CHAPTER 1: BASIC

CONCEPT OF
DISASTER AND
DISASTER RISK
What is a disaster?
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(UNISDR, 2004) defines disaster as 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.
Ruins from the 1906 San
Francisco earthquake
CHARACTERIST
ICS OF
DISASTERS
■ Knows no political boundary
■ Requires restructured and new responding organizations
■ Creates new tasks and requires more people as disaster
responders
■ Renders inutile routine emergency response equipment and
facilities
■ Worsen confusion in understanding roles of people and
organizations
■ Exposes lack of disaster planning, response and coordination.
Inexperienced disaster organizations often fail to see what their
proper roles are.
IMPACTS OF
DISASTERS
MEDICAL EFFECTS
The medical effects of disasters include traumatic
injuries, emotional stress, epidemic diseases, and
indigenous diseases.
DAMAGE TO CRITICAL
FACILITIES
Among these are communication installations,
electrical generating and transmission facilities,
hospitals, water facilities (storage, purifications,
and pumping) and other public and private
buildings
DISRUPTION OF
TRANSPORTATION
During the initial stages of a disaster, almost all surface
means of transportation within a community are
disrupted by broken bridges and roads and streets that are
rendered impassable by landslides or floods. The
restricted mobility of vehicles makes rescue and other
emergency operations difficult.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
As a result of destruction and damage to critical
facilities, especially to transportation and communication
facilities, disasters disrupt economies as normal business
operations and other economic activities are curtailed.
People must also leave their jobs and devote their time to
disaster-related activities, such as search and rescue, or to
caring for survivors.
GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
CHANGE
The changes could result in a wide range of
more hazards such as wildfires and
mudslides, reduced productivity in the
oceans, and weakened immune systems of
people and animals.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
IMPACT
As a large segment of the population in
developing countries consists the poor, who
are the most vulnerable whenever a disaster
strikes, these countries are the most affected.
What is a hazard?
A dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or
condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other
health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and
services, social and economic disruption, or
environmental damage.
TYPES OF HAZARD
NATURAL HAZARDS
Natural phenomena that pose threat or cause negative
impact to man and property.
Examples are the following:
Typhoon, storm surge, flood/flashflood, earthquake,
tsunami, volcanic eruption, lahar flows, drought, red tide,
pestilence, and fire
HUMAN-MADE
Human-made hazards include civil conflict,
displacement due to development projects,
environmental degradation, industrial technological
hazards like leakage of toxic waste, oil spill, fish kills,
nuclear, gaseous, chemical contamination, famine,
drought, fires and flood.
COMBINATION OR
SOCIONATURAL HAZARDS
Flooding and drought can fall under this category
if its due to deforestation
Most events are combinations or interplay of both
natural and human made factors.
KEY HAZARD PARAMETERS
Most hazard quantification methods consider the
MAGNITUDE and INTENSITY in determining the level
of harm event might bring.

The magnitude of the event is a measure of its strength

and is an indication of how destructive it can be.
SPEED OF ONSET

One the most Important aspects of hazards. How

predictable a hazard is and how much lead time is
allowed by it. Is critical in determining how damaging it
will be.
PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE
How often an event occurs (e.g., every month, year, 10 years,
1000 year, etc.) is its frequency. Sometime frequency is
expressed in terms of return period. A flooding occurring every
100 years has a return period of 100 years and is referred to as
100-year flood.

Another way of describing the timing of a hazard is by

estimating its probability of occurrence. If a flood has a return of
1 year, the probability of the flood occurring with a year is 100%
or 1 in terms of ratios.
HAZARD
IDENTIFICATION,
ASSESSMENT, AND
MAPPING
The subject of hazard is complex and varied that
the bulk of the book id devoted to aspects of the
many types of natural hazard.
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND
ASSESSMENT
Hazard assessment is the process of estimating, for defined areas,
the probabilities of the occurrence of potentially damaging
phenomenon of given magnitude within a specified period of
time.

Without the hazard assessment, no risk assessment can be

complete. Scientists employ various methods to assess natural
hazards. These include the following:
QUANTATIVE APPROACH

Mathematical functions or equations relating the hazard variables

used are formulated or adopted to quantify the hazard. Data from
the past historical records and from those derived from basic
science principles are used to come up with relationship between
the variables considered.
QUALITATIVE APPROACH

Instead of representing with numbers, this method uses

expert opinion in ranking in relative terms (e.g., high,
moderate, and low or 1,2, and 3) the intensity or
probability of occurrence of a hazard event. This method
is preferred especially when data is not enough to come
up with a quantitative evaluation or when it is not
express numerically.
PROBABILISTIC APPROACH

It provides an objective estimate of the probability of

each hazard affecting an area or region by considering
past record and events. Probability of occurrence of
rainfall of a given intensity can be estimated. (e.g., by
ranking past rainfalls and applying the appropriate
statistical method of analysis.)
DETERMINISTIC APPROACH

This is a more subjective approach of estimating probability. A past

event of a given intensity or magnitude is selected and the consequences
at certain intensities are described. The use of deterministic hazard
assessment avoids the under-estimation of hazard at a site.

This phenomenon would be ignored in a probabilistic approach of

estimating earthquake hazard and the resulting hazard estimate will not
reflect reality.
Hazard Mapping

Hazard mapping is the process of

identifying the spatial variation of
hazard events or physical conditions.

A hazard map is quite useful in

communicating vital information
about spatial variation of size and
potential intensity of a particular
hazard.
Earthquake Hazards

The process that shape the planet we live in are the same
process that may cause our demise. We should seek to
learn to accept these as part of earth’s nature.
Ground Shaking

Have you been started by the trembling of the ground due to a passing cargo
truck?

Ground shaking or vibration is what we feel when energy built up by the

application of stress to the lithosphere is released by faulting during an
earthquake.

Can something be done to prevent the shaking of the ground during an

earthquake?
What then do we need to know and what
actions can one take so that one does not
experience damage to property and needless
threat to lives during intense earthquake
vibrations?

HOW EARTHQUAKE VIBRATIONS ARE

GENERATED?

Most natural earthquake are caused by sudden

slippage along fault zone. Slippage along a
fault is hindered because there are
irregularities on the fault plane.

The elastic rebound theory suggests that

elastic strain energy builds up in the
deforming rocks on either side of the fault.
HOW DO SEISMIC WAVES SHAKE THE
GROUND?

There are three main types of seismic waves,

each of which shake the ground differently.
Upon reaching the earth’s surface, these are
converted to surface wave that travel outwards
from the epicenter. Surface waves travel slower
that the other two seismic wave types.
How Ground Shaking is Measured?

The strength of ground shaking (or

that of the seismic waves) is
measured in terms of velocity,
acceleration, frequency content of
the shaking, and how long the
shaking continues.

These terms are also used by

scientist and engineers to describe
the swaying motion of buildings and
other structures as a reaction of the
shaking of the ground during a
earthquake.
Ground acceleration during the earthquake events
varies from place to place. How intense the ground
shaking that a site may experience will depend on
earthquake magnitude.

The nature of ground material or geology also

determines the shaking reaction of the ground. As
shallower earthquakes release energy from a
position closer to the surface, the ground shaking
acceleration will e stronger.

The ground acceleration can be calculated from

many models relating only the magnitude to time
interval between P- (primary) and S-(secondary)
wave arrival or distance from the earthquake
source. Peak ground acceleration may be expressed
as a ratio or as a percentage of g (acceleration of
gravity; 1g = 9.81 m/s2 = 981 gals).
A g value of 0.001 is perceptible by people while
0.1 g is sufficient to produce some by damage to
weak construction.

Most people may have difficulty keeping their

balance at g value of 0.1 to 0.2 figure of 1.0 may
occur along some stretches close to surface ruptures
of earthquake generating faults. This can cause total
destruction of building. The building code of the
Philippines contains guidelines about the required g
values for building design and construction.
Definition of Terms
Frequency- how often a vibration occurs. The unit of measurement is hertz (Hz) or cycles
per second. The product of wavelength and frequency is velocity

Natural Frequency- the frequency at which a system naturally vibrates once it has been set
into motion. The natural frequency depends on the stiffness and mass of the system.

Period- the time (in seconds) it takes for one full cycle to occur. The period is equal to the
reciprocal for frequency (1/frequency)

Acceleration- is the rate of change of velocity expressed as a ratio of the acceleration of

gravity.
Effects of Ground Shaking
The horizontal component of seismic wave motion or shaking is the most destructive to
buildings since it is easier to shake than to compress rocks. Both shear (S) waves and love
waves are destructive as both have horizontal.

Shear wave velocity is therefore a good measure of the intensity ground shaking. It can also
be estimated from the characteristics of the rocks they pass through.

Shear wave velocities of rocks, period, and frequency are often used in detailed assessment
of the susceptibility of sites and buildings to the ground shaking. The use of shear wave
velocities for this purpose is discussed in detail in the next section.
Many destructive earthquakes
had been documented
worldwide. Many of the
damages and casualties were
caused by the collapse of
structures due to ground
shaking.

The Philippines has had its own

share of the damaging and fatal
effects of earthquakes.
Among the Baguio City landmarks
that collapsed due to the ground-
shaking were the Hyatt, and Nevada
Hotels. In Cabanatuan City, the
intense ground shaking caused the
collapsed of the poorly constructed
Christian colleges of the Philippines.

As the earthquake occurred during

school hours, the collapse of the 6-
storey school building resulted in the
death 154 people who were mostly
students.

Other notable and recent destructive

Philippines earthquakes include those
that occurred in Negros and Bohol,
which resulted in magnitude 6.9 and
magnitude 7.2 earthquakes, recently.
Earthquake Source Characteristic Control Intensity of
Vibration
How strong an earthquake ground shaking is would depend to a large degree on the nature
of the earthquake source.

The intensity and nature of ground shaking largely depend on the size of fault rupture, on
the magnitude of the earthquake, and on the distance from the earthquake epicenter.

The decline in intensity as distance increases, however, depends upon direction. Thus,
isoseismal lines are rarely circular and either show an elliptical elongation in the direction
of some major structural trend.

The size of the fault rupture that produces an earthquake may greatly affect the distance-
intensity relation of ground shaking.
Ground Rupture

Earthquake occur by the sudden motion along lithospheric, break called faults. During
strong earthquakes, faulting may reach the earth’s surface as ground rupture.

How then does the earth’s surface break along ground ruptures? Does it open up like a
fissure does? Is deformation limited along the narrow fault trace or does it affect a wider
zone? These are the most basic questions that must be addressed to appreciate the nature of
the danger ground ruptures bring.
How Ground Rupture Form

The lithosphere breaks when its strength is overcome by the large amount stress applied.
This breaking happens in much the same way a piece of rock does when struck hard enough
with a harmer.

An earthquake is generated when a fault movies, as its frictional resistance could not match
the large amount of accumulated stress related to plate motion.
Active
Faulting
Formation of faults that includes precursor structures of earthquake-generating faults has
been going on for hundreds of millions of year since the lithosphere has been subjected to
stresses related to the motion of the plates.

As plate positions and stress directions change, younger faults form but many of the older
faults are reactivated when the applied stress is large enough to overcome resistance along
the fault plane.
Factors Affecting the Characteristic of
Ground Ruptures
There are various factors which control the general nature and characteristic of faulting.
Some of these factors are specifically more relevant to the assessment of ground rupture
hazard. These determine how long ground ruptures are, how and by how much the earth’s
surface breaks along ground ruptures, and whether deformation is limited along the narrow
fault trace or affects a wider zone.

Aside from group rupture, faulting causes movement of the ground in many ways,
depending on the type of faulting involved. It may cause lateral shifting, uplift, subsidence,
extension, or compression.
Measurement to Minimize the Effect of
Ground Ruptures
Can you think of other ways by which the effects of ground ruptures to man-made
structures can be minimized?

The key is avoidance of the active fault trace and of the high-risk danger zone when
planning a construction.
LIQUEFACTI
ON
Gas pressure build-up in a container is always a dangerous thing.

The process of liquefaction turns the ground into a material with quicksand- like
consistency, messing up extensive areas including many cities farmlands, fishponds, and
places where roads, bridges, and pipelines run through.

How Does Liquefaction Occur?

When the ground shakes, some areas especially those made of wet fine sand are subjected
to liquefaction.