Disasters and Humanitarian Response Flashcards
Key concepts in module:
- disasters
- Post disaster humanitarian response including
- the cluster approach
- post-disaster needs assessment
Hazard:
A natural or human-made phenomenon that can potentially harm individuals, communities, their assets and/or the environment/ecological services they depend on.
Exposure:
The individuals, communities, their assets and/or the environment/ecological services they depend on that are potentially exposed to hazards - co-occur spatially.
Vulnerability:
The attributes of individuals, communitites, their assets and/or the environment/ecological services they depend on that determine the degree to which they are impacted by a hazard.
Risk
The likelihood of an event occurring multiplied by the consequences of its impact.
Disaster:
A sudden, unexpected and calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.
A systems approach to disasters:
Society consists of a set of complex nested human-generated systems (from individuals to nations to global organisation), all confined within the complex nested natural systems of planet Earth.
A disaster occurs when part of the human system is impacted by part of the natural system (or in technological disasters, impacted by another part of the human system). This only occurs when the behaviour of the natural system is unexpected - i.e. extreme.
Over time human systems expand and become more interconnected.
Eventually the human system becomes sufficiently large and intense that a sufficiently extreme and unexpected natural event can damage it severely, this is a disaster.
There is no such thing as a “natural disaster”. Disasters occur because the dynamics of human systems give rise to exposures vulnerable to hazards - human agency is key.
Disaster types:
geophysical, hydrological, meteorological, climatological, biological, extra-terrestrial
Examples of geophysical natural hazards
- earthquake
- mass movement (dry)
- volcanic activity
Examples of hydrological natural hazards
- flood
- landslide
- wave action
Examples of meteorological natural hazards
- storm
- extreme temperature
- fog
Examples of climatological natural hazards
- drought
- glacial lake outburst
- wildfire
Examples of biological natural hazards
- animal accident
- epidemic
- insect infestation
Examples of extra-terrestrial natural hazards
- impact
- space weather
Percentage of occurences of disasters by disaster types
Flood 43% - 3000
Storm 28% - 2000
Earthquake 8% - 550
Number of people affected by weather related disasters
Flood 56% -2.3 billion
Drought 26% - 1.1 billion
Storm 16% - 660 billion
Number of people killed by disaster type
Storm 40% - 242,000
Extreme temperature 27% - 164,000
Flood 26% - 157,000
Greatest death tolls for storms occurs in
lower-middle income national income bracket with 89% of deaths but only 26% of disasters.
Breakdown of economic damage by disaster type:
Storm 38% - 1 trillion
Geophysical 29% - 763 billion
Flood 25% - 660 billion
What are clusters?
Clusters are groups of humanitarian organisations, both UN and non-UN, in each of the main sectors of humanitarian action. They are designated by the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee and have clear responsibilities for coordination.
**The aims of the cluster approach are to:
- strengthen system-wide preparedness and technical capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies
- provide clear leadership and accountability in the main areas of humanitarian response
- at a country level strengthen partnerships, and the predictability and accountability of international humanitarian action, by improving prioritisation and clearly defining roles and responsibilities of humanitarian organisations.
Cluster types and example companies
- Water, sanitation and hygience (UNICEF)
- Shelter (IFRC/ UNHCR)
- Protection (UNHCR)
- Nutrition (UNICEF)
- Logistics (WFP)
- Health (WHO)
- Food Security (WFP&FAO)
- Emergency Telecommunications (WFP)
- Education (UNICEF & Save the Children)
- Early Recovery (UNDP)
- Camp Coordination and Camp Management (IOM/UNHCR)
What is a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment? (PDNA)
An integrated framework for assessing disaster effects and impacts across all sectors of society.
What are the typical sectors addressed in a Post- Disaster Needs Assessment?
- Social
- Infrastructure
- Productive
- Macro-economy
- Human & Social development
- Finance
- Cross-cutting sectors/themes
The social sector of a PDNA includes:
housing education health culture nutrition
The infrastructure sector of a PDNA includes:
water & sanitation
community infrastructure
energy & electricity
transport & telecommunications
The productive sector of PDNA includes:
agriculture, livestock and fisheries
commerce & industry
commerce & trade tourism
The macro-economy sector of PDNA includes:
GDP
Balance of trade (import-export, revenue-expenditure)
The human & social development sector of PDNA includes:
MDGs
HDI
Poverty
The finance sector of PDNA includes:
Banks
Financial institutions
The cross-cutting sectors/themes of PDNA includes:
Governance Disaster Risk Reduction Environment Gender Employment & livelihoods
The PDNA includes:
- pre and post disaster data to evaluate the magnitude and scale of the disaster
- the evaluation of the disaster effects and disaster impacts in each sector to determine the overall recovery needs
- the prioritisation of these recovery needs by way of a Recovery Strategy
- A Recovery Strategy that defines clear objectives, appropriate interventions to meet priority recovery needs, the expected outputs and overall intended outcome, and finally, outlines the implementation arrangements.
A people-centered approach to post-disaster assessment and recovery focuses on:
- the human development impact of disasters
- the distinct needs and priority of those within the affected populations through stakeholder engagement.
- the participation of affected stakeholders in their own recovery process
- the recognition and support to the spontaneous recovery efforts of the affected population
- the consideration of social-cultural aspects of disaster recovery in addition to economic imperatives
- the measures to build resilient communities and societies
The assessment of disaster effect is determined through the assessment of four main elements:
- Damage to infrastructure and physical assets
- Disruption of access to goods and services
- Governance and decision making processes
- Increased risks and vulnerabilities
What are the six main categories of community infrastructure and physical assets
a. connective infrastructure
b. protective infrastructure
c. socio economic structures
d. water and sanitation lifelines
e. energy lifelines
f. communication lifelines
Weather related disasters include:
Hydrological, Meteorological and Climatological disasters
