What is a compound disaster?

The occurrence of a major disasteroften directly or indirectly creates other secondary disasters, forming alinked relationship between them. This is called a compounddisaster.

The losses and damages caused bysuch disasters do not accumulate like addition, but multiply like in ageometric series.

For example: The large tsunamitriggered by the March 11 Fukushima Earthquake in Japan subsequently created anuclear crisis.

The most common compound disasteris typhoon and earthquake:

The disaster in a typhoon itself:Wind damage

Typhoon-generated disasters:Floods; debris flows/landslides; disasters involving public gas and oilpipelines and electricity transmission lines; air disasters; maritimedisasters, traffic accidents on land, toxic chemical disasters.

The disaster in an earthquakeitself: Tsunamis, sloping-land disasters

Earthquake-generated disasters:Fires; disasters involving public gas and oil pipelines and electricitytransmission lines; traffic accidents on land; tsunamis leading to  nuclear and other catastrophes.

How do I respond in a compounddisaster?

For example: Prepare emergency kits(bug-out bags), participate in disaster drills, set up an evacuation plan withyour family, etc.