Lecture 1 Flashcards
Hazard
A process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.
Exposure
The situation of the people, infrastructure, housing, production capacities and other tangible human assets located in hazard-prone areas.
Vulnerability
The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards.
Disaster Risk
The potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets which could occur to a system, society or a community in a specific period of time, determined probabilistically as a function of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity.
Disaster
A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.
= risk> capacity to cope
Disaster Risk Reduction
…aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development.
Resilience
The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb accommodate adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazards in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.
Risk
f(hazardexposurevulnerability)
consequence
=exposure*vulnerability
Trigger Events
Many classes and sub-classes of triggers e.g. natural vs man-made. Often more complex due to secondary hazards and human influences.
Magnitude and Intensity
A measure of size of the event, or the energy released (e.g. volume and/or velocity of water of a flood/landslide, or energy of a seismic event or explosion) and the potential to cause damage.
Frequency
Hazards are expressed as a probability of occurrence of an event of a certain intensity at a particular location within a specific time period (usually as an annual probability).
Spatial occurrence
Location and extent
Temporal scale
Speed of onset and duration
Geological Hazard Types
earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, rockslides, avalanches
Biological
epidemics, infestations, wildfires
Hydrological
floods, droughts, landslides
Atmospheric
cyclones, storm surges, tornados, hail, ice, snow, rain, temperature extremes
Transport accidents
Air, road, rail, sea
Hazardous materials
storage, transport, miss-use
Intentional
conflict, terrorism, sabotage
Industrial failures
explosions, fire, release of toxic materials
Unsafe public buildings and facilities
structural collapse, fire
Context Hazard types
Environmental degradation: deforestation, desertification, loss of natural resources
Land Pressure: urbanisation and concentration of hazards
Climate Change: sea level rise, changing frequency of extreme events
Direct Impacts
Human & Social: fatality, injury, loss of property, loss of income/livelihood
Physical: structural damage, non-structural damage/loss of contents
Economic: capital costs, interruption of business due to loss of workforce and economic infrastructure
Environmental & Cultural: Damage to ecological zones, sedimentation and pollution, damage to cultural heritage
Indirect Impacts
Human & Social: Disease, food scarcity, disability, displacement, unemployment, civil and political unrest
Physical: Deterioration of damaged buildings and infrastructure
Economic: Loss of markets and investments, insurance losses, disruption to, or downturn in, economic growth
Environmental & Cultural: environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, loss of cultural diversity
Environmental Capacities
Natural environmental resources (land, water, forests, minerals), natural barriers to hazards, biodiversity
Economic Capacities
Economic capital, secure livelihoods, financial reserves, diversified economy and agriculture
Physical Capacities
Robust and reliable public infrastructure, home, transport, sanitation, water supply, energy…
Social Capacities
Coping mechanisms, adaptive strategies, memory of past disasters, good governance, ethical standards, local leadership, local NGOs, accountability, well developed disaster plans and preparedness.
Environmental Vulnerabilities
Deforestation, pollution, erosion, loss of natural hazard defences (e.g. mangroves), climate change
Economic Vulnerabilities
Non-diversified economy, mono-crop agriculture, subsistence economies, indebtedness, relief/welfare dependency.
Physical Vulnerabilities
Unsafe buildings, infrastructure and critical facilities, rapid urbanisation.
Social Vulnerabilities
Occupation of unsafe areas, high-density occupation of sites/buildings, lack of mobility, job insecurity, lack of education, poverty, corruption, poor management and leadership, lack of planning and preparedness.
Resistance (or robustness)
inherent strength, protection, ability to resist stress
Redundancy
system capacity providing alternative options or substitutions to allow continued functioning when some elements fail
Reliability
ability to operate under a range of conditions, frequency with which hazard protection devices fail
Response and recovery
speed with which disruption is overcome and functionality/service restored
IFRC Resilience
The ability of individuals, communities, organisations, or countries exposed to disasters and crises and underlying vulnerabilities to: anticipate, reduce the impact of, cope with, and recover from the effects of adversity without compromising their long term prospects.
Main sources of global disaster data
The EM-DAT database
Reinsurance company data
The DesInventar system
Disaster Risk Index
Number of expected human impacts (fatalities per year), both absolute and relative to population.
R=HfrExpVuln
Hotspots Report
Relative mortality risk and economic loss.
R=HdegExpVuln
World Risk Index
Probable risk of a country being affected by a disaster. Focus on vulnerability causes.
R=PhysExp*Vuln
