1. PROJECT ON DISASTER
MANAGEMENT

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to my Social Studies
teacher “Mr. Krunal Jagtap” for his able guidance and support in completing my
project.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to our School Principal “Dr. Annapurna
Lilly Bipinraj” for providing me with a golden opportunity to work on this
wonderful project.
Date: Shubhayan Dutta Gupta
6th June 2020 IX-B

3. CONTENTS
Introduction to disasters
Types of disasters
Effects of disasters with prominent references
Safety practices to be followed to prevent disasters
Contingency planning and policies of national authorities to
handle after effects of disasters
Ways of Creating awareness about disasters and disaster
management among people
Interesting facts
Conclusion

4. INTRODUCTION TO DISASTERS
Disasters are mainly calamities, accidents or catastrophes which occur suddenly due
to human error or imbalances in the nature. Disasters are very harmful and
dangerous for humans and man-kind because it causes a lot of destruction and its
after effects are quite dangerous. The future generations also have to suffer from
the after effects of these disasters. Disasters also cause a lot of deaths and
affect a country’s development or growth. It may also destroy the heritage sites or
the beautiful scenic places of a country.

5. TYPES OF DISASTERS
In the previous slide we have already discussed that disasters are caused due to
imbalances in the nature or due to human error. In the successive slides we will
discuss briefly about the disasters and their subtopics.

6. NATURAL DISASTERS
Natural disasters are the disasters which are caused due to disturbances in
the nature’s balance cycle. Some of the Natural disasters are:
Floods
Earthquake
Tornado
Landslide
Tsunami
Storm

7. Floods: Floods are the most common natural disasters or calamities after
earthquakes and tsunamis. It is caused due to excess rainfall, melting of glaciers
or rise in the water level of seas and rivers, which causes it to overflow. Floods
occur when this overflowing water comes to land(especially dry land) with a high
speed.
The speed of flood water becomes the destruction factor because it comes with
such rapidity and speed that it sweeps and takes away all the houses, factories,
shops and people with it. It takes a long time to overcome the devastation of the
floods and rebuild all the structures which are destroyed by the floods.

8. Earthquakes: Earthquakes are the most frequently occuring natural disasters. It
is caused due to collision or brushing of the earth’s plates, which are present deep
inside the crust of the earth. It causes heavy destruction and may also cause
famine and drought.
Its destruction may also cause many industrial factories to breakdown whose
poisonous or toxic gases and particles may kill or disable many people. The best
example of such a destruction caused by an earthquake is the breakdown of the
Fukushima Daichi nuclear reactor in Japan due to an earthquake which occurred in
Japan in 2011. The district where the reactor was located, resulted in the death
of many innocent people due to the radiation leaking from the nuclear reactor.

9. Tornadoes: A tornado is a destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having
the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud, advancing beneath a large storm system.
It has contact with both the earth’s surface and the air.
It is also known as whirlwind. Tornadoes are formed by large thunder clouds
known as Supercells. These Supercells produce highspeed horizontal vortex winds.
When the warm air from the ground rises and goes into the horizontal vortex
winds these vortex winds slowly get vertical, this process is known as updraft.
When this horizontal vortex winds get vertical and touch the surface of the
earth, it forms a Tornado. A tornado can produce winds up to 65 – 110 miles per
hour(104-177 km/h) becoming dangerous for human life and property.

10. Landslide: Landslides are down-slope movement of soil and rock under the direct
influence of gravity. Gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur.
Landslides are caused by rain, earthquakes, volcanoes or other factors that make
the slope unstable.
It includes a wide range of ground movements such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope
failures, mudflows and falling of debris. Landslides occur in a variety of
environments. It is characterized by either steep or gentle slope gradients. It
ranges from mountain ranges to coastal cliffs or even underwater cliffs, which are
called submarine landslides.

11. Tsunami: A tsunami ( Derived from the Japanese word ‘Tsunami’ meaning Harbour
wave) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of large
volumes of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. It may occur due to
earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, meteorite impacts and other
underwater explosions. A tsunami does not resemble any normal undersea currents
or sea waves because the wavelength of a tsunami is far longer than theirs.
A tsunami comes as a huge, rapidly rising tide and thus, it is also known as a tidal
wave. A tsunami causes mass destruction and devastation of humankind and
property. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was one of the deadliest tsunamis in all
of human history, with at least 2,30,000 people dead.

12. Storm: A storm is any disturbed state of the atmosphere especially affecting its
surface, and strongly implying a wind force. It may come with significant
disruptions such as Lightning(thunderstorm), heavy precipitation( rainstorm,
snowstorm), heavy freezing rain(ice storm), strong winds(tropical cyclone or
windstorm) or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere such as
dust in a dust storm and sand in a sandstorm.
Storms are created when a centre of low pressure develops with the system of
high pressure surrounding it. This combination of opposing forces can create winds
and result in the formation of storm and storm clouds. It has the potential to
harm human lives and property via storm surge, heavy rain and lightning.

13. MAN-MADE DISASTERS
The disasters or hazards caused by humans deliberately or by human error is
known as man-made disasters. Man-made disasters affect human lives,
biomes, ecosystems and other organisms adversely. There are two types of
man-made disasters:
Industrial man-made disasters(human error)
Deliberate man-made disasters
Lets discuss a little about these man-made disasters.

14. Industrial man-made disasters: The disasters which are caused by human
error in the field of industrial production is known as industrial man-made
disasters.
It may affect the whole population living near the industry where the disaster
has occured or it can also contaminate the surroundings due to which the
future generations may also suffer from the aftermath of the industrial
disasters.

15. Deliberate man-made disasters: The disasters caused by mankind deliberately
is known as deliberate man-made disasters. Wars are the best example of
deliberately caused man-made disasters.
A deliberately caused man-made disaster can wipe out the whole population of
a country and just like industrial man-made disasters(human error) the future
generations of the country may also suffer the consequences of deliberate
man-made disasters.

16. EFFECTS OF DISASTERS
In the previous slides we have discussed about the different types of
disasters. In the coming slides we will discuss about the effects of disasters
with prominent references to these disasters which have occurred in
different places including our country:
Effects of natural disasters
Effects of man-made disasters

17. EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS
Natural disasters are those disasters which represent the wrath and
devastation of nature, they also signify that nature is as dangerous as it is
beautiful. A natural disaster can wipe out human life and property. It also
destroys all the scenic beauty of any place. Now, we will discuss about the
effects of natural disasters which have occurred around the world with some
prominent references.

18. 2013 Moore Tornado: On the afternoon of 20 May, 2013 a powerful EF5
tornado(Enhanced Fujita Scale: according to the Enhanced Fujita Scale EF5 means
that a tornado has immense power to cause extreme devastation and destruction.)
ravaged Moore(a city in Cleveland county, Oklahoma in the United States of
America.) and adjacent areas, with peak winds of 210 mph (340 km/h), killing 24
people and injuring 212 others.
The tornado was part of a larger weather system that had produced several other
tornadoes across the Great Plains over the previous two days, including five that
struck portions of Central Oklahoma the day prior on May 19, 2013.

19. Cyclone Storm Amphan: Cyclone Storm Amphan was a super cyclonic storm and a
powerful and deadly tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage over East
India and Bangladesh in May 2020. It was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike
the Ganges Delta since Sidr in 2007(Sidr was a cyclonic storm that hit north India
and Bangladesh in 2007) and the first super cyclonic storm to occur in the Bay of
Bengal since the 1999 Odisha cyclone.
Causing over US$13 billion of damage, Amphan is also the costliest cyclone ever
recorded in the North Indian Ocean, surpassing the record held by Nargis(Storm
Nargis was a storm that struck Parts of India and Myanmar). It had peak winds of
240 km/h (150 mph), it changed to 260 km/h (160 mph) after 1 minute causing
extreme devastation and destruction to east India(especially Odisha and Bengal).

20. 2001 Bhuj Earthquake: The 2001 Gujarat earthquake, also known as the Bhuj
earthquake, occurred on 26 January, India's 52nd Republic Day, at 8:46 am(I.S.T).
The epicenter of the earthquake was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of
Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District of Gujarat.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 Richter on the Richter scale causing mass
destruction in Bhuj. It killed between 13,805 and 20,023 people, injured 1,67,000
people and destroyed nearly 3,40,000 buildings including 40% of the homes in the
area, eight schools and two hospitals. It is considered one of the worst disasters
ever to occur in the Indian subcontinent.

21. 2011 Tōhoku Tsunami: The 2011 Tōhoku Tsunami occurred in the coastal district
of Tōhoku(Tōhoku is a district in the Honshu island of Japan) in Japan. The
instance which caused this tsunami was an undersea megathrust earthquake which
occurred on Friday, 11 March, 2011 at 2:46(Japanese local time) (05:46- Indian
Standard Time). The tsunami had a magnitude of 9.0-9.1 on the Richter scale.
 It had waves that reached heights up to 40.5 metres(133ft) and the waves
travelled at a speed of 700 km/h (435 mph). The epicenter of the tsunami was
approximately 70 kilometres(43miles) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku the
hypocenter(is the epicenter of an underwater tsunami) at an underwater depth of
approximately 29 km (18 miles). It was the fourth most powerful tsunami that had
hit Japan. It caused mass destruction in Japan causing 15,899 deaths.

22. EFFECTS OF MAN-MADE DISASTERS
Man-made disasters also known as Anthropogenic hazards or disasters are
quite dangerous and its effect can disrupt the whole environment and nature
of the Earth.
The effects of man-made disasters can even contaminate the surroundings of
a particular place or country due to which the present generations and the
future generations of a country or a place may suffer from the consequences
or the effects of these man-made disasters.
The effects of man-made disasters also affect the places surrounding the
area where the disaster has occured. Now we will discuss about the effects of
industrial man-made disasters and deliberate man-made disasters with some
prominent references around the world.

23. Bhopal gas tragedy: The Bhopal gas tragedy also known as the Bhopal disaster was
an industrial man-made disaster which occurred on 2 December, 1984. It was a
toxic gas leak incident. Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas had leaked from a chemical
and pesticide producing company in Bhopal known as Union Carbide India Limited.
This disaster contaminated many areas surrounding the place where the Union
Carbide plant was located.
 The disaster maimed several people in Bhopal and contaminated all the
surroundings and environment which also affected the future generations living in
those areas. 2,259 was the official death toll. 5,58,125 people were injured,
38,478 had partial injuries and 3,900 had developed disabilities.

24. Vizag gas tragedy: The Vishakhapatnam gas tragedy also known as the Vizag gas
tragedy was an industrial man-made disaster. It was a gas leak incident similar to
the Bhopal gas tragedy. The incident occurred on 7th May, 2020 at 3:00 am early
in the morning. The gas leaked from a chemical and polymer producing industry
known as LG polymers India limited. The gas leakage was of a toxic monomer known
as Styrene monomer. The gas had leaked due to the improper maintenance of the
units storing the Styrene monomer.
The disaster resulted in a vapour cloud which spread over a radius of 3km(2miles),
affecting all the nearby areas surrounding the place where the plant was located.
According to official government records as of 8thMay, 2020, the death toll was
13 and more than 1,000 people became sick after being exposed to the gas.

25. Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedy: Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedy also known as
the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a deliberate man-made disaster. It
was a result of the prolonged Pacific war in World War II between Japan and
America. America detonated two Atomic Bombs over two Japanese cities:
Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th of August, 1945.
The two atomic bombs were known as Little boy and Fat man. The bombs were so
toxic that they formed a mushroom cloud over the two cities killing many people
and contaminating the environment in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both the cities have
developed and overcome the devastation of the bombings but still many people in
these cities suffer from the toxic effects of these bombs. The two bombings
killed between 129,000 to 226,000 people.


26. SAFETY PRACTICES TO BE FOLLOWED TO
PREVENT DISASTERS
There are some practices which have to be followed to prevent natural
disasters or to keep ourselves safe during these disasters. Both the
government and the civilians of a country have to follow these guidelines and
rules to prevent a disaster and be safe. Let us discuss the safety practices
during the following disasters:-
Safety practices to be followed to prevent natural disasters.
Safety practices to be followed to prevent man-made disasters.

27. SAFETY PRACTICES TO BE FOLLOWED TO
PREVENT NATURAL DISASTERS
The safety practices to be followed to prevent natural disasters are:
The first step we should follow to prevent natural disasters is, we should
not disturb the nature and make sure that there is balance in the nature.
We should keep a close track on the weather report and alert everybody in
advance about the upcoming disaster. We should develop our natural
disaster predicting systems.
We should build more and more safety shelters so that people can take
refuge in the situation of a disaster.

28. SAFETY PRACTICES TO BE FOLLOWED TO
PREVENT MAN-MADE DISASTERS
The safety practices to be followed to prevent man-made disasters are:
 The government should not allow chemical or any other toxic producing
industries to set up their factories in populous areas.
Safety systems should be installed in the factories or industries. Safety
drills should be carried out and workers must be updated on how to handle
the safety systems.
The government of all countries should maintain peaceful relations between
them and instead help each other in trade and development and should avoid
unnecessary wars and other attacks or bombings.

29. CONTINGENCY PLANNING AND POLICIES OF
NATIONAL AUTHORITIES TO HANDLE AFTER
EFFECTS OF DISASTERS
The government and the national authorities have a very big role in providing
facilities to people and in helping them to overcome the devastation of natural
and man-made disasters. The help and compensation which is provided by the
government and the national authorities is known as contingency plans.
 Actually, contingency planning is a plan devised for an outcome other than in a
usual plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that
has catastrophic consequences.

30. The policies and the services which should be provided to the civilians by the
national authorities to handle the after effects of natural disasters are:
The government should provide sufficient ration, food and water to the people
who are stuck in the disaster struck areas.
The government should keep a tab on the traders who are hoarding and selling
ration at high price to the people who are disaster stricken.
Government should provide development funds for the development of the
area where the disaster has struck.
The government should assign doctors, rescue teams and disaster relief teams
at the place where the disaster has taken place.
The disaster stricken places, where it is difficult to reach, the government
should assign the army to drop supplies by air.
The government should see that civilians are not looting resources or ration
from each other.

31. The national authorities should assign scientific developers to educate and
guide the civilians to build structures and environment friendly spaces which
are resistant to disasters.
Last but not the least, the government should keep an eye on the activities of
the people and the industries which may cause such disasters. It must take
strict action against such defaulters who are a threat to the environment and
the country.

32. WAYS OF CREATING AWARENESS ABOUT DISASTERS
AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT AMONG PEOPLE
Creating awareness among people is the most important thing in disaster
management. If we do not make the people aware about the dangers of
disasters, how to handle the disasters and how to survive during disasters, then,
they will not be able to take any first aid measures for the disaster stricken
people around them until the rescue teams arrive.
The ways through which we can make people aware about disasters and disaster
management are as follows:
First of all we have to make people aware about the different types of
disasters and make them realize about the adverse effects of natural
disasters by demonstrations and by broadcasting their adversities through the
TV channels.

33. We should show them how to help people and how to give first aid during
a disaster. Drills should be conducted for practising all the skills
required to save people and to survive during a disaster.
We should bring rescue team specialists to teach them how to rescue
people from disaster stricken areas if rescue teams are unable to reach
that area.
People should be taught how to share ration and resources during and
after disasters with those who lack them.
People should be given knowledge about the medicines and the resources
which should be kept with them while staying in a safety shelter.
People should keep themselves updated about the upcoming disasters
and should be prepared for it. Safety kits should be kept within reach
and people should be taught how to use the safety kits.

34. INTERESTING FACTS
The High Powered Committee of India on Disaster management was formed on
August 1999 under the chairmanship of J.C. Pant. The HPC initiates various
comprehensive model plans for disaster management at the national, state and
district levels.
The National Disaster Management Authority of India was established on 28th
September, 2005.
The Disaster Management Act of India was passed on 23rd December, 2005.
Disaster word comes from the Greek word “Dusaster”(Dus= bad, Aster= star: a
calamity caused due to the change in the position of a star),it then evolved into
Disastro in Italian, then as Desastre in French and finally converted into
disaster.

35. CONCLUSION
Finally, we can say that knowledge about disaster and disaster management is
very important because it helps us to handle disasters and the after effects
of natural or man-made disasters.
Through this project we have learnt about the role of the government and the
national authorities in handling natural and man-made disasters.
We have also become aware about the adverse effects of natural and man-
made disasters and how it can harm humans and their surroundings.
We have understood the different ways in which we can create awareness
among people about the different types of disasters and their management.
We have become conscious on how to prevent disasters in the future. I would
like to conclude with the saying “Prevention is better than cure”.