Disaster Management Module 1 PDF

MCN301 DISASTER MANAGEMENT Module 1 1 Module 1  Systems of earth:  Lithosphere - composition, rocks, soils; Atmosphere-layers, ozone layer, greenhouse effect, weather, cyclones, atmospheric circulations, Indian Monsoon; hydrosphere- Oc...

MCN301 DISASTER MANAGEMENT Module 1 1 Module 1  Systems of earth:  Lithosphere - composition, rocks, soils; Atmosphere-layers, ozone layer, greenhouse effect, weather, cyclones, atmospheric circulations, Indian Monsoon; hydrosphere- Oceans, inland water bodies; biosphere  Definition and meaning of key terms in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management- disaster, hazard, exposure, vulnerability, risk, risk assessment, risk mapping, capacity, resilience, disaster risk reduction, disaster risk management, early warning systems, disaster preparedness, disaster prevention, disaster mitigation, disaster response, damage assessment, crisis counselling, needs assessment. 2 What is Disaster Management?  Disaster management refers to the conservation of lives and property during natural or human- made disasters.  Disaster management plans are multi-layered and are planned to address issues such as floods, hurricanes, fires, mass failure of utilities, rapid spread of disease and droughts.  Disaster management can be of either natural disasters or man-made disasters. 3  System of earth  Planet earth is a system with interconnected parts  Air , water, land and life are all connected  System earth is a collection of 4 interdependent parts called as sphere.  Biosphere  Hydrosphere  Atmosphere  lithosphere 4  Lithosphere  Lithosphere is the outer layer (oceanic and continental) of earth that includes the crust and solid part of the mantle.  The lithosphere contains minerals, rocks and soil.  It has more than 100 chemical elements and most of them are rare.  More than 99 percentage of the volume includes elements like oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium. 5  Lithosphere  Earth has four concentric zones.  The innermost zone is the ’Inner core. This zone is a solid mass of iron which has a radius of about 1,216 km, covering the inner core is the outer core.  This is a layer of molten liquid containing nickel and iron. It is about 2,270 km thick.  The outer core is covered by solid ’Mantle’, which is about 2,900 km thick.  The outermost hardened exterior zone is known as Crust. The crust varies in thickness from about 5 km. The crust and the mantle which is hard and brittle is lithosphere 6  Rocks  Lithosphere has various types of rocks  Rocks are naturally occurring hard and consolidated inorganic materials, composed of one or a large number of minerals.  Certain other materials, like coal and limestone are developed from plant and animal remains.  There are various types of rocks. They are: Igneous Rocks Sedimentary Rocks Metamorphic Rocks 7 Igneous Rocks  These rocks are formed by solidification of magma in the interior, or lava on the surface of earth.  Igneous rocks are composed of primary minerals, which are predominantly silicates.  Igneous rocks sometimes overlap with sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. 8 Sedimentary Rocks  Sedimentary rocks are formed by the precipitation from solutions, and consolidation of remnants of biotic components like plants and animals.  These rocks contain both original primary minerals (Quartz, Mica) and altered as well as newly synthesised secondary minerals (Clay, calcite, gypsum). 9 Metamorphic Rocks  Also known as Thermal rocks they are formed from  pre-existing rocks (igneous or sedimentary) due to change in the temperature and pressure in solid state is known as metamorphic rocks.  These rocks are formed when magma intrudes through pre-existing igneous or sedimentary rocks.  All types of pre-existing rocks could undergo metamorphism.  Further, igneous and metamorphic rocks get weathered and form sediments. These sediments get deposited and lithified into sedimentary rocks. 10  Soil  Soil is the surface layer of the land  It is a natural body that contains a variable mixture of broken and weathered materials and decaying organic matter, which covers the earth in a thin layer.  It takes long period of time for the soil to form through the natural process.  The formation takes place from the weathering and decomposition of rocks and minerals.  Soil is a dynamic layer of earth’s crust which is constantly changing and developing. The upper limit of soil is air or water and its lateral margins grade to deep water or barren areas of rock or even ice. 11  Soil accomplishes various functions, which include the following:  1. It provides mechanical support to the plant  It has the ability of holding water as it has the property of porosity. This ability makes soil a reservoir of water  3. Soil provides micro and macro nutrients, as well as ideal pH required for the growth of the micro-organisms, plants and animals.  4. Soil prevents excessive leaching of nutrients.  5. Soil houses bacteria that fix nitrogen and other elements; fungi, protozoa and other micro-organisms. These organisms aids in the decomposition of organic matter 12 13  Troposphere  The bottom dense part, containing 70 percent of the mass, close to the ground is troposphere.  It reaches up to 11 km from the ground. Clouds, storms, fog and haze are found only in troposphere.  The temperature in this layer decreases at about -6.4°C/km with height.  This decrease of temperature with altitude is called lapse rate.  The boarder of troposphere is called Tropopause. Tropopause acts like a lid over troposphere.  Temperature stops decreasing with height from tropopause 14  Stratosphere  This is a clear layer above troposphere that extends to a height of about 50 km from earth’s surface.  This layer does not have clouds, storms or dust. Clouds are not formed since water vapour is absent.  Ozonosphere is an important layer found within stratosphere. Ozone (O3) is found in this layer.  Ozone absorbs and prevents the harmful ultraviolet radiations from reaching earth, thereby protecting life.  The maximum concentration of ozone occurs at 22 km from the ground level.  Above the stratosphere, there is a small layer called stratopause where temperature neither increases nor decreases with height. 15  Mesosphere  The portion of the atmosphere above stratosphere, between 50 km and 80 km is known as mesosphere.  It starts from the edge of Stratopause.  Though the temperature in mesosphere near stratosphere is higher by about 10°, it falls to -75°C at 80 km.  The density of air at this height is about 1/1000 as that of sea level.  Mesosphere plays a crucial role in radio communication as ionisation occurs here. 16  Thermosphere  Thermosphere extends from 80 km to about 60,000 km from earth. Here the temperature increases to about 2000°C.  The property of thermosphere is radically different from the others. Ions are abundant in thermosphere.  In thermosphere that most of the approaching meteoroids burn up before reaching earth. 17  Ozone Layer  Ozonosphere is an important layer found within stratosphere. Ozone (O3) is found in this layer. Ozone absorbs and prevents the harmful ultraviolet radiations from reaching earth, thereby protecting life. Without Ozone layer, life would not have been possible on earth. The maximum concentration of ozone occurs at 22 km from the ground level.  ozone depletion  Due to human activities ozone layer is becoming thin. The thinning of this layer is called ozone depletion.  Ozone oxygen cycle The ozone layer is located in the lower part of the stratosphere between 15 km and 35 km. Concentration of ozone is the maximum at about 25-30 km. The level of ozone is maintained at this level by Ozone-Oxygen Cycle. When ultra-violet radiation that spread out from the sun strikes the oxygen molecule (O2), it splits the molecule into two individual oxygen atoms 18 (O+0).  Depletion by  CFCS and BFCS are stable compounds in the atmosphere that have the property of living longer (50 to 100 years). Due to their long life, they rise up to the stratosphere.  Through the action of UV radiation from the Sun on these compounds, Chlorine (Cl) and Bromine (Br) radicals are released. These radicals act as catalysts, and initiate breaking down of ozone molecules.  One molecule of nitric oxide (NO) combines with ozone (O3); it gets oxidised to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Oxygen (O2).  This NO2 combines with another O3 molecule to become NO3 (Nitrate) and O2. The NO2 and NO3 then combine to form N2O5 (Dinitrogen pentoxide). Even the atomic oxygen  (O) readily combines with NO2 to yield NO3.  Large quantities of nitrogen are emitted by aircrafts that community decided to withdraw the operation of jet aircrafts that emit oxides of nitrogen. 19 Green House Effect 20  Global warming is the long-term warming of the planet's overall temperature.  Global warming is the long-term warming of the planet's overall temperature. Though this warming trend has been going on for a long time, its pace has significantly increased in the last hundred years due to the burning of fossil fuels. As the human population has increased, so has the volume of fossil fuels  The gases responsible for the greenhouse effect include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and CFC  Due to the effect of Green house gases, Earth is prevented from cooling down drastically. GHGS thus act like a blanket and provide earth with an ideal climate for life to flourish. This known as Green house effect.  The intensity of Green house effect varies from place to place depending upon the concentration of GHGS. 21  Weather  When radiation from insolation strikes earth, its top layer gets heated.  The heat energy so created through the interplay of insolation and outgoing radiation is transferred to the overlying atmosphere through activities like conduction and convection.  Due to this, as well as the movement of earth, air moves in all directions-both horizontally and vertically. This movement of air is the basis of weather.  Weather is the atmospheric conditions that exist for a short duration which can span over few hours to a number of days. Weather conditions can fluctuate very often.  The average weather or atmospheric conditions over a fairly long period of time like months, years or even decades; in a particular area is called climate.  Before discussing in detail about climate, certain other phrases, like temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc. should be understood. 22  Cyclones  The atmospheric pressure in a given area has an important role to play with respect to the formation of a cyclone. When a flow of air moves along curved isobars which is a net centripetal acceleration pulls it toward the centre of a curvature, making the air to rotate. Such wind (called gradient wind) is called cyclone  If the movement of the gradient wind is in the anticlockwise direction in the northern hemisphere. it is called cyclone and anticyclone in southern hemisphere.  In the southern hemisphere, the clockwise motion of gradient wind is called cyclone and anticyclone in northern hemisphere.  During a cyclone, the surface air moves towards the centre having low pressure and hence converges. The converged air has the property of ascending in the centre within the low pressure area.  The reverse happens in a high pressure area. Air tends to sink in the 23 centre of a high pressure area during anticyclones 24  Typhoons – termed used when it formed in the pacific ocean  Hurricanes- termed used when it formed in the Atlantic ocean  Tropical cyclone-termed used when it formed in the southern ocean and Indian ocean  Willie-willie-Australia  Tornado-south America 25 Polar cyclones Occur in polar regions (Greenland, antartica) Usually stronger in winter months Mesocyclone In a mesocyclone, air rises and rotates around a vertical axis, usually in the same direction as low pressure systems. a rapidly rotating air mass within a thunderstorm that often gives rise to a tornado 26 27 28 29  Atmospheric circulation  When Earth rotates on its axis, the rotation causes the deflection in the wind flow due to Coriolis force.  Coriolis force is a force which is produced due to the rotation of the earth.  In addition to this, a low pressure belt is formed over the tropical regions, since the equatorial region is heated throughout the year. This belt is called the Inter-Tropical Convergent Zone (ITCZ). This zone is also known as doldrums.  This is not a conspicuous belt, but a discontinuous one that fluctuates in its position and intensity.  Even with disruptions like weather fronts and storms, there is a consistent pattern to how air moves around our planet’s atmosphere. This pattern, called atmospheric circulation. 30  The Indian Monsoon  Monsoon is a regional wind that blows towards land at a certain season and blow from the landmasses during other season. These wind blows in the opposite direction in summer and winter.  Though monsoon winds blow over all parts of the world, it is well- developed over India and the South-east Asian regions. The Indian subcontinent has two types of winds.  1.South-West Monsoon  2.North-East Monsoon 31  South-West Monsoon  The south-east trade winds originate from the southern hemisphere in the Indian Ocean. When these winds cross the equator, they get deflected towards the right by the Coriolis force, becoming the south-west trade winds. These winds gather large quantities of moisture as they pass over the Indian Ocean.  As the SW monsoon winds approaches the Indian Peninsula, they are diverted into two-the Arabian Sea Branch and the Bay of Bengal Branch.  When the moisture laden Arabian Sea branch reaches the south- western side of India, they are blocked by the Western Ghats. 32  North-East Monsoon  The Inter-Tropical Convergent Zone (ITCZ) moves to the south of the equator, when the position of the sun shifts to the southern hemisphere. This leads to the reversal of winds, and the winds start blowing from the north-eastern direction towards the ITCZ. These winds are known as the north-east monsoon winds or the north-east trade winds.  Since North-East winds originate mainly from the land masses of the north-east region of India, they are relatively dry.  When these winds pass over the Bay Bengal towards south, they gather moisture and cause rainfalls over parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.  Cyclone formation is common over Bay of Bengal during the north- east monsoon season. The cyclones also bring in abundant rainfall over Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Tamil Nadu. 33 Hydrosphere 34  Hydrosphere forms over 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. In terms of area, it comes to 3,62,000 km2. Water is found in the oceans as well as on land. Life is made possible on earth due to the availability of water.  The hydrosphere has a direct influence on weather and climate conditions on Earth. This occurs due to the important role played by the worldwide oceanic circulations.  The average depth of oceans is around 3.7 km. The floor of the oceans has mountain ranges and valleys, isolated volcanic peaks, and vast plains. Many of these mountain ranges and valleys exceed in size of their counterparts on land.  As on date , less than 10 per cent of the ocean floor has been surveyed. 35  Oceans (Water in Oceans)  Water in oceans is saline in nature. This salinity occurs due to the dissolved materials (mainly salts) contained in it. The mean salinity of sea water is around 34.7 g/kg. The lowest value being 33 and highest being 36 g/kg.  Though sea water contains a mixture of several dissociated salts, NaCl is the most important one. Additional salts are always added to the oceans through various processes.  However,seawater salinity is stable due to various mechanisms that remove salt from the oceans. Salt is spreaded to the atmosphere when wind blows sprays of sea water.  The salt particles in the atmosphere enable water molecules to stick to it, and this falls on the land with rain and snow. 36  Water on Land  Fresh water constitutes the basis for life on land. On land, water is found in all the three states.  In liquid form. the water is found in lakes, rivers and streams and also as ground water and soil moisture.  The water found in these sources is fresh in nature.  In solid form water is found as glacial ice, ice caps and ground ice.  The fresh water in earth is perpetually being interchanged between the surface of the earth and atmosphere by a process of evaporation and precipitation. This interchange is known as water cycle or hydrological cycle. 37  Biosphere  The totality of life on earth and its interdependency on abiotic environmental factors.  Biosphere consists of the complex interdependency between biotic and abiotic environmental components.  Basically, biosphere is a thin envelop that encircles most of the earth, and supports life. It is the global sphere in which the biota interacts with lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere.  It is totally dependent on, and involves complex interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.  Biosphere is the spherical terrestrial layer that comprises of the lower part of the atmosphere. the seas and the upper layers of the soil wherein living organisms exist naturally.  All forms or life including human beings dwell in biosphere. The health of the biosphere is determined by the availability of oxygen, moisture, temperature, air pressure and soil. 38 Terrestrial ecosystem  The terrestrial ecosystem consists of plants, animals, microorganisms their dependencies and interdependencies with the non-living items around it on the land. A terrestrial ecosystem is made up of either natural ecosystem or artificial/man-made ecosystem. Aquatic ecosystem  Aquatic ecosystem consists of marine and fresh water ecosystem. While seas and oceans form the marine ecosystem; the rivers, pond, lakes, and wetlands form fresh water ecosystem. Aquatic ecosystems provide human beings with a wide range of services.  Some of the services include the availability of water for day to day uses, foods like fish and crustaceans, breaking down: of chemical and organic wastes, recreation, etc. 39 40 Definition and Key terms in DM 41 Exposure:  Exposure refers to people, property, systems, or other elements present in hazard zones that are thereby subject to potential losses. Vulnerability: Vulnerability refers to the characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard.  There are many aspects of vulnerability, arising from various physical, social, economic, and environmental factors. Examples may include poor design and construction of buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information and awareness, limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures. Risk:  There are many aspects of vulnerability, arising from various physical, social, economic, and environmental factors. Examples may include poor design and construction of buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information and awareness, limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures. 42 Risk Assessment:  A risk assessment is a process to identify potential analyze what could happen if a hazard occurs.  Disaster risk assessments include: the identification of hazards; a review of the technical characteristics of hazards such as their location, intensity, frequency and probability; the analysis of exposure and vulnerability, including the physical, social, health, environmental and economic dimensions; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of prevailing and alternative coping capacities with respect to likely risk scenarios. 43 Risk Mapping:  Risk mapping is a process of analyzing the hazard, vulnerability and capacity through a scientific methodology. The process of risk map preparation includes analysis of several variables and parameters which are sub-sets of base categories; hazard, vulnerability and capacity. Hence, preparation of multi hazard risk map is a combination of all risk elements on several hazards. This process is important in risk map preparation and obviously in disaster management field for appropriate implementation of disaster risk reduction activities. 44 Capacity:  Capacity refers to all the strengths, attributes and resources available within a community, organization or society to manage and reduce disaster risks and strengthen resilience.  It is important to emphasize people’s capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from disasters, rather than simply focusing on the vulnerability that limits them. Resilience:  Disaster resilience is the ability of individuals, communities, organisations and states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development. 45 Disaster Risk Reduction:  Disaster risk reduction involves structural and non-structural measures.  Structural measures include the use of physical or engineering solutions (such as ocean wave barriers or earthquake resistant buildings) to avoid disaster or reduce its impacts.  Non-structural measures involve the use of policies, laws, education and awareness creation, and practices to avoid or reduce the impacts of disaster. 46 Early Warning System (EWS):  EWS is a socio-technical system designed to generate and circulate meaningful warning information in a timely manner to enable a target system take a proactive response to a hazardous threat in order to avoid disaster or reduce its impacts.  We emphasise “socio-technical” because an early warning system comprises all the steps from detection of the threat, through communication to target community or people, to the ability of the target to understand and respond appropriately to the warning. Disaster Preparedness:  It consists of the knowledge and capacities of institutions, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from the impacts of likely, imminent or active hazard events or conditions. 47 Disaster Prevention:  Disaster Prevention is the elimination or reduction of the likelihood of occurrence of natural hazard event, or their adverse impacts.  Examples of disaster prevention actions include flood protection embankments. Disaster Mitigation:  It refers to a set of measures to reduce or neutralise the impact of natural hazards by reducing social, functional, or physical vulnerability. Disaster Response:  Disaster response (relief) is the provision of assistance or intervention through the emergency services during or immediately after a crisis in order to save lives, reduce further impacts on health and public safety and to meet the basic subsistence needs of affected populations. 48 Damage Assessment:  Damage Assessment is the process for determining the nature and extent of the loss, suffering, and/or harm to the community resulting from a natural, accidental or human-caused disaster.  Damages are normally classified as:  Severe: The target facility or object cannot be used for its intended purpose. Complete reconstruction is required.  Moderate: The target facility or object cannot be used effectively for its intended purpose unless major repairs are made.  Light: The target facility or object can be used for intended purpose but minor repairs would be necessary. 49 Damage Assessment:  Crisis counselling is the process of alleviating the emotional and psychological disturbances of persons affected by disaster in order to restore a sense of control and mastery and to aid the process of recovery and reconstruction.  Normally, disasters overwhelm the physical and psychological capacity of people to cope. This can lead to emotional and psychological disturbances which can affect a person’s ability to make right decisions or adopt reasonable responsive actions.  Crisis counselling addresses these problems and is a crucial part of recovery and reconstruction Needs Assessment:  Needs assessment is a process of estimating the financial, technical, and human resources needed to implement the agreed-upon programmes of recovery, reconstruction, and risk management.  Post-damage needs assessment is normally a rapid, multi-sectoral assessment that measures the impact of  disasters on the society, economy, and environment of the disaster-affected 50 areas.