Disaster Risk ManagementAn emergent priority Area

What is a Disaster

A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources- (WHO)

Vulnerability to Disaster

The degree to which a socio-economic system is either susceptible or resilient to the impact of natural hazards is determined by a combination of several factors including;

hazard awareness, the condition of human settlements and

infrastructure, public policy and administration, organized abilities in all fields of disaster

management. Poverty is also one of the main causes of vulnerability

in most parts of the world (WHO)

Deadliest Natural Disasters- Past times

Disasters have been occurring for centuries, however their severity and scale could have not been completely understood due to lack of knowledge about disasters at that time, unavailability of communication means & media and lower causalities due to lower population density during these times

Deadliest Natural Disasters- Recent Past

Graph by Robert Simmon, based on data (Upto 2005) courtesy EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database (www.em-dat.net) Université Catholique de Louvain—Brussels, Belgium

Natural Disasters

THE RISING COSTS FOR MANKIND

Average Cost is beyond 50 Billion USD

Advanced Technologies like Remote Sensing could help in lowering these costs

http://reliefweb.int/map/american-samoa/earthquake-risk-asia-pacific-regional-hazard-map-modified-mercalli-scale-issued

Source: http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/trends-in-natural-disasters

Recent disaster trends in Asia and the Pacific An overview of disaster trends in Asia and the Pacific from the year 1980 onwards. It found that floods and storms were the two main causes of disasters in the region and affected the largest number of people

The scale of a disaster can be localised affecting

only a small area and population

can affect a major part of a country, or even

can expand to the territory of more than one country  

Scale of Disaster

Response strategies would be according to the requirement

The duration of a disaster can vary from

momentary

(earthquake)

to several weeks (flooding)

or even years long (prolonged drought)

 

Duration of Disaster

Response strategies would be according to the requirement

Managing Disaster-Rapid Response

• Chances of survival in the aftermath of disaster are increased significantly by careful planning of relief/rescue efforts, including ;

mobilization of rescue teams,

Coordination amongst emergency

responders

arranging medical supplies

Preventive measures against

epidemics/diseases

Relocation/rehabilitation of affected

Medical/psychic treatments to lessen the

agony/stress of affected

Disaster Management has essentially been problem response driven

Investment in preparedness is necessary to reduce the damages in future risks

International, national and local resources are still predominantly used for emergency response operations after a disaster occurs. A recent study shows that it is up to 8 times cheaper to invest in longer term prevention, mitigation and preparedness than in post disaster emergency operations

Usually after a severe disaster (flood) a project would be quickly implemented without giving enough thought to the impact such solutions would have on upstream and downstream reaches

Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Development

This argues for the need of systematic & more conscious

ways of integrating Disaster Risk Reduction(DDR) into

development process

Disasters have an enormous impact on development. With every disaster, there is a significant impact on various sectors of development like agriculture, water & power, education, housing and infrastructure. This results in a serious social and economic, setback to the development and particularly in(i)Policy(ii)Strategy(iii)Programming(iv)Project/program cycle management(v)External relations (vi)Institutional capacity

Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA)

Expected Outcome: The substantive reduction in losses in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries

Political commitment of 168 Governments to implement HFA, allocate necessary resources and set up the appropriate institutional and legislative frameworks to facilitate its implementation

Integrate disaster risk reduction into policies, plans and

programmes of sustainable development and poverty reduction

Recognize risk reduction as both a humanitarian and development issue – in the context of sustainable development

Focus on national implementation, with bilateral, multilateral, regional and international cooperation

Reliable and timely statistics are essential for disaster preparedness planning and response readiness.

After a disaster has struck, statistics are used for assessing the initial disaster impact, and for subsequent monitoring and evaluation.

Although the data about disasters and their impacts is collected after the occurrence of the events, the institutional capacities, systems and protocols for collecting the data is required to be built prior to the occurrence of such events

The information for pasts disasters are useful in policy planning and decision-making for disaster risk reduction, preparedness, mitigation, response, relief and recovery

Disaster databases and resulting statistics serve also as tools for measuring the progress and achievements of the policies and plans.

Disaster Databases

SocietalChange

Climate Change

Disaster

Change

Disaster Management

Change

Intensifying Extreme weather eventsTorrential rains Cyclones Storm surges Droughts Glacial melt

Limitation in centralized protection by infrastructure More important for human to adjust & living with nature

Urbanization &Urban

concentration&

Rural depopulation

-------Limited

resources, poverty, poor governance

More severe damages

Disasters in inexperienced regions

Every thing is changing so as should DM

ISNET/ISA realized this fact that Disaster Risk Management is an important priority area

That ‘s why we all are here to deliberate and share our experience in this domain

What role a Space Agency can play in DRM

 

 

Disaster Risk ManagementAn emergent priority area

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