Disaster Preparedness & Mitigation PDF

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS & MITIGATION LECTURER: ANDRINE MCLAREN (MS.)  PHASES AND EFFECTS OF DISASTER  The Phases & Stages of Disaster Management  The BEFORE Phase  DURING the Event  The AFTER Phase THE BEFORE PHASE  BEFORE A DISASTER…  Dis...

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS & MITIGATION LECTURER: ANDRINE MCLAREN (MS.)  PHASES AND EFFECTS OF DISASTER  The Phases & Stages of Disaster Management  The BEFORE Phase  DURING the Event  The AFTER Phase THE BEFORE PHASE  BEFORE A DISASTER…  Disaster experts have long known that waiting until a disaster strikes to test a community’s response procedures can be disastrous  Disaster Management encompasses all aspects of planning for and responding to disasters, including the before, during, and after disaster activities  While there are different understandings of Disaster Management, it is generally viewed as a cycle with several phases. The before phase usually involves:  Mitigation Phase (also known as the Prevention Phase)  Planning and Preparedness Phase  BEFORE A DISASTER… MITIGATION  Mitigation (Prevention) includes the identification of hazards, the assessment of threats to life and property, and the taking of measures to reduce potential loss of life and property damage, sometimes known as disaster mitigation.  Mitigation measures include:  community awareness campaigns (public education) to increase knowledge of how to deal with disaster situations  Zoning & land use planning and design decisions to stop development which may be dangerous in the event of a disaster  capital works such as levee bank construction to reduce the impacts of flooding  building codes, building use regulations and safety codes; preventive health care  All mitigation measures are important as they not only reduce the cost of disasters to the community, but they save lives.  BEFORE A DISASTER… MITIGATION  During the mitigation phase structural and non-structural measures are undertaken to limit the adverse impact of natural hazards, environmental degradation and technological hazards. The adverse impacts of hazards often cannot be prevented fully, but their scale or severity can be substantially lessened by various strategies and actions.  Management activities in the mitigation phase encompass engineering techniques and hazard-resistant construction as well as improved environmental policies and public awareness, as well as hazard vulnerability and risk assessment.  Measures taken during the mitigation phase also address preventing natural or man- caused events from giving rise to disasters or any emergency situations, e.g. not allowing your child to have access to matches, gasoline, or kerosene oil.  BEFORE A DISASTER… PREPARE & PLAN  The Planning and Preparedness Phase is designed to structure the disaster response prior to the occurrence of a disaster.  It is a state of readiness to respond to a disaster or other emergency situation and involves evaluating the community’s potential disaster risks, vulnerabilities, and the likelihood for a disaster to occur.  This risk assessment process is sometimes referred to as an All- Hazards Analysis. This can be completed at multiple levels, including:  National, County & Parish levels  Hospital, business, school and agency levels  Personal and family levels  BEFORE A DISASTER… PREPARE & PLAN  This phase includes:  developing plans for what to do, where to go, or who to call for help before an event occurs;  actions that will improve your chances of successfully dealing with an emergency.  Preparedness activities increase a community’s ability to respond when a disaster occurs. Preparedness is "a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, and taking corrective action in an effort to ensure effective coordination during incident response”.  BEFORE A DISASTER… PREPARE & PLAN  This preparedness cycle is one element of a broader Comprehensive Disaster Management System to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters  Typical preparedness measures include developing mutual aid agreements and memorandums of understanding, training for both response personnel and concerned citizens, conducting disaster exercises to reinforce training and test capabilities, and presenting all-hazards education campaigns.  Unlike mitigation activities, which are aimed at preventing a disaster from occurring, l preparedness focuses on preparing equipment and procedures for use when a disaster occurs, i.e. planning.  BEFORE A DISASTER… PREPARE & PLAN  Preparedness measures can take many forms including the construction of shelters, installation of warning devices, creation of back-up life-line services (e.g. power, water, sewage), and rehearsing evacuation plans.  Two simple measures can help prepare for sitting out the event or evacuating, as necessary.  For evacuation, a disaster supplies kit may be prepared and for sheltering purposes a stockpile of supplies may be created. These kits may include food, medicine, flashlights, candles and money.  BEFORE A DISASTER… ALERTS  Early warning is a major element of disaster risk reduction. It prevents loss of life and reduces the economic and material impact of disasters. To be effective, early warning systems need to actively involve the communities at risk, facilitate public education and awareness of risks, effectively disseminate alerts, and warnings and ensure there is constant state of preparedness. A complete and effective early warning system supports four main functions: risk analysis,[disambiguation needed] monitoring and warning; dissemination and communication; and a response capability. An early warning system can be implemented as a chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, event detection, decision support, and message brokersubsystems. They work together to forecast and signal disturbances that adversely affect the stability of the physical world, providing time for the response system to prepare for the adverse event and to minimize its impact.  An early warning system is more than a warning system, which is simply a means by which an alert can be disseminated to the public.  Since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, there has been a surge of interest in developing early warning systems. However, early warning systems can be used to detect a wide range of events, such as vehicular collisions, missile launches, disease outbreaks, and so forth DURING THE EVENT  DURING A DISASTER… RESPONSE  The aim of emergency response is to provide immediate assistance to maintain life, improve health and support the morale of the affected population. Such assistance may range from providing specific but limited aid, such as assisting with transport, temporary shelter, and food, to establishing semi-permanent settlement in camps and other locations. It also may involve initial repairs to damaged infrastructure.  The focus in the response phase is on meeting the basic needs of the people until more permanent and sustainable solutions can be found.  Humanitarian organizations are often strongly present in this phase of the disaster management cycle.  DURING A DISASTER… RESPONSE  Actions carried out in a disaster situation with the objective to save life, alleviate suffering and reduce economic losses. The main tool in response is the implementation of plans which were prepared prior to the event.  Response activities are post activities geared towards:  Providing emergency assistance  Reducing probability of additional injuries or damage  Speeding recovery operations  Returning systems to normal level  DURING A DISASTER… RESPONSE  Response is done by a number of organizations, including:  ODPEM  Local Government (Parish Councils, KSAC, PMC & Ministry)  Emergency Services  Ambulances  Fire Department  JCF, JDF  State Agencies – NWA, NWC, NSWMA, MOH  DURING A DISASTER… RESPONSE  Response actions may include activating the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), evacuating threatened populations, opening shelters and providing mass care, emergency rescue and medical care, fire fighting, and urban search and rescue.  Response begins when an emergency event is imminent or immediately after an event occurs.  Response encompasses the activities that address the short-term, direct effects of an incident.  Response also includes the execution of the Emergency Operations Plan and of incident mitigation activities designed to limit the loss of life, personal injury, property damage, and unfavorable outcomes.  DURING A DISASTER… RESPONSE  One of the first response tasks is to conduct a situation assessment.  Local government is responsible for emergency response and for continued assessment of its ability to protect its citizens and the property within the community.  To fulfill this responsibility, responders and local government officials must conduct an immediate rapid assessment of the local situation. THE AFTER PHASE  AFTER A DISASTER… REHABILITATION & RECONSTRUCTION  Actions taken to return a community to normal or near-normal conditions, including the restoration of basic services and the repair of physical, social and economic damages  Typical recovery actions include debris cleanup, financial assistance to individuals and governments, rebuilding of roads and bridges and key facilities, and sustained mass care for displaced human and animal population  Recovery differs from the response phase in its focus; recovery efforts are concerned with issues and decisions that must be made after immediate needs are addressed. Recovery efforts are primarily concerned with actions that involve rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, and the repair of other essential infrastructure  AFTER A DISASTER… REHABILITATION & RECONSTRUCTION  The goal of recovery is to return the community’s systems and activities to normal. Recovery begins right after the emergency. Some recovery activities may be concurrent with response efforts.  Recovery is the development, coordination, and execution of service- and site-restoration plans for impacted communities and the reconstitution of government operations and services through individual, private-sector, nongovernmental, and public assistance programs that:  Identify needs and define resources.  Provide housing and promote restoration.  Address long-term care and treatment of affected persons.  Implement additional measures for community restoration.  Incorporate mitigation measures and techniques, as feasible.  Evaluate the incident to identify lessons learned.  Develop initiatives to mitigate the effects of future incidents  AFTER A DISASTER… REHABILITATION & RECONSTRUCTION  Long-term recovery includes restoring economic activity and rebuilding community facilities and housing. Long-term recovery (stabilizing all systems) can sometimes take years.  Recovery activities continue until all systems return to normal or better. Recovery measures, both short and long term, include returning vital life-support systems to minimum operating standards; temporary housing; public information; health and safety education; reconstruction; counseling programs; and economic impact studies. Information resources and services include data collection related to rebuilding, and documentation of lessons learned.