Disaster Management

Er. Surendra Bahadur Shahi

Assistant –Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Graduate School of Engineering
Mid-West University

Module 1 : Introduction

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Disaster

 The term “DISASTER” owes its origin to French word “Disaster”, a combination of two
words “Des” meaning “Bad” and “Aster” meaning “Star” thus the term Disaster
refers to “Bad or Evil Star”.

 Serious disruption of functioning of society, causing widespread human

environmental and natural losses which exceed the ability of affected people to
cope using their own resource.
 An event either man made or natural, sudden or progressive causing widespread
human, material or environmental losses.
3  Disaster occurs when a hazard impacts on or strikes a vulnerable community with low
capacity resulting in damages, loss and serious disruption of community functioning. The
widespread human, material and environmental losses exceed the community's ability
to cope using its own resources.

 The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a disaster as “a sudden ecological

phenomenon of sufficient magnitude to require external assistance”.

 It is also defined as any event, typically occurring suddenly, that causes damage,
ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services,
and which exceeds the capacity of the affected community on a scale sufficient to
require outside assistance (Landsman, 2001).

 Disasters are events that occur when significant numbers of people are exposed to
extreme events to which they are vulnerable, with resulting injury and loss of life, often
combined with damage to property and livelihoods.
 Disaster Management
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 Natural Disaster: A natural disaster is a major adverse event

resulting from natural processes of the Earth; examples are
floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, and other geologic
processes.

 A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property,

and typically leaves some economic damage in its wake,
the severity of which depends on the affected population's
resilience (ability to recover) and also on the infrastructure
available .
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 Types of Disaster
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 Natural Disasters
 Geophysical (e.g. Earthquakes, Landslides, Tsunamis and
Volcanic Activity)
 Hydrological (e.g. Avalanches and Floods)
 Climatological (e.g. Extreme Temperatures, Drought and
Wildfires)
 Meteorological (e.g. Cyclones and Storms/Wave Surges)
 Biological (e.g. Disease Epidemics and Insect/Animal
Plagues
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 Earthquake
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 Earthquake: An earthquake is the shaking of the surface
of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in
the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves.

Source: [Link]
 Types of Disaster
9  Man-Made Disasters
 Environmental Degradation
 Pollution
 Accidents (e.g. Industrial, Technological and Transport usually
involving the production, use or transport of hazardous materials)
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 List of Earthquake in Nepal
Date Time Place Deaths Mag.
12 1255-07-07 Kathmandu 2,200 7.8
1260 Sagarmatha 100 7.1
1344 Mechi 100 7.9
1408-08 Near Nepal-Tibet Border 2,500 8.2
1505-06-06 Karnali zone 6,000 8.2–8.8
1681-01 Northern Kosi zone 4,500 8
1767-07 Northern Bagmati zone 4,000 7.9
1833-08-26 Kathmandu, Bihar 6,500 8.0 Ms
1869-07-07 Kathmandu 750 6.5 Ms
8/28/1916 6:39 Nepal, Tibet 3,500 7.7 Ms
1/15/1934 8:43 Nepal, Bihar 10,700–12,000 8.0 Mw
6/27/1966 10:41 Doti 80 6.3 Ms
7/29/1980 14:58 Pithoragarh 200 6.5 Ms
8/20/1988 23:09 Kathmandu, Bihar 1,091 6.9 Mw
9/18/2011 18:29 Sikkim 111 6.9 Mw
4/25/2015 11:56 Gorkha 8,857 7.8 Mw
5/12/2015 12:38 Dolakha 213 7.3 Mw
2080/07/12 Jajarkot 158/358 injuries 6.4MW/5.7MW
Source: wikipedia
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14 Causes of Earthquake
 Groundwater extraction – decrease in pore pressure
 Groundwater – increase in pore pressure
 Heavy rain
 Pore fluid flow
 High CO2 pressure
 Building dams
 Earthquakes
 No earthquakes (Seismic quiescence)
 Stress transfer
 Tides
 Silent slip
15 Causes of Earthquake
 Surface quarrying
 Typhoons
 Fracking
 Volcanoes
 Volcanic inflation
 Explosions
 Deep penetrating bombs
 Deforestation
 Climate change
 Geothermal energy
 Effects of Earthquake
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 Shaking and ground rupture

 Soil liquefaction
 Human impacts
 Landslides
 Fires
 Tsunami
 Floods
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18 Possible risk reduction measures:
 Community preparedness
 Planning
 Public education
 Engineered structures
19 Flood
 Flood: A flood is an overflow of water that 'submerges'
land.

[Link]
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21 Causes of Flood
 Heavy rainfall
 Heavy siltation of the river bed reduces the water
carrying capacity of the rivers/stream.
 Blockage in the drains lead to flooding of the area.
 Landslides blocking the flow of the stream.
 Construction of dams and reservoirs
 In areas prone to cyclone, strong winds accompanied
by heavy down pour along with storm surge leads to
flooding.
22 Effects of Flood
 loss of life and property
 Structures like houses, bridges; roads etc. get Damaged
 huge loss to life and livestock caused by drowning
 Lack of proper drinking water facilities, contamination of
water (well, ground water, piped water supply) leads to
outbreak of epidemics, diarrhoea, viral infection, malaria and
many other infectious diseases.
23 Possible risk reduction measures:

 Mapping of the flood prone areas

 Land use control
 Construction of engineered structures
 Flood Control
 Flood Management
24 Drought
 Drought: Drought is the unusual dryness of soil caused by
levels of rainfall significantly below average over a
prolonged period. Hot dry winds, shortage of water, high
temperatures and consequent evaporation of moisture
from the ground can also contribute to conditions of
drought. Droughts result in crop failure and shortages of
water.

[Link]
25 Causes of Drought
 deficit rainfall, which is a meteorological phenomenon,

Types of droughts

 Meteorological drought : drought is simple absence/deficit of rainfall from

the normal.
 Hydrological drought : often leads to reduction of natural stream flows or
ground water levels, plus stored water supplies.
 Agricultural drought : when moisture level in soil is insufficient to maintain
average crop yields. Initial consequences are in the reduced seasonal
output of crops and other related production
26 Possible Risk Reduction Measures
 Public Awareness and education:
 Drought Monitoring:
 Water supply augmentation and conservation
 Expansion of irrigation
 Livelihood planning
 Drought planning:
27 Coastal Hazards
 Coastal Hazards: Coastal hazards are physical
phenomena that expose a coastal area to risk of
property damage, loss of life and environmental
degradation. Rapid-onset hazards last over periods of
minutes to several days and examples include major
cyclones accompanied by high winds, waves and
surges or tsunamis created by submarine earthquakes
and landslides. Slow-onset hazards develop
incrementally over longer time periods and examples
include erosion and gradual inundation.
28 Landslides
 Landslides: A landslide is described as an outward and
downward slope movement of an abundance of slope-
forming materials including rock, soil, artificial, or even a
combination of these things.

[Link]
 Causes of Landslides
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Geological Weak material:

Erosion
Intense rainfall:
Human Excavation
Earthquake shaking
Volcanic eruption
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Effects of Landslides
 The most common elements at risk are the settlements built
on the steep slopes, built at the toe and those built at the
mouth of the streams emerging from the mountain valley.

 All those buildings constructed without appropriate

foundation for a given soil and in sloppy areas are also at
risk. Roads, communication lines are vulnerable.
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32 Possible risk reduction measures:

 Hazard mapping
 Land use practices
 Retaining Walls
 Surface Drainage Control Works
 Engineered structures
 Increasing vegetation cover
 Rockslides
33  Rockslides: A rockslide is a type of landslide caused by rock
failure in which part of the bedding plane of failure passes
through compacted rock and material collapses and not in
individual blocks. While a landslide occurs when loose dirt or
sediment falls down a slope, a rockslide occurs only when
solid rocks are transported down slope. The rocks tumble
downhill, loosening other rocks on their way and smashing
everything in their path.

Rockslide along Kali Gandaki River [Link]

 Causes of Rockslides
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 Geological Weak material:

 Erosion
 Intense rainfall:
 Human Excavation
 Earthquake shaking
 Volcanic eruption
35 Rockslides Prevention

 Wire meshing
 Retaining walls
 Soil nailing
 Rock bolting
 Forestfires
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 Forest Fires: Forest fires are large fires which often start in
forest areas. Common causes include lightning and
drought but forest fires may also be started by human
negligence or arson. They can spread to populated
areas and can thus be a threat to humans and property,
as well as wildlife.

[Link]
 Causes of Forestfires
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 Natural
 dry climate
 lightning
 volcanic eruption
 Human Activity
 open burning,
 the use of engines or vehicles,
 dropping burning substances such as cigarettes,
 or any other human-related activities that can create a spark or
a heat source sufficient to ignite a wildfire.
38 Effects of Forestfires
 Heat waves,
 droughts,
 climate variability
 Emission of large amounts of carbon dioxide, black
carbon, brown carbon, and ozone precursors into the
atmosphere.
 Loss of wild lives
 Loss of plants
39 Prevention
 Burn only natural vegetation or untreated wood
products.
 Clear the area around the burn pile of any flammable
debris.
 Keep firefighting equipment handy - a connected water
hose or at least five gallons of water and a shovel should
be nearby.
 Comply with all local laws and regulations.
 Check the weather.
40 Assignment 1
 Case Study of jajarkot district during recent earthquake (Major Example of
Disaster Risk)
 Write short notes (With data, figures and photos-focus in context of Nepal if
available)
 Date of Submission - : 30-11-2024
 Send to :
Email ID: [Link]@[Link]
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