Man-Made Disasters Public Awareness For Disaster Risk Reduction

Man-Made Disasters Public Awareness For Disaster Risk Reduction

Learning Objectives

* Understand the community based Disaster Risk Reduction approaches.

* List out the important man-made disasters.

* Describe the rules of action during stampede.

* State how to protect one -self from drowning.

* Explain the measures of how to prevent re accident

* Elucidate the rules of action for transport accident.

Introduction

"Mumbai railway station stampede kills at least 22"

“Rush-hour crush on footbridge connecting two stations was triggered by falling concrete that caused panic!”

At least 22 people have been killed and more than 30 injured during a rush-hour stampede on a bridge between two railway stations in Mumbai. e crush occurred on a narrow footbridge connecting Prabhadevi station, formerly Elphinstone, and Parel station during the Friday, September 29, 2017 morning commuter rush and amid heavy rain. “ ere was a huge crowd on the foot over bridge. Everybody tried to leave at once and it appeared one of them slipped and fell, triggering the stampede,” said an Indian Railways spokesman. Another spokesman said the number of people on the bridge was higher than usual because people were using the station to shelter from the rain.

The above incident throws some lights on how to be aware of the accidents we encounter in our daily walk of life. Let us try to answer the following questions:

1. Which is more important life or the scheduled journey to be completed?

2. Why rushing in anything may be disastrous?

3. Why timely communication is more important to avoid accident?

The root of the word disaster (“bad star” in Greek and Latin) comes from an astrological theme in which ancients used to refer to the destruction of a star as a disaster.

Terms to know:

1. Hazard is a potentially damaging physical event or human activity which may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.

2. Disaster is a serious disruption of a society functioning, causing widespread human, material losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources.

3. Disaster risk management is a set of activities, including structural and non-structural measures to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) adverse effects of disaster.

4. Capacity - the assets, resources and skills available within a community that can be used to reduce the risks or effects of a disaster.

5. Disaster risk reduction includes activities that will minimize disaster-related losses of life and property.

Disaster is a serious disruption, causing damage or injury to people, buildings, roads, livelihoods, or the environment, which exceed the community’s ability to cope.

The magnitude and impact of disasters are increasing and disasters have disrupted social, economic and environmental community activities worldwide. International data shows that disasters have taken, over the last 10 years, more than 478,000 lives. It has affected 2.5 billion people and caused direct economic losses in the amount of 690 billion US dollars worldwide.

Recent financial studies underline the urgent need for a shift from sole disaster response to disaster risk reduction. Therefore, efforts should be made to ensure that disaster risk reduction is an important aspect of poverty reduction and general development initiatives in the coming years.