Maharashtra Board Class 10 Defence Studies Chapter 3 Disaster Management PDF Download

Disaster Management

Internal security also includes aspects like natural and man-made disasters. It brings together the Police, Paramilitary and the Armed Forces along with immigration and customs, firefighters and the civil society on a single platform to tackle these disasters.

This chapter focuses on various hazards and disasters that we see happen around us.

Hazards And Disasters

Hazards: A hazards is a phenomenon that has the potential to cause threats to life, property, environment and normal processes. Hazards are natural and human induced. Earthquakes, Floods, Tsunami Landslides and Droughts are some of the natural hazards. Industrial accidents, road accidents and most of the fires are typical examples of Human Induced Hazards.

Natural hazards exist in some specific geographical areas, while human induced hazards are due to human errors or failure of some processes and could exist everywhere. Hazards may become active suddenly or build up slowly.

Disasters: Disasters are the occurrences caused due to some hazards that become active and go out of control. Thus, they are events that cause substantial damage to property and environment and loss or injury to life, creating imbalance in society and disturbing its normalcy. It takes tremendous efforts by the entire nation state and the populace to restore normalcy.

Disasters could be sudden or slow in their build-up and occurrence. Ill-effects of disasters depend upon the intensity and speed of the occurring hazard that causes disaster. It also depends upon the vulnerability of the population and infrastructure.

Teacher's Note

A hazard is danger. A disaster is when that danger becomes very serious and hurts many people. Like a storm is a hazard, but when it floods your whole village, it becomes a disaster.

Exam Trick

Remember: Hazard = danger that may come. Disaster = danger that already happened and caused big damage. So earthquake is hazard, but earthquake that breaks houses is disaster.

Points to Remember

Hazards are things that can cause danger to us.
Disasters happen when hazards become very strong and cause big damage.
Natural hazards happen in nature like earthquakes and floods.
Man-made hazards happen because of human mistakes like road accidents.
We can prepare to face disasters but we cannot stop them.

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are mostly the ones that cannot be prevented. They cause great losses and damages. Earthquakes, Floods, Landslides, Tsunamis, Droughts, Lightning Strikes, Cloud Bursts, Heavy Rainfall (precipitation) and Cyclones are some of the most commonly experienced natural disasters in India. Every disaster has complex ill-effects. They are generally in the form of deaths and injuries to living beings, damage to property and infrastructure resulting in economic losses, loss of crops and vegetation, industrial losses and even degradation of environment. All these effects lead to disturbance of life and exert great social, administrative and economic burdens on the society. Let us study these disasters.

Teacher's Note

Natural disasters are things in nature we cannot stop like earthquakes or heavy rain. They cause big damage to our homes and hurt many people.

Exam Trick

Remember: Natural = comes from nature = earthquake, flood, cyclone. Man-made = comes from humans = car accident, fire.

Points to Remember

Natural disasters cannot be stopped by humans.
They cause deaths, injuries, and damage to buildings.
They can damage crops and hurt the environment.
India has many natural disasters like earthquakes and floods.
We need to prepare to stay safe from natural disasters.

Earthquakes

When an earthquake takes place, it causes building structures to collapse. The collapsed buildings cause loss of lives and injuries. There are many secondary effects like landslides, dam bursting, snapping of high tension overhead wires, electrocution and even fires. Large scale epidemics spread because of decaying of the dead and contamination of water. Sometimes, the earth's surface cracks. Water streams change their courses. There is tremendous economic loss and social ill-effects.

Earthquakes are a common phenomenon all over the world. Construction technology is now evolving to construct earthquake resistant structures. Earthquakes measure from intensity 0.1 to 9.9 (10 being hypothetical) on a Richter Scale.

Earthquake Damage

Teacher's Note

The Richter Scale measures how strong an earthquake is. A small earthquake you cannot feel. A big earthquake breaks buildings and hurts people. In 2015, Nepal had a big earthquake that broke many houses.

Exam Trick

Remember: Higher number on Richter Scale = stronger earthquake = more damage. So 8.0 is very bad but 3.0 you cannot feel at all.

Points to Remember

Earthquakes shake the ground and break buildings.
The Richter Scale shows how strong the earthquake is.
A strong earthquake can cause many deaths and injuries.
Earthquakes can also cause landslides and fires.
Earthquakes above 8.0 can cause tsunamis in the ocean.

Floods

Floods occur in many countries of the world. Almost 65% of India's main land is prone to floods. Floods cause havoc in states like Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, North East states and Orissa quite frequently. Floods are of two types – the flowing ones and sedentary ones. Flowing ones are because of overflowing rivers and sedentary ones are because the heavy rain cause submergence of low laying areas in urban centres. The rain data and monitoring of water levels allows a fair warning period today. This ensures that people can be shifted to safer areas and help save their lives.

Effects of floods are in the form of submergence of areas causing damage to houses and properties, spoilage of crops and vegetation and drowning of people and cattle. Further, the secondary effects are in the form of displacement of population, Dam Bursts (due to water pressure) damage to infrastructure (Bridges, Railway Lines, Power Grids, Mobile Towers and many more). Epidemics also get triggered after floods.

Teacher's Note

Floods happen when rivers overflow after heavy rain. In Bihar and Assam, floods are very common. They damage homes and crops and make people homeless.

Exam Trick

Remember: Flood = too much water = homes get wet = crops die = people get sick. Two types: flowing water from rivers and standing water from heavy rain.

Points to Remember

Floods happen when there is too much water from rain or rivers.
Many Indian states like Bihar get floods every year.
Floods damage houses, crops, and roads.
After floods, diseases can spread from dirty water.
We can now warn people before floods so they can move to safe places.

Landslides

Landslide is a phenomenon where mud and rocks that form hills and mountains come sliding down with great force. This is due to natural causes like heavy rain or human intervention done through building of railway lines, digging canals, digging tunnels, mining for gravel etc.

In 2005, several people lost their lives in Jui village in Raigad District of Maharashtra. In 2014, there was a massive landslide in Malin village in Pune district. Careful observation allows a fair judgment of a possible landslide so as to plan for precautionary measures.

Teacher's Note

Landslides happen in hilly areas when mud and rocks slide down fast. In 2014, many people died in Malin village in Pune when a big landslide happened.

Exam Trick

Remember: Landslide = hill + heavy rain = mud slides down fast = dangerous. Can happen naturally or because humans dig mountains.

Points to Remember

Landslides happen in hilly and mountainous areas.
Heavy rain can cause landslides on hills.
Landslides can bury homes and hurt many people.
Digging for mines can also cause landslides.
We can see warning signs before a landslide happens.

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