UNIT IV

1 NATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERS:CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND MANAGEMENTThis unit deals with Floods and droughts Earthquakes and tsunami Cyclones LandslidesUNITIV2015-16(20/01/2015)You might have read about tsunami orseen the images of horror ontelevision set immediately after ithappened. You may also be aware of the severeearthquake in Kashmir on both sides of theLine of Control (LOC). The damage caused tohuman life and properties during theseepisodes has moved us all. What are these asphenomena and how they are caused? Howcan we save ourselves? These are somequestions which come to our minds.

2 Thischapter will attempt to analyse some of is the law of nature. It is a continuousprocess that goes on uninterruptedly involvingphenomena, big and small, material and non-material that make our physical and socio-cultural environment. It is a process presenteverywhere with variations in terms ofmagnitude, intensity and scale. Change can bea gradual or slow process like the evolution oflandforms and organisms and it can be assudden and swift as volcanic eruptions,tsunamis, earthquakes and lightening, , it may remain confined to a smallerarea occurring within a few seconds likehailstorms, tornadoes and dust storms, and itcan also have global dimensions such as globalwarming and depletion of the ozone these, changes have differentmeanings for different people.

3 It depends uponthe perspective one takes while trying tounderstand them. From the perspective ofnature, changes are value-neutral (these areneither good nor bad). But from the humanperspective, these are value-loaded. There aresome changes that are desirable and good likethe change of seasons, ripening of fruits, whilethere are others like earthquakes, floods andwars that are considered bad and the environment you live in andprepare a list of changes, which takeplace over a long period of time andthose, which take place within a shortperiod of time.

4 Do you know why somechanges are considered good and othersbad? Prepare a list of changes, whichyou notice in your daily life and givereasons why some of these areconsidered good and others this chapter, we will read about some ofthese changes, which are considered bad andhave haunted humankind for a long in general and natural disastersin particular, are some such changes that arealways disliked and feared by is a Disaster? Disaster is an undesirable occurrenceresulting from forces that are largelyoutside human control, strikes quicklywith little or no warning, which causesor threatens serious disruption of lifeand property including death and injuryto a large number of people, and requirestherefore, mobilisation of efforts in excessof that which are normally provided bystatutory emergency services.

5 For a long time, geographical literatureviewed disasters as a consequence of naturalforces; and human beings were treated asinnocent and helpless victims in front of themighty forces of nature. But natural forces areNATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERSCHAPTER2015-16(20/01/2015)78 india : PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTnot the only causes of disasters. Disasters arealso caused by some human activities. Thereare some activities carried by human beingsthat are directly responsible for Gas tragedy, Chernobyl nuclear disaster,wars, release of CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) andincrease of green house gases, environmentalpollutions like noise, air, water and soil are someof the disasters which are caused directly byhuman actions.

6 There are some other activitiesof human beings that accelerate or intensifydisasters indirectly. Landslides and floods dueto deforestation, unscientific land use andconstruction activities in fragile areas are someof the disasters that are the results of indirecthuman actions. Can you identify some otherhuman activities going on in and around yourneighbourhood and schools that can lead todisasters in the near future? Can you suggestsome measures to prevent it? It is a commonexperience that human-made disasters haveincreased both in their numbers andmagnitudes over the years and concertedefforts are on at various levels to prevent andminimise their occurrences.

7 Though thesuccess has been only nominal so far, it ispossible to prevent some of these disasterscreated by human actions. As opposed to this,very little is possible to prevent naturaldisasters; therefore, the best way out is toemphasise on natural disaster mitigation andmanagement. Establishment of NationalInstitute of Disaster Management, india , EarthSummit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1993 andthe World Conference on Disaster Managementin May 1994 at Yokohama, Japan, etc. aresome of the concrete steps towards thisdirection initiated at different often it is observed that scholars usedisasters and natural hazards as are related phenomena, yet quite distinctfrom each other.

8 Hence, it is necessary todistinguish between the Hazards are elements ofcircumstances in the Natural environment thathave the potential to cause harm to people orproperty or both. These may be swift orpermanent aspects of the respectiveenvironmental settings like currents in theoceans, steep slope and unstable structuralfeatures in the Himalayas or extreme climaticconditions in deserts or glaciated compared to natural hazards, naturaldisasters are relatively sudden and causelarge scale, widespread death, loss ofproperty and disturbance to social systemsand life over which people have a little or nocontrol.

9 Thus, any event can be classed asdisaster when the magnitude of destructionand damage caused by it is very , disasters are generalisedexperiences of people the world over, and notwo disasters are similar and comparable toeach other. Every disaster is unique in termsof the local socio-environmental factors thatcontrol it, the social response it generates, andthe way each social group negotiates with , the opinion mentioned above isindicative of three important things. Firstly, themagnitude, intensity, frequency and damagescaused by natural disasters have increasedover the years.

10 Secondly, there is a growingconcern among people the world over to dealwith the menace created by these so that theloss of human life and property can beminimised. And finally, significant changeshave taken place in the pattern of naturaldisasters over the has also been a change in theperception of natural disasters and , hazards and disasters were seenas two closely associated and interrelatedphenomena, areas prone to naturalhazards, were more vulnerable to , people avoided tampering with thedelicate balance that existed in a givenecosystem.