It is important to understand that disasters take place through the interplay of hazard, and vulnerability; there are a number of hazards present in our vicinity or our hazard exposure level is high, and as we are unprepared our vulnerability to these hazards is high. These (hazard and vulnerability) thus create a state of emergency […]
Search Results for: earthquake
Risk
Cambridge English Dictionary defines risk as the possibility of something bad happening or something bad that might happen. Risk refers to expected or anticipated losses from the impact of a given hazard on a given element at risk over a specific period of time. It is important to note that risk is perceived differently by […]
Exposure
Exposure refers to people, infrastructure, property, housing, production capacities, and other tangible human assets located in a geographical area likely to be affected by hazards. Disaster impact is a direct function of exposure, and if a hazard occurs in an area having no exposure, then there is no risk. In October 2013 a Category 5 […]
Vulnerability
We are all concerned about hazards. We want to understand the processes controlling these. We want to know how, and why these sometimes cause loss of life, property, infrastructure, and assets. All this because we are hard wired to safeguard ourselves, our community and our interests for which better understanding of hazards is a precondition. […]
Hazard
Cambridge English Dictionary defines hazard as something that is dangerous, and likely to cause damage. As reflected by “likely” in this definition, the term hazard suggests possibility of damage, even though actual damage has not been caused. Mere existence of the damage causing potential is thus enough to identify a process, phenomenon, or activity as […]
Risk reduction
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) refers to the policy objective of anticipating, and reducing risk. Although often used interchangeably with DRR, disaster risk management (DRM) can be thought of as the implementation of DRR, since it describes the actions that aim at achieving the objective of reducing risk. DRM is actually a continuum that seeks to […]
Disrupted bridges and missed opportunities
We encounter bridges so frequently, and in such diverse variety that we often take these for granted, and do not often pay particular attention towards their existence, leave apart appreciating their role in socio-economic development of our region, and adding comfort, and convenience to our routine lives. But then, imagine a world without bridges. But […]
XV Finance Commission: Disaster Risk Index
In accordance with the recommendations of the XIV Finance Commission (FC) to take note of disaster risk faced by the states so as to bring objectivity in resource allocation, the XV Finance Commission (FC) developed the disaster risk index (DRI) through a quantitative exercise wherein scores were assigned to the probability of hazards striking the states […]
Lessons from June 2013 disaster of Uttarakhand
Small or big every incidence has some lessons in store for us, and intelligent are those who don’t wait to learn from incidences, and instead learn from the experiences gained by others. The lessons alone are however of little use unless these are acted upon. Hope some find their share of action points in the […]
Resource allocation basis of XV Finance Commission
The official machinery in our nation carries a lot of inertia that makes officials adhere to precedents. It is in fact a perfect risk transfer strategy where the burden of failure can easily be passed on to those setting the precedent. This makes innovations hard to come by, and this has also been the case […]