PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M.

Patil

NATURAL DISASTERS
Definitions
1. Hazard: A situation that poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or environment. Hazards may be natural or man-made. 2. Disaster: The WHO defines disaster as "any occurrence that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scale sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area. The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes
from an astrological theme in which the ancients used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction of a star as a disaster.

3. Natural Disaster: A disaster caused by a natural hazard (e.g. flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake or landslide) which leads to financial, environmental or human losses. 4. Vulnerability: The susceptibility of the affected population to a hazard. 5. Resilience: The ability of the affected population to resist a hazard.

Concept
A natural hazard will not result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability. e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability." The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasters without human involvement.

Impact of Natural Disasters

Natural disasters have impacted people since humans first walked on the earth. They have influenced, shaped and modified human behaviour, changing the way people live with and respond to the environment. Trillions of dollars have been spent across the world in trying to mitigate or prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters. Moreover, natural disasters have resulted in enormous intangible losses, causing grief through the loss of life and personal possessions. Natural hazards have the potential to cause a number of primary and secondary phenomena. The secondary phenomena produced by a natural hazard vary with event, as does their severity. Tropical cyclones bring strong winds and heavy rains which cause secondary hazards such as flood, storm tide, landslide and water pollution. Flood inundates areas, which in turn may lead to landslide, erosion, water quality deterioration or turbidity, as well as sediment deposition. Secondary effects of bushfires include water pollution, erosion and reduced water catchment yield. A landslide may block a watercourse, leading to flooding and debris flows upstream. Earthquakes may also bring fire, flood, water pollution, landslide, tsunami and soil 1

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

liquefaction, which can be as devastating as the primary hazard. Each of these phenomena may produce physical, social and economic effects. a) Physical effects on the built infrastructure may involve structural and non-structural damage and/or progressive infrastructure deterioration. They may also result in the release of hazardous materials such as chemicals which are usually stored in a safe environment. b) Social effects may include fatalities, injuries, homelessness or loss of income; or secondary effects such as psychological impact, disease or loss of social cohesion. c) Economic effects may include business disruption; disruption to the supply of power, water and telecommunications; and the cost of response and relief operations. Secondary economic impacts, such as insurance losses and rising premiums, loss of investor confidence, and costs of providing welfare and medical assistance may also occur. The impact of natural disasters is widely recognized and reported. It is estimated that, on average, natural disasters claim 1,000 lives and cause damage exceeding one billion dollars each week. And while early warning systems and other preventative measures appear to have had a positive impact on prevention of loss of life from nearly 2 million dead during the 1970s to fewer than 800,000 during the past decade those injured and left homeless and hungry have tripled. Moreover, direct economic losses have multiplied by a factor of five during this time. The Asia Pacific region, home to 53% of the worlds population and 20% of its land area, experiences a disproportionate share of loss of life and impact to socio-economic processes. According to a recent United Nations report, nearly 70% of all lives lost due to natural disasters occurred within the Asia Pacific region. The UN declaration of 1990-2000 as International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction highlighted the miseries caused by natural disasters and the need for action. Indias Disaster Ridden History India is ranked 11th among 15 countries facing "extreme risk" from natural disasters in a 'Natural Disasters Risk Index', which is topped by Bangladesh. India is subject to a wide variance of events and has lost 141,961 of its population to major natural disasters since 1980, including 50,000 to earthquakes, 40,000 to floods, 15,000 to epidemics and 23,000 to storms. About 60% of Indias land mass is prone to earthquakes Over 40 million Hectares are prone to floods Nearly 3 lakh sq. km are at risk of cyclones Between 1990 and 2000, an average of about 3400 people lost their lives annually. About 3 crore people are affected by disasters every year. Almost 20,000 people died in the Latur earthquake of 1993. The cyclone in Orissa took away 10,000 lives in 1999. . The earthquake in Bhuj killed 14,000 people in 2001. About 17,000 people perished in the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004.

Types of Natural Disasters

2

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

Natural disasters can be roughly classified into the following types based on their origin: 1. Geological disasters a) Earthquake: An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event whether natural or caused by humans that generates seismic waves. The seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. Earthquakes are caused mostly by the discharge of energy accumulated along geologic faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The epicenter is the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter. Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapses, fires, tsunamis and volcanoes that actually cause the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning and evacuation planning. b) Volcanic Eruption: A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash and gases to escape from below the surface. Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. A mid-oceanic ridge, for example the MidAtlantic Ridge, has examples of volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates pulling apart; the Pacific Ring of Fire has examples of volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together. Volcanoes can cause widespread destruction and consequent disaster through several ways. The effects include the volcanic eruption itself that may cause harm following the explosion of the volcano or the fall of rock. Secondly, lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano. As it leaves the volcano, the lava destroys anything it encounters. Third, volcanic ash generally meaning the cooled ash, may form a cloud, and settle thickly in nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete-like material. In sufficient quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but even in small quantities will harm humans if inhaled. Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass it causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines. The main killer of humans in the immediate surroundings of a volcanic eruption is the pyroclastic flows, which consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air above the volcano and rushes down the slopes when the eruption no longer supports the lifting of the gases. c) Avalanche: An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the descending snow. Powerful avalanches have the capability to entrain 3

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

ice, rocks, trees, and other material on the slope. In contrast to other natural events which can cause disasters, avalanches are not rare or random events and are endemic to any mountain range that accumulates a standing snow pack. In mountainous terrain, avalanches are among the most serious hazards to life and property, with their destructive capability resulting from their potential to carry an enormous mass of snow rapidly over large distances. d) Landslide: A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Although the action of gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original slope stability. Natural causes of landslides include groundwater pressure acting to destabilize the slope; loss or absence of vertical vegetative structure, soil nutrients, and soil structure; erosion of the toe of a slope by rivers or ocean waves; weakening of a slope through saturation by snowmelt, glaciers melting, or heavy rains; earthquakes adding loads to barely stable slope; earthquake-caused liquefaction destabilizing slopes; and volcanic eruptions. Landslides are aggravated by human activities like deforestation, cultivation and construction, which destabilize the already fragile slopes. 2. Hydrological disasters a) Flood: A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. Flooding may result from the increase in the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries. Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, since time immemorial, people have lived and worked by the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic flooding. b) Tsunami: A tsunami, also called a tsunami wave train, is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, usually an ocean, though it can occur in large lakes. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, sciorrucks (underwater landslides), glacier calvings, meteorite ocean impacts or similar impact events, and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Owing to the immense volumes of water and the high energy involved, tsunamis can devastate coastal regions. Tsunamis cause damage by two mechanisms: the smashing force of a wall of water travelling at high speed, and the destructive power of a large volume of 4

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

water draining off the land and carrying all with it. A large tsunami may feature multiple waves arriving over a period of hours, with significant time between the wave crests. c) Limnic eruption: A limnic eruption, also referred to as a lake overturn, is a rare type of natural disaster in which carbon dioxide gas suddenly erupts from deep lake water, suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising CO 2 displaces water. Scientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption. Lakes in which such activity occurs may be known as limnically active lakes or exploding lakes. To date, this phenomenon has been observed only twice. The first was in Cameroon at Lake Monoun in 1984. A second, deadlier eruption happened at neighbouring Lake Nyos in 1986, this time releasing over 80 million cubic meters of CO2 and killing between 1,700 and 1,800 people, again by asphyxiation. 3. Meteorological disasters a) Heat wave: A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity. The definition recommended by the World Meteorological Organization is when the daily maximum temperature of more than five consecutive days exceeds the average maximum temperature by 5o Celsius. Severe heat waves have caused catastrophic crop failures, thousands of deaths from hyperthermia, and widespread power outages due to increased use of air conditioning. Hyperthermia, also known as heat stroke, becomes commonplace during periods of sustained high temperature and humidity. Sweating is absent from 84%100% of those affected. Older adults, very young children, and those who are sick or overweight are at a higher risk for heat-related illness. Heat edema, heat rash, heat cramps, heat syncope are common symptoms. If a heat wave occurs during a drought, which dries out vegetation, it can contribute to bushfires and wildfires. b) Cold wave: A cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a 24 hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture, industry, commerce, and social activities. The precise criterion for a cold wave is determined by the rate at which the temperature falls, and the minimum to which it falls. A cold wave can cause death and injury to livestock and wildlife. Exposure to cold mandates greater caloric intake for all animals, including humans, and if a cold wave is accompanied by heavy and persistent snow, grazing animals may be unable to reach needed food and die of hypothermia or starvation. Cold waves that bring unexpected freezes and frosts during the growing season in midlatitude zones can kill plants during the early and most vulnerable stages of growth, resulting in crop failure as plants are killed before they can be harvested economically. Such cold waves have caused famines. c) Drought: A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and harm the local economy. This global phenomenon has 5

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

a widespread impact on agriculture. Lengthy periods of drought have long been a key trigger for mass migration and played a key role in a number of ongoing migrations and other humanitarian crises in many parts of the world. Human activity such as over farming, excessive irrigation, deforestation, and soil erosion adversely impact the ability of the land to capture and hold water. While these tend to be relatively isolated in their scope, activities resulting in global climate change are expected to trigger droughts with a substantial impact on agriculture throughout the world, and especially in developing nations. d) Tornado: A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 480 km/h, stretch more than 3 km across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km). The vast majority of tornadoes in the world occur in the Tornado Alley region of the United States, although they can occur nearly anywhere in North America. Waterspouts have similar characteristics as tornadoes, characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current that form over bodies of water, connecting to large cumulonimbus clouds. e) Blizzard: A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of 56 km/h with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or less and must last for a prolonged period of time typically three hours or more. Blizzards can bring near-whiteout conditions, and can paralyze regions for days at a time, particularly where snowfall is unusual or rare. f) Cyclonic storm: A cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiralling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale cyclonic circulations are centered on areas of low atmospheric pressure. A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapour contained in the moist air. Depending on its location
and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.

g) Thunderstorm: A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the thunderstorm is the cumulonimbus. Thunderstorms are usually accompanied by strong winds, heavy rain and sometimes snow, sleet, hail, or no precipitation at all. Thunderstorms may line up in a series or known as a squall line. Strong or severe thunderstorms may 6

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

rotate, known as supercells. Each year, many people are killed or seriously injured by severe thunderstorms despite the advance warning. While severe thunderstorms are most common in the spring and summer, they can occur at just about any time of the year. Some of the major hazards associated with severe thunderstorms are: Cloud-to-ground lightning: It frequently occurs within the phenomena of thunderstorms and has numerous hazards towards landscapes and populations. One of the more significant hazards lightning can pose is the wildfires they are capable of igniting. Under a regime of low precipitation (LP) thunderstorms, where little precipitation is present, rainfall cannot prevent fires from starting when vegetation is dry as lightning produces a concentrated amount of extreme heat. Direct damage caused by lightning strikes occurs on occasion. Hailstorm: Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Any thunderstorm that produces hail that reaches the ground is known as a hailstorm. Thunderclouds that are capable of producing hailstones are often seen obtaining green coloration. Hail is more common along mountain ranges because mountains force horizontal winds upwards, thereby intensifying the updrafts within thunderstorms and making hail more likely. Hail stones larger than 20 mm in diameter can cause serious damage to man-made structures and, most commonly, farmers' crops. Hail can cause serious damage, notably to automobiles, aircraft, skylights, glass-roofed structures and livestock. Hail damage to roofs often goes unnoticed until further structural damage is seen, such as leaks or cracks. Acid rain: Precipitation with low pH, otherwise known as acid rain, is also a frequent risk produced by lightning. Nitric oxide present during thunderstorm phenomena, caused by the splitting of nitrogen molecules, can result in the production of acid rain, if nitric oxide forms compounds with the water molecules in precipitation, thus creating acid rain. Acid rain can damage infrastructures containing calcite or other solid chemical compounds containing carbon. In ecosystems, acid rain can dissolve plant tissues of vegetations and increase acidification process in bodies of water and in soil, resulting in deaths of marine and terrestrial organisms. Flash floods: Flash flooding is the process where a landscape, most notably an urban environment, is subjected to rapid floods. These rapid floods occur more quickly and are more localized than seasonal river flooding and are frequently associated with intense rainfall. Flash flooding can frequently occur in slow-moving thunderstorms and is usually caused by the heavy liquid precipitation that accompanies it. Flash floods are most common in densely populated urban environments, where few plants and bodies of water are presented to absorb and contain the extra water. Flash flooding can be hazardous to small infrastructure, such as bridges, and weakly constructed buildings. Plants and crops in agricultural areas can be destroyed and devastated by the force of raging water. Soil erosion can occur as well, exposing risks of landslide phenomena. 7

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

Downburst: Downburst winds can produce numerous hazards to landscapes experiencing thunderstorms. Downburst winds are generally very powerful, and are often mistaken for wind speeds produced by tornadoes due to the concentrated amount of force exerted by their straight-horizontal characteristic. Downburst winds can be hazardous to unstable, incomplete, or weakly constructed infrastructures and buildings. Agricultural crops and other plants in nearby environments can be uprooted and damaged. 4. Wildfire: A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned. A wildfire differs from other fires by its extensive size, the speed at which it can spread out from its original source, its potential to change direction unexpectedly, and its ability to jump gaps such as roads, rivers and fire breaks. Wildfires can cause extensive damage, both to property and human life, but they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction, although large wildfires may also have negative ecological effects. The four major natural causes of wildfire ignitions are lightning, volcanic eruption, sparks from rockfalls, and spontaneous combustion. However, many wildfires are attributed to human sources such as arson, discarded cigarettes, sparks from equipment, and power line arcs. Wildfires can affect climate and weather and have major impacts on atmospheric pollution 5. Health disasters a) Epidemics: 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 the Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include: The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million people The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu pandemic The 2002-3 SARS pandemic The AIDS pandemic, beginning in 1959 The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009-2010 b) Famines: A famine is a widespread scarcity of food. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemics, and increased mortality. Food shortages in a population are caused either by a lack of food or by difficulties in food distribution; it may be worsened by natural climate fluctuations and by extreme political conditions related to oppressive government or warfare. The demographic impacts of famine are sharp. Mortality is concentrated among children and the elderly. Famine is also accompanied by lower fertility. 8

PGS 506 Assignment Dr. Vivek M. Patil

6. Space disasters a) Impact event: An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant localised consequences. b) Solar flare: A solar flare is a sudden brightening observed over the Sun surface or the solar limb. The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day or two after the event. Solar flares strongly influence the local space weather in the vicinity of the Earth. They can produce streams of highly energetic particles in the solar wind, known as a solar proton event or coronal mass ejection. These particles can impact the Earth's magnetosphere and present radiation hazards to spacecraft and astronauts. X-rays and UV radiation emitted by solar flares can affect Earth's ionosphere and disrupt long-range radio communications. c) Gamma ray burst: Gamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical burst lasts 2040 seconds. All the bursts astronomers have recorded so far have come from distant galaxies and have been harmless to Earth, but if one occurred within our galaxy and were aimed straight at us, the effects could be devastating.