Natural Hazards

(Disasters)

Dr. U N Roy
Professor and Head, Rural Development
NITTTR Chandigarh
Email: unroy2000@yahoo.com
Mobile No: 09417581530
 What Is Disaster?
The word disaster was derived from French word
disastre from 16th Century means bad or evil and star
mean bad luck in spiritual terms

Hindi: Aapada, Vipatti, Mahakal, Pralay, Mahapralay,

Disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of

society, causing widespread human, material or
environmental losses which exceed the ability of
affected society to cope its own resources.

• Coping Mechanism: Rich versus Poor

Socio-economic Costs of disaster are inestimable
Till 1970s the disasters used to be state subject and
hardly any international forum helping the country. So
it all depended on local coping capabilities.
 Definition

• An event, concentrated in time and space,

in which a community undergoes severe
damage such losses to its members and
physical appurtenances that the social
structure is disrupted and the fulfillment of
all or some of the essential functions of
the society is prevented. (UNDRO,1984)
 Not Easy to Define in Specific Terms

• Number of deaths, disruption of normal life or

serious injuries is unknown
• Considerable loss of human life, livelihood,
hardship, resources crunch, property damage and
adverse impact on health such as spread of
diseases or epidemics.

• Considerable damage to infrastructure, buildings,

roads, bridges and communication systems
• Considerable damage to the communities and
sudden demands of shelter, food, clothing, medical
assistance and social support.
 Natural Disasters are unpredictable

• Disasters by their nature are relative,

contingent and often indeterminate.

• Disasters usually involve high

magnitude, low probability events

• Cause unpredicted and unexpected

harm and are worthy of public
attention
Types of Natural Disasters (As per
speed)
1. Sudden Onset Disasters/Rapid onset
Disasters e.g.
– Earthquakes
– tsunamis
– Floods
– Tropical storms
– Volcanic Eruptions
– Landslides
– Avalanches/Snow fall
– Forest Fire
 Types of Disasters …

2. Slow Onset Disasters

– Drought
– Famine
– Land Degradation
– Climate Change
– Desertification
– Deforestation
– Pest Infestation
 Categorization

1 Geophysical Hazards
– Avalanche
– Earthquake
– Lahar
– Landslides and mudflows
– Sinkholes
– Volcanic eruption
 Categorization …

2. Hydrological
Hazards
– Flood
– Limnic eruption
– Whirlpool
– Maelstrom
– Seiche
– Tsunami
 Categorization …

3. Climatic and Atmospheric

Hazards
– Blizzard
– Drought
– Hailstorm
– Heat wave
– Cyclonic storms
– Ice age
– Ice storm
– Tornado
4 Wild Fire Hazard

5. Bio-spherical Hazards
– Epidemic
– Famine

6. Extraterrestrial Hazard
– Impact event
– Solar flare
 Avalanche

• An avalanche is a geophysical
hazard a slide of a large snow
(or rock) mass down a
mountainside, caused when a
buildup of snow is released
down a slope, it is one of the
major dangers faced in the
mountains in winter.
 Earthquake

• An earthquake is a phenomenon that results

from a sudden release of stored energy that
radiates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface,
earthquakes may manifest themselves by a
shaking or displacement of the ground and
sometimes tsunamis.

• 90% of all earthquakes - and 81% of the largest

- occur around the 40,000km long, which
roughly bounds the Pacific Plate. Many
earthquakes happen each day, few of which are
large enough to cause significant damage.
 Lahar

• A lahar is a type of natural disaster closely

related to a volcanic eruption, and involves
a large amount of material, including mud,
rock, and ash sliding down the side of the
volcano at a rapid pace. These flows can
destroy entire towns in seconds and kill
thousands of people.
 Landslide

• A landslide is a disaster closely related to an

avalanche, but instead of occurring with snow, it
occurs involving actual elements of the ground,
including rocks, trees, parts of houses, and
anything else which may happen to be swept up.

• Landslides can be caused by earthquakes, volcanic

eruptions, or general instability in the surrounding
land. Mudslides, or mud flows, are a special case of
landslides, in which heavy rainfall causes loose soil
on steep terrain to collapse and slide downwards.
 Sinkhole

• A sinkhole is localized depression in the

surface topography, usually caused by the
collapse of a subterranean structure, such
as a cave. Although rare, large sinkholes
that develop suddenly in populated areas
can lead to the collapse of buildings and
other structures.
 Volcanic Eruption

• A volcanic eruption is the point in which a volcano

is active and releases its power, and the eruptions
come in many forms.

• They range from daily small eruptions which occur

in places like Kilauea in Hawaii, or extremely
infrequent super volcano eruptions (where the
volcano expels at least 1,000 cubic kilometers of
material) in places like Lake Taupo, 26,500 years
ago, or Yellowstone Caldera, which has the
potential to become a super volcano in the near
geological future.
 Lake Taupo
• Lake Taupo is a lake situated in the North Island of
New Zealand. It has a perimeter of approximately
193 kilometres, a deepest point of 186 metres and
a surface area of 616 square kilometres. The
largest lake by surface area in the country.
 Floods

• Floods are the result of prolonged rainfall from a

storm, including thunderstorms, rapid melting of
large amounts of snow, or rivers which swell from
excess precipitation upstream and cause
widespread damage to areas downstream, or less
frequently the bursting of man-made dams or
levees. Tropical cyclones can result in extensive
flooding and storm surge.
 Drought

• A drought is an abnormally dry period when

there is not enough water to support
agricultural, urban or environmental water
needs.
• Extended droughts can result in deaths by
starvation or disease, and can result in
wildfires. Scientists warn that global
warming may result in more extensive
droughts in coming years.
 Cyclonic Storm
• Hurricane, tropical cyclone, and typhoon are
different names for the same phenomenon: a
cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans.
It is caused by evaporated water that comes off of
the ocean and becomes a storm.

• The Coriolis Effect causes the storms to spin, and a

hurricane is declared when this spinning mass of
storms attains a wind speed greater than 74 mph
(119 km/h). Hurricane is used for these phenomena
in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans, tropical
cyclone in the Indian, typhoon in the western
Pacific.
Hurricane Katrina 2005 (23-31August): 280 kmh

Category of Speed of Wind

Hurricane

Category 1 119–153 km/h

74–95 mph

Category 2 154–177 km/h

96–110 mph

Category 3 178–208 km/h

111–129 mph

Category 4 209–251 km/h

130–156 mph

Category 5 ≥ 252 km/h

≥ 157 mph
 Wildfire
• A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire burning in wildland
areas. Common causes include lightning and
drought but wildfires may also be started by human
negligence or arson. They can be a threat to those
in rural areas and also wildlife.
 Biospherical Hazards

• An epidemic is an outbreak of a
contractible disease that spreads at a
rapid rate through a human population. A
pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is
global. There have been many epidemics
throughout history, such as Black Death.

• Cholera, anthrax, and plague were

estimated to have killed around 400,000
Chinese civilians.
 Black Death
• The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of
the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely
thought to have been caused by a bacterium named
Yersinia pestis (Plague), but recently attributed by
some to other diseases.

• The pandemic is thought to have begun in Central

Asia, and spread to Europe during the 1340s. The
total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at
75 million people, approximately 25–50 million of
which occurred in Europe.

• The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to

60% of Europe's population. It may have reduced
the world's population from an estimated
450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400.
 Epidemics: Pandemic
Deaths in Million

Swine Flu (Worldwide 2009-10)

HIV(worldwide 1981-present)
Hong Kong Flu(Worldwide 1968-69)
Small Pox (Worldwide 1877-1977)
Asian Flu (Worldwide 1957-58)
Spanish Flu (Worldwide 1918-20)
Encephalitis lethargica (World wide 1915-26)
Cholera ( Europe, Asia & Africa 1899-1923)
Influenza (Worldwide 1889-90)
Bubonic Plague ( Worldwide 1855-60)
Cholera (Russia 1852-60)
Persian Plague (Persia 1772)
Plague (France 1720-22)
Smallpox( Iceland 1707-09)
Cocoliztli (Mexico 1545-48)
Smallpox (Mexico 1520)
Plague(London 1665-66)
Black Death Plague (Europe, Asia & North…
Smaill Pox (Japan 735-737)

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Dr U N Roy NITTTR Chandigarh

Natural Hazards are Inevitable but Nature
Preserves the Life

Thanks