Area and Percentage of affected landmass with problematic rubble/debris present

Debris or rubble is the wreckage of the devastation and it includes everything that could possibly destroyed/damaged, or materials brought about by a catastrophic event. Problematic refers to situations where such debris causes immediate physical and psychological barriers for emergency relief and recovery activities.

Unit Description

Meters squared and percentage

Numerator

n/a

Denominator

n/a

Disaggregation

n/a

Indicator used for response monitoring ?

Yes

Types

Baseline

Output

Threshold / Standard

n/a

General guidance

The type of debris varies considerably depending on the type of hazards and vulnerable objects in the communities. Often building materials and broken/ scattered remains form a major part of debris. Immediate clearance of debris becomes a pre-condition for restoration of accessibility in the affected sites. Debris management is a labour intensive process and offers employment opportunity for the unemployed labourers in the affected region. Recycling plays an important role for re-usable building materials from the debris/rubble. The key steps in the management of debris include collection (putting them together in certain places/points), clearance (putting them aside or stabilising unstable wreckages to ensure safe access), removal (taking them away from the site), recycling (salvaging or reusing), or disposal (taking the to the final solution) with the objectives of making debris no longer pose hindrance to humanitarian and recovery actions or obstacle and/or hazard to the crisis affected populations. Clearance of debris is a labour intensive process. It is important to assess the problems of debris and specify the number of problematic sites in accordance with geographic subdivision of the crisis-affected areas. Refer to the Guidelines for Dealing with Disaster Waste (forthcoming) being developed by UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit with the support of Swedish Civil Contingency Agency (MSB).

Guidance on phases

Phase 1: Determine if the catastrophic event/crisis generates debris; Information about type and intensity of hazards combined with the knowledge of existing vulnerability should guide the understanding about possibility of debris accumulation. Undertake assessment of the type of debris and its geographic distribution in the affected areas. Analyse the problematic characteristics of debris in terms of both ? the way the presence of accumulated debris hinders emergency response and recovery as well as the efforts required for debris management including collection, recycling and disposal. Determine the number of problematic sites in line with the common parameters (eg.. site location, type and volume/unit of debris, number of labours, crushers/tools etc.) of the humanitarian operation; Phase 2: Confirm the number of sites with the common parameters. Gather field information for verification of the problem characteristics of debris with greater detail of its management including availability of sites for preservation of re-usable building materials during recovery period. Assess spontaneous responses of the affected communities and identify if emergency response actions include debris management component; Phase 3: Verify the numbers of sites and estimations with formal records when necessary triangulate with field data and third party analysis; Phase 4: Conduct in depth analysis of the debris management in relation to other indicators

Phase applicability

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Guidance for pre-crisis/baseline

Pre-crisis level information about land-use plan and built environment, types and use of building materials. Pre-crisis level information on unemployed day labourers including information about any cultural/religious barrier for woman to work outside their homes.

Data Sources

Community/ LGU survey

Comments

n/a