Addressing Disaster Risk in Hazard-Prone Countries

A Framework for Action by Dr. Andy Oreta

We live in an environment where nature and infrastructures interact as shown in Figure 1. Our built environment is a product of society’s utilization of resources and energy obtained from nature. Infrastructure development, however, produces negative outputs like air pollution and waste that have severe impact on human systems and the natural environment including climate change. Nature, on the other hand, provides us with useful resources but at the same time produces natural hazards that threaten the built environment. Disasters occur at the interface between the natural and human systems. The interaction between the natural and built environment may trigger a disaster that has impacts to the safety of man and sustainability of our environment. 

Figure 1. Interaction of hazards, vulnerabilities and Disasters

Achieving safety and sustainability is a major challenge in regions or countries that are vulnerable to adverse natural hazards like earthquakes, typhoons, floods, volcanic eruptions, drought and tsunamis. Infrastructures, if vulnerable to these hazards, become inoperable making them useless. Many buildings and bridges have collapsed in the past due to strong earthquakes and tsunamis. Traffic leads to a standstill when roads and highways become flooded. Water infrastructures become ineffective during water shortages due to drought. When these disasters occur, the quality of life and safety of the people are affected. Safety from harm due to collapsed buildings, safety from accidents during travel from office to homes and lack of safe drinking water are examples of the impact of disasters on safety in hazard-prone regions. Sustainability is also at stake in hazard-prone regions. Disasters lead to wastage of resources and energy and produces debris which contributes to environmental deterioration.

Safety and sustainability issues are intertwined in the interaction between disaster and development. Risk can be simply defined as:

Risk = Hazard x Elements at Risk x Vulnerability

This model simply says disaster risk increases with hazard and vulnerability. Hence, if we want to reduce the risk of the ‘elements at risk’ (like people, structures, economy, etc) to a hazard and prevent a disaster, then we must reduce hazards and vulnerabilities.

Hence our subcenter on DRR-CCA simply has to go back to UNISDR definition of DRR to guide its actions and programs. DRR is defined as “the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.”  This definition is summarized as a conceptual framework in Figure 2.

Conceptual Framework on how to address disaster risk

Hence researches that aim to reduce or avoid hazards and reduce vulnerabilities on infrastructures and the community will lead to reduction of disaster risks. Reduced disaster risks leads to safer structures and improved safety to the people. Reduced disaster risks also leads to sustainability since there will be less damage to infrastructures and less wastage of resources and less impact to the people which translates to better living conditions. When we protect our people, assets and infrastructures, we increase the people’s resilience and health, preserve our resources and maintain the balance between built and natural environment.