Natural Disasters: Types and Impacts

• Disasters caused by natural events can cause human suffering, injuries, loss of life, physical destruction, and social and economic problems.
• A disaster seriously disrupts a society's ability to function, leading to human, material, economic, or environmental losses that the community cannot handle on its own.

Natural Disasters

• Geophysical disasters include landslides, avalanches, sinkholes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
• A landslide includes mass wasting events, such as rockfalls, debris flows, mudflows, and slope failures.
• An avalanche is a deadly event involving large masses of snow moving down a mountain or hill.
• A sinkhole is a surface depression caused by the collapse of the soil's surface layer.
• Earthquakes are geological events caused by a sudden energy release, resulting in seismic waves, shaking, vibration, and ground displacement.
• Volcanic eruptions can cause death and destruction.
• Meteorological and hydrological disasters include blizzards, hailstorms, droughts, tornadoes, cyclonic storms and thunderstorms.
• Climatological disasters include extreme temperatures, droughts, and wildfires, including heat waves, cold waves, and extreme winter conditions.
• Biological disasters involve disease, disability, or death in humans, animals and plants due to micro-organisms, bacteria, viruses, or toxins.

Man-Made Disasters

• Man-made disasters include complex human emergencies like terrorism and technological incidents.
• In transitional human shelters, assessing the situation is crucial, and a transitional shelter may not always be suitable for everyone.
• Involving the community helps ensure an efficient and cost-effective response, by using their knowledge.
• A strategy is to utilize transitional shelters as part of the inter-sector support until durable shelter solutions are available.
• Reducing vulnerability and contributing to disaster risk reduction are important.
• Agreeing on standards with affected populations ensures consideration of local hazards, climate, labor, skills, materials, building methods, cultural needs, and social customs.
• Maximizing choice enables households to recycle, upgrade, reuse, resell, and relocate their shelters.
• Buying time allows for sustainable reconstruction.
• An incremental process allows beneficiaries to upgrade, reuse, resell, or recycle at their own pace until durable solutions are achieved.
• Site planning should be on land that is safe, legal, and appropriate.
• Reconstruction should happen along with transitional shelter programs, for shelters designed to aid a reconstruction program through upgrading, reuse, recycling, or resale.

Internal vs. External Disasters

• Internal disasters occur within an organization or facility, which disrupt the environment of care related to utility loss or strikes.
• Regardless of the cause, the goal is to maintain a safe environment, provide services, fix the problem, and restore normal operations, using an all-hazards disaster plan.
• External disasters create a service demand that exceeds available resources, such as a sudden surge in trauma patients.
• In addition to planning for internal, external, or combined emergencies, it is critical to assess the magnitude of the disaster in relation to the organization's or community's ability to respond.
• Level I disasters can be contained utilizing an organizations own resources.
• Level II disasters need external help from nearby agencies.
• Level III disasters exceed local/regional capacity and need state or federal assistance.

Disaster Trends and Patterns

• The disaster phases include pre-disaster, warning, impact, emergency, isolation, rescue, remedy, and recovery.

Key Phases of Disaster Management

• Pre-Disaster involves reducing potential losses from hazards.
• During Disaster ensures victims' needs are met to alleviate suffering.
• Post-Disaster involves a rapid and durable recovery that avoids recreating vulnerabilities.
• Healthcare leaders must use judgment based on available data, be aware of time-sensitive issues, and maintain a clear command structure during incidents.
• Hospitals must lessen hazards through structural or nonstructural methods, including disaster-resistant construction, modifications, and detection systems.
• Prevention and mitigation are measures to prevent a disaster or reduce its severity.
• Disaster preparedness aims to prevent or minimize losses and damage during a disaster.

Preparedness

• This involves ways for governments, communities, and individuals to respond to cope effectively.
• It includes emergency plans, warning systems, inventories, public education, and personnel training.
• It may include search/rescue, and evacuation plans for areas at risk.
• Preparedness planning requires rules, regulations, and budgetary support.
• Early warning systems monitor vulnerable communities and get knowledge of pending hazards efficiently.
• Effective warnings involve mass education and population training with clear instructions when warned.
• Disaster impact is the real-time event that affects elements at risk, with duration varying by event type.
• The response phase includes search and rescue, humanitarian aid, and assistance from various bodies.
• The recovery phase begins after immediate human threats subside, returning the affected area to normalcy.
• Reconstruction considers location and materials, seeking enhanced development prospects.
• Rehabilitation includes temporary public utilities and housing for assistance as interim measures for recovery.

Mitigation/Prevention Competencies

• It is a recognized process worldwide with integrated nursing roles.
• It gives consistency in competences, enhancing the integration with the disaster continuum.
• Competencies are organized in mitigation/prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery/rehabilitation.
• Within these areas, risk reduction, policy, ethical practice, communication, and long-term recovery are identified.

Risk Reduction, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

• Epidemiological data evaluates risks/effects of disasters, determining nursing implications.
• Collaboration occurs with healthcare, government and organizations to lessen vulnerability.
• There is participation in planning to meet healthcare needs in a disaster.
• Challenges to healthcare are identified along with plans to mitigate them.
• Vulnerable populations are identified coordinating activities to reduce risk.
• The plan integrates the process of isolation, containment and decontamination.
• Collaboration with organization and goverments builds community capacity for response.

Health Promotion

• Health promotion helps with community education related to disaster preparedness.
• Assessments take place in the community to identify health issues, disease prevalence, chronic illness, disability and resources.
• The health system is strengthened through programs such as mass immunization and medication administration.

Policy Development and Planning

• One must demonstrate understanding of disaster terminology.
• The phases are prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery/rehabilitation.
• The role of government is understood in organizations, planning and response.
• The community disaster plan integrates with national and international responses.
• Disaster plans and individual roles are recognized in the workplace.

Ethical Practice

• Identify and address ethical challenges through collaboration.
• Apply ethical frameworks in decision-making and priorities.
• Ethical practice protects the rights, values & dignity of people and practices cultural/spiritual aspects of communities.
• It maintains confidentiality and an awareness of impact beliefs may have during disaster response.

Legal Practice

• Practice in accordance with all laws.
• Understand laws/regulations on disaster impact and nursing practices.
• Recognize the legal role to protect the community.
• Understand the legal implications of a disaster (security, evidence and confidentiality).
• Describe regulatory issues, roles/responsibilities of staff.

Accountability

• Accept responsibilities and own actions.
• Delegate to others in accordance with practice of laws.
• Practice according to laws.
• Advocate for provisions.

Communication & Information Sharing

• One must describe the chain of command and a nurses role in it.
  • Communicate with sensitivity to the diversity of different groups.
  • Describe the principles of crisis in comms including intervention.
  • Identify and communicate information IMMEDIATELY to proper authorities.

Communication Tools to Utilize

• This can help remove language barriers.
• Coordinate information with the team.
• Provide up to date health care information, issues and resource needs.
• Work with the media to determine the nurses role.
• Understand health management.

Education & Preparedness

• Maintain knowledge in the relevant areas to disaster.
• Participate in workplace drills.
• Seek new knowledge.

Care of Communities

• One must describe the disaster and its implications.
• Collect data on injuries if required.
• Evaluate area resources to see that the needs of the populus is being met.
• Collaborates to reduce hazards/risks.

Care of Individuals and Families

• Perform a quick assessment of disaster and care needs.
• History including physical and psychological assessments.
• Take measures to reduce the spread of diseases.
• Identifies exposures to dangerous agents.
• Identifies unusual clusters of illnesses.

ICN Core Competencies

• Level I: Basic nursing education and authorized to practice.
• Level II: Level I competencies, disaster responder within an institution.
• Level III: Level I/II competencies, prepared for disasters and serves as a deployable team.

The Paris Agreement

These are long term goals to reduce greenhouse emissions and pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

• Regularly assess collective progress.
• Helps to find a way to provide financing to developing nations to reduce climate change.

Net Zero

• Cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions.
• Global temperature increase must be limited to 1.5°C above
• pre-industrial levels by reducing 45% by 2030.

What Can You Do?

• Adapt to climate change, plant trees and clear any brush to reduce the event of fire hazards.
• Businesses should plan accordingly and try to figure out plans around climate risks (hot days which prevent workers).
• Roads need to be built to withstand high temperatures from more powerful storms.
• Universal access to early systems can delivery benefits up to 10x initial cost.

ISDR

• Seven clear targets and four priorities preventing disaster.
• Reduce current and future risks.
• Strengthen governess to manage disaster risk.
• Aims to reduce disaster risk by 2030, focusing on health and economic assets of businesses.

Fire Extinguisher

• Class A is common combustibles (wood, paper, cloth).
• Class B are flammable liquids.
• Class C fires involve energized electrical equipment.
• Class D involves combustible metals (lithium).
• Class K fires involve cooking media.

Earthquake

• To prepare, NDRRMC advises to prepare home, family and community.
• Be sure each of your members know what to do.

Key Tips

• Electrical overloading.
• Fireproof kitchen.
• Secured light sources.
• Practice housekeeping.

Volcanic Eruptions

• You need to protect yourself and your family.
• Get advice to prepare and evacuate.
• Make a plan.

Include These Supplies

• Flashlight.
• First aid kit.
• Food.
• Medicines.
• Water.
• Protection gear.

Ash

• Wear a respirator.
• Listen to the news.
• Gather your essentials.

Pace Planning

• Primary is ideal. contingency plans that are invaluable.
• Alternate is your back up.
• Emergency and contingent plans help you be ready for everything.

Triage

• It places patients the most care needed.
• Identify those who need the most amount of care.

Disaster Triage

• It helps to find the best EMS and hospital needs because resources are not available.
• There are categories to help with a disaster.
  • Minimal or minor (Green).
  • Delayed (Yellow).
  • Immediate (Red).
  • Expectant (Gray).
  • Deceased (Black).

SALT Is Sort-Assess-Lifesaving

• Two voice commands.
  • "If you have time move to____".
  • "Wave your arm if you have time".
• The START triage tool for adults for primary triages.
• Simple Triage.

START

• Assessed with the ability to walk & the absence of spontaneous respiration.
• Asses perfusion + the ability to obey commands, rapid transition.
• All these victims may be unstable.

Managing Health:

• Provide hope + instill some hope.
• Promote a sense of self.

Hazard Hunter

• Quickly generate initial hazard levels of seismic + volcanic locations.
• Visualizes risk and summarizes the assessments.