committee on Disaster Reduction, July 2003,”Reducing Disaster Vulnerability through Science and Technology,” National Science and Technology Council, Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources, at http://www.sdr.gov/ SDR_Report_ReducingDisasterVulnerability2003.pdf.
Basic Terms of Disaster Risk Reduction at http://www.unisdr.org and http://www.undp.org.ir/ Prevention.htm
Benson, Charlotte, “The Cost of Disasters”, online at www.benfieldhrc.org/SiteRoot/ activities/misc_papers/DEVRISK/BENSON.HTM - 19k -
Bhatti, Amjad, 2003, “Disaster Risk Reduction through Livelihood Concerns and Disaster Policy in South Asia,” Pardeep Sahni, Madhavi Malagoda Ariyabandu (Eds), Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi.
Brooks, Nick, 2003, “Vulnerability, Risk and Adaptation: A Conceptual Framework,” Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Working Paper 38-Principal Vulnerable Elements.
Burton, I., R.W. Kates, and G.F. White, 1978, The Environment as Hazard, Oxford University Press, New York.
DFID, 2004, “Disaster Risk Reduction: a development concern,” at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/ pubs/files/disaster-risk-reduction.pdf
“Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Measures” at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/igci/downloads/ hazardsD.pdf.