Disaster Management - UPSC Success · Disaster Management Introduction 2 ... • lack of medical facilities ... in case of a disaster. With communication and transportation network

Disaster management - Basics

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DisasterMgmt.org

Disaster Management

Introduction 2

General Preparedness 4

Earthquakes 12

Volcanoes 22

Floods 29

Tornadoes, Typhoons, Cyclones 38

Fires 40

Structural Damage 60

Search and Rescue 65

About 71


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Introduction

DisasterMgmt.org provides detailed information on type of

disasters, how to prepare for disasters, and how to respond to

disasters.

Disasters whether natural or man-made can strike at any time. In

general, the general response to a disaster is in terms of

relief and rescue operations - after the event. However, if we

are adequately prepared, its possible to severely reduce the

impact of a disaster. The impact can be reduced through a good

understanding of preventive actions, as well as having the

knowledge of certain life-saving tools and techniques, which

when used at the time of the event of disaster can control the

total damage to life and belongings.

The biggest problem with the disasters is the suddenness and

swiftness with which they arrive. Hence, in order to reduce the

severity of a disaster the response also has to equally swift.

Lets first understand, what is a disaster. Dictionary meaning of

"disaster" may be taken as: "a sudden accident or natural event

that causes great damage or loss of life" - Oxford Dictionary.

So, as can be seen, disaster by definition itself is "sudden"

and causes immense damage to property and/or life.

Almost all of us can think of several disasters that have

occurred in the recent past. Earthquakes, industrial accidents,

oil-spills, forest-fires, terrorist activities etc. are some of

the more commonly encountered disasters.


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Disasters themselves are not limited to specific parts of world,

though, certain areas might be more prone to certain specific

type of disaster, e.g. area around Pacific rim is more prone to

earthquakes, some countries are more prone to terrorist

activities, some coastal areas are more prone to cyclones, and,

some areas are more prone to floods. However, the more advanced

a nation is, typically, their level of preparedness is higher.

This higher level of preparedness allows them to have a better

control over the loss.

There are certain types of disasters, where, the loss during the

actual event is not necessarily as high, but, the losses become

very high due to inability to manage the situation in a timely

manner. More often than not, it happens due to confusion and

chaos in the context of too much loss, and, inefficient

utilization of resources - which are already strained.

Another thing which causes a lot of loss during certain kind of

disasters is the inability to properly manage and secure the

utilities, like: electricity, gas, water etc. On one side, each

of these utilities are very important, and, on the other side,

due to leakages/ruptures, some of these might come in contact

with each other, when they should not - causing further damage.

Thus, the main motivation behind disaster management is to

minimize the losses at the time of a disaster as well as ensure

most efficient utilization of resources - which are already

scarce.


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General Preparedness

The main characteristics of a major disaster are that

irrespective of the origin, after a little while the scene is

the same:

• total chaos all around

• lack of utilities – which we have always taken for granted

• no relief and rescue teams for several days

• lack of medical facilities

Thus, the sufferings are not just due to the disaster, but,

post-disaster, many more people die and suffer because of:

1. lack of food, shelter

2. lack of medical attention

3. hygiene issues causing health hazards

The nature of disaster might only change the sequence of events

– that’s all.

Hence, it is important to have the following precautions/

preparations done – if your neighbourhood is prone to any of the

disasters. While preparing, remember, after a major disaster it

might be atleast 3 to 5 days, before the first signs of relief

is visible. All your preparations should be done with this in

mind. It’s not just important to survive the immediate disaster,

but, you need to be able to sustain yourself for next several

days – all on your own – maybe, without any utilities etc.

First and foremost, remember, after a disaster, you might not

have stores open. Everything might be closed down. Hence, its

important that you have all the life-saving material with you –

well in advance.


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Here is a list of items that you should have with you, which can

help you stay without utilities for a few days:

• Non-perishable food to last you several days. These should

be something, which do not require cooking, have high

shelf-life, without need for refrigeration or other special

conditions, and, preferably take lesser space to store – so

that you can store adequate amount for a few days. These

include: canned food items, dry-fruits, high protein

biscuits etc.

• Drinking water to last you several days.

• Some blankets etc. to keep you warm, in case houses are

damaged. Remember, there might not be electricity and/or

gas-connections to provide you heating.

• A supply of your medicines for several days.

• Flashlight which operates on batteries. It might help you

navigate your way in darkness, if electrical system has

failed

• A battery operated radio. It might be your only source of

information.

• Some spare batteries to run your flashlight/torch and the

radio

• If you use cordless phones, have a regular phone also

connected. Cordless phones need electrical power to

operate. In case of electrical failures, the cordless

phones might not work.

In addition, you should have the following items:

a. First Aid box, to take care of minor injuries (for

yourself, your family members, and/or even unknown persons

– who might be injured)


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b. Good, comfortable long-boots. With roads damaged, and, too

much debris everywhere, you could be on your feet for next

several days. A pair of good long-boots would be very

helpful.

c. The fuel-tank of your vehicle should always be above the

Half-Mark. The petrol pumps (gas-stations) might either be

non-operational, or, might have long queues. In case, an

evacuation is required, the last thing you want to do is –

get stuck in a huge serpentine queue at the petrol pump.

So, now that you have taken care of your food and shelter, one

of the most important things is to maintain proper sanitary

conditions. Toilet flush systems might not work – either due to

lack of water, or, due to breakage/damage to plumbing

pipes/fittings etc. Thus, a lot of people die due to outbreak of

diseases associated with lack of sanitary conditions. Lack of

water creates unhygienic conditions, which result in outbreak of

such diseases. A simple technique can help you ward-off this

situation.

You should have several (plastic/polythene) garbage-bags. Use

these bags for excretion – inside it. The toilet paper can also

be thrown inside the same bag. Once it has been used a few

times, close its mouth tightly, and, let it lie in a corner. As

long as it has been sealed properly at its mouth, there is

little risk from it. Once the relief teams start coming in, and,

utilities start returning back to normal, these bags should be

disposed off. This is much safer than excreting in the open.

That would be risky for you, as well as open-excretion would

give rise to several sanitary issues.


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Some other precautions that you can take, which would make it

easier for you/your friends/relatives to control anxiety:

• Designate a person outside your area, who should be your

contact point. Instead of all your friends and family

members trying to reach you (after the news of the disaster

spreads) – to enquire about you, you should maybe, inform

just one person – outside the zone of disaster. This one

person should inform other friends and relations. This

serves three main purposes:

1. After a disaster, everybody is calling all their loved

ones – to enquire about their well-being. This causes

a severe burden on the communication system – which

are not designed to handle everybody on the phone at

the same time. Hence, many of your friends and

relatives are not able to get through you – and thus,

their anxiety about you keeps getting increased.

Instead, if it was pre-decided, they all would call

just one person – who is outside the zone of disaster,

and, the communication network there is not over-

stretched.

2. The already over-stretched telecom network is saved

some load. This allows relief agencies to use the

available telecom bandwidth for rescue and relief

operations.

3. Your own supply of batteries etc. lasts longer, if you

receive fewer calls

So, suppose, I grew up in city A, and, then, have moved to

city B. Hence, most of my friends and relatives are in city

A. Now, if there is a disaster in city B, I would call up

just one of my friends/relatives (pre-designated) in city

A. All my other friends and relatives would get in touch


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with this pre-designated person in city A – to enquire

about me.

• Designate a meeting place for your entire family. When a

disaster occurs, different members of the family could be

at different places. Even if all of them have survived, you

all might be taken to different shelter-camps and/or

medical facilities. You don’t want you/your family members

running all around the town – locating each other. Hence,

there should be a pre-designated place, where, all of you

would meet/send your locations – at the first available

opportunity. This pre-designated place could be some

friend/relative outside the immediate zone of disaster, say

a friend’s place. Even if you cannot physically be there,

you can at least call up and leave a message there – about

your location and/or well-being, as soon as there is an

opportunity.

• If you have a school-going child, arrange with someone to

pick up the child – in case of a disaster. With

communication and transportation network having broken

down, this someone (which could be you-yourself) has to be

somebody in the walking distance of the school. This person

can simply walk down to the school, and, pick up the child.

The school should be informed in advance about this person

being one of the allowed guardians to pick up the child in

case of an emergency/disaster.

Once again, have phone numbers for your child’s friends’

parents with you. Instead of everybody trying to call up

the school, share information among each other. The number

of phone lines that a school would have would be too few –

compared to the number of parents trying to get information

about the safety of their kids. Hence, if a fewer parents


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call up, and, can share information among each other, it

would be helpful.

Also, remember, with so many kids on their hands, the

teachers and the school staff would have their own anxiety.

Hence, cooperate with the school, rather than trying to

complicate matters for them – by

insisting/questioning/rushing-in etc.

• The above is also true, if you have an aged parent at home,

and, there is nobody at home – to help them evacuate etc.

during the time of disaster. Please enlist the help of some

neighbour to provide timely assistance to the aged and

feeble people.

• You should know the location of the controls for your

utilities, as well as how to turn them on/off – specially,

water, electricity, gas etc. Depending on the situation,

you might need to shut off certain utilities. E.g. if water

lines are leaking, and, water is pouring in, you might want

to turn off the water line. Or, if electrical wires are

snapped, you might want to turn off electricity supply.

Usually, there are several levels of controls, e.g. for

electricity, there might be switches to turns off supply

for individual rooms, entire house, or, even entire

neighbourhood. Depending upon the exact risk-location and

nature of the risk, you might want to turn off at the

appropriate location. E.g. if the risk is only inside a

house, turn off the supply for just that one house, rather

than the entire neighbourhood.

Now, that you are adequately prepared:

A. Do NOT panic at the time of the disaster. Think clearly. If

you are already prepared – by having mentally gone through

your disaster preparedness several times, you might just


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know what to do. And, if you have already taken the

precautions – you might have all the tools to deal with the

situation.

B. Be prepared to stay in it for the long haul, rather than

getting desperate and losing hope.

C. If possible, try to help others – those who are weak, e.g.

the aged, small children, people with any special needs,

those who are sick etc.

Once you have secured your own life, try to help others also –

depending on your strength – both physical and emotional. Just

make sure – not to put your own life and safety into jeopardy.

You could help in one or more of the following:

i. immediate help to the possible victims

ii. search and rescue

iii. record keeping (who is being sent to which hospital etc.) –

As soon as people start coming to their senses, they would

start looking for their near and dear ones. A good record

keeping system would allow people to know which of their

near-and-dear ones have survived, and, where have they been

taken (specific relief camps, treatment facilities etc.)

iv. Crowd control – so that people don’t risk themselves by

trying to go near damaged structures – because, inspite of

their best of intentions, they could cause more damage to

either themselves or others

Try to be on your own and pick up your lives as soon as its

possible and safe to do so. Don’t depend on alms and doles to

bail you out.


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Medical and other help would be really limited. Don’t try to

make too much noise about minor stuff. Adjust and compromise.

Let resources be used by those who have greater need for it.

If it appears that it will take a long time for the life to

return to normalcy, and, one has to move (creating situations of

migration/refugee etc.), try to move in with a relative or

friend for the duration, rather than relief camps being run by

various relief agencies. This will have several benefits. The

most notable being:

a. lesser burden on the relief system

b. lesser concentration at one place, because, the places

running the relief centers also get overburdened by the

sudden increase in demand to support a much larger number

of people

c. better sanitary and hygienic conditions

d. Most importantly: much less distressing – psychologically

and emotionally


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Earthquakes

What Is An Earthquake

Earthquakes refer to shaking of earth. There is continuous

activity going on below the surface of the earth. There are

several large plates (size of continents) below the surface of

the earth, which move (at a very slow speed). As a part of this

movement, sometimes, they collide against each other. And, after

the collision, they might still continue to push each other. As

they continually keep pushing each other, there is a pressure

building up – across these plates below the surface. And, then,

at a certain time, one of the plates might slide over another.

This causes an earthquake.

Some earthquakes might be caused by activity above the surface.

For example in a mountainous region, there might be a heavy

landslide. Due to a huge mass of land falling, at the point of

the fall, there could be a minor shaking of earth, due the

impact of fall. However, usually, such earthquakes are not very

major.

Classifying An Earthquake

The impact of an earthquake (at any location) is characterized

by two primary characteristics:

Intensity : This measures the magnitude of the event. Higher is

the value, the bigger is the magnitude. The most common scale

used for measuring an earthquake is Richter Scale. It should be

understood that Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. What this


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means is an earthquake measuring 6.0 is 10 times more powerful

than an earthquake measuring 5.0

Epicenter : This denotes the exact location, where the

earthquake originated. The deeper it is inside the earth, the

lower will be the impact on the surface – where human beings

reside.

There are 100s of earthquakes taking place on a daily basis all

around the world. However, most of these earthquakes are really

low-intensity, too-low to be noticed. However, sometimes there

are some earthquakes which are significantly intense.

Some Recent Earthquakes

Some of the earthquakes in recent times have been (not in any

particular order):

1. El Salvador; In 2001; Magnitude: 7.7

2. S. Peru; In 2001; Magnitude 7.9

3. Algeria; In 2003; Magnitude 6.8

4. Indonesia: In 2004; Magnitude 9.0

5. India; In 2001; Magnitude 8.1

6. China - Sichuan Province; In May 2008; Magnitued 8.1; More

than 68,000 dead, and, 3,50,000 injured

Fault Lines And Earthquakes

Usually, areas around fault-lines are more prone to earthquakes.

Some of the major fault lines are around:

1. Italy (hit in 1980; magnitude: 7.2)

2. Hayward, San Francisco in California (hit in 1906 at San

Francisco; magnitude: 7.8 and again in 1989 at Loma Preita;

magnitude: 6.9)


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3. Himalayan region (hit several times since 1999, at various

places spanning across Afghanistan, Pakistan, India etc.)

Nature of Losses And Damages

The most common kinds of loss that are caused by an earthquake

(depending on the severity) are:

Damage to structures : Causing partial or total collapse, damage

to road and rail network, damage to utility carriers etc.

Sea activity : Water level in the sea could rise suddenly,

causing very high waves, several meters in height, which could

then flood the coastal areas. These could give rise to tsunamis,

causing damage to coastal areas.

Landslide : As earth shakes, in mountainous regions, huge chunks

of land could fall/slide onto lower regions of the mountains.

This could have several impacts, including: changed topography,

blocked roadways, damage to anything that comes in the way of

the landslide, massive damage to the structure which sits on the

piece of sliding land – and massing damage to the houses and

roads where the piece of land finally lands. The landslide could

also trigger another set of minor earthquakes.

Quake Lakes: In the earthquake in China (May 2008), landslides

blocked Jiangjiang river, resulting in creations of (about 35)

lakes. These lakes in turn posed severe threat of flooding

downstreams - due to possible bursting. More than 1,50,000

people had to be evacuated - due to this threat of flooding.

Earthquakes typically impact a huge area, spanning whole city,

and many times, several cities. The impact due to this is that

besides the instantaneous damage to life and property at the

time of the event, there is a long-drawn suffering.


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Aftershocks

Earthquakes are also characterized by aftershocks. After any

major seismic activity below the earth, the new order might take

a while to finally settle down. During this time, there might be

some more activity below the earth (sort of “adjusting” of the

new positions for the various plates, layers etc.) These

activities result in several more earthquakes. These are called,

“aftershocks”. Typically, “aftershocks” are much smaller in

magnitude, however, some times, one of the “aftershocks” could

be more severe than the main earthquake. Also, “aftershocks”

could strike up to several days after the main event.

For example the earthquake in Northern Chile (Nov. 2007) has had

aftershocks till 3 days after the main earthquake.

Similarly, in China (May, 2008) an aftershock of the magnitude

of 6.4 on the Ritcher scale hit 13 days after the main

earthquake on May 12. This aftershock destroyed 70,000 houses

and damaged many more. Each of these aftershocks were increasing

the anxiety about the capacity of the quake-created lakes to

hold their water.

Implications of Aftershocks

The implications of “aftershocks” are the following:

• Structures which are not severely damaged during the main

earthquake could now get damaged during one of the

“aftershocks” – as they are getting continuously weakened

by the earthquake and the “aftershocks”.

• While rescue teams are trying to search through the debris

of fallen buildings/bridges etc for trapped people, an


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aftershock could destabilize the debris further, causing

these rescue teams themselves to become a victim. Besides,

increasing the list of victims, it has two other major

impacts:

o Loss of trained people and specialized equipments;

which in turn means significant impediment to the

speed of further rescue

o Fear among rescue teams for their own lives – due to

the possibility of an “aftershock” causes them to

proceed with extreme caution; thus, they are not able

to work to their fullest capability

In the May 2008 earthquake of Sichuan, about 200

relief workers died in mudslides triggered by

aftershocks.

• People who have suffered during an earthquake are in

psychological trauma. Each “aftershock” causes immense

panic amongst them.

Recognizing an Earthquake

The most common ways to identify the onset of an earthquake

would be:

• A feeling of shaking of the ground below you, if you are

sitting/standing. The most common feeling is – as if the

person is feeling giddy.

• Swinging of overhead hanging stuff, e.g. fans, chandeliers

etc. However, in this situation, you should distinguish

between swaying of overhead hanging stuff – due to wind

• A feeling as if both the rear tires of your car are flat

(if you are driving)

Immediate Injuries


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During an earthquake, there are many ways by which one can get

hurt (many times, fatally)

1. People inside buildings could get hurt (even critically) by

fall of objects/walls/ceilings

2. People outside the buildings could get hurt by falling

debris from damaged buildings, glasses etc.

3. People traveling could get hurt by their vehicles falling

off the tracks, bridges, material falling from overhead

bridges etc.

4. People could get electrocuted by snapped electrical wires

5. People could get washed away by floods – caused due to

tsunamis, breaches in dams etc.

Immediate Safety

Hence, in case of an earthquake, the safest place to be would be

in an open ground – away from all kinds of buildings and tall

structures.

If you cannot rush out of your building, you can duck under some

sturdy desk etc. which might provide protection against heavy

objects falling on your body.

If even that is not possible, sit against a wall, with your back

pushing the wall firmly, and, lean forward – to take your head

in between both your knees, and, put your hands at the back of

your head – to provide protection to your head and spine.

Or, you could stand directly below one of the door-frame in your

house. This one appears a bit strange to many people. In fact,

there are jokes that after an earthquake – you don’t see all

those door-frames standing. So, what’s the reasoning behind

advising people to stand below door-frames? In most styles of

construction, doorframes are made very strong, or, would have a


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“RCC beam” running right above these frames. Either way, this

“strong” structure would take the impact of objects falling from

above, and, would break the impact of the heavy objects falling

on the person. If you use this posture, remember to save your

arms and fingers from swaying doors etc. If not careful, they

could cause damage by chopping off fingers etc. due to the

banging of the doors against the frame.

Predicting An Earthquake

Earthquakes have very low predictability in short term, i.e. in

most cases, there is no warning – even a few minutes before an

earthquake. However, in most cases, a much higher degree of

predictability exists in long term – in the sense that if a

certain area is sitting on a fault line, it can be said that

over a long period of time, there is a high risk of earthquake.

However, whether the earthquake occurs within the next few

minutes, few years, few decades – or, maybe a few centuries

might not be predicted.

In April 2008, USGS reported that the state has a 46% chance of

a 7.5 or larger earthquake in California state during the next

30 years. So, relatively high predictability over the next 30

years, but, absolutely zero predictability in the immediate

short term!

There are certain schools of thoughts that believe that there

are certain animal instincts which provide certain degree of

indication of an impending earthquake. While the beliefs in this

matter are varied, the closest scientific successful attempt to

predict an earthquake is known to be the incident of earthquake

at Haicheng, Liaoning Province of China in Feb. 1975. An alert

local community and the earthquake administration noticed a


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change in water level in ground-wells as well as behaviour

patterns of certain animals. Taking this to be an indication of

an impending earthquake, many people were evacuated out of their

houses. Even though, many people had to stay outdoors in the

cold, it is believed that timely evacuation helped in saving

thousands of lives.

Still, the scientific community is divided about the possibility

of accurately predicting earthquakes. Even if the above example

is considered as an example of ability to predict earthquakes,

its a matter of fact – that since 1975 many more earthquakes

have jolted our earth, without anybody being forewarned. Some of

these have been in China itself.

Many countries monitor the seismic activity below the earth.

Since there are a lot of seismic activities below the earth on a

continuous basis, these countries are not necessarily interested

in these low-intensity activities. However, their interest is to

see if there is a sudden increase in seismic activities. An

increase in seismic activity could imply an impending earthquake

in the near-future. However, how close (in “time”) might still

not be predictable.

Constructing Your House

People who stay in an earthquake prone area might do well to

make investments in earthquake-proofing of their houses.

The process starts with the construction of the house.

Traditionally, people in earthquake prone areas used to build

homes using lighter materials, and, also materials which could

be reused, e.g. wood. The advantage with wood is: being lighter

– it does not cause heavy damage – when it falls on the


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residents, and, secondly, most of the wood can be salvaged from

the debris, and, reused. This reduces the cost of rebuilding.

However, during the last several decades, due to change in

construction technology, people are going in for concrete

structures – specially designed to withstand earthquakes or

other seismic activities. The choice of concrete over wood is

gaining ground, because: if the structure is well-designed to

withstand earthquakes, it would not get damaged. So, there is

“no” cost of rebuilding, and, there is no damage due to falling

material. However, the cost of construction would be high. Since

people build houses for long-term, and, earthquakes have a

certain degree of predictability in long period, there is an

increasing acceptance to the idea of this investment.

Some simple thumb rules to follow for constructing a house in an

area prone to earthquake:

1. The entire construction should be a single monolithic

structure, so that the whole structure can move as a whole

2. To the extent possible, material used should be something

that has been available locally. This would allow very

little differential in the movement of your building vis-à-

vis the material over which the house sits – thus reducing

the chances of sinking

3. Minimum use of glass in building facades. These decorative

pieces could be deadly, during an earthquake. Glass being

very brittle, even a minor twist in the structure could

cause breakage. And, glass being very heavy and injurious

could cause severe damage.

4. Doors and windows should have fasteners, so that they can

be fastened. If the doors and windows are not fastened,

they might cause any of the following situations:


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o Swaying/banging of doors and windows against the frame

could damage your limbs/fingers/toes etc.

o The doors might get “stuck” due to damaged/misaligned

frame – making it difficult for you to run out, or,

for the rescue teams to reach you.

5. Consult a good structural engineer to ensure that the

structure is strong enough to withstand seismic activities

Earthquake-Proof Your Home

When staying in the house, simple precautions should be used:

1. Large/heavy items should be fastened, so that they don’t

fall-off, during earthquakes.

2. Hanging items (like: fan, chandeliers, decorations etc.)

should be fastened, rather than just left hanging through a

hook

3. You should be adequately prepared to live without

utilities for several days. As earthquake causes severe

damages over large areas, most of the utilities that we

might take for granted, might not be available for several

days. These are anyways generic precautions against

disasters of any kind.


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Volcanoes

Volcanoes refer to eruption of hot molten lava from below the

surface of the earth. As plates move away from each other, at

certain places, the surface might get stretched and thinner. In

such a situation, the hot molten lava and gaseous substances

below this thinned surface could open up a fissure and come out.

Typically, these eruptions are always accompanied by discharge

of huge amount of gaseous substances, which are various

compounds of high toxicity. All eruptions (gaseous or liquid)

from a volcano is at high temperature, and, the mouth of a

volcano might look like, as if it’s spewing fire.

The area around Pacific Ocean is characterized by higher

volcanic activity. In fact, the entire rim along the Pacific

Ocean is called as the “Ring Of Fire”, because of volcanic

activity along this zone.

There are a lot of volcanic activities taking place on a

continuous basis, across the globe, however, not all of these

are serious enough to be termed as disasters. In fact, for most

of these – just a moderate level of precaution might be

sufficient.

Some of the most damaging volcanic activities of the past have

been:

1. Mount Pinatubo in Phillipines (1991-96)

2. Rabaul in Papua NewGuinea (1994)

3. Lake Nyos in Cameroon (1986)

4. Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia (1985)


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5. El Chichon in Mexico (1982)

Some of the deadliest volcanoes based upon the book "Volcanic

Hazards: A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions by Russell J.

Blong (Academic Press, 1984)" are listed below. Click on the

title to sort.

Place year Number of deaths

Tambora, Indonesia 1815 92000

Krakatau, Indonesia 1843 36417

Mount Pelee, Matinique 1902 29025

Ruiz Colombia 1985 25000

Unzen Japan 1792 14300

Laki, Iceland 1783 9350

Kelut, Indonesia 1919 5110

Galunggung, Indonesia 1882 4011

Vesuvius, Italy 1631 3500

Vesuvius, Italy 79 3360

Papandayan, Indonesia 1772 2957

Lamington, Papua New Guinea 1951 2942

El Chichon, Mexico 1982 2000

Soufriere, St. Vincent 1902 1680

Oshima, Japan 1741 1475

Asama, Japan 1783 1377

Taal, Philippines 1911 1335

Volcanoes are classified as Active, Dormant and Extinct.

• “Active” volcanoes means those which are showing activity

at this time.


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• “Dormant” volcanoes those which are not showing any

activity at this time, but, could show activity at any

time.

• “Extinct” volcanoes are those which were “active” at some

time, but, have ceased volcanic eruptions now.

However, considering that volcanoes have a life of several

million years, including “dormant” period of up to several

thousands of years (sometimes), the above classification is

mostly academic!

Usually, if you are staying/visiting in the vicinity of an

“active” volcano, it would do good to be prepared for volcano

related disasters.

There are several web-sites which give information on current

volcanic activities. Some of the popular ones are - Global

Volcano Report by Smithsonian Institute and Recent Earthquakes &

Active Volcanoes list by Virtual Times.

Usually, most volcanoes do not result in any major disaster,

and, people around areas of low volcanic activity have learnt to

live with the volcanic activity. However, some of the volcanic

eruptions which turn into disaster cause a very high number of

fatalities, e.g. volcanic activity in Colombia in 1985 caused

more than 23,000 deaths.

Besides, more often than not, volcanoes themselves might not

cause any direct deaths, but, the post-volcanic complications

cause more deaths. In such cases, the exact number of fatalities

attributable to volcanoes cannot be known for several years

after the event.


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Volcanoes themselves might not appear to be a big disaster, but,

they cause several complications.

• Because of activities below the surface of the earth,

including discharge of a huge amount of material, its

possible that volcanic eruptions could be accompanied by

earthquakes.

• Volcanic activity in sea could cause triggering of

Tsunamis.

• Because of discharge of very high quantity of toxic

material onto the landscape, sources of water like

lakes/rivers etc. could get poisoned, thereby severely

disrupting the water-supply. Also, the change in water

composition could impact the aquatic organisms also. Thus,

overall ecosystem of the water-body is misbalanced, thus,

impacting the water quality. This could even impact the

areas fed downstream by these same water bodies.

• Because of discharge of high amount of toxic gases in the

atmosphere – the air could become highly difficult to

breathe. Release of several gases – including oxides,

sulfides, aerosols etc. changes the atmospheric mix of the

area. These in turn can give rise to:

o “acid rain”

o Discharge of “aerosols” into the atmosphere alters the

filtering impact of the atmosphere – for Sun’s

radiation as well as for heat from the earth getting

radiated back into the space. This can change the

temperature of the area.

• Molten lava coming out of a volcano could reach

temperatures up to 1200 degrees Celsius, thus, incernating

anything that comes in its way.


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• Structural damages: Lava flowing down at such a high

temperature could cause structural damages

• Landslide: As lava flows down, it gets solidified, and,

modifies the landscape. However, sometimes a fresh layer of

lava at high temperature could destabilize the earlier

solidified layer, and, that layer could simply slide off –

causing a landslide.

• Lack of drinking water and breathable air causes people to

migrate from their existing place of living to other

places, thereby causing situations of migration, refugees.

Besides, being emotionally distressful, there are severe

kinds of physical stress and strain also associated with

migration activities. And then, the resources at the

destination side are also stretched beyond their normal

capacity.

So, effectively, a volcanic activity could cause damage and loss

of life due to one or more of the following:

• Contact with high temperature lava

• Earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides etc

• Poisoning of air and water

• Change in radiation levels and or toxic levels, impacting

vegetation cover etc

• Post-activity starvation

• Diseases etc. due to lack of proper sanitation facilities

in relief camps etc. in case large scale exodus is

involved.

Even if volcanic activities do not result in too many

fatalities, they still do create immense challenges in terms of

humanitarian aid, due to destruction of houses, contamination of

food and water. Also, one has to deal with large-scale


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migration, relief camps etc. which also give rise to sanitation

concerns – which in turn results in various complications due to

diseases related to lack of proper sanitation facilities.

During a volcanic activity, the best place to be would be

indoors. Because the atmosphere is full of toxic chemicals, put

filter-masks over your mouth and nose, and, use goggles to

protect your eyes. Being outdoors could be one of the riskiest

thing to do, as, you could be coming in contact with volcanic

ashes – which could cause irritation to your eyes, skin etc. at

the bare minimum, and, could also cause breathlessness, or, long

term damage to your lungs, eyes etc.

Avoid weak structures, including the fresh layers which might

have been formed by solidifying of lava during earlier

discharges. This is usually a mistake that tourists might make.

Tourists might have a tendency to get closer to the source of

gaseous/lava discharge – thus, maybe, standing on such

structures which are unstable and are probable to slide.

Avoid being in the path of flow of the molten lava.

Avoid fumes/vapors of petrol etc. Presence of high temperature

material in the atmosphere could cause a fire, if these fumes

come in contact with high temperature material, e.g. During the

Nyiragongo volcanic activity (Jan. 2002), people were trying to

siphon off petrol from a gas-station. A leakage came in contact

with the hot lava, and, caused a blast at the gas-station,

causing more than 50 people to die.

The inlets to your houses should be covered with filters, or,

these inlets should be closed – to prevent toxic ashes etc. to

enter your house etc. Avoid use of electronic goods, as, ashes

might have entered the vent of these goods (usually provided for


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heat-dissipation), and, could cause short-circuit inside the

devices.

Because, one of the main issues post-volcano is lack of water

and food, it would help to familiarize with General

Preparedeness – which also provides certain tips on being able

to survive for several days – provided, preparations have been

made in advance.

Post-volcano also, efforts must be made to minimize contact with

the debris/ashes which have been spewed by the volcano. Clothes

must be shaken and rinsed. Ashes must be vacuumed, and, the

vacuum lint filter should be changed. Car filters should be

changed, and so on.

If you are staying in an area, which is prone to volcanic

activities, the houses should be constructed in a manner which

will allow closing all vents, i.e. windows and doors should have

proper caulking.


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Floods

Floods refer to huge amount of water reaching land in a short

span of time, causing land surface to be submerged under water –

at places, where, land surface is usually not covered with

water.

Floods could be caused due to natural causes, or, human

activities, or, a combination of both. Floods are caused by

discharge of huge volume of water in a short span of time, at a

rate, such that the water cannot be carried away from the scene

of discharge.

Some of the possible reasons for such huge discharge of water

could be:

A. very heavy rainfall (say: due to cyclones, typhoons etc.)

in a short span of time. It should be noted that the amount

of rainfall itself is not a sufficient cause, the duration

within which the rainfall is receive is equally important

contributor

B. breach in levy, dams etc

C. very high tidal waves (sometimes in the aftermath of a

seismic activity, e.g. earthquakes) etc. – also called

tsunamis

Usually, flooding impacts a large area, wherein entire district

or states might be flooded. However, sometimes, flooding is very

local, i.e. limited to just one city, or, parts of it. Most

often, the localized flooding is caused due to human activities,

rather than natural phenomenon. A natural phenomenon might seem


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like the immediate trigger, but, in reality, this is caused by

human activity.

There are some places, which get flooded almost every year. One

such example is Bangladesh. Some of the other places which had

incidents of bad flooding in the recent past include:

• Florida, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina (2005)

• Myanmar (2008)

• Portions of Coastal India get flooded almost each year

Among various kinds of disasters, flooding is unique in the

sense that it has a very high degree of predictability, both in

the short term, as well as long term. In most situations, flood

prone areas are quite known – in the sense that they have a

history of flooding. Only in very rare situations, a place might

be flooded – without having any past history of flooding. Even

in such cases, a careful study of the area could give an

indication of possible flooding.

Flood Prone Areas

The areas, which are prone to flood-risks are:

A. places, which have a history of flooding (most

important)

B. area receiving heavy rainfall, with not much naturally

sloping landscape

C. areas at the lower levels of naturally sloping

landscape – where, the higher areas are receiving

heavy rainfall

D. areas around sea-coasts, or, river banks

E. areas downstream of dams etc. As water level upstream

of dams might rise, the dam authorities might be

forced to release water (to safeguard the dam) – which

might cause flooding of downstream areas


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F. areas on the other side of levies (in case, the levy

gets breached)

G. low-lying areas (say: foot of an over-bridge etc.)

Loss due to Flooding

The most common kinds of loss that are caused during flooding

include:

a. Lack of water: It’s an irony, that a disaster which mean

water everywhere, results in lack of water to drink and

sanitation. Lack of proper drinking water and sanitation

causes widespread outbreak of diseases.

b. Lack of food: Most of the food items get damaged, causing a

severe shortage of food. This shortage could be for the

food to be consumed in the near future, or, even standing

crops could be damaged, causing long-term food shortage.

c. Lack of utilities: Utility services might have to be turned

off, for the fear of electrocution, as, there is water

everywhere.

d. Widespread damage to structure

e. Drowning: People, livestock, goods etc. might get drowned.

f. Snakes and other creatures: Some of the dangerous creatures

which usually stay underground would be forced to come up,

as their natural habitat becomes unlivable. These could

prove dangerous to human beings and cattle.

g. Submerging of vehicles and other equipments: Vehicles and

other equipments might get permanently damaged – as they

remain submerged under water – for prolonged duration.

Because of wide-spread impact of such floods, the suffering

could be long-drawn, besides the immediate impact – as mentioned

above.


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Indicators of Possible Flooding

Usually, any of the following situations should indicate the

possibility of flooding:

• heavy rainfall in/around the vicinity, especially, if the

specific location falls in the pathway of the water-

discharge system from the area receiving heavy rainfall

• if there is heavy rainfall/flow of water/accumulation of

water, on the other side of a boundary, e.g. across a dam,

across a levy, side of a river-embankment etc., because,

these boundaries might get breached

As can be seen, both the above situations can be predicted to a

reasonable degree. These days, the meteorological predictions

are accurate enough for upto 4-5 days. Hence, its usually

possible to know about the possibility of heavy rainfall about

4-5 days in advance.

Also, areas which are prone to heavy rainfall, cyclones,

typhoons etc. are also well-known. Hence, the predictability is

very high even in long-term, in the sense, that certain areas

are known to be flood-prone. The advantage of long-term

predictability is that people might be able to take long-term

precautionary measures also – requiring heavy investments.

Also, for situations, where, there is a boundary between huge

mass of water, and, your living place, again, keeping an eye on

the following two situations should be a good indication of the

possibility of flooding:

1. increase in the volume/mass of water being built up on the

other side of the boundary

2. general maintenance and upkeep of the boundary


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General level of civic maintenance is a good indication of the

possibility of flooding, during rainfall. If the drains and

streets are generally clean, the possibility of flooding gets

reduced; on the other hand, if the drains and streets are

generally choked or dirty, the chances of flooding (at least at

the local level) get increased.

Now, that we know, how can we figure out the possibility of

flooding, let’s look at the possibility of preventing it.

Prevention of Flood

Sometimes, it might not be possible to prevent a flood, even if

we know that it’s about to get flooded. However, there are

certain actions that can be taken to reduce the impact

significantly, or, to reduce the possibility of flooding:

1. The first step is to keep the drainage system clean. This

allows water to be carried down very fast. Choked drains

cause a significant reduction in the ability and speed of

the water to be drained away. In most situations of urban

flooding – this is a major cause. The drains might get

choked due to throwing of solid-wastes inside storm drains.

These solid-wastes might include construction material,

plastics, paper etc. This is a clear example, how human

activity can amplify the process of flooding. Drains might

also get choked due to falling tree-leaves etc.

2. General clean-up of streets is also important. As rain-

water falls down the street, it rushes into the storm

drains. if the streets are not clean, the rain water trying

to go into the drain – carries solid wastes into the drain

with itself, which then obstructs the flow of water by the

drainage system.


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3. Rain water harvesting system: As more rain-water tries to

flow down the drains, it puts that much more stress on the

drainage system. Instead, if there are several rain-water

harvesting systems, the rainfall falling in that much area

would try to go to the sub-soil of the region locally,

rather than straining the drainage system. Lower is the

amount of water trying to go through the drainage system,

the easier it is for the drainage system to drain off the

water.

4. Desilting: The drains should be desilted before the onset

of the rainy season. This prevents the drains from getting

choked. And, it also increases the holding capacity of the

drain, as, accumulated silt prevents that much more water

from being accumulated in the drains.

5. Inspection and repair of dams, levees, embankments etc:

Before the onset of seasons causing accumulation and/or

carrying of heavy volume of water (such as rainy season),

these structures should be thoroughly inspected for

possible weak-spots, and, these should be repaired.

6. Afforestation: Forestation helps in binding the loose soil.

The most major impact of this is, as flood-water races

through, it might take loose soil with it. This loose soil

will now choke the drains, as well as water-harvesting

systems, thus, rendering both of these as ineffective. On

the other hand, trees will prevent soil to flow with the

water, as, the roots of the trees will act as binding

force. Another major impact that afforestation provides is

by reducing the impact of flowing water. This has impact on

large-scale flooding, such as overflowing river. As water

charges forward, its speed is reduced to some extent due to

resistance offered by trees. This can reduce the force of

the charging water – thereby, reducing structural damage –


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due to weakening in the force with which water hits various

structures.

7. Local lowlands (say: foot of an over-bridge) should have

storm drains, so that water does not get accumulated there.

These drains should have some kind of mesh covering, so

that only water can flow in. Leaves and other solid debris

should not go in these drains.

8. Local embankments around low-lying houses etc: Let’s say,

for some reason, your house is at a level lower than its

vicinity (e.g. road-level). This can happen, because, say:

you have constructed a basement – which is obviously lower

than the road-level, or, over a period of years, the road-

level has risen due to repeated tarring etc. In such cases,

you should create a “local” embankment between the

street/road and your property, so that water cannot flow

“down” from the street/road inside your house. These

embankments might be permanent – in the form of concrete

structure.

Besides impacting the process of flooding itself, most (not all)

of these factors also have an immense impact on the rate at

which water levels might recede – after the source of the

flooding has been removed. e.g. Let’s say a city got flooded,

after heavy rainfall. Now, once the rainfall is stopped, the

water levels in the streets etc. might tend to recede. At this

stage, once again, the rate at which water levels can recede is

dependent on the ability of the storm drains to carry the

accumulated water, as well as the total amount of water that has

been accumulated – which needs to be drained out.

Being Prepared

People who stay in flood-prone areas should construct their


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houses using material which does not get damaged severely due to

flood-water. Also, since, there is a strong risk of structural

damage (for large-scale flooding), the material used to

construct the house should be such that it can withstand high

impact – due to the charge of flowing water. One should prefer

areas, which are slightly elevated. These could be local

elevations, i.e. higher parts of the city etc. There should be

strong embankments along all entrances of the houses – so that

flood water does not enter the house easily.

Cement bags, covered with plastic sheets might be used to keep

the flood water from entering the houses.

Besides, long boots should always be kept, so that one does not

run the risk of being bitten by snakes and/or other insects that

might also be trying to save themselves from the twirling flood-

waters.

One should keep arrangements for raising the height of items,

which might get damaged in water, e.g. put a few pieces of

bricks below the legs of the furniture, such as bed etc. to

raise its height.

Important document should always be kept on higher shelves.

As water, food and utilities would not be available – and that

too – for possibly several days, one should also take measures

towards General Preparedness

Macro Level Efforts

While some of the steps mentioned above need to be taken at

municipal/city level, and, some at individual level, there are

some other techniques which have been tried/used at some places.


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However, these require efforts at a much larger level. Some of

these steps include:

• Identified flood diversion areas: Flood waters are diverted

to these unpopulated areas, so that populated urban areas

may be protected.

• Construction of dams etc. at strategic locations

• Levees, embankments around cities lying along river/sea

coasts. The flooding of New Orleans – in the aftermath of

Katrina hurricane was due to a breach in such a levee.

• Sea walls

• Beach nourishment: The sea-beaches are widened, so that

they can absorb the impact of flood-waters – due to rise in

sea-levels.

• Conversion of flood-prone areas into wetlands, where,

urbanization is not allowed, i.e. one cannot construct

residential houses, or, any other permanent structures etc.

As can be seen, such efforts require a very high degree of

financial commitment, not just for constructing the system, but,

also for maintaining it.


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Tornadoes, Typhoons, Cyclones

These are winds of high-speed, many times accompanied by heavy

rainfall. These cause structural damage, snapped overhead wires,

and, possibility of floods.

Because of damage to structure and overhead wires, utility

services could be disrupted. Heavy rainfall could cause flooding

also.

Many times, these could last for a few days. In such cases, any

restoration and relief activities cannot even start till these

few days when the activities start subsiding.

The only thing good about these kinds of natural disasters is

that they can be predicted to a reasonable degree - thanks to

the advancement of metrological sciences. And, in most cases,

it’s possible to get a warning of up to several days. Usually,

it is possible to take at least some preventive measures -

during these few days of warning. In most cases, the preventive

measure would include:

• Moving into places which are safer, e.g. buildings which

are structurally sound, and, are not prone to flooding

• Not venturing out to sea etc for sports, fishing etc.

However, in spite of these warnings, damage to property cannot

be mitigated much, as, immovable structures cannot be relocated.

Another important thing about these kinds of strong winds and

rainfall is that they don’t appear totally at will. There are

well-defined geographical areas, which tend to see incidents of

typhoons and cyclones. This means that, people inhabiting these


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areas could take some fundamental care, while, building homes

etc. These are:

• Sturdy home, with very strong foundation and structure.

• Typically, most people build basements. These basements

provide good shelter, and, storage space for food and water

to last for a few days for the entire household.

• Proper embankments to prevent flooding etc.

• Storage of cement-bags and plastic sheets to prepare

additional embankments against flooding, if required.

The people who suffer the most are poor people, because:

• they don’t have the means to build very strong houses, and

hence, these houses get blown off/damaged

• they don’t have the means to buy and store food and

provisions for several days, causing them to take risks of

venturing out during heavy winds/rainfalls to make some

money

• In coastal areas of poor country, fishermen have been known

to venture out to sea, even during cyclones etc.


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Fire

Fire is a very good servant, but, a very bad master. As long as

fire is under our control, it serves a lot of useful purposes

for us, but, once it goes out of our control, it can create a

lot of destruction. However, despite the presence of fire safety

measures, the occurrence of accidents is oftentimes inevitable.

It is this combination (of good servant and bad master), which

is dangerous.

Because of the useful purposes that it serves, people keep

sources of fire in/around their houses/workplace. And, these

sources could sometimes result in "undesired" fire. Had fire

been something, which serves no useful purpose – the number of

incidents of fire would have been very less – as people won’t

keep sources of fire around them.

Thus, the occurrence of fire-related accidents is oftentimes

inevitable - in spite of all the safety precautions. For this

reason, an insurance policy should always be taken.

Causes Of Fire

The most common causes of fire are: Electrical, Pantry Area,

Smoking

Electrical

Incidents of Fire mainly caused due to overloading, short

circuit etc. As people start staying in a new apartment, or, a

new office, they start making modifications to the wall socket

outlets – in order to be able to plug in additional apparatus


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etc. Then, there reaches a time, when the total amount of

current drawn from all the sockets together could exceed the

rated capacity of the internal wiring.

A simple solution to this is - not to make too many changes to

the electrical circuitry inside your apartment/work-place. And,

any alterations etc. if done, should keep in mind the capacity

of the wires used.

As time progresses, due to various minor repairs etc. wires

might be changed, jumbled up etc., or, the insulation among

wires might break down. This might cause some wires to come in

contact with each other, and, thus, create a short circuit. This

short-circuit can cause a very high current flow through the

wires – and, thus causing fires.

A simple solution to this is: periodic inspection of the

conditions of the wiring, and, taking preventive action,

whenever needed. And, install MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breakers),

so that any short-circuit would result in immediate

disconnection of the current flow.

Pantry Area

Incidents involving cooking gas, cooking oil etc.

Leakage of cooking gas, accompanied by a spark around the

leakage could cause fire. These are typically very dangerous.

Sources of sparks could be anything: - a burning item, turning

on/off of electrical gadgets/switches etc.


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The leak itself can be in the gas cylinder itself, the pipeline

carrying the gas, the regulator, joints etc. Some simple

precautions to be taken for this include:

• Regular inspection of gas pipes, and, timely

replacement.

• No sparks etc. in case there is any trace of LPG

smell. LPG itself does not have any odour. A trace

odour is put in the LPG – only so that any leakage

might be detected.

• Just like electrical points, turn off gases at

multiple points, when not in use, rather than just at

the point of usage.

While cooking, sometimes, the cooking medium could get

overheated, resulting in fire. These are more frequent, but,

fortunately - relatively easy to manage (if attended to

immediately).

A simple precaution to be taken for this is - never let cooking

oil etc. unattended, when its being heated, nor, do keep bottles

of oil etc. in contact with very hot object, like, hot utensils

etc.

Smoking

Smoking in/around combustible materials could cause fire, due to

hot ashes falling from the cigarette.

Some simple precautions to be taken include:

• Don’t smoke in/around bed, sofa etc.

• When you throw away the cigarette etc. always stub it

out


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• Always try to dispose of the cigarette-ash at proper

places

Uneven Distribution Of Incidents

Incidents of fires are usually not evenly distributed. There are

higher numbers of fires during:

• Summer season: Due to higher ambient temperature; as well

as leaves etc. being dry - catch fire easily. This is the

time, when many forest-fires start.

• Some specific festive events – due to use/availability of

fire-crackers, and/or lights etc. Fire based lights could

pose a direct fire-risk, while, electricity based lighting

could cause the risk due to overloading.

Hence, it’s more important to be especially careful during these

periods. Not only are the chances of incidents higher, but, the

chances of your local fire department being overloaded is also

very high. This might have an impact on their ability to respond

swiftly to your call – in case there is a need – as they could

be busy fighting fire elsewhere.

Conditions Needed For A Fire

For a fire to take shape (as well as continue), the following

three conditions should be met:

1. A combustible material

2. A specific temperature at which the above material would

burn

3. Some fuel (mostly oxygen) to aid the burning


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When petrol/gasoline is burning, the petrol/gasoline is the

combustible material, and, the atmosphere provides the fuel

(oxygen). The presence of the above 3 elements together is

called the “fire triangle”. Each of these 3 elements have to be

present to start a fire, and for the fire to continue. Sometime,

one element may aid in producing the other element.

Let’s consider an example of how one element aids in the

production of another element. Let’s say, we want to burn a

piece of cloth. The cloth is lying there in front of us. There

is enough oxygen in the atmosphere. But, the cloth does not

burn. So, we now douse the cloth in gasoline. Still, there is no

fire. Now, we burn a matchstick – by rubbing a matchstick

against the matchbox/matchbook. This rubbing causes a minor

increase in temperature. At this temperature, the matchstick

lights up. The lighted matchstick creates still higher

temperature. Now, when the matchstick is touched to the doused

(with petrol/gasoline) piece of cloth, the petrol/gasoline also

starts burning. This further increases the temperature, which

causes the cloth to start burning, which can now produce still

higher temperature. So, here, friction caused an increase in

temperature. This increase in temperature converted the

matchstick into a combustible element. This in turn raised the

temperature further, and so on.

Now, that we know that for a fire to be sustained, we need all 3

arms of the fire-triangle. This forms the fundamental principle

behind all fire-fighting techniques.

If we have to control a fire, the way to extinguish it is to

remove at least one arm of the fire-triangle. Sometimes, we

might want to simultaneously attack 2 arms also. That is because


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we know that one arm could aid the other arm. So, by trying to

simultaneously fight two arms, we might achieve the results

faster.

It’s a matter of experience and the situation which decides

which arm to fight. Usually, you try to remove that arm, which

is the easiest to remove.

Classes Of Fire

Let us also understand the classes of fires.

Class A

These are fires that involve some solid material like,

clothers, paper, junk-heap, wood etc.

Class B

These are fires that involve liquid materials like: petrol,

gasoline, diesel, oil etc.

Class C

These are fires that involve electrical elements

Class D

These are fires are those involve metals

Its important to know about the classes of fires because fire-

extinguishers are classified and marked based on the type of

fire on which they would be effective.

So, in case of a fire, you first want to know the Class of fire,

so that you can use the right extinguishers.

If you use the wrong extinguisher(s), the result could be fatal

also in some cases. In best case situation, there would be no


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injury etc. but, you could still loose precious time - in

performing an activity which is useless.

Types Of Fire Extinguishers

- Water Based

- Foam Based

- CO2 Based

- CFC Based

- Dry Chemical Based

Water Based

These are most effective on Class A fires.

On Class B fires, these are mostly ineffective. This is because,

oil/petrol/gasoline etc. being lighter than water continues to

float over water, and, thus, it continues to burn. In some

cases, use of water based extinguishers on Class B fires could

turn out to be injurious also. That is because, as water is

thrown over burning fuel, the force due to water-stream could

cause burning petrol etc. to be sputtered, and, this hot fuel

could cause injury, if it falls on somebody.

On Class C fires, these should never be used. Use of water based

extinguishers on Class C fires would surely be fatal. That is

because, water is a good conductor of electricity, and, the

electric current flows through the water-jet directly into the

hands of the person who is holding the water-hose, resulting in

immediate electrocution.

The way, these extinguishers work is: As water reaches the

burning material – because of the high temperature, it


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vaporizes. While vaporizing, it extracts the latent heat from

the burning element, thereby reducing the temperature. Besides,

as it vaporizes, it expands. Usually, the expansion is in the

order of 100 times (by volume). The need for higher volume of

steam (vaporized water) displaces oxygen from the immediate

vicinity of the burning material, thus, cutting off the oxygen

supply.

Also, water being non-combustible material also tries to form a

coating between the atmosphere (which is supplying the oxygen)

and the combustible material.

Thus, it tries to reduce temperature, as well as displace

oxygen, thus, attacking two arms of the fire-triangle, while,

making a very feeble attack on the third arm also.

Foam Based

These are used mostly on Class B fires. It can also be used on

Class A fires. These should never be used on Class C fires. The

main constituent of foam being water – it can easily prove to be

fatal on a Class C fire.

Foam being lighter engulfs the burning liquid. By covering the

burning liquid, it cuts off the supply of oxygen to the burning

material. Besides, the vaporization of water also helps in

reduction of temperature – due to extraction of latent heat.

The basic principle is thus, similar to Water Based

Extinguisher. The only difference is, foam stays above burning

oil, and thus, trying to engulf it - something that water could

not do.


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CO2 Based

These are mostly used on Class C fires. It can also be used on

Class A and Class B fires. These kind of extinguishers might

also be used to extinguish fires in computers, costly electronic

equipments etc. where, usage of water etc. could cause damage to

the equipment.

The biggest advantage of these kinds of extinguishers is that it

does not leave any residue, smell or mess.

However, usage of these kinds of extinguishers in confined space

could result in poisoning. Because, under lack of oxygen,

carbon-dioxide could act as a fuel, and, the resulting gas

produced could be carbon-monoxide – which is highly poisonous.

The way these extinguishers work is: A stream of dry-ice (trade

name for solidified carbon-dioxide) is directed towards fire.

Dry ice being very cold helps to reduce the temperature. Being

heavy, carbon-dioxide gas settles on the burning equipments,

thus blowing away the oxygen – thereby cutting out the

availability of oxygen.

Sometimes, the printed circuit boards (PCBs) of these electrical

equipments could develop a crack, because the burning material

which was hot is suddenly subjected to a very cold temperature

(of dry ice). However, having a few cracks on a few boards might

be a better choice than using water/foam, which will cause total

short-circuit within the electrical circuit.

Carbon-dioxide based extinguishers have an additional advantage.

Being primarily gaseous in nature, the extinguishing agent can

easily percolate inside machinery through fine slots (usually


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provided for ventilation/heat dissipation) on the outer casing

of the equipments. So, it can be much more effective in fires

which are inside the casing of electronic equipments.

CFC Based

These are mostly used on Class C fires. It can also be used on

Class A and Class B fires. The main difference between CO2 Based

Extinguisher and CFC based extinguishers is that instead of

carbon-dioxide, it uses some inert gases, like: CFCs. These

extinguishers also do not leave any residue, smell or mess.

However, these are highly damaging to the environment (because

of the tendency of CFCs to deplete the ozone layer). Many

variants of CFCs are already banned. Some newer (and, cleaner)

variants are already under consideration.

These extinguishers are very costly (both in terms of money as

well as impact on environment), and hence, should be used only

on very costly, specialty equipments.

The working of these equipments is very simple. They simply

displace the oxygen at the burning site. And, these being highly

inert gases – would not take part in any chemical reaction

(including the process of burning), nor would let the burning

material take part in the burning process – thereby

extinguishing the fire.

These kinds of extinguishers can also be used on metallic fires

(Class D). Other extinguishers mentioned earlier could have

mixed results on Class D fire, depending on which metal is

burning.


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Dry Chemical Based

These are most commonly used type of extinguishers. It can be

used on Class A, B and C fire. Hence, its popularly also called

as ABC type extinguisher. Its impact on Class D fire could be

varied, depending on the type of metal being burnt.

It works in the following way: It stores dry yellowish chemical

powder (mono-ammonium phosphate) under pressure of nitrogen gas

(or, any other inert gas). When turned on, the dry powder is

sprayed with pressure onto the burning material, along with the

inert gas. Nitrogen displaces oxygen. The powder itself sits on

the burning material – thus removing contact between burning

material and its other two arms of fire.

The powder is a non-conductor of electricity – hence, its

equally effective on Class C fire.

Fire Fighting Strategies

Now we know all the constituents of a fire and various kinds of

fire-extinguishers. If you have to fight a fire, depending on

the circumstances, you have to decide as to what method/strategy

(i.e. which arm to fight) you would like to use. Accordingly,

you might want to choose an appropriate extinguisher.

Let’s look at some different fire-situations and the

corresponding strategies:

Smothering a fire

Say: A person’s clothing catches a fire. You could simply

wrap the person in blankets (or, any other thick piece of

clothing layer), and, roll the person on the ground. The

fire gets extinguished – due to lack of oxygen supply.


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Letting it die

Sometimes, you might just isolate the burning material from

other combustible material. The fire would simply die down,

once it has burnt the burning material – as it finds

nothing else to burn.

Fire in pantry area – say oil/ghee on fire

Simply cover the utensil which contains the burning oil

etc. Lack of oxygen supply will simply extinguish the fire.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to turn off the stove. This will

help bring down the temperature – thus, cutting off another

arm.

Class C Fire

Use of incorrect extinguishing agent (water or foam based)

on a class C fire would simply be fatal. Hence, first thing

to do would be to convert it into a Class A fire. This can

be done by turning off the electric supply. However, if you

are suspecting gas-leak also, don’t flip the switch.

Even after you have turned off the switch, one needs to

exercise caution. If the main and neutral connections are

reversed, while the switch might be turned off – the wires

would still be energized. This would provide a false sense

of security, while, the fire is still Class C. Hence, it’s

very important that at the time of construction/renovation,

electrical wirings are done/supervised by appropriately

qualified electricians. Thus, do not ever pour/direct water

jet/stream on a Class C fire (or, even where electrical

involvement is suspected). It will be fatal. If you have to

use water (only as a last resort), throw mug-full of water

from a safe distance, such that the last drop of water has

left the mug, before the first drop of water touches the

electrical line. This way, the continuity of the water

stream is broken, and, electricity cannot reach your body.


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This method is to be used only in case no other alternative

is visible, and, also, extreme caution is to be used. This

method should never be used with more than one person

simultaneously trying this method. Because, water leaving

from different mugs could together form a continuity,

thereby turning FATAL for somebody.

LPG Cylinder related fire

First and foremost, keep the cylinder standing upright. An

upright cylinder, with a fire at its mouth is not

necessarily that dangerous (though, it might appear to be

really scary). Its simply equivalent to a refinery-chimney

flaring excess gases. Cylinder on fire in a rolled-down

position/upward-down is an explosive. Stay away from it.

The regulator of LPG cylinders are not designed to handle

rolled-down cylinder. The fire can enter the cylinder

causing the pressure in its neck area – thus causing an

explosion. Fire around the base of the cylinder is also

dangerous. It can cause explosion. In order to put out a

fire at the mouth of a cylinder, pour approximately 60

litres of water in one go at the base of the fire. In very

high probability, the fire would be extinguished. Even if

the fire is out, a gas-leak could still be involved – which

is equally dangerous. Do not confuse a LPG fire and LPG

leak. These are two different things, and, both need to be

tacked individually.

Using An Extinguisher

So, now that you have decided how to fight a fire, and, what

kind of extinguishers to use, let’s see, how to use an

extinguisher. Most extinguishers are based on PASS System.


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1. “P” -> Pull the Pin on the extinguisher. This pin is kept

to prevent accidental discharge while carrying/transporting

the extinguishers.

2. “A” -> Aim the nozzle of the extinguisher at the base of

the fire. It’s very important that the discharge from the

extinguisher is directed towards the base of the fire. Most

people make the mistake of directing the extinguishing

agent on the fire itself. That’s ineffective. The

extinguishing agent should be directed at the base of the

fire – where the burning material is located. That is the

point, where the fire-triangle is established, which needs

to be broken.

3. “S” -> Squeeze the trigger, so that the extinguishing agent

starts flowing out of the cylinder, and, onto the burning

material – at the base of the fire.

4. “S” -> Swipe the nozzle sideways to coat the entire burning

material, with the extinguishing agent.

“PASS” is an acronym to remember the steps involved – Pull (the

pin), Aim (the nozzle), Squeeze (the trigger), Swipe (sideways).

Precautions While Fighting A Fire

When fighting a fire:

1. Always stay upwind: It protects you from heat, smoke etc.

It allows you to go closer to fire – thus, being able to

better direct your extinguishing agent. It protects you

from inhalation of poisonous gases, which might be given

out during the fire.

2. Keep under observation, even when the fire is extinguished.

Smoldering particles can easily rekindle, thus, catching

you off-guard.


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3. Pour extinguishing agent in adequate quantity, rather than

small quantities. Doing it in installments does not help.

One discharge of 60 liters of water is not the same as two

discharges of 30 liters each. E.g. If you have to pour 4

buckets of water, have the 4 buckets ready, and, pour all 4

buckets in one go. Instead, if you pour two buckets of

water, refill them, and, pour again – it’s not the same.

Deciding Whether To Fight The Fire Or Leave The Site

So, now that you are well equipped in fighting a fire – you just

need to decide, whether you want to fight a fire, or, flee away

from it. Remember, in general, timely action helps a lot in

containing the damage. Besides, more often than not, general

fires (especially Class A fires) don’t spread suddenly – unless,

chemical reactions are involved. This means that if you can nip

a fire in the bud, you should try to fight and extinguish it.

Still, no material is worth more than human life. So, don’t

fight, if any of the following conditions are involved:

1. You don’t have sufficient/right material to fight the fire.

The time spent in fighting could impact your ability to

evacuate

2. You don’t have backup. You should be able to get help, in

case, there is a need

3. Fire seems to be blocking your exit path

4. You have no idea what is burning For example - Class D fire

would need specialized knowledge of the metal under fire,

and, how will that metal react with different extinguishing

agents – at high temperature

5. Fire seems to be spreading too fast

6. There are explosives around

7. You don’t feel comfortable and confident


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During The Fire

So, there could be a possibility that many people are not going

to take part in fighting against a fire. These people need to

evacuate. Hence, there needs to be an evacuation plan in place.

This evacuation plan should be in place - before the incident of

fire.

The evacuation plan should have the following items identified,

and, well communicated to everybody: - A command and control

structure, which should be effective and operational as soon as

a fire is reported - Assembly area - Mechanism and

responsibility for head-count etc.

In case of a fire, one should never use escalators (irrespective

of the height of building which is being evacuated). Escalators

could be unreliable – due to failure of electrical circuits

which operate it, or, it could have mechanical failure – due to

snapping of wires/ropes – causing it to go into a free-fall. At

the minimum, there is a high risk of smoke inhalation, as, smoke

has a tendency to go up, and, hence, will always try to enter

escalator pits – from where, it can go all the way up to the

top, without any hindrance.

If there is lot of smoke, crawl on the floor. Because of smoke’s

tendency to go up, even during very dense smoke conditions, the

lower few inches of the ground are expected to be relatively

free of smoke.

To reduce smoke inhalation, put a wet handkerchief to cover your

nose. If there is no water available, use your own saliva to wet


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a small portion of the handkerchief, and, use that portion to

cover your nostrils.

If you can go to an open-area (for example uncovered terrace,

open ground etc.), there will be no risk of smoke-inhalation.

However, use your own judgment if you decide to go to the

terrace of a high-rise building. While there will be no risk of

smoke-inhalation, rescue efforts could become difficult and is

dependent on the level of sophistication that the local fire

department has (e.g. access to snorkel, very long ladders-

capable of reaching high-rise buildings, rescue-helicopters

etc.).

Always evacuate in an orderly manner. A building housing 200 or

so people (normal, healthy adults) across 3-4 floors with a

single exit can easily be evacuated in less than 2-3 minutes if

done in an orderly manner. If people push and shove, stampede

can occur, causing much more injury and, it might take much

longer to evacuate. Worse: Backing up might be impossible. Say,

while, people are evacuating towards an exit, and, it’s found

that – the specific exit is blocked, there might be a need to

backup. If the evacuation is not proceeding in an orderly

manner, it might not be possible to back-up; as people towards

the end of the evacuation queue (who are not aware of the

blockage at the exit) will try to push forward, while, those at

the front of the queue (who are aware of the blockage) want to

back-up.

Since, panic might set in, during a fire – thereby clouding

people’s thought process and ability to think reasonably, its

highly likely that during a fire, people forget these simple

tenets, and, in their attempt to rush out, actually create chaos

and disorderliness. Thus, it’s important that regular mock


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evacuation-drills are carried out. That will cause people to

behave in a much more orderly manner – during an actual fire.

While evacuating, do a quick survey to see, if there is somebody

around you, who might need some assistance, e.g. somebody who is

old, too weak, injured, child, any disability etc. If possible,

provide assistance to such a person. Even if you yourself are

not in a position to provide assistance, at least request for

help on this person’s behalf.

If an area is already clear, while, evacuating, close the door

behind you. It will serve several purposes:

1. Will isolate the area, thereby, causing an impediment to

the spread of the fire.

2. Will save time for others, who might want to recede the

area.

While, you should close the door, lock it only if you are

absolutely sure that there is nobody inside. Because, if there

was even a single person inside it, and, you have locked it, the

chances of that person being rescued is diminished by a huge

factor.

If you are inside a closed door – with fire outside:

Feel the inside of the door with your hand. If the door feels

hot, many a times, it might be safer to stay inside. At this

time, whether you should stay inside, or, still venture out

could be a judgment call, depending on: how long do you expect a

rescue team to arrive and/or alternative avenues (e.g.

possibility of jumping from the window). If you are on the high

floor of room, with windows having strong grills and the local

fire-department is not well-equipped/staffed, then, the time


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that you spend inside the room is actually going against you –

as the fire outside becomes more vigorous. If you do decide to

stay inside the room, wet towels, bed sheets etc. and put below

the doors to prevent smoke etc. from coming inside your room.

When On Road

When on road:

1. Always give way to fire-engines.

2. Even if you are not coming directly in the way of fire-

engines, go to the extreme side of the road, and, stop your

vehicle – to let the fire-engine pass.

3. Do not rubber-neck/crowd the site of a fire incident: as

you could hamper movement of rescue teams/material

If You Want To Help

If you want to help in case of a fire-incident, you could help

in one of the following ways:

1. direct help in fighting the fire (if you are able, and, are

knowledgeable in fire-fighting)

2. provide background logistics support

3. inform the local fire station

4. help in crowd-control, and, keeping the curious onlookers

at bay

5. help in directing fire engines and rescue vehicles

(particularly in the internal lanes/bylanes etc.)

6. clearing the way for fire-fighting crew

Do not put yourself and others at risk Do not question the

established chain of command. There are multiple ways of


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fighting a fire. This is not the time to argue and convince each

other on the best method.

Finally

Finally: In case of a fire:

1. DO NOT PANIC

2. Decide your strategy.

3. If you want to fight:

1. With What

2. How

3. Which arm (of the fire triangle) to fight

4. Or, you might want to flee (evacuate)

Remember, all the conditions might not be met, e.g. to stay

upwind, you might have to get away from the exit. Depending on

the circumstances, you would have to choose which conditions to

meet, and, which one to compromise.

You should know the local Fire-Station Number. Most countries

have a uniform number (valid across the whole country) to reach

the local fire-station. Do not ever make test/prank calls.

Besides, being illegal (in most countries), you might have to

live with guilt for the rest of your life – if your prank call –

caused delayed response to a real fire-emergency somewhere else.


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Structural Damage

Structural damages come under two major categories:

1. Large Scale damage to structures. These are typically

caused due to some other primary disaster -

Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Flooding, Tornadoes, Tsunamis.

These are the “real” disasters – due to the number of lives

involved.

2. Damage to individual buildings/structures. These are

relatively minor problems, and, in most cases have a high

degree of predictability.

In most major disasters, large scale damage to structure plays a

major role in causing immense sufferings and/or deaths. The

chain of events from the primary disaster to the large scale

damage could take a different path in each individual event,

but, once it reaches the stage of large scale structural damage,

everything goes haywire.

First of all - buildings and structures all around start

falling. This causes many people to get hurt – many of them

fatally – because of the impact of falling material. Or, in high

rise buildings, people themselves might fall from higher floor,

thus, getting hurt – due to the impact of fall. Buildings with

glass-facades are especially dangerous, as, glass being brittle

would tend to crack with smallest deformation of the frame. And,

worse, glass being very heavy has a very high impact on hitting

somebody. And then, glass shards have a tendency to go inside

the skin and cause damage to internal organs.


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Thus, many people die of the immediate impact of falling

buildings and/or objects.

Cars and vehicles might fall off damaged bridges – falling into

rivers and ravines. Cars in an underpass might get damaged due

to collapsing tunnels or over bridges.

Trains and trams might jump off the tracks – which get twisted.

Many road accidents take place because of roads being damaged.

Many train accidents take place.

All this causes many people to die.

And, many more people are buried under layers of debris.

Simultaneously, utility carriers start snapping. Thus, overhead

transmission wires might snap, causing electrocution. Water

lines might burst, causing water to come in contact with

electrical lines – again causing electrocution. Or, gas lines

might burst causing fire-hazard. Thus, people might die of

electrocution, fires etc.

Pipelines and chimneys in large chemical plants could develop

leaks etc. thus letting off dangerous chemicals into the

atmosphere. Depending on the toxicity of the discharged

chemicals, one might suffer irritation and/or major damage.

While, there is too much loss instantaneously, what makes the

situation worse is:

• With roads, rails, airports damaged, the total

transportation system comes to a collapse. Hence, it takes

several days for relief teams to arrive.

• With damage everywhere and, too many people who are

injured, medical facilities fall in major short-supply.


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This refers to both space in hospital, availability of

trained medical personnel, medical equipments, medicines

etc.

• With collapse of utility carriers, there is no provision –

no electricity, no water, no food.

• Communications infrastructure fails

• All these situations could last for several days.

So, even if one has survived the immediate impact, that’s not

sufficient. One has to survive totally on his/her own for at

least 3-5 days, when first batch of relief teams might start

arriving. Surviving for a few days without food or water is very

difficult for even adult, healthy human beings. And, at hand, we

would have many sick and many more injured. That’s why, the

death-toll generally rises dramatically – a few days after the

incident.

Even though, some people might survive, after about 5-7 days,

situation starts taking turn for the worst. With lack of

utilities like water, basic sanitation and hygiene conditions

are not met. This causes outbreak of epidemics, thus, causing

large-scale deaths. It is at this stage, that, mass-scale

cremation etc. is conducted.

Thus, after the deaths due to immediate impact, during the next

few days, many more people could die of:

• hunger

• cold

• epidemic

• sheer lack of medical attention

• shock and trauma

All these cause loss of too many lives.


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Thus, in such cases, for survival, one has to take following

precautions:

• Prevent any injury due to the immediate impact. This is

mostly a function of how alert you are, and, how prepared

you are – when the event occurs. Since these are not

primary events, you should generally be aware of the nature

of disaster that your area is prone to. And, you should be

able to recognize the onset of this primary event. Follow

the safety precautions for that primary event. In general,

protect yourself from falling objects.

• Having survived the immediate impact, survive on your own

for next several days. This can happen only if you are

prepared in advance. If you are well-prepared, it should be

possible to survive on your own for a few days on your own

– till the situation starts limping back to normal.

Collapse of Individual Structures

This refers to mechanical collapse of certain structures, e.g.

building, bridges etc. This causes people to get buried in the

debris. Possible presence of live beings in the debris does not

allow the use of heavy earth moving equipments, and, manual

rummaging through heavy concrete structures is very effort prone

as well as time consuming.

Usually, structural collapse does not happen suddenly. There are

signs given – which when ignored – could lead to structural

collapse. Structural collapse could happen – because:

1. old building and bridges etc. have not been given proper

care and preventive maintenance has been ignored for a long

while


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2. alterations are made to the civil structure, without

considering the load bearing capacity

If you are working/residing in a building, which does not seem

to be well-maintained, you might be at risk of getting caught

in, when the building collapses. It’s much better to get the

building repaired appropriately, before it’s too late.

If you are making renovations to your building – causing

structural changes, its best to do these under the guidance of

appropriately qualified Structural Engineers, Civil Engineers or

Architects. This will significantly reduce the chances of the

collapse. Since this kind of disaster mostly preventable (and,

has a certain degree of predictability), it should be avoided.

However, in case, one is still stuck in a situation of

collapsing structure, the primary aim should be to save oneself

from instantaneous damage. Usually, help would start arriving in

a few hours (maximum). If you have survived the immediate

impact, most probably, you might get rescued soon, and, might

get medical attention.


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Search and Rescue

The first thing before taking part in a “Search and Rescue”

operation is to make sure that you don’t put yourself also at

risk – by unnecessarily exposing yourself to a hazard.

If the “search and rescue” operation needs you to enter or go

near a structure, you should first assess the stability of the

structure. Uncontrolled movement on/around the structure could

further destabilize the structure, causing more damage to the

people who might be already trapped beneath the debris, as well

as causing damage to the rescuers and/or curious onlookers and

bystanders.

Searching inside a building

If you are going inside a building, the biggest risk is that you

might lose your way – while inside the building. At any time -

while inside the building, you should always be in a position to

be able to evacuate immediately – in case, there are some threat

perceptions (say: aftershocks of an earthquake), or, any other

instability to the structure, or, some other hazard (say: fire

etc.) One of the simplest way is: when entering a building, keep

your left hand along the wall (on your left side), and, move

only along this wall. If you have to move away from the wall,

come back immediately to the same wall – at the earliest

possible. If you encounter doors/passages along, you might enter

those doors/passages – as long as – you have your left hand

along the wall. The advantage is: If you follow this discipline

strictly, there is no way for you to get lost. In case of a

need, you can always retrace back your steps. Simply turn-

around, and, put your right hand along the wall (on your right


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side – after turning around), and, follow the wall. It is as

simple as that.

Some of the reasons, why you might have to leave the wall:

• Some obstruction (say, table etc. kept alongside the wall).

In such cases, it might be better to walk around the

obstruction, rather than walk over it.

• Some victim slightly away from the wall. Since, the aim was

to rescue the victim, you might want to leave the wall,

and, approach the victim.

This method is helpful even for conducting searches in dark-

buildings. However, dark buildings could create other potential

hazards. Hence, if you have to enter a dark building, you should

take with you flashlights and torches – because, there might be

other potential hazards, which you might not be able to see.

The above approach does not guarantee that you will cover each

and every portion of the building. The amount of portion covered

would depend on the layout of the building, its doors etc.

However, it provides 100% assurance that you wont get lost.

Whenever you enter a building to conduct a search/rescue

operation, always ensure that there are people outside who are

aware of the fact that you have gone inside the building. While

some members of the search team are gone inside the building,

some other members should stay outside – but – in communication

with the members who have gone inside.

Searching for people trapped under debris

This should be done very carefully. This presents two dimensions

of danger. As you move debris, you could be changing the balance

of the debris, and, thereby – further destabilizing whatever

structure exists. Before you start to move large pieces of rocks

and debris, make an attempt to listen below debris and catch any


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sign of movement, or, somebody’s response. Always call-out for

somebody having been trapped below the debris. The response

could be in terms of a voice from the trapped person – or, some

taps by the victim. Even if there is no response, it should

*not* be assumed that there is nobody below. The trapped person

could be unconscious, or, might be too feeble to respond.

This means, while removing debris from one place, the removed

debris should not be put on top of another pile of debris –

which is not guaranteed to be clear of any trapped person.

Otherwise, somebody trapped below this “other pile” could be

getting further trapped. This also means that the rescue

operations should always be conducted from outside towards

inside – unless, it is known for certain that the inner portion

of the debris contains some victims – in which case, we might

attend to the inner portion immediately.

While removing debris, one should continuously try to assess, if

there is a victim below. It’s possible that a victim who was not

able to hear you can now hear you – as some layers of debris

have been removed. Once you know that there is a victim, and,

that person has given an indication that he/she can hear you,

continue to always convey messages of encouragement and

reassurance that the relief team is on its way. This will

provide an immense psychological boost to the victim.

When conducting relief operations in debris, the entire efforts

should be coordinated. If several teams are working without any

coordination, the various teams could come in each other’s way –

as well as cause imbalance to the structure, causing it to

further fall, and, this time, it could take the rescue personnel

down. Also, some simple safety precautions should be taken.


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1. At any instant, no part of your body should be below any

heavy object. Suppose, you have to lift a heavy object. As

soon as it’s lifted slightly above the ground, put some

piece of brick, wooden log, rock etc. directly below the

object. The idea is: If for some reason, the object slips

through or falls, your hand/legs should have a good

clearing from the ground. Use some sturdy stick/pole etc.

to place/move bricks/logs etc. below the object being

lifted, rather than putting your own hand/leg below the

object.

2. Lifting: If you have to lift a heavy object, don’t bend

your body around waist. It could cause back-pain. The right

way is to bend your knees, while, keeping your back

straight. Hold the object firmly, and, now, straighten your

legs/knee.

3. Instead of using your force, use the concept of levers to

lift heavy objects. A lever is a sturdy pole. Place one end

of this pole below the object to be lifted. Place some

strong, solid piece of material below this pole, not very

far (say: at approximately 1/3rd the total length of the

pole – from the object to be lifted). Go to the other end

of the pole. Now, you can pull the other end down, and, the

object would get lifted. The effort that you would require

to lift would be too less, compared to the object being

lifted. The other advantage is: your limbs are nowhere

directly below the object being lifted.

One of the concerns could be: when there is so much

destruction all-around, where would we get such

sophisticated tools. Well, the tools would be found in the

debris itself.


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4. Don’t forget to wear gloves, when you are dealing with

debris, and, a pair of good shoes. There might be glass-

shards, sharp edges, and, what not.

Triage The concept of “triage” was introduced by French

military, and, it translates into: “sort”ing.

During a disaster, there might be too many people who need

medical attention – and, medical facilities would be in severe

short-supply. Hence, its important to sort out the victims in

terms of:

• who needs immediate medical treatment

• for whom can the treatment be delayed

• who need not be given any treatment

The last category includes people, who don’t need medical

treatment, because they are not much hurt, or, people who are

already dead. This last category also includes people, who need

not be given any treatment, because their chances of survival

are very remote. For all practical purposes, these people might

be treated as “dead”. The logic here is: instead of tying up

medical facilities for this person – who has almost no sign of

survival, the same facility might be extended to somebody – who

has a much better chance of surviving.

Thus, as part of “triage”, it’s highly possible that a person

who is actually alive might be classified as “dead”. Needless to

say, this experience could provide quite traumatic for the

person conducting the categorization. It is not easy to classify

a living person as “dead”, and, be aware that this

classification/judgment would deny him any chance of survival.

However, the right context to look at is: by not tying up the

medical resources for this one person, you are actually


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providing the chance of treatment and survival to some more

people. Otherwise, an attempt to get medical treatment to this

person – could result in denial of timely treatment to another

person, who had a much better chances of survival, while, this

person anyways does not survive.

Sometimes, a person in very heavy pain could be crying the

loudest, but, that does not mean he/she needs immediate

treatment. His/her treatment could be delayed – without any risk

of his/her life. e.g. a fractured arm etc. While, this person

could be in immense pain, his treatment can wait. His sight

could also evoke immense sympathy – but, once again, this is a

case where, the volunteer has to exercise his/her mind

judiciously.

The people who might need immediate treatment are:

• those who are losing blood

• those who seem to be in a state of delirium

• those who are showing weakness of vital signs

Sometimes, a person might be unconscious. In the absence of any

medical instrument, and, lack of adequately trained medical

staff, it might be difficult to judge the strength of vital

signs. A good indication in such situations could be: Pinch and

hold one of the fingers between your thumb and index finger for

2-3 seconds. Now, leave his/her finger. Observe, how long does

it take for that particular place to turn back to normal

(pinkish) colour. If it takes longer to turn back into the

normal colour, his/her vital signs are not very good.


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Seeking Help

USA: 911

India: Police: 100; Fire Brigade: 101; Ambulance: 102

Singapore: Police 999; Fire Brigade: 995; Ambulance: 995

About disastermgmt.org

disastermgmt.org has been prepared by Sanjay Churiwala and

Naveen Gabrani. Sanjay is an Electronics Engineer, involved in

R&D activities in an EDA company, and, who has studied Disaster

Management as a personal interest. Naveen is a dot com

entrepreneur.

Although all effort has been made to make the information

provided correct, disastermgmt.org is not responsible for any

mistakes. The site will not be responsible for any damage caused

due to the advice offered.

If you think, certain information is missing from this site,

and, would like to contribute, we would be happy to hear from

you, as well as give credits to you for any material that you

provide to make this site more useful for the general population

of the world.

Comments and suggestions are also welcome, at "ngabrani at

hotmail dot com" if you think, certain portions of this site can

be better explained/presented.

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