HAZARDS
INTRODUCTI
The Caribbean has multiple hazardous situations
ON
including landslides,
earthquakes, volcanoes,
hurricanes,
tsunamis
floods,
and
droughts. These hazards may become natural
disasters with the resulting loss of lives, damage to
property and country’s infrastructure along with
economic losses are. Some countries may take
decades to recover from a natural disaster e.g. the
1995 volcanic eruption in Monsterrat.
Disaster management strategies, however, are
used in most countries in order to reduce the risk of
a natural hazard and to lessen the impacts of a
natural disaster. The nature of the response will
be related to the nature of the hazard, the social
and political conditions existing along with the
resources available.
The responses to hazards and disasters can be
explained by using the disaster management
cycle which focuses on mitigation and
preparedness before the disaster and then
response and recovery after the disaster hits.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
CYCLE Mitigation and preparedness are
management strategies implemented
before the disaster strikes when it is
just a hazard.
Response and recovery are what follows
in the aftermath of a disaster.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE-
BEFORE THE DISASTER
1. MITIGATION
Mitigation refers to a sustained action taken to Earthquake
reduce or eliminate risk to people and property from resistant building
hazards and their effects. Mitigation activities focus on
reducing the likelihood of a disaster happening and also
lessening the consequences of disasters. By mitigating
either of these, the risk becomes much less of a threat
to the affected population.
In the case of natural disasters, some hazards such as
hurricanes or tornadoes are impossible to prevent,
while landslides, floods, and wildfires are examples of Floodwall along
hazards for which limiting the rate of occurrence is a river
possible.
Mitigation strategies will vary depending on the hazard
type. They include physical and structural activities
such as erecting earthquake-resistant buildings,
widening or deepening rivers(channelization) for
flood control along with the building of levees and
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE-
BEFORE THE DISASTER
2. Preparedness
Preparedness can be defined as a state of readiness to respond to
a disaster, crisis, or any other type of emergency situation. In A tsunamis early warning
general, preparedness activities can be characterized as the human buoy in Indonesia
component of pre-disaster hazard management. Training and
public education are the most common preparedness activities.
and, when properly applied, they have great potential to help
people survive disasters. Although preparedness activities do little
to prevent a disaster from occurring, they are very effective at
ensuring that people know what to do once the disaster has
happened.
Preparedness measures are outlined in disaster management
policies by government, non-governmental agencies and private Evacuation in
organisations. They include learning how to monitor hazards,
awareness of early warning systems, training in evacuation
Japan before a
procedures and general information about the hazard. hurricane
Preparedness measures also include land use planning such as
laws preventing people from building in hazard prone areas such
as floodplains, unstable hillsides and earthquake zones. Insurance
schemes are also a type of disaster preparedness where people
insure their properties against damage by natural disasters.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE-
AFTER THE DISASTER
1. Response
Response comes into play after a natural
Evacuation
disaster. It provides emergency
assistance to those affected and tries to
during a flood
avoid further or secondary damage as well
as speed up recovery operations. The
magnitude of the disaster will determine
the scale of the response effort as well as
whether international assistance is needed.
Plans that were made in the mitigation and
preparedness phase will now go into
action. First responders will now enter
disaster areas to assess the damages and
make preparations for operations such as Emergency food
search and rescue as well as emergency supplies being
aid deliveries. Emergency supplies such delivered after an
as water, food, shelter, emergency earthquake in India
medical supplies and attention will be
delivered as well as security and
counselling for those in need.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE-
AFTER THE DISASTER
2. Recovery
Recovery involves the return of the disaster area Clearing an area
to the condition it was before the disaster hit. hit by an
The length of the recovery period depends on the
earthquake
size or magnitude of the disaster.
Recovery may be short-term where the
essential services such as water, food,
temporary shelter and basic health care are set up
and disaster areas may be cleared up. However,
long-term recovery may take a longer time to
achieve as this may entail the rebuilding of Rebuilding houses
infrastructure (buildings, roads, power supply, hit by a hurricane
schools etc.) and may take years such as the
aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
Recovery also involve the adoption of mitigation
measures to eliminate or reduce the possibility of
the disaster being repeated. Hence, recovery and
mitigation are related as shown in the cyclic nature
of the disaster management phases.
TYPES OF
1. Individual RESPONSE
People respond to hazards and threats in order to
eliminate risk. However, research has shown that
responses can vary according to the
individual’s perception of the risk as well as Securing a building
the wealth, education, sex and age. for a storm
If a person has a perception that a hazard is a
rare event and unlikely to occur in his/her lifetime
like an earthquake, then they will not prepare for
it. People may faster prepare for hazards such as
floods which may be seasonal or occurs in a
particular location such as low lying areas where
they live. Villagers refusing
Educated, wealthy people may better prepare to evacuate as a
hazards such as building stronger, sturdier roofs storm
while poor, uneducated may not be able to make approaches
much preparations.
Some individuals may also be attached to a
piece of property for economic or historical
reasons and refuse to evacuate or relocate
aftera disaster hits.
TYPES OF
2. Community
RESPONSE
Some communities may become isolated or cut off
during a disaster and may have to respond
collectively as a group. National agencies may not be
able to reach these communities dur to poor access Members of the
roads or blocked or flooded roads. These community
communities may have to respond quickly in order to helping people
prevent deaths and other negative impacts. Community evacuate a
members, then, will be the first responder and will need flooded village
to render emergency aid such as food and shelter
as well as helping people evacuate disaster hit
areas.
Communities are also involve in the preparedness stage
where they assess the hazard and also identify the
A community
vulnerable people in the community who will be the
worst hit. They will also be tasked with stocking up on
clean up after
food, water, tents, mattresses and other emergency a storm
supplies.
Communities are also involve in recovery operations
such as cleanups, search and rescue and helping
community members rebuild and repair damaged
houses.
Hence, communities may be involved in all FOUR stages
3. National
TYPES OF
RESPONSE
Local governmental and regional agencies are normally created to
coordinate a national or regional response to natural disasters
and hazards. These agencies are involved in all stages: mitigation,
preparedness, response and recovery.
Regionally, there is the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management
ODPM
Agency (CDEMA) while in Trinidad and Tobago there is the Office of preparing
Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPM) for hurricane
which is the national agency responsible for local disaster
management. season 2020
Governments may aim to mitigate against hazards by conducting
risk assessments and using hazard mapping to identify
vulnerable areas. Governments can also use technology to reduce or
eliminate risk such as erecting floodwalls and using earthquake
resistant designs in buildings.
Governments can also educate people about preparing for
natural disasters by changing their perceptions about
hazards.
A football
National agencies also use technology to monitor and predict
hazards using satellites as well as to issue warnings using early
stadium
warning systems. The Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service converted into
uses a colour-coded warning system to alert the public of possible an emergency
climatic hazards such as riverine flooding and flash flooding. The risk
level runs from Moderate to High to Very High Risk using Yellow- shelter by a
Orange-Red colours. national
National agencies also provide communities with education and agency
training on evacuation procedures. They are also responsible for the
provision of emergency medical, food and shelter supplies.
Governments can also designate state buildings as emergency