Define hybrid hazard. (HPAS Mains Question Paper 2022 – GS 1, Q.5)
A hybrid disaster can be defined as a natural phenomenon where human intervention causes disorder that leads to significant risk events, resulting in a disaster that exceeds the capacity of society to respond to it.
The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan represents an example of a hybrid disaster where a natural catastrophe—an earthquake and tsunami—disabled the cooling system of three reactors. No immediate radiation deaths were recorded, but the evacuation resulted in a hundred fatalities.
The reasons for hybrid disasters Human behavior is considered a primary cause of hybrid disasters. However, there are many other reasons, as shown below:
- Failure to observe environmental elements at the national planning stage.
- Deficiencies in the strategic and regional planning levels.
- Lack of safe areas for displaced people from civil wars and other circumstances.
- Lack of adequate studies into the risks and disasters in populated areas.
- Ignoring the increase in population over the long and short terms at various planning stages.
A hazard refers to anything that has the potential to cause harm or damage. A hybrid hazard could refer to a type of hazard that results from the combination of two or more different hazards or risks. For example, a flood caused by heavy rainfall and a nearby dam breaking could be considered a hybrid hazard.
Hybrid hazards could refer to the potential risks of emerging technologies that combine physical and cyber elements. For example, autonomous vehicles could present mixed dangers if they were to malfunction due to both hardware and software failures, leading to accidents that could cause harm to both passengers and pedestrians.
