Complete information on the various aspects of detailed damage assessment in for Disaster Management

Detailed damage assessment goes further than the rapid assessment, and it includes the following aspects of disaster damaged.

i) Verified number of human lives lost

ii) Cattle lost

• Number
• Estimated Value

iii) Details of damage to crops (in hectares) and estimated loss of produce (in rupees)

• Area completely damaged (Ha)
• Area partially damaged (Ha)
• Area likely to be replanted (Ha)
• Extent of affected area in percentage
• Crops lost (quintals)
• Estimated value of crops lost (in rupees)

iv) Houses damaged or destroyed

• Number
• Estimated value

v) Loss to infrastructure, public works and utilities including property of local bodies

• Name of the work and utility
• Nature of damaged
• Estimated value of damage
• Estimated cost of restoration work

vi) Rough estimate of the total financial loss in rupees

1. Damaged to Buildings

The damaged caused to buildings by the various disasters may be categorized as losses under the following heads:

I. The loss of the main building

II. The loss due to failure of other components whose damaged is attributed to the main building damaged.

III. Area covered by the collapsed structure

IV. Death of injury to life due to building collapse

V. Loss incurred in terms of debris removal and restoration

VI. Loss of revenue during the idle non-work period

In addition to these, there would be socio-economic costs arising as a consequence of the disaster, which would add to the loss under the heads listed above. Building damages, on the wider scale, usually are most relevant in terms of damaged to houses, than other types of buildings. Damaged to house property is estimated in terms of number of households, percentage of reported damaged, and repair cost per household. This estimation is needed to be carried out for all houses, even under classified categories of ‘Kutcha’ Houses, ‘Pucca’ Houses’ and “Semi-pucca” Houses. This is required is required in order to carry out a value based assessment.

Besides the house structure damaged itself, there is also an aspect of household asset damage assessment, which has to be taken into account. Damage to house structure can cause resultant damaged to household goods, artisan assets and other productive assets stored in the house. These needs to be accounted for in terms of average value of damage per households (in rupees).

2. Damage to Land

Damaged to land due to disaster could be short-term damage, as in land rendered useless temporarily due to coverage by debris of sand and loss of standing crops, or else it could be long term damage as in perennial flood, lava or ash deposit, or loss of productivity of land. The most important in the immediate post-disaster scenario is the aspect of agricultural loss through land destabilization.

Crop damaged is assessed in terms of percentage of household reporting damaged under the following heads:

i) Area damaged per household (ha)

ii) Production loss per hectare (quintals)

iii) Production loss per household (quintals)

iv) Value of production loss per hectare (Rs.)

v) Value of production loss per household (Rs.)

Besides the damage to direct land attributes such as crops, there is also a long-term impact on the productivity of the land itself, which is felt even after the disaster, mainly in case when the floods have receded. The long-term impact on crop production could either be favorable and unfavorable. The favorable effect would be in the form of deposit of fertilizing silt on land resulting in rise in soil fertility, which would manifest in crop yields or a better crop after the monsoon season due to water availability. The unfavorable effects would be in the form of sand casting rendering in land unfit for cultivation. This generally affects the production of Rabi crops and winter crops after the floods. This effect can be assessed in terms of variation in production of crops after floods, as follows:

• Yield per hectare (quintals)
• Normal yield per hectare (quintals)
• Percentage variation in yield

3. Damage to Human Lives

The most disastrous and immediate impact on human lives is in terms of loss lives by deaths that may occur due to the direct impact of the disaster, or through indirect impact as in case of building collapses, fires etc. Injuries are the second level of impact of disaster on human lives, and result from the same sources as deaths. The impact on lives in terms of deaths and injuries has to be estimated not only in numbers, but also in terms of the expenses incurred due to the death or injury, as also the loss of productivity of the persons affected.

In a longer-term perspective, the impact of the disaster is also manifested in morbidity. Usually after a gestation period, which may be about two weeks after the disaster, diseases start to set in due to the insanitary living conditions and contamination of drinking water and food. The affected persons, who may be housed in makeshift relief camps, have no access to proper civic services, and as a result vector-borne diseases affect them, which may even take the form of an epidemic if it goes unchecked. Once again, the impact of the sickness due to disaster is felt in terms of expenditure on treatment and loss of employment during the sickness period. This may be assessed under the following heads:

i) Total number of sample households

ii) Percentage of households reporting sickness

iii) Average number of persons reporting sickness per household

iv) Average during of sickness (Days)

v) Average expenditure on treatment per household (Rupees)

vi) Average employment lost per household (Days)

vii) Average loss of income per household (Rupees)

Besides the physical impact of death, injury and morbidity, and their resultant financial implications, there is also a purely economic impact on human lives, which is in terms of loss of employment due to dislocation and disruption of routine activities due to the disaster. For assessment of this impact, it is necessary to first collect information on the total number of households, number of households reporting wage employment, and average number of wage earners per household in the effected area. An inventory has to prepare to enumerate the following factors.

• Average employment days per household
• Average monthly earnings per household (Rupees)
• Average monthly earnings per earner (Rupees)

These factors have to be accounted for in the disaster scenario context, as factual figure in the post-disaster scenario, as well as in a situation of no disaster. The comparison of these two scenarios would give a gross loss in employment due to the disaster.

The loss of employment cane be further classified according to the nature of skill or employment in a typical regional setting, the classifications adopted could be:

• Agriculture
• Dairying
• Fisheries
• Non-agricultural Labor
• Artisans
• Business/Trade
• Service
• Others

4. Damage to Livestock

The damage to livestock, namely cattle, other animals and poultry, which is a very important asset in rural household, is generally assessed in terms of the number of the households reporting loss, and the per household value of livestock lost (Rupees). It is generally observed that loss of livestock takes place because they are not moved out at the time of disaster threat, or else because people flee the area, leaving their livestock tied up or enclosed, with no means of escape. In this light, it has been observed that in case of floods, the loss of livestock is usually low in the areas with high flood zones, because the people expect a disaster, and move out their livestock in time. Losses are high in low flood zones where severe floods are not so frequent, and when they come, they take the people by surprise, and they are not able to move out their livestock in time. The loss in fishery is also often the result of floods and cyclones.