sewer and water lines, power lines, natural gas
DISASTER
READINESS
AND RISK
REDUCTION
By:Mary Amiel Riva U. Catado
Task 1: According to measurable severity, the
effects of disasters are primary, secondary, or
tertiary in nature. Explain each and site examples.
Effects of Hazards
Hazardous process of all types can have primary,
secondary, and tertiary effects.
Primary Effects occur as a result of the process
itself. For example water damage during a flood or
collapse of buildings during an earthquake,
landslide, or hurricane.
Secondary Effects occur only because a primary
effect has caused them. For example, fires ignited
as a result of earthquakes, disruption of electrical
power and water service as a result of an
earthquake, flood, hurricane, or flooding caused by
a landslide into a lake or river.
Tertiary Effects are long-term effects that are set
off as a result of a primary event. These include
things like loss of habitat caused by a flood,
permanent changes in the position of river channel
caused by flood, crop failure caused by a volcanic
eruption etc.
Task 2: How do disasters affect people and the
environment? Economy of community?
Natural disasters, for example an earthquake can
kill people from collapsing buildings and seriously
injure many more. Homes are destroyed and in
many developing countries they do not have
insurance to re-build them. Infrastructure such as
lines can also all be impacted. These can take days
or months or even years to repair.
Impact of Natural Disasters on People:
 Displaced Populations
 Health Risks
 Food Scarcity
 Emotional Aftershocks
Just as a natural can change the landscape of our
personal lives as well as aspects of our
community, so too can different types of disasters
drastically alter the natural environment. The
cyclones that occurred in Myanmar in 2008, or
the wildfires that spread throughout California in
2009 are examples of how areas of land that
detail whole ecosystems can be dramatically
damaged or transformed from a single disaster
event.
In addition to affecting people’s homes and health,
Disasters can wreak havoc on the economy.
Companies may become less productive. Some
businesses may have to declare bankruptcy and
close down. But disasters do not only result in only
doom and gloom. Academic studies suggest that
catastrophes can also have positive effects on the
economy, promoting growth.
Sectors of the economy that deal with disaster
cleanup will thrive in the aftermath of a calamity.
In addition, areas that were hit by natural disasters
often receive a boost from the national
government and international relief agencies. This
influx of capital could help improve employment
rates in affected areas.
Of course, some businesses won’t survive the
trauma, and there may be some “natural selection”
with only the fittest entities moving forward.
Companies that remain are those flexible and
resilient enough to face unexpected challenges and
become stronger in the process. New businesses
may crop up, too, filling the voids left by others
with a commitment to thrive in the face of
adversity.
Task 3: Given the coastal community’s high
exposure to typhoons, assess its level of
vulnerability.
Vulnerability describes 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.
Manila world's 4th most at risk from disasters:
study by ABS-CBN
“The Philippine capital is the fourth most at risk in
the world from disasters, threatening half of the
local economy in a city that is home to 12 million
people, international research showed.
Typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and
floods threaten to wipe out $101.09 billion ($4.7
trillion) or half of Manila's average nominal gross
domestic product (GDP), according to Lloyd's 2015
to 2025 City Risk Index.” (Michellle Ong, 2014)
From the figure below showing the annual
frequency of natural disasters in the Philippines
(Prevention Web, 2014), we can see that more
than half of the natural disasters in the Philippines
contain the exposure of typhoons, storms and
tropical cyclones. This means Philippines’ level of
vulnerability to typhoons is still high.
Task 4: What would happen if both natural and
anthropogenic hazards occur at the same time?
Classification of Natural Hazards and Disasters
Natural Hazards and the natural disasters that
result can be divided into several different
categories:
 Geologic Hazards
 Atmospheric Hazards
 Other Natural Hazards
Natural Hazards can also be divided
into catastrophic hazards, which have devastating
consequences to huge numbers of people, or have
a worldwide effect, such as impacts with large
space objects, huge volcanic eruptions, world-wide
disease epidemics, and world-wide droughts. Such
catastrophic hazards only have a small chance of
occurring, but can have devastating results if they
do occur.
Natural Hazards can also be divided into rapid
onset hazards, such as Volcanic Eruptions,
Earthquakes, Flash floods, Landslides, Severe
Thunderstorms, Lightening, and wildfires, which
develop with little warning and strike rapidly. Slow
onset hazards, like drought, insect infestations,
and disease epidemics take years to develop.
Anthropogenic Hazards
These are hazards that occur as a result of human
interaction with the environment. They
include Technological Hazards, which occur due to
exposure to hazardous substances, such as radon,
mercury, asbestos fibers, and coal dust. They also
include other hazards that have formed only
through human interaction, such as acid rain, and
contamination of the atmosphere or surface
waters with harmful substances, as well as the
potential for human destruction of the ozone layer
and potential global warming.
If natural and anthropogenic hazards both occur at
the same time, the level of vulnerability will be
very high. Damages will be fatal and there will be a
lot casualties. It can affect the community
physically, biologically, economically, politically and
socio-culturally.