NAME : RUNGANO DZUMBUNU

REG NO: R212374L

Module: HDM 110, Environmental security

Program: RISK REDUCTION AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Lecturer: MR .J. CHIRUME

Question: 10. Using examples, discuss the concept of environmental resilience in relation to environmental
disasters.
The environment is seen as the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant
lives or operates in. The environment can also be regarded as the natural world, as a whole or
in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity. The term
resilience refers to the ability of individuals, communities, organizations and states to adapt
to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects
for development. Environmental resilience is described as the capacity of an ecosystem to
respond to a disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly without shifting to an
alternative state or loosing function or services. Resilience has been built up in a number of
disasters which include floods, wildfires, droughts, cyclones and only to mention a few. The
motive of this piece of paper is to explore on the concept of environmental resilience in
relation to environmental disasters giving a number of examples.

Environmental resilience being seen as a process of adopting to disasters thst has been
initialized in line with the Sendai framework of 2015 to 2030. Resilient environments
underpin thriving societies. Resilient environments also sustain cultures and livelihoods,
provide food security and water resources, support biodiversity and address climate change.
Resilient plans also help to manage natural environments, conserving them for the benefit of
future generations and improving how their resources are valued. In dealing with floods a
number of sustainability activities where done. Floods are defined as the overflow of areas
that are not normally sub-merged with water or a stream that has broken its normal
confines or has accumulated due to lack of drainage 1. Higher experience of disasters, mainly
floods, enhances the preparedness of people based on a learning effect that would take
place among people after they experience such events2. The construction of dams and
bridges has been a measure of being resilient to floods. In Zimbabwe there has been the
construction of dams to contain water from heavy rains. In Mashonaland West Province in
Murabani a bridge was built to deal with water flow. Having this put in place. Drills and
exercises should include contingencies for population protection as well as alert/notification
systems for public health and medical staff and for special populations. The meteorological
communications encourages preparedness in the home, in schools, in the work place, and at
healthcare facilities, meteriogical communications can also raise public awareness of
1
SWA Gunn, Multilingual dictionary of disaster medicine and international relief. Dordrecht Nederlands: Kluwer Academic
Publishers, 1990.
2
J. Joerin, R. Shaw, Y. Takeuchi, & R. Krishnamurthy. (2012). Assessing community resilience to climate-related disasters in
Chennai,India , 45.
evacuation routes, floodzones, and community response plans. Power generators and water
pumps are examples of equipments that are being used during flood emergencies. These
devices help to maintain critical health and medical infrastructure, including public health
departments, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and outpatient.

Moving on, The more resilient a nation or community is, the less lasting damage disasters
caused and the quicker safer they can recover. Building environmental resilience before a
disaster strikes clearly has the potential to save more lives and guard against future crises 3.
Much resilience has been grown in dealing with drought. A drought is usually defined as a
period of abnormally dry weather that is sufficiently prolonged so that the lack of water
causes a serious hydrologic imbalance in the affected area 4. Droughts in some nations for
the past years has affected the agricultural, health and cultural sectors. Drought-related
deaths are generally secondary to the agricultural, economic, and health effects of drought,
such as famine, malnutrition, poverty, poor public health practices, contamination of
existing water supplies, infectious diseases, social strife, and heat-related illness 5. In being
resilient there is the growing of drought resistant crops such as cereals to reduce the effect
of food insecurity. Various agriculture planning methods are being put in place to deal with
food security in case there is a pending drought. Recently in Zimbabwe there was the
introduction of a new farming method which is called 'Pfumvudza'. This method allows
crops to grow in a manner that the crop is not affected by lack of rains. In managing
droughts there is the construction of dams and the installation of water tanks to do water
harvesting, so that the water can be used in future purposes in case of a drought. The
indigenous knowledge systems have been helpful also as a method of disaster resilient in
terms of early warning systems. The meteriogical department also offers information about
the short coming of rain and this makes a number of people prepare for a drought.

Moreover, resilience refers to the ability or capacity of a system to absorb or cushion

against damage or loss. In the case of wild fires a number of activities have done to deal
with veld fires. Wildfires are defined as a sweeping and destructive conflagration, especially

4
G. Bailey, J. Walker. Heat related disasters. In: Hogan DE, Burstein JL, eds. Disaster Medicine. 2nd ed. Philadelphia:
Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins,2007.
5
Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). EM-DAT: The International Disaster Database. Ecole se
Sante Publique, Universite, Catholique de Louvain. Brussels Belgium, 2005. www.emdat.be/.
in a wilderness or a rural area6. In different parts of globe this disaster of veld fires has been
an issue that is being dealt with. Giving an example, the advances in information
dissemination, warning systems, and firefighting equipment and control capabilities have
reduced wildfire related mortality in the U.S. In 2007, California wildfires caused over $1
billion in damage, destroyed over 1500 homes, and affected over 1 million people, yet very
few deaths and injuries were reported 7. People have been resilient to the wildfires or veld
fires through conducting education campaigns on the effects of fires to the humans or the
environment. The public should be educated as to the potential risk of wildfire and, in the
case of a wildfire disaster, what protective steps to take for example evacuation or shelter-in-
place.

Furthermore, reslience has also been brought out in the issue cyclones. Tropical cyclones
are usually defined as low-pressure weather systems that develop over the warm waters of
the oceans, typically between the latitudes of 30°N and 30°S 8. For the past few years,
cyclones where a cause of the increase of the mortality rate. It is stated that theAbsent early
warning and evacuation measures, drowning from storm surge can cause an estimated 90%
of cyclone attributable mortality9. However, a number of measures have been put in place
to deal with environmental resilience when it comes to cyclones. Weather monitoring and
forecasting are components of an early warning system for cyclones. Accurate weather
monitoring and early warning has allowed timely implementation of a safe evacuation, thus
drowning the leading cause of cyclone death is reduced. Emergency operations plans have
been taken into consideration the people need to be experienced after cyclones, which
most often includes at risk population evacuation and provision of adequate shelter, as well
as food, water, sanitation, and health care. Implementation of public education has
encouraged preparedness in the home, in schools, at the workplace, and at healthcare
facilities. Such education has raised public awareness of evacuation routes, storm surge, and
riverine flood zones, and community response plans.

6
Merriam Webster Dictionary Online. www.m-w.com.
7
K. Bolduan . Outlook improves as firefighters make headway in wildfires.CNN 2007 Oct 24. www.cnn.com
8
J. Malilay. Tropical cyclones. In: Noji EK, ed. The public health consequences of disasters. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997:207–27.
9
CDC. Deaths associated with Hurricane Hugo—Puerto Rico. MMWR 1989;38:680–2.
Lastly, the concept of economic resilience is also defined as a buffer capacity or the ability
of a system to absorb perturbation, or the magnitude of the disturbance that can be absorbed
before a system changes its structure by changing the variables10. Landslides as part of the
disasters have had an impact towards the functioning of the environment. Landslides
include all types of gravity induced ground movements, ranging from rock falls through
slides or slumps, ava lanches, and flows, triggered mainly by precipitation (including
snowmelt), seismic activity, and volcanic eruptions 11. Rainfall monitoring, together with
warning and population evacuation, have reduced loss of life due to landslides. Early
warning systems based on weather forecasts and rainfall information have substantially
improved emergency warning for evacuation of threatened communities. In advance of
heavy rains, public health and educational information campaigns have communicated risk
and protective behaviors. The public community should become educated about hazard
awareness, as well as emergency preparedness and mitigation and response measures.

To conclude, environmental resilience is defined as the ability of an ecosystem to respond to

a disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly without changing to an alternative
state or loosing function or services. Resilience has been built up in a number of disasters
which include floods, wildfires, droughts, cyclones and landslides. The effort of reducing the
mortality rate in number of disasters has been seen as a measure of implementing disaster
resilience

10
CDC. Health concerns associated with mold in water damaged homes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita—New Orleans
area, Louisiana, October 2005. MMWR 2006;55:41–5.
11
DJ. Varnes. Slope movement types and processes. In: Schuster RL, Krizek, RJ, eds. Landslides: analysis and control.
Washington DC: Natl. Res. Council Transp Res Bd Spec Rpt 176;1978:11–33.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bailey G, Walker J. Heat related disasters. In: Hogan DE, Burstein JL, eds. Disaster Medicine.
2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, 2007.

CDC. Deaths associated with Hurricane Hugo—Puerto Rico. MMWR 1989;38:680–2.

Bolduan K. Outlook improves as firefighters make headway in wildfires. CNN 2007 Oct 24.
www.cnn.com.

Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). EM-DAT:The International

Disaster Database. Ecole se Sante Publique, Universite Catholique de Louvain. Brussels
Belgium, 2005. www.emdat.be/.
DFID. (2011). Defining Disaster Resilience: What does it mean for DFID? Department for
International Development.

Gunn SWA, Multilingual dictionary of disaster medicine and international relief. Dordrecht
Nederlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990.

Joerin, J., Shaw, R., Takeuchi, Y., & Krishnamurthy, R. (2012). Assessing community resilience
to climate-related disasters in Chennai,India , 45.

Malilay J. Tropical cyclones. In: Noji EK, ed. The public health consequences of disasters.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1997:207–27.

Mayunga, J. S. (2007). Understanding and Applying the Concept of Community Disaster. 2,6-
7.

Merriam Webster Dictionary Online. www.m-w.com.

Shusterman D, Kaplan J, Canabarro C. Immediate health effects of an urban wildfire. West J

Med 1993 Feb;158:133–8.

Varnes DJ. Slope movement types and processes. In: Schuster RL, Krizek RJ, eds.
Landslides: analysis and control. Washington DC: Natl. Res. Council Transp Res Bd Spec
Rpt 176;1978:11–33.