Hazard Response and Disaster Management PDF

Response • Actions aimed at limiting injuries, loss of life and damage to property and the environment that are taken before, during, and immediately after hazard event. • Response processes begin as soon as it becomes apparent that a hazard event is imminent and lasts until the emergency is declare...

Response • Actions aimed at limiting injuries, loss of life and damage to property and the environment that are taken before, during, and immediately after hazard event. • Response processes begin as soon as it becomes apparent that a hazard event is imminent and lasts until the emergency is declared to be over. Response—The Emergency • Emergencies occur in three phases, with different response activities applying to each: 1. Pre hazard. During this period of the emergency, the hazard event is impending and may even be inevitable. Recognition of the impending hazard event may or may not exist. 2. The emergency: Hazard effects ongoing. This period begins when the first damaging effects begin and extends until all damaging effects related to the hazard and all secondary hazards cease to exist. • It may be measured in seconds for some hazards, such as lightning strikes or earthquakes. However, for others, such as floods, hurricanes, wildfires, or droughts, this phase can extend for hours, days, weeks, or even years. Response—The Emergency 3. The emergency: Hazard effects have ceased. During this final phase of the emergency, the hazard has exerted all of its influence, and negligible further damage is expected. • Responders are no longer addressing hazard effects, so their efforts are dedicated to addressing victims’ needs, managing the dead, and ensuring the safety of structures and the environment. Recognition—Post-disaster – List of functions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Assessing the disaster Treating remaining hazard effects Providing water and food Shelter Response Fatality management 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Sanitation Security Social services Resumption of critical infrastructure Donations management Volunteer management • Rescue: It has been estimated that half of those rescued are rescued in the first 6 hours after a disaster happens (with only 50% of those who remain trapped beyond 6 hours surviving) Recognition—Post-disaster - First Aid Medical Treatment • The number of victims may be so great that they completely overwhelm the capacity of local clinics or hospitals to care for them all (termed a mass casualty event). • Disaster managers must find a way to quickly locate these injured victims, provide them with the first aid required to stabilize their condition, and transport them to a facility where they can receive the medical assistance necessary to save their lives. • Triage is a system by which many victims are ranked according to the seriousness of their injuries, ensuring that the highest priority cases are transported to medical facilities before less serious ones. Triage categories • Black—Expectant (victims’ injuries are so severe they are expected to die) • Red—Immediate (victims are likely to survive their injuries, but only with immediate surgery or other life-saving treatment) • Yellow—Observation (victims are injured and need emergency medical care, but current condition is stable; must be monitored for change in condition) • Green—Wait (victims need medical care within several hours or even days, but will not die of their injuries if left untreated in the immediate future) • White—Dismiss (victims need little more than minor first aid treatment or basic care not requiring a doctor) Recognition—Post-disaster - Evacuation • Before, during, or after a disaster occurs, it is often necessary to move populations away from the hazard and its consequences. • This can reduce the effect of many disasters, whether natural, technological, or intentional, by simply removing potential victims from risk. Recognition—Post-disaster - Disaster Assessments • Response officials must begin collecting data, which is then formulated into information to facilitate the response. • Responders must be able to know at any given time or at short intervals what is happening, where it is happening, what is needed, what is required to address those needs, and what resources are available. • Situation assessment. • Needs assessment • situation reports, may be used to broadcast the analyzed information to users. Water • As normal supply lines will likely be interrupted and victims’ access to provisions limited or nonexistent, disaster management officials need to begin assisting them immediately. • Trucking in water in tanker trucks, ships, railcars, or other large storage devices • Transporting bottled or bagged water etc. • The water that is provided must be healthy to drink. • Drinking—3 to 4 liters per day • Cooking and cleanup—2 to 3 liters per day • Hygiene—6 to 7 liters per day • Washing of clothes—4 to 6 liters per day Food • The normal means by which food is replenished from outside sources may be severely affected by the disaster, • either directly (food production and distribution facilities hit) or indirectly (transportation routes blocked). • Reaching people may be difficult, so creative methods of transport— including food drops—may be required before more dependable routes can be established. Shelter • Without shelter, survivors, the injured, and the well alike will soon become further victimized by the elements and by insecurity and psychological stress. • Common examples include covered stadiums, schools, auditoriums, warehouses, and airport hangars. • Camps. Health • Disaster managers thus must establish emergency health care operations to accommodate the health needs of the affected population. • Communicable diseases are commonly the most dangerous postdisaster threat. • Exacerbated by the close quarters of victims, the lack of hygiene, poor water and food quality, deteriorating environmental conditions, and inadequate health care, communicable diseases can spread at rates many times higher than normal Response Health • Rapid assessment. • Prevention. • Surveillance. • Outbreak control • Disease management. • • • • • Sanitation Collection and disposal of human waste. Wastewater. Garbage. Vector control Fatality management. Recognition—Post-disaster – List of functions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Assessing the disaster Treating remaining hazard effects Providing water and food Shelter Response Fatality management 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Sanitation Security Social services Resumption of critical infrastructure Donations management Volunteer management Resumption of critical infrastructure • Infrastructure includes the basic facilities, services, and installations required for the functioning of a community or a society • few are vital to both disaster response and to the overall safety and security of the affected population. These components are referred to as critical infrastructure. • critical infrastructure problems must be addressed in the short term, • Transportation systems (land, sea, and air) • Communication • Electricity Resumption of critical infrastructure • Sanitation • Emergency services • Public health • Continuity of government • Gas and oil storage and transportation • Water supply systems Social services • The psychological stresses that disaster victims face are extreme • Without proper psychological care, victims may slip into depression • Proper counseling services can limit these effects. • Disaster responders also need counseling services. Donations management • Donations of all kinds are provided in the aftermath of large disasters • Without an effective mechanism to accept, catalog, inventory, store, and distribute those donations, however, their presence can actually create what is commonly called the second disaster • Cash donations tend to be the most appropriate • Donations must: • Address the actual needs of the affected population • Be appropriate for the cultural setting into which they are donated • Be in good condition • Be able to clear customs Volunteer management • There is a heavy volunteer presence that emerges in the aftermath of a major disaster. • a much greater number of people with no previous association with emergency management • Disaster volunteer coordination is an essential function that falls squarely within the greater emergency management effort. • coordination of spontaneous volunteers is best handled by traditional volunteer groups like the International Federation of Red Cross/ Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Which type of Hazard Which type of Hazard Which type hazard Which type hazard Which type of Vulnerability