BASIC CONCEPT OF HAZARD

DISASTERS – are caused by hazards that take lives, destroy properties, and affect communities.

 CONCEPT OF HAZARDS
 Hazards may cause disaster.
 They either increase or decrease the risk of disasters in a certain community.
 Hazards are events that post threat, danger, or risk to any element exposed of them.
 They can strike anywhere and anytime.
 Hazards result in disasters if a community is let both exposed and vulnerable to that hazard.
 It should be remembered that extreme hazards events are not always associated with
disaster.

 TYPES OF HAZARDS

1. Natural Hazards are those that are caused by physical and biological elements in the
environment. These are natural events that may not be controlled by human such as
earthquakes, floods, landslides, tornadoes, tsunamis, typhoons, and wildfires.

a. Hydro-meteorological and climatological hazards,

b. Geologic hazards
c. Biological hazards
d. Astronomical hazards

2. Man-made hazards, also called technological hazards, are those caused by factors that are
generally traced to human errors, intent or negligence, or glitches in technology. These
include bomb explosions, chemical spills, nuclear plant blast, radioactive emissions, and
wars. If you have noticed, these operations are all products of the advancing technology and
lifestyle of humans. The continuous development of technology poses more hazards not just
to creators themselves, but also to their environment.

Examples of Man-made hazards

a) Fire,
b) Industrial and technological hazards,
c) Hazards related to high-risk recreational activities such as mountain climbing; and
d) Other hazardous human activities.
e) Arson
f) Terrorism; and
g) Wars
 Hazard Analysis
 To understand the hazard, one must do a hazard analysis. It is the “identification, study,
and monitoring of any hazard to determine its potential, origin, characteristics, and
behavior (UNISDR 2007)”. The purpose of this analysis is to:
1. Provide descriptions of the hazards;
2. Help in setting priorities corresponding to the need for protection; and
3. Assist in designing the appropriate DRRM system, plan, programs, and
services.

 Tools in doing a hazard analysis.

1. Community hazards and disaster history construction. In this method, the existing hazards
and the disasters that the community experienced are identified.
2. Hazard and vulnerability mapping. Areas in the community that are vulnerable to a specific
hazard are identified then located in the map. For example, areas that become flooded at
different levels (e.g. knee-deep, waist-deep, chest-deep, above the head) are highlighted in
the map of a city or town. The levels are based on the average Filipino height of five feet.
Mapping is also done to identify areas that are prone to earthquakes and landslides.

 Hazard and Vulnerability mapping

3. Factor Analysis - this tool describes the characteristics of the hazard in terms of the
following (Heijmans and Victoria, 2001)

a. Frequency - How often is the hazard occur

b. Duration - How long does it occur?
c. Speed of Onset - How fast does it occur upon initial detection?
d. Intensity - What is the strength or magnitude?
e. Probability - What is the chance that it will occur?
f. Forewarning - Is there adequate time to prepare upon detection? Are the signals before
occurrence?
g. Manageability - How manageable are the effects of the hazard?

“EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS”

 An earthquake is a natural phenomenon that occurs in different parts of the world. It can be
very devastating, as it can kill thousands of people within seconds.
 Fault lines are cracks on the earth's surface along which smaller plates move or slip against
each other. This shock is called an earthquake, the weak or violent shaking of the earth's surface
caused by the sudden movement of the rock materials beneath it.
 Focus is the place where the energy is released like an explosion.
 epicenter is the point that is immediately above the focus (Cramer 1991).

 EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS

 Ground shaking is caused by the passage of seismic waves beneath structures. As a result,
these structures may tilt, split, topple, or collapsed. Ground shaking is affected by how huge the
earthquake is, what type of ground the earthquake waves travel through, and how far it is from
the earthquake source.
 Ground Rupture- is the displacement of the ground due to violent shaking of the surface.
 Vertical Displacement- occurs when one side of the ground goes up or down or both
sides moves with one side going up and the other going down.
 Horizontal Displacement- happens when there is a lateral movement from side to side,
one side goes to the left or right, or both move sideways in different directions.

 Liquefaction- takes place when there is an increase in water pressure in saturated soils because
of ground shaking.

 Tsunami is series of large waves resulting from the disturbance of sea water commonly due to
an earthquake. The height of the waves could reach five meters of higher. Tsunamis can move
from ten to hundreds of meters to a few kilometers inland. It can also travel up rivers and
streams from oceans.
 TWO TYPES OF TSUNAMI
 NEAR-FIELD OR LOCAL TSUNAMIS- can reach the shoreline within minutes.
 FAR-FIELD OR DISTANT TSUNAMIS- it can take several hours.

 Ground Subsidence or the lowering of the land surface occurs for many reasons, such as the
extraction of ground water and natural gas, mining and earthquakes..

 10 INTENSITY SCALE
I. Scarcely Perceptible
II. Slightly Felt
III. Weak
IV. Moderately
V. Strong
VI. Very Strong
VII. Destructive
VIII. Very Destructive
IX. Devastating
X. Completely Devastating
 Fault Line- a fault which has moved within the last 10,000 yrs. This means that there is historical
seismicity. One of the most active faults that can trigger a strong earthquake is the West Valley
Fault.

 Magnitude- is a measure of the total energy released at the earthquake's point of origin which
is below the earth's surface. This based from seismograph, the instrument that measures
magnitude. The Richer Magnitude Scale is used to measure the strength of an earthquake.

 Intensity - is the perceived strength of an earthquake based on relative effect to people and
structures on the earth's surface. The nearer the area to the epicenter, the higher the intensity
in that area.

 Seismograph- the instrument that measures magnitude.

 The Richter Magnitude Scale- is used to measure the strength of an earthquake.

 RICHTER MAGNITUDE SCALE

1 NOT FELT
2 HARDLY PERCEPTIVE
3 VERY FEEBLE
4 FEEBLE
5 MODERATE
6 STRONG
7 MAJOR
8 GREAT
9 RARE EARTHQUAKE

“VOLCANO HAZARD”

 Volcano- is a vent on the earth’s surface that opens downward to a pool or molten rock,
debris, and gases.
 Subduction- takes place when two plates converge.
 Subduction zone- is the place where the two plates converge and the volcano is formed.

“CLASSIFICATION OF VOLCANOES”

 Active Volcano- is currently erupting or showing signs of volcanic eruption.

 Potentially Active Volcano- is one which has erupted and then entered a long period of
inactivity.
 Inactive Volcano- is one that has not shown any sign of activity for a long period.

“VOLCANIC ERUPTION HAZARDS”

 Lava Flow- is a mass of magma that flows down the slope of the volcano.
 Pyroclastic Flow- refers to hot dry masses of fragmented volcanic materials that move along
the slope.
 Pyroclastic Surges- are turbulent low-concentration density currents of gases, rock debris and
etc.
 Tephra Falls- are showers of fine to coarse-gained volcanic materials.
 Ballistic Projectiles or Rock Projectiles- are rocks that are released into the air by an erupting
volcano.
 Volcanic Gas- is one of the basic components of magma and lava.
 Lahar- is flowing mixture of volcanic debris and water.

MAYON VOLCANO WARNING AND ACTION PLAN

WARNING CRITERIA INTERPRETATION

LEVEL
0 NO ALERT, QUIET NORMAL
1 LOW LEVEL UNREST ABNORMAL
2 LOW TO MODERATE LEVEL OF SEISMIC AND UNREST ALARMING
3 RELATIVELY HIGH UNREST CRITICAL
4 INTENSE UNREST ERUPTION IMMINENT
5 ERUPTION IN PROGRESS ERUPTION IN PROGRESS

 Landslides- is the downward movement of soil, rocks, and earth materials along a slope.

 TYPES OF LANDSLIDES

 Creep- is a slow or gradual movement of soil.

 Slump- is the downslope flowage of soft and unconsolidated materials.

 Rock and debris slide- are the slow to rapid downslope movement of unconsolidated soil and
rock debris.
 Rock Fall- is the free-falling movement of massive rocks from a cliff or steep slopes.

 Debris Flow- is the rapid flowage of debris and other rock materials.

 Mudflow- is the mass movement characterized by a flowing mass of mud along the flank of a
volcano.

 Sinkholes- are geologic formations caused by exposure to water, erosion, and ground
movement.