Human/Man-Made Disasters

Human or Man-Made Disasters.

     Human or man made disasters are caused by identifiers that are attributed to man. They are situations where communities suffer through loss of life; property, services and inability to self sustain
them selves like in conflict, and legislation that affect their lives adversely.

With this we move to the second type of disasters.

Speed of onset.

                    The first is slow onset where adverse event are slow to develop, the event or situation develops and then evolves into an emergency and then a disaster. Case in point, Syria.
                    Secondly we have sudden onset. This situation has no warming or very little. This obviously means no time to prepare or very little. The example is in volcanic activity, tsunami etc.

Naturally being prepared helps in mitigating the effects of disasters and understanding the hazards of your region is powerful in mitigation and remedial action planning and execution. This involves knowing implications of disasters to your region. It could be loss of life, power disruption, disruption of living, etc.

I apologize for the delay and short posts, things will normalize soon.

Benson Mutahi

Disaster Management Enthusiast

Situations we are watching

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/17/world/asia/philippines-mindanao-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/16/world/asia/indonesia-volcano/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/16/world/americas/tropical-weather/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/15/world/asia/japan-nuclear-reactor-shutdown/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45860&Cr=environment&Cr1=

Earthquakes,Tsunami and Floods

     The trembling or shaking movement of the earths surface as a result volcanic activity results in plate movements along the fault plane and this is what causes earthquakes. They are sudden, violent, day or night. The richter scale is used to measure magnitude and the modified mercalli intensity scale which determines qualitatively by physical observations of the earthquakes impact.Visit here for more on earthquake and the research of earthquakes

from Reuters

      We shift to Tsunami an ocean wave generated by a submarine earthquake, volcano or landslide. Its been also called a tidal wave but this is not correct and its only other name is a seismic sea wave. Point to note is that tsunami can hit much faster than most people expect. With speeds of up to 1000km/hr, the message is clear heed tsunami warnings.Floods on the other hand are caused when water covers previously dry areas. They are not always negative ask the Egyptians and they are blessed when it floods.With it brings nutrients to its desert enabling cultivation and feeding its people and so efficiently done that they can export.

from VOA.com: Kenyan Military helping people affected by landslides in the country 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
       Landslides are caused by by a particular factor or a combination. Before we look at this lets note that landslides refers to the downward movement of masses of earth and rock. With this done we note that the factors that causes them could be; an increase in the load the earth is bearing, a change in the earths gradient, shocks and vibrations, change in the water content in an area or the movement of ground water, frost action,change in vegetation, or even removal of vegetation cover. On top of these factors they are characteristics to note of a landslide hazard area. They are courtesy of virtual university. Some human causes include over development grading,terrain cutting and filling.

Benson Mutahi
Disaster Management Enthusiast

Situations we are watching
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24022866
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/09/2013990014907480.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45794&Cr=democratic&Cr1=congo

References

Emergency Management: the American Experience,1900-2010. ed. Claire B.Rubin 

http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.col.org%2FSiteCollectionDocuments%2FDisaster_Management_version_1.0.pdf&ei=TU0fUu2pCcPD7AaN5YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNFTu0x4d83emTdP7PeqNce5_tocqw&bvm=bv.51495398,d.ZGU

http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFkQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gobookee.net%2Fintroduction-to-disaster-management%2F&ei=TU0fUu2pCcPD7AaN5YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNGfJUQc_bdnzhgRaoFoKkVLME69bw&bvm=bv.51495398,d.ZGU

Classifications of Disasters.

    Typically classification of disasters is on two levels, causes which are natural vs human and speed of onset.. sudden or slow.. They are others like  duration of disaster,degree of personal impact, potential for occurrence, and control over future impact.Natural disaster causes usually occur near people structures or on economic assets,being caused by biological, geographic, seismic, hydrological or meteorological conditions or processes in the natural setting. They are typically floods, earthquakes, tsunami,landslides and volcanic eruptions.

         

       Lets get to know more about the mentioned causes. We start with cyclones, hurricanes or typhoons. Cyclones develop when warm oceans give rise to got air, giving rise to the creation of convectional air that
produces the cyclone while it is being displaced. Hurricane is the name given to a cyclone in the Norther Atlantic and Caribbean basin and in Asia and the pacific oceans they are called cyclones.   The typical warming procedures for cyclones are the following. They are courtesy of the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC). 

i) Small crafts and fishing boats: approx 25-35mph winds.
ii) Wind advisory for the public: approx. 25-35mph winds.
iii) Gale watch: when a mature tropical cyclone has a significant probability to threaten a part of the country within 48 hours.
iv) Gale force warning: issued when wind speeds are expected to reach gale force intensity of (34-47knots) within the next 24 hours.
v) Storm watch: if a post tropical cyclone disturbance is a notable to threat to an area or the entire country within a 24 to 48 hour time frame, a storm watch statement would be included with the gale warning.
vi) Storm warning: issued every three (3) hours when the average wind speeds are expected to reach storm force intensity of 48-63 knots within the next 12 to 24 hours.
vii) Cyclone watch: issued when tropical cyclone winds is expected to reach cyclone force winds of above 63 knots (or 70 mph) in 24 to 48 hours.
viii) Cyclone warning: issued every three (3) hours, when wind speeds are expected to exceed 63 knots within the next 12 to 24 hours.

Situations we are watching

1.http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/03/world/meast/syria-refugees-unhcr/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
2.http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/03/world/meast/syria-refugees-unhcr/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


Benson Mutahi
Disaster Management Enthusiast

References

Emergency Management: the American Experience,1900-2010. ed. Claire B.Rubin 

http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.col.org%2FSiteCollectionDocuments%2FDisaster_Management_version_1.0.pdf&ei=TU0fUu2pCcPD7AaN5YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNFTu0x4d83emTdP7PeqNce5_tocqw&bvm=bv.51495398,d.ZGU

http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFkQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gobookee.net%2Fintroduction-to-disaster-management%2F&ei=TU0fUu2pCcPD7AaN5YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNGfJUQc_bdnzhgRaoFoKkVLME69bw&bvm=bv.51495398,d.ZGU