Lecture 1

Question 1

Hazard

Answer 1

A process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.

Question 2

Exposure

Answer 2

The situation of the people, infrastructure, housing, production capacities and other tangible human assets located in hazard-prone areas.

Question 3

Vulnerability

Answer 3

The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards.

Question 4

Disaster Risk

Answer 4

The potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets which could occur to a system, society or a community in a specific period of time, determined probabilistically as a function of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity.

Question 5

Disaster

Answer 5

A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.
= risk> capacity to cope

Question 6

Disaster Risk Reduction

Answer 6

…aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development.

Question 7

Resilience

Answer 7

The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb accommodate adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazards in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.

Question 8

Risk

Answer 8

f(hazardexposurevulnerability)

Question 9

consequence

Answer 9

=exposure*vulnerability

Question 10

Trigger Events

Answer 10

Many classes and sub-classes of triggers e.g. natural vs man-made. Often more complex due to secondary hazards and human influences.

Question 11

Magnitude and Intensity

Answer 11

A measure of size of the event, or the energy released (e.g. volume and/or velocity of water of a flood/landslide, or energy of a seismic event or explosion) and the potential to cause damage.

Question 12

Frequency

Answer 12

Hazards are expressed as a probability of occurrence of an event of a certain intensity at a particular location within a specific time period (usually as an annual probability).

Question 13

Spatial occurrence

Answer 13

Location and extent

Question 14

Temporal scale

Answer 14

Speed of onset and duration

Question 15

Geological Hazard Types

Answer 15

earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, rockslides, avalanches

Question 16

Biological

Answer 16

epidemics, infestations, wildfires

Question 17

Hydrological

Answer 17

floods, droughts, landslides

Question 18

Atmospheric

Answer 18

cyclones, storm surges, tornados, hail, ice, snow, rain, temperature extremes

Question 19

Transport accidents

Answer 19

Air, road, rail, sea

Question 20

Hazardous materials

Answer 20

storage, transport, miss-use

Question 21

Intentional

Answer 21

conflict, terrorism, sabotage

Question 22

Industrial failures

Answer 22

explosions, fire, release of toxic materials

Question 23

Unsafe public buildings and facilities

Answer 23

structural collapse, fire

Question 24

Context Hazard types

Answer 24

Environmental degradation: deforestation, desertification, loss of natural resources
Land Pressure: urbanisation and concentration of hazards
Climate Change: sea level rise, changing frequency of extreme events

Question 25

Direct Impacts

Answer 25

Human & Social: fatality, injury, loss of property, loss of income/livelihood Physical: structural damage, non-structural damage/loss of contents Economic: capital costs, interruption of business due to loss of workforce and economic infrastructure Environmental & Cultural: Damage to ecological zones, sedimentation and pollution, damage to cultural heritage

Question 26

Indirect Impacts

Answer 26

Human & Social: Disease, food scarcity, disability, displacement, unemployment, civil and political unrest Physical: Deterioration of damaged buildings and infrastructure Economic: Loss of markets and investments, insurance losses, disruption to, or downturn in, economic growth Environmental & Cultural: environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, loss of cultural diversity

Question 27

Environmental Capacities

Answer 27

Natural environmental resources (land, water, forests, minerals), natural barriers to hazards, biodiversity

Question 28

Economic Capacities

Answer 28

Economic capital, secure livelihoods, financial reserves, diversified economy and agriculture

Question 29

Physical Capacities

Answer 29

Robust and reliable public infrastructure, home, transport, sanitation, water supply, energy...

Question 30

Social Capacities

Answer 30

Coping mechanisms, adaptive strategies, memory of past disasters, good governance, ethical standards, local leadership, local NGOs, accountability, well developed disaster plans and preparedness.

Question 31

Environmental Vulnerabilities

Answer 31

Deforestation, pollution, erosion, loss of natural hazard defences (e.g. mangroves), climate change

Question 32

Economic Vulnerabilities

Answer 32

Non-diversified economy, mono-crop agriculture, subsistence economies, indebtedness, relief/welfare dependency.

Question 33

Physical Vulnerabilities

Answer 33

Unsafe buildings, infrastructure and critical facilities, rapid urbanisation.

Question 34

Social Vulnerabilities

Answer 34

Occupation of unsafe areas, high-density occupation of sites/buildings, lack of mobility, job insecurity, lack of education, poverty, corruption, poor management and leadership, lack of planning and preparedness.

Question 35

Resistance (or robustness)

Answer 35

inherent strength, protection, ability to resist stress

Question 36

Redundancy

Answer 36

system capacity providing alternative options or substitutions to allow continued functioning when some elements fail

Question 37

Reliability

Answer 37

ability to operate under a range of conditions, frequency with which hazard protection devices fail

Question 38

Response and recovery

Answer 38

speed with which disruption is overcome and functionality/service restored

Question 39

IFRC Resilience

Answer 39

The ability of individuals, communities, organisations, or countries exposed to disasters and crises and underlying vulnerabilities to: anticipate, reduce the impact of, cope with, and recover from the effects of adversity without compromising their long term prospects.

Question 40

Main sources of global disaster data

Answer 40

The EM-DAT database Reinsurance company data The DesInventar system

Question 41

Disaster Risk Index

Answer 41

Number of expected human impacts (fatalities per year), both absolute and relative to population. R=Hfr*Exp*Vuln

Question 42

Hotspots Report

Answer 42

Relative mortality risk and economic loss. | R=Hdeg*Exp*Vuln

Question 43

World Risk Index

Answer 43

Probable risk of a country being affected by a disaster. Focus on vulnerability causes. R=PhysExp*Vuln