Causes of Natural and Manmade Disaster.docx

Considering the characteristics and genesis of the major events taking place in the universe, disasters taking place on the planet earth can be primarily attributed to both nature-led and human- based activities. It needs to be understood and appreciated that in majority of cases, disasters lead to vulnerability/ damage/destruction of the built environment in the urban areas. Since large population is housed in buildings, constructed and concentrated in a limited area, destruction/damage of unsafe/vulnerable/dilapidated buildings invariably result in killing large population and causing destruction of majority of buildings. Numerous studies conducted have concluded that earthquake normally don’t kill people, it is the damaged/ destroyed buildings, which are responsible for killing people and loss of property

1. Underlying and Undefined Causes of- Natural and
Manmade Disasters- Making Cities Unsafe
Jit Kumar Gupta
[email protected]

Considering the characteristics and genesis of the major events taking place in the
universe, disasters taking place on the planet earth can be primarily attributed to both
nature-led and human- based activities. It needs to be understood and appreciated that
in majority of cases, disasters lead to vulnerability/ damage/destruction of the built
environment in the urban areas. Since large population is housed in buildings,
constructed and concentrated in a limited area, destruction/damage of
unsafe/vulnerable/dilapidated buildings invariably result in killing large population and
causing destruction of majority of buildings. Numerous studies conducted have
concluded that earthquake normally don’t kill people, it is the damaged/ destroyed
buildings, which are responsible for killing people and loss of property.
Major causes of disasters can be summarized in terms of ;
A. Nature led/based disasters;
Structure of Earth ;Structure of the earth remains unique with upper layer dividing
into different sections/parts called tectonic plates. These plates being dynamic in
nature, remain in constant movement , both alongside and above / below each
other, causing friction and unleashing enormous energy , leading to causing
earthquake and other structural changes on the surface of the earth.
Tectonic movement; Since planet earth is made up of several plates sliding on
underlying mantle rather than a single surface, a relocation or colliding of these
plates cause disastrous consequences. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and
tsunamis are the outcomes of such tectonic movement.
Seismic activity; Earthquakes are caused by continuous seismic activity taking
place inside our planet
Specific Geographic regions; Based on peculiar climate conditions and locational
aspects ,certain Geographic regions, are known to face periodic disasters during
particular seasons like; spring tornado season in the United States or the summer-
and-fall hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of
Mexico; Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions near tectonic active plate boundaries

2. existing between Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates and pacific ring of fire
having active volcanoes, which remain the major cause of disasters happening
across nations on regular basis.(Metych Michele),
Global Warming; generated/caused by the emission of  large volume/quantity of
greenhouse gases, released by the combustion of fossil fuels, is known to increase
the frequency of weather- and climate-related natural disasters, such as droughts,
heat waves, increasingly intense hurricanes, and flooding due to sea-level rise.
Global warming remains one of the prime mover of the natural disasters for the
reason that it impacts prevailing environment and ecology besides increasing the
temperature of planet earth , cities and seas/oceans, resulting in large number of
hurricanes and tropical storms. Wildfire as a disaster has its origin in the rise of
temperature coupled with lack of rain and moisture in the air and has location in the
forest or grassland, engulfing nearby cities/human settlements. (WMO) .
Deforestation; Forests /trees are known for its capacity to mitigate floods and
droughts by balancing and holding back natural groundwater resources and stabilize
the soil on slopes, Deforestation and soil erosion invariably cause landslides which
have been reckoned and considered as major causes of disaster in hill areas.
Soil Erosion; Soil erosion invariably causes significant soil degradation, leading to
loss of fertility and, lower agricultural production resulting into hunger for local
inhabitants. In addition, soil erosion can also lead to landslides in hill areas , which
are known to cause enormous loss to both nature, property, communities and
humanity. Irrational exploitation of steep slopes and constructing buildings across
slopes, involving large scale cutting and filling, in hill areas have been reckoned as
prime cause of disasters like landslide and settling of the land etc.
Natural activities in the earth’s crust; Natural disasters are often triggered by
natural events taking place in the earth’s crust. Tension can build up inside the
earth’s crust due to natural processes, which is released through earthquakes to
cause disasters.
Unpredictable Monsoon pattern; Having genesis in the climate change, global
warming, increasing heat-island impact, rising urban temperature and sea-water
recording higher temperature; fast changing pattern of rainfall and erratic behavior
of monsoon are causing massive flooding and draughts in agriculturally rich areas
leading to numerous disasters on planet earth.

3. B. Human-led Disasters
Absence of Rational Policy; In this era of increased vulnerability, absence of an
effective, realistic and rational policy, at the state and local level, regarding disaster
management is known to be the prime reason to make cities unsafe and prone to
disasters.
Non-Involvement of Communities in Disaster Management; Managing disaster
is currently being treated primarily as government -led programmed with least
involvement of people and local communities, which invariably leads to making cities
unsafe and community vulnerable to disaters.
Low Priority; Low priority accorded to promote safety of communities and human
settlements makes human settlement more vulnerable to disasters.
Absence of Vulnerabilty Atlas of Cities ;Absence of vulnerability mapping of the
cities and absence of urban vulnerability plans for majority of cities, invariably
emerges as major cause of making cities prone to disasters.
Irrational Planning of cities; Master plan of majority of cities are being prepared
without documenting urban vulnerability or ignoring safety as integral part of urban
planning and development process. This practice invariably makes cities unsafe.
Absence of land suitability analysis; Ignoring practice of carrying out land
suitability analysis before preparation of both long term and short term plans for the
cities, invariably leads to development taking place in the most vulnerable areas-
low lying, floodable areas, area under High-Tension electric lines etc. making
cities/areas unsafe and prone to disasters. Construction of buildings on soft soil has
been listed as one of the prime cause of building collapsing in the Myanmar in the
recent earthquake.
Marginalising Nature; Marginalising, muting, diluting and divorcing nature from
planning and development process have emerged as one of the major causes for
making cities vulnerable to large number of natural and manmade disasters.
Large Scale Exploration, Excavation and Storing Resources; Injection of large
fluids into deep wells; detonation of large underground nuclear explosions, the
excavation of mines, and the filling of large reservoirs are known to cause
earthquake causing enormous damage to the cities and people in close vicinity.
Ignoring structural safety in built environment; Marginalising/discounting role
and importance of structural safety in the planning, designing and construction of
safe and sustainable buildings has globally led to making cities and buildings
unsafe and prone to disaster.

4. Involvement of Non-Professionals in designing building; With majority of
buildings in India still being designed by non-professionals, having no knowledge,
skill, understanding, qualification and expertise in planning structurally safe
buildings has invariably led to making cities unsafe in the face of manmade and
natural disasters.
Resources; Lack of capacity, capability, will and resources available on the part of
Urban Local Bodies, at the local level ,to check, ensure and enforce the construction
of safe buildings, has invariably led to disasters and destruction being caused in the
urban setting
Unplanned development; Unplanned, unregulated and haphazard urabanisation
and rapid/irrational growth of cities and towns are also considered as one of the
basic causes, of making cities prone to disaster. With majority of development in
urban India, largely marked by large scale unauthorized , unplanned and sub-
standard development, urban areas are fast becoming hot-beds/recipe for natural
and manmade disasters.
Lack of Skilled manpower; Large scale unskilled and unqualified manpower
involved in the planning, designing and construction of buildings is invariably
leading to making compromises with quality of buildings and safety of built
environment.
Non- involvement of voluntary Organisations; Non- involvement, exclusion and
ignoring the role, relevance and importance of NGOs and CBOs in involving
communities and capacity building at local level, in the domain of disaster
preparedness and disaster management, has invariably led to increased level of
vulnerability of urban communities.
Lack of financial resources; non-availability of financial resources at the local level
for disaster management, coupled with absence of dedicated resources allocated for
disaster management in the budget of ULBs /Development agencies involved at
local level, has generally led to increased vulnerability of the urban areas to
disasters.
Absence of dedicated institutional network; for disaster management at the
local level, invariably increases the vulnerability of communities and cities to
disasters. Lack of institutions involved in the research and development has
invariably impacted the capacity of the cities to innovate and experiment in the
domain of mitigating and making cities safe against disaster.
Lack of Awareness; Lack of awareness of communities, about the role/importance
of mitigation, preparedness and recovery related to minimizing impact/damage
caused by of disasters has led to increased probability of losses caused by
disasters striking the urban areas.

5. Lack of Trained Manpower; With limited number of institutions of higher learning,
imparting dedicated courses in disaster management and limited
exposure ,regarding disaster mitigation in built environment and development of
cities, given in the course curricula defined for teaching architecture, engineering
etc., availability of adequate number of trained manpower always remains an
issue, leading to making cities and communities less prepared in the domain of
disaster preparedness, mitigation, recovery and rehabilitation.
Absence of Disaster Management Plan; Absence of requisite number of trained
professionals and low priority given to disaster management has cumulatively led
to majority of Indian cities growing without any Disaster Management Plan, making
Indian cities and communities more vulnerable to disasters.
Non- involvement of educational institutions; Educational institutions, because
of having large number of young minds and teachers, are known for their critical role
and relevance in making cities safe against disaster. Lack of recognition and limited
involvement of educational institutors in the domain of disaster management, has
diluted the role of these institutions in empowering the cities to manage disasters
effectively and efficiently.
Absence of Periodic Structural Safety Audit; In Indian context, buildings have to
prove structural safety for buildings ,only once in entire life-cycle of buildings ,and
that too only at the time of completion/occupation of buildings. Considering the fact
that buildings have a life-span of 6-7 decades and invariably involve wear& tear and
additions & alterations during use and occupation, but no periodic audit of structural
safety is conducted, which invariably leads to making buildings unsafe, over a period
of time, against disasters. This is considered important particularly for public
building related to healthcare, education, leisure, trade and commerce etc,,
involving safety of large number of users/visitors.
Lack of data- base; In the absence of non-availability of any data base related to
the residents, buildings, resources, infrastructures, services, amenities,
stakeholders etc., it becomes difficult to ensure/organize/arrange appropriate
rescue and rehabilitation of the local communities, in the case of disaster striking
the area.
Absence of Technology; Technology has great role and relevance in the domain
of disaster management and making cities safe. Ignoring/non-availability of
technology in assessing/mapping vulnerability, absence of data base of the
vulnerable communities, absence of appropriate system of warning communities

6. about impending disasters, mapping resources available to mitigate disasters etc.,
has led to making cities unsafe to a large extent.

 Marginalization of small/medium urban settlements; Concentration of large
number of institutions related to disaster management in large sized cities and
absence of such institutions/resources in the Small and Medium sized urban
settlements, has invariably led to causing large causality when disasters strike
smaller urban settlements, due to non-availability of resources, lack of capacity,
capability and absence of adequate preparedness on the part of local communities
and cities.
Increasing Armed Conflict among nations; Globally, majority of nations are
currently getting involved in large scale, insurgency, terrorism, prolonged wars
and armed conflicts, involving use of all kind of chemical based arms and
ammunitions, leading to large scale death of human lives, damage /destruction of
built environment on large scale, destruction of trade and commerce, destruction of
institutions providing healthcare and education besides destruction of basic
amenities/facilities essential for human living. These manmade disasters , gradually
increasing in frequency and intensity, are causing large sized disasters to
communities and cities. Ongoing war in Middle east, Ukraine and Russia war , Iran-
Iraq war etc. are the living examples of manmade disasters caused to humanity,
nations and communities