Tag: geography

A.  Earthquakes

An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can be violent enough to toss people around and destroy whole cities. The seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. In modern popular culture, the portrayal of earthquakes is shaped by the memory of great cities laid waste, such as Kobe in 1995 or San Francisco in 1906.Fictional earthquakes tend to strike suddenly and without warning

Generation of disaster warning is a multi-institutional effort, which has direct application in disaster mitigation and management, urban development, planning, design and construction, and risk assessment to existing life and property, defense installations, heavy industry and public utilities and services, etc. During the last few years’ efforts have been made to take up microzonation studies for Delhi, Guwahati, Sikkim and Bangalore

Recovery is the phase after a disaster that aims to restore normal life, which includes housing, medical care, and rebuilding infrastructure.

Hurricane Betsy was an intense and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida and the Central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. Hurricane Betsy was the first natural disaster to generate more than a billion dollars in damages. At that time there was no standardized floodplain management strategy throughout the country and flood insurance was not widely available through private companies.Hurricane Betsy was the final push for the creation of national flood legislation. The implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program was intended to make flood insurance more affordable, but also to manage development in floodplains.

• The four phases of Comprehensive Emergency management are Mitigation, Preparation, Response and Recovery. 
  
• Mitigation i.e preventing future emergencies or minimizing their effects and it includes any activities that prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or reducing the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies. 
  
• The preparation phase is centred around arranging or developing a plan to approach events after the incident crops up. Unlike prevention and preparation phase, response is undertaken during a disaster situation. 
  
• The aim of the response procedures is to save lives, reduce victim's suffering and alleviate economical losses. Crucial for this phase is the implementation of the plans formulated and prepared prior to the event in the preparation phase. 
  
• During a recovery phase, which takes place after an incident had occurred, affected community is assisted in restoration of concerned area.

The  phases of disaster management planning are Preparation, Response and Recovery, Management.  The preparation phase is centred around arranging or developing a plan to approach events after the incident crops up. Activities are tailored to minimize the damage disaster causes, improving response operations on institutional and individual levels. Unlike prevention and preparation phase, response is undertaken during a disaster situation. The aim of the response procedures is to save lives, reduce victim's suffering and alleviate economical losses. Crucial for this phase is the implementation of the plans formulated and prepared prior to the event in the preparation phase. During a recovery phase, which takes place after an incident had occurred, affected community is assisted in restoration of concerned area. Disaster management forces can help by removing people and property from a threatened location and by facilitating timely and effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation at the place of disaster thereby reducing loss of property, protecting people and reducing trauma among people.

The International Day for Disaster Reduction began in 1989, by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. Held every 13 October, the day celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face.

DRR stands for Disaster Risk Reduction, which refers to policies and practices designed to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks.

Mitigation activities are those taken to reduce the severity or impact of a disaster, such as building flood defenses or earthquake-resistant structures.