Disaster Response and Recovery. David A. McEntire
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href="#u4b2d528d-6ab7-5b38-8ead-ce39a4d79132">Chapter 12 covers lessons from prior disasters along with new threats and reasons for rising vulnerability. It attempts to help you think critically about how to deal with the disasters that will confront you and likewise consider the changes that must take place to improve the future of emergency management. Chapter 13 illustrates ways to foster disaster resilience. This final chapter of the book discusses various aspects of disaster preparedness in addition to the importance of improvisation, spontaneous planning, leadership, and professionalism among emergency managers.
Before proceeding with the outlined direction of the book, the remainder of this initial chapter will provide additional information about the types of hazards and how they interact one with another. It also describes the impact of disasters and what you as an emergency manager can expect in their aftermath.
Self‐Check
What types of disruptive events can occur on a daily basis?
How are hazard events different from one another?
What is a disaster and what are their causes?
What is emergency management?
How is response defined?
What is disaster recovery?
1.2 Types of Hazards
As an emergency manager who may be involved in disaster response and recovery operations, you must understand the nature of hazards if you are to be successful with your assigned responsibilities. As discussed earlier, a hazard is a physical, technological, or anthropogenic agent such as an earthquake, a chemical release or a violent act. These hazards and their resulting disasters occur in the United States and around the world. Floods, tornadoes and earthquakes occur, leaving buildings in rubble and other property damage. Vehicles collide due to careless drivers or in conjunction with poor weather conditions. Trains derail due to a failure of the tracks or human error by the engineer. Petrochemical facilities contain large amounts of hazardous materials, which sometimes leads to an explosion at the industrial complex. Terrorists detonate improvised explosive devices, producing carnage and fear in their wake. Hazards occur for many different reasons. Some hazards occur naturally in the environment, while others are the result of human activity, neglect of safety precautions, careless mistakes or malicious intent.
1.2.1 Natural Hazards
Natural hazards are those events originating from the physical environment, typically because of radiation from the sun, heat flow within the earth or the force of gravity. These natural hazards occur in and across three arenas of action (Mileti 1999):
The atmosphere (the air surrounding the earth that is made up of various gasses)
The hydrosphere (the earth’s water system)
The lithosphere (the earth’s crust)
Natural hazards are classified as having atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, seismic, volcanic and wildfire origins. There are also other types of natural hazards that will be described in Sections 1.2.2–1.2.7.
Figure 1‐2 Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast and destroyed this roller coaster on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ. Liz Roll/FEMA.Adapted from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php
1.2.2 Atmospheric Hazards
An atmospheric hazard is a hazard agent that is produced in or by the earth’s atmosphere. A hurricane is one type of atmospheric hazard (Figure 1‐2). Hurricanes begin as tropical depressions in the Atlantic Ocean and form as low‐pressure systems due to the warm water that fuels them. When wind speeds top 74 mph, such
tropical depressions become known hurricanes. In the Indian Ocean, these tempests are known as cyclones, and in the Pacific Ocean they are labeled typhoons. The eye or center of these storms is somewhat calm, but it is surrounded by circling cloud bands that produce rain in large amounts. Some hurricanes may have winds in excess of 100 or even 200 mph, and they may produce a storm surge that could reach up to 24 feet. The strength of a hurricane is described under the Saffir–Simpson scale. The Saffir–Simpson scale is a descriptive tool to explain the magnitude of a hurricane in terms of wind and storm surge. It includes five categories. Category 1 is the weakest, while Category 5 is the strongest (see Table 1‐2).
This scale also estimates potential property damage. On the lower end of the scale, category 1 and 2 storms are smaller, but could nevertheless be dangerous and still require preparatory measures. Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major storm systems because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage. In the western North Pacific, the term “super typhoon” is used for tropical cyclones with sustained winds exceeding 150 mph.
In the Northern Hemisphere, hurricanes rotate in a counterclockwise direction and travel in a west–northwesterly direction. They frequently hit Atlantic states and those along the Gulf Coast. Florida is one of many states that frequently experiences hurricanes. For instance, Hurricane Andrew made landfall on August 24, 1992, and its strong winds devastated the Miami‐Dade area. This hurricane produced dozens of deaths and left thousands of people without power and shelter. Weak building codes and poor enforcement resulted in major structural collapses and a debris management nightmare. Hurricane Andrew’s impact on Florida was surpassed by the combined four hurricanes and one tropical storm that hit Florida in 2004. This was one of the worst hurricane seasons on record, but such storms have become even more problematic over the past few decades.
Table 1‐2 Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Source: Adapted from Saffir‐Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, NOAA. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php.
| Category | Sustained winds | Types of damage due to hurricane winds |
| 1 | 74–95 mph64–82 kt 119–153 km/h | Very dangerous winds will produce some damage: well‐constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding, and gutters. Large branches of trees will snap and shallowly rooted trees may be toppled. Extensive damage to power lines and poles likely will result in power outages that could last a few to several days. |
| 2 | 96–110 mph83–95 kt 154–177 km/h | Extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage: well‐constructed frame homes could sustain major roof and siding damage. Many shallowly rooted trees will be snapped or uprooted and block numerous roads. Near‐total power loss is expected with outages that could last from several days to weeks. |
| 3 (major) |
|