UNIT III HAZARDS

Concepts of Hazards

Webster dictionary defined hazard as a source of danger or something that may cause injury or
harm. Veenema (2013) identified hazard as the probability that a disaster will occur. The word
originated from the Old French word “hasard” and Arabic term “az-zarhr” meaning luck or chance. In
disaster management, an important principle people need to understand is natural or man-made
phenomenon only becomes a disaster if it reaches an extent that is beyond the local government unit’s
capacity to manage the crisis and requires the assistance of the national government and other external
agencies. A hazard may lead to a disaster only when it interacts with vulnerable population. For
example, there are 15 typhoons that entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility in 2014 but only
Typhoon Glenda (Rammasun) wreck devastation in some parts of the Bicol region. The effect of any
hazard differs between communities depending on vigilance, resiliency, and mitigation efforts. The
Philippines and Japan are two countries with almost identical catastrophes at any given point, while
both their people shows resiliency in times of disaster, when it comes to vigilance and mitigation efforts
they are worlds apart.

Kinds Hazards

1.Hydrometeorological Hazards

Typhoons, Tornado, Floods, Hailstorm, Drought, Landslide, Heat Wave, Cold Wave, Sea erosion,
Avalanche, Cloudburst, Blizzards, Lightning

2.Geological Hazards

Earthquake, Tsunami, Volcanic eruption, dam burst, Mine Fire, Landslide

3.Biological Hazards

Disease, Epidemics, Pest Attack, Food Poisoning, Weapons of mass destruction

4.Environmental Hazards

Pollution, Deforestation, Desertification, Pest Infection

5.Chemical Hazards

Oil spills, Fires, Nuclear Meltdown, Terrorist Bombing

6.Accident Related

Vehicular accidents, Airplane crash, Forest Fires, Building Collapse, Terrorist Bombing

PROJECT NOAH COMPONENTS AND TOOLS

Hydrometeorological and geological hazards are significant events in disaster planning. Death,
injury, diseases, destruction to properties and economic turmoil are consequences of these natures’
wrath. Millions of pesos are spent to acquire the latest equipment to predict its occurrence.
Advancement in technology has tremendously changed the way people respond to Hydrometeorological
hazards. Government’s effort to reduce the ill-effects of these hazards paved the way to the creation of
Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards). This 9 component project of DOST
together with warning agencies like PAGASA and PHIVOLCS in partnership with UP National Institute of
Geological Sciences and UP College of Engineering aims to harness cutting edge technologies to provide
a more accurate, integrated and responsive system to prevent and mitigate natural disasters. Project
NOAH tools and components includes: (1) Distribution of Hydro met devices to typhoon and flood prone
areas in the country; (2) Disaster Risk Exposure Assessment for Mitigation –Light Detection and Ranging
(DREAM-LIDAR) Project, an accurate 3D presentation of floods and hazard maps; (3) Geohazards
mapping through LIDAR, aims to identify areas prone to landslide; (4) Coastal Hazards and Storm Surge
Assessment and Mitigation (CHASSAM), detects coastal circulation, wave surge and refraction that helps
determine and resolve coastal erosion; (5) FloodNET Project, a flood center that provides accurate and
updated flood warning system; (6) LaDDeRS ( Local Development of Doppler Radar System), targets to
create a Doppler radar able to detect sea surface parameters like wave, surface current velocity and
wind field; (7) Landslide Sensors Development, aims to generate a sensorbased monitoring and warning
system for slope failures, landslides and debris flow; (8) WHIP (Weather Hazard Information Project),
utilization of web portal (http://noah.dost.gov.ph) and DOSTv , which provide real-time satellite,
Doppler radar etc. to inform the public to prepare against calamities. These activities are complemented
with the ninth component which is (9) Strategic Communication, utilizing IEC (Information, Education
and Communication) activities.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2000) categorized different biological warfare
according to risk and priority assessment. (1) Category A agents, deadliest microbe, easily disseminated
or transmitted and high mortality rate. It includes Anthrax, Botulinum toxin, Plague, Small pox,
Tularemia, Hemorrhagic fever viruses. (2) Category B agents, has potential for morbidity but low
mortality rate, moderately easy to transmit. Typhus fever, Viral Encephalitis, Salmonella, Shigella, E.coli
are examples of agents under this category. (3) Category C are described as “emerging agents”, it has
the potential to infect in the future eg. Hantavirus and Nipah Fever.

The advent of urbanization gave rise to the emergence of environmental hazards. Air pollutants
are proven to cause serious health effects such as damage to immune system, cancers and birth defect
(Veenema, 2013). Likewise, the use pesticides are associated with increase infertility rate, miscarriage,
convulsion and liver damage.

Chemical hazards are classified into (1) intentional; and (2) unintentional (Beach, 2010). Intentional
incidents are criminal acts of terrorism or sabotage causing the release of toxic chemicals into the
environment. Sarin, a known chemical agent that inhibit acetylcholinesterase in the Nervous system
causing respiratory and cardiovascular irregularities leading to death was used in a deadly attack in
Syrian town of Ghouta in 2013 that claimed 1, 429 lives (Steinblatt, 2015). Unintentional events produce
the same result but the release of the chemical is accidental. The Chernobyl explosion in 1986 in Ukraine
is one such accident. The 2015 forest fire in Indonesia documented 21 fire-related victims,
including burns, pneumonia, asthma and meningitis exacerbated by upper respiratory tract infections.
The 9/11 terrorist attack in the US resulted in the collapsed of the Twin Towers that registered about
2,999 death and injured more than 6,000 casualties.